KNOXVILLE — Henry Louis Taylor Jr., founder of the Center of Urban Studies at the University of Buffalo in New York, will be at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Nov. 20 to talk about the importance of the university-community engagement.
Henry Louis Taylor Jr.Taylor — who has a master’s degree in audiology and speech pathology from UT Knoxville — will present the 12th annual Billie Grace Goodrich Distinguished Lecture at 5 p.m. on Nov. 20 in the University Center Auditorium. The event, free and open to the public, is being sponsored by the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences and the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy as part of American Education Week.
A reception for Taylor will be held at 4 p.m. in the Executive Dining Room on the third floor of the University Center, prior to his lecture.
Taylor’s lecture — “Reflections: Connecting the Academic Mission of the University to the Regeneration of Distressed Communities” — will explore university-community partnerships and academically based civic engagement as fundamental elements of the academic mission and core values of the university.
“We are very pleased to have Dr. Taylor as our Goodrich lecturer this year. University-community engagement is something we are focusing on in partnership with the Baker Center and many other colleges on campus in the form of a ‘Center for Civic Engagement,'” said Bob Rider, dean of UT’s College of Education, Health and Human Sciences.
Nissa Dahlin-Brown, associate director of the Baker Center, agreed: “Dr. Taylor’s expertise will help further define our plan to create a similar center at UT. We are thrilled to partner with the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences to bring this important scholar to UT so that UT and the community can learn even more about how to collaborate and share our resources to benefit everyone.”
Taylor also will meet with UT faculty at 10 a.m. and UT students at 2 p.m. in the University Center to further explore their roles in an engaged university-community partnership.
Taylor is an internationally known scholar, author and professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Buffalo. He serves as coordinator of the department’s Community Development and Urban Management Specialization. The Center for Urban Studies is a research, neighborhood-planning and community-developing institute that focuses on the redevelopment of distressed neighborhoods in western New York.
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Contacts:
Amy Blakely, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu