Contact: Magda Dathe, 764-2607 Media Contact: Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915

Jan. 31, 2002 SPEAKERS' SERIES FOCUSES ON CONNECTING UNIVERSITY, COMMUNITY National experts will discuss ways to connect university resources to community concerns in a six-part series of free public lectures and seminars at the University of New Mexico main campus and in the community. UNM's College of Education Office for Community Learning and Public Service (CLPS), the Corporation for National Service and UNM's Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Teaching and Learning (CASTL) partnered with local organizations to bring the speakers to Albuquerque. Ira Harkavy, Ph.D, urban historian, University of Pennsylvania, will present "Universities Responding to Critical Community Issues: New Missions in Civic Engagement," opens the series on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. in rm. 163 of the UNM Anthropology Lecture Hall. Harkavy is a lifelong community advocate, vice-president of the University of Pennsylvania and president of the National Coalition for Community Schools. He is the most recent recipient of the prestigious Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for outstanding involvement in public service granted by Campus Compact, the nation's largest collegiate organization for public service and community/university partnerships. Harkavy's visit and other talks and seminars taking place through fall semester 2003 celebrate the work and fifth anniversary of the UNM Service Corps, a campus based AmeriCorps project, and the Albuquerque Community Schools Project, one of the state's largest community-based literacy partnerships. The New Mexico Office of the Daniels Fund primarily funds Harkavy's lecture. Other organizations collaborating on the series include the Historic Neighborhood Alliance of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Community Schools Project and the NM Out of School Time Network. For more information, contact the UNM College of Education Office for Community Learning and Public Service, 764-2607. ###

The University of New Mexico
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