Riall Lecturer Speaks on 'Using Critical Math' March 1

SALISBURY, MD---In September 2009, 16-year-old Chicago high school honor student Derrion Albert was beaten to death after being caught in the middle of a fight involving students from his school.

Caught on video, the incident made national headlines and left many asking a simple question: “Why?”
Eric “Rico” Gutstein, professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Illinois, attempts to answer that question during this semester’s E. Pauline Riall Lecturer at Salisbury University. He speaks on “Why Did Derrion Albert Die? Using Critical Math to Understand the Conditions of Our Lives” 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 1, in Holloway Hall Auditorium.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Gutstein as our speaker this year,” said Dr. Gwen Beegle, Riall Lecture Series coordinator. “He is making math matter to students through his work with high school students and teaching math teachers to apply mathematics in social and cultural contexts.”

A former middle and high school mathematics teacher in Chicago public schools, Gutstein is the author of Reading and Writing the World with Mathematics: Toward a Pedagogy for Social Justice and is co-editor of Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers (Rethinking Schools).

He is a founding member of Teachers for Social Justice (Chicago) and is active in social movements against education privatization. He has worked with mathematics teachers and students in Chicago public schools since 1994 and at Chicago’s Social Justice High School since 2003. He was awarded the Excellence in Public Service Award at DePaul University in 2000 and was a Great Cities Institute Faculty Scholar from 2008-09.

The E. Pauline Riall Lecture Series is named in honor of its founder, the long-time principal and teacher at SU’s Campus School. The series’ purpose is to bring to the University and community outstanding national lecturers in the field of education.

Sponsored by the Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies, admission is free and the public is invited. For more information call 410-543-6393 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.