Dr. Ramon Cortines to give Julian Parker Lecture on Issues and Values in Urban Education

Dr. Ramon Cortines will give the 11th annual Julian Parker Lecture on Issues and Values in Urban Education at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 1, in Room 201, Opus Hall, Minneapolis campus.

A reception at 3:45 p.m. will precede the speech, followed by the Minnesota Alliance of Black School Educators (MABSE) annual scholarship awards to outstanding students of color and the announcement of the MABSE Outstanding Diversity Achievement Award.

Dr. Ramon Cortines

"This is a rare opportunity for us to hear one of the most respected educational leaders in the country," said Bob Brown, coordinator of the program. "As a superintendent, Cortines successfully desegregated the Pasadena School District and got it out from under a federal court order, rescued the San Jose district from bankruptcy, and cut the budget in San Francisco while preserving teachers' jobs by raising up to $5 million a year from private sources."

Cortines recently was hired as senior deputy superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). He is responsible for overseeing the district's day-to-day operations and instruction. Prior to this new position, he served as the deputy mayor for education, youth and families to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He also chaired the Mayor's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, through which the mayor guides reforms at a group of schools in the district.

Cortines served as interim LAUSD superintendent in 2000 and introduced and mandated standardized core curriculum for all elementary students, including the district's highly successful reading program. He is believed to be the only person who has headed the two largest school districts in the country – New York and Los Angeles.

From 1995 to 1997, Cortines served as special adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley. In 1992, he chaired President Bill Clinton's Education Department transition team and served as assistant secretary-designate for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs.

The Julian Parker Lecture Series is named for the longtime head of education at Xavier University in New Orleans. Parker spent two years at St. Thomas in the 1960s helping educators understand issues of race relations and urban education.

The event is free and open to the public. To register and for more information contact Brown at rjbrown@stthomas.edu or (651) 962-4992.