LSU, Southern University and Louisiana Public Broadcasting Present a Panel Discussion – Champions of Education: Perspectives from Classroom Teachers
August 26, 2022
BATON ROUGE - Daily headlines cite teacher shortages across the country, and Louisiana is experiencing unprecedented vacancies in our classrooms. Ultimately teachers are the foundation of our future workforce and are essential to the success of industries throughout the state. On Wednesday, September 7, LSU and Southern are hosting a panel discussion titled Champions of Education: Perspectives from Classroom Teachers. The event will be held at 7 p.m. at Independence Park Theatre, Baton Rouge, LA.
“When LSU and Southern meet on the football field, history will be made; we’re excited to celebrate this epic event with a collaboration that focuses on the champions, off the field, who make these moments and all other milestones possible – teachers,” said LSU College of Human Sciences & Education Dean Roland Mitchell, PhD. “I’m excited to partner with Southern University’s education program to shed light on teacher recruitment and retention, a critical issue in our state and around our country. Innovating curriculum and practices to serve our teachers and K12 students in every parish of our state is what we do. We are fortunate to have a demonstration Laboratory School as part of the state’s flagship College of Human Sciences & Education to help us fulfill this mission. Our LSU team is honored to help reframe the narrative around the teaching profession, its importance to our children and our society at large.”
Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) is the production partner for this event. In addition to the live audience, LPB will livestream the discussion so teachers, students, and the community across the state may view and participate. This panel discussion is part of a week-long lineup of activities leading up to the historic SU/LSU football game on September 10. Visit www.lpb.org/teachers for more information and to access the livestream for the event.
“Education and supporting teachers, students, and families is central to LPB’s mission. Partnering with Southern and LSU to present this important conversation will not only speak to current consequential issues within the teaching field, but will be an opportunity to hear from teachers about the positive and transformational mentoring that educators provide to young learners, as only they can do. We are delighted to share this discussion with LPB’s statewide audience,” said LPB President and CEO, Clarence “C.C” Copeland.
About the Perspectives Panel: As a backbone of our workforce, educators and teachers impact the “quality of life” for all of us and since Louisiana (and other states) are experiencing a significant teacher shortage, having a conversation about this important public policy issue is critical and timely. Both LSU and Southern have laboratory demonstration schools who are charged to create and share innovation in teaching and curriculum throughout the state. We aim to have dialogue on ways we both work to address critical issues in the state, such as teacher recruitment and retention challenges. Our Schools of Education are at the front line of this battle and are working strategically to train teachers to advance the educator workforce not just in our campus classrooms, but in our Laboratory Schools, school systems, communities, and beyond.
Kim Hunter Reed, PhD, Louisiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education will serve as moderator.
Panelists include:
- Cade Brumley, PhD | LA State Superintendent of Education
- Kimberly Eckert | Teacher, 2018 Louisiana Teacher of the Year, Educators Rising Louisiana Founder, Educators Rising National Curriculum Trainer and Implementation Specialist
- Elecia Lathon, PhD | Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, LSU School of Education
- VerJanis A. Peoples, PhD | Director of the School of Education, Southern University
- Candence Robillard, PhD | Teacher, IB and AP Program Coordinator, LSU Laboratory School
- Renita Sherrard | Assistant Principal, Southern University Laboratory School
“The School of Education at Southern University looks forward to celebrating this historic event with our,cradle of pros, who are the outstanding teachers in the surrounding schools. We are honored to share the spotlight with LSU’s School of Education to address critical issues affecting the teaching profession. Teaching is an amazing privilege, but also a weighty responsibility. Great teachers are unsung coaches, who strive daily to help students win in the classroom. The time is right to team-up with LSU in this mutually beneficial collaborative to address challenges and effective initiatives in recruiting, supporting, and retaining classroom teachers,” said Southern University School of Education Director VerJanis Peoples, PhD. “The spotlight will also be on our Laboratory Schools. These schools are analogous to teaching hospitals for our teacher education candidates and are vital in demonstrating new and innovative research-based best teaching practices to enhance the teaching and learning process in which teacher candidates can observe and participate with K-12 students.”
Champions of Education is one several engagements between LSU and Southern University before the institutions meet on the football field on September 10. For a full schedule of events, contact Abbi Rocha Laymoun with LSU Media Relations at abbirocha@lsu.edu.
About the Perspectives Panel Event: We encourage teachers, school administrators, students, parents and our wider community to join us for this important and historic event. The event will begin with a teacher tailgate from 6 -7 p.m. where school professionals may network and connect with LSU School of Education, University Laboratory School, SU School of Education and Southern University Laboratory School with interactive displays, giveaways and more. The panel discussion will be 7-8 p.m.
About CHSE
The College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE) is a nationally accredited division of Louisiana State University. The college is comprised of the School of Education, the School of Information Studies, the School of Kinesiology the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development, the School of Social Work, and the University Laboratory School. These combined schools offer 8 undergraduate degree programs, 18 graduate programs, and 7 online graduate degree and/or certificate programs, enrolling more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,120 graduate students. The College is committed to achieving the highest standards in teaching, research, and service and is committed to improving quality of life across the lifespan.
Visit the College of Human Sciences & Education website.
About Southern University School of Education
The mission of Southern University and A&M College, a historically Black, 1890 land-grant institution in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is to provide a student- focused teaching and learning environment that creates global leadership opportunities for a diverse student population where teaching, research, service, scholarly, and creative expectations for students and faculty, are achieved through the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs offered at the institution via different instructional modalities and via public service. The School of Education prepares diverse professionals who foster learning by utilizing technology and best practices in diverse educational and clinical environments.
About LPB
Established in 1971 by the Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) is a state network of six non-commercial television stations licensed under the Louisiana Educational Television Authority (LETA). LPB is the public television network for the state of Louisiana since going on the air on September 6, 1975, with stations in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe and Shreveport. LPB is also affiliated with WLAE-TV in New Orleans. LPB’s mission is to improve the lives of all Louisianans with the highest quality programming that educates, enlightens and entertains and that showcases Louisiana’s unique history, people, places and events. LPB reaches audiences over-the-air, on the web, in the home and in the classroom.
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