Teachers
College CEO&I
Announces Winners Of First Annual Lifelong Learning Award
Four Institutions,
Educators Receive Honor
The Center for Education Outreach & Innovation (CEO&I)
of Teachers College, Columbia University, recently announced the four winners of its first annual Lifelong Learning
Award: the Chautauqua Institution (and its president Thomas
Becker), Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (posthumously),
educator Maxine Greene and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).
The awards were presented at an early evening cocktail reception
at The Princeton Club of New York.
“This
prize was created to honor notable leaders and institutions for
their innovative and sustained contributions to lifelong learning,” said Arthur Levine, President of Teachers
College. “In today’s information and global society,
knowledge and education are the twin engines that drive our
economy and shape our lives. In this environment the half-life of
knowledge is becoming shorter and shorter. This makes education throughout life essential. And it makes strong lifelong learning
programs imperative.”
Levine noted that in a 1996 study by the International Commission on Education
for the 21st Century, the concept of lifelong learning was
described as education that is flexible, diverse and available
at different times and places throughout one’s life. The
report, called the Delors report, identified four pillars
of education for the future: learning
to know, learning to do, learning to live together (and with
others), and learning to be. “The contributions of
our honorees have addressed these four essential elements
of learning throughout their lives, helping to change the
way education is conceived and delivered,” he said.
Selected
by CEO&I’s Advisory Committee on Lifelong Learning,
a group of 20 leaders in national and international business,
health, education and media, honorees were judged according
to the reach and scope of their impact, how they had nurtured
and demonstrated beliefs and practices that support lifelong
learning, if they had been engaged in life learning for more
than 20 years and if their contributions have been widely recognized.
In
their awards document the Advisory Committee noted the contributions
of each honoree: The Chautauqua Institution, founded more
than 130 years ago as an educational experiment in vacation
learning is today recognized as a kind of “American soapbox” where
the discussion addresses some of society’s most compelling
global issues. Its president, Thomas Becker, has proved to
be a true 21st century leader, matching and marrying the historic
charter and adapting it to address current concerns.
Paolo Freire
had a distinguished career as a progressive educator in Brazil,
proposing that education move beyond the elite of society and
into the poorest communities. In
addition to his academic and institutional life, he participated
in a movement for popular education in the early 1960’s,
encouraging literacy among the country’s peasant population.
Throughout his life, until his death in 1997, this controversial
man was engaged in unceasing intellectual labor and inspired
by the struggle of the Brazilian people for an equitable and
democratic government.
A 1938 graduate
of Barnard College, long-time educator Maxine Greene has had
a distinguished career in education, combining philosophy,
education and the arts to enhance the education process. In
her words, “If we enlist the arts and imagination in
teaching, we allow students to take advantage of their lived
experiences.” Involved
in many spheres of the education world, Greene founded and
directed the Center for Social Imagination, the Arts and Education
at Teachers College. She
has been philosopher-in-residence at the Lincoln Center Institute
of the Arts in Education for more than 25 years, and was the
editor of the Teachers College Record. Among her many affiliations,
she is past president of the Philosophy of Education Society,
the American Educational Studies Association and the American
Educational Research Association. At age 87, Greene is still
a practicing educator as Professor Emeritus of philosophy and
education and the William F. Russell Professor Emerita in Foundations
of Education at Teachers College.
Since
it was founded in 1969, the Pubic Broadcasting System has
been dedicated to providing the nation’s public television station with
the best in children’s, cultural, educational, history,
nature, news, public affairs, science and skills programming. PBS works with the nation’s school
systems and the U.S. Department of Education to help parents
and teachers prepare children for success in school, and to
provide quality professional teacher development through a
series of online courses. Its Adult Learning Service involves local
PBS stations and colleges in an effort to provide college credit
TV curses to almost half a million students each year.
“Today,
dynamic learning across one’s lifespan is influenced
by technology and innovation, changing population demographics,
quality of life and workforce needs. To keep pace, individuals must find learning
to be enlightening, engaging, ongoing, and, most of all, relevant,” said
Mary Rose Barranco Morris, Ed.D., Director of Lifelong Learning
for CEO&I. “Our honorees have succeeded in this and
as a result, have made great contributions to the development
of intellectually, socially and aesthetically enriched and
responsible citizens.”#
For
more information, visit the college’s Web site at
www.tc.columbia.edu.
