YOUNGEST BLACK HARVARD PROFESSOR TO SPEAK IN DETROIT

Category: Chronicle Archives Published on Monday, 03 August 2009 20:00 Written by Michigan Chronicle

State Sen. Hansen Clarke will be hosting a town hall meeting open to the public on incentivizing student performance with leading Harvard Economics Professor Roland Fryer Jr.

Themed “Bridging the Educational Divide,” the town hall will be taking place from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on Thursday, Aug. 13. The conversation
will begin with a question and answer session between Professor Fryer and Michigan Chronicle Senior Editor Bankole Thompson. Following this initial dialogue the audience will be invited to ask questions.

Professor Roland Fryer Jr., 32, is the first youngest African-American to receive tenure from Harvard, and was listed as one of Time magazine’s
Top 100 Most Influential People of 2009. He was featured in part one of CNN’s “Black in America series. He is the Robert M. Beren Professor
of Economics at Harvard University, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a former junior fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, one of academia’s most prestigious research posts.

Professor Fryer is also the CEO of the Harvard EdLabs program, through which he recently helped to initiate student and teacher pay-for-performance programs in Chicago, New York, and Washington,D.C. public schools. These programs are designed to give money to students and teachers in recognition of high levels of achievement.

Sen. Clarke contends, “We must consider new ways to motivate our students to stay in school and to succeed. The current approach to educating many Detroit students has failed miserably. I believe Professor Fryer is examining innovative ways to increase student achievement.

“But most importantly, I believe his life story shows that an apparently disadvantaged student can succeed if he or she is nurtured and motivated. I think Professor Fryer’s life provides extraordinary testimony to the value of reforming education to save a generation of inner-city youth.”

The event is free and space is limited. Please RSVP to Ford Turrell in Sen. Hansen Clarke’s office toll-free at (877) 252-7537
or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .