The 鶹ƵUniversity will present its annual Harry S. and Elva K. Ganders Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 15, featuring Charles M. Payne. The lecture, “鶹ƵCity, Forty Years of Urban Education Landscape: From Croton-on-Campus to the Promised Neighborhood,” will be at 4 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium, and is free and open to the public. Parking will be available in the Irving Garage. The Ganders Lecture is a part of the School of Education’s Landscape of Urban Education Lecture Series.
Payne is the Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, where he is also an affiliate of the Urban Education Institute. His interests include urban education and school reform, social inequality, social change and modern African American history. He is author of “So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools” (Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2009).
Payne was founding director of the Urban Education Project in Orange, N.J., a nonprofit community center that broadens educational experiences for urban youth. He has taught at Southern University, Williams College, Northwestern University and Duke University. He has won several teaching awards, and at Northwestern he held the Charles Deering McCormick Chair for Teaching Excellence; at Duke, the Sally Dalton Robinson Chair for excellence in teaching and research.
Payne holds a bachelor’s degree in African American studies from SU and a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern.
For nearly two decades, the Ganders Lecture Series has celebrated the legacy of Harry S. Ganders, the first dean of the School of Education. Gander’s tenure as dean (1930-1952) is characterized as one of transition, growth and innovation and saw the creation of an all-University structure for the School of Education. The lecture was established by Ganders’ daughters in memory of their parents. The series is also generously supported by alumni and other contributions to the Harry S. and Elva K. Ganders Memorial Fund.
The Landscape of Urban Education Lecture Series is dedicated to the presentation of current ideas and strategies for navigating urban educational terrain in the United States. For more information, visit or call the School of Education’s Center for Continuous Education and Global Outreach at 315-443-4696.
