2009 Fall Alumni Symposium

Saturday, November 14, 2009
43 Hawes Street, Brookline Campus

The Graduate Alumni Committee of the Alumni Association Board invites you to join us for the 2009 Fall Alumni Symposium. This is an opportunity for professional development and conversation with fellow Wheelock alumni, students and faculty. Come recharge and refresh at this graduate alumni symposium. There is no charge for the event. Spouses, guests, and colleagues welcome! RSVP to the Alumni Office at (617) 879-2302 or rsmokowski@wheelock.edu.

8:30 a.m. Registration - 2nd Floor Rotunda
Enjoy some coffee, muffins, pastries, and fruit as you reconnect with fellow Wheelock Alumni.

9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Welcome Breakfast - 2nd Floor Rotunda
Meet Dr. Kerry A. Kerber, Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies and hear an update about Wheelock Graduate and Continuing Education Programs.

9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Faculty and Alumni Presentations- Session I
Stress Reduction Strategies: Using the Wisdom of Body and Mind to Foster Self-Care
Deborah Lisansky Beck, MSW, LICSW, Assistant Professor in Social Work
In today's busy and complex world, stress has become an inevitable part of daily life, experienced in our multiple roles at work, at home, and in the community. This workshop will be an interactive discussion of the origins and effects of stress and of self-care strategies that promote wellness and help us manage stress effectively.
Room: 002

"...and then... " - Storytelling in Kindergarten: documentation through digital video
Catherine Donahue, Ed.D., Associate Professor and Sandra Christison ‘92MS
In a kindergarten classroom in Boston, 22 children were filmed telling stories during the 2008-9 school year. The K2 teacher and a filmmaker collaborated to document this integrated literacy project and produce a short film that was shared with the community in a film festival. The year long process will be described as one example of how professionals can integrate digital video into their practice. Benefits to the children, teachers and families for this project and the use of digital video in professional practice will be shared with ‘lessons learned' about the process.
Room: 107

11:15 - 11:45 "Playing Your Part: The Importance of Physical Activity for Children and Families" Keynote Speaker Diana Cutaia, Director of Athletics

12:00 p.m. Luncheon Honoring Dr. Angela Paige Cook '73MS, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Award Recipient

1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Faculty and Alumni Presentations - Session II

Listen Carefully: What Patients With Developmental Disabilities and Their Families Can Teach Us
Stefi Rubin Ph.D., Associate Professor, Child Life and Family Studies, Wheelock College
Evelyn Hausslein, MMHS, Project Manager, Support Brokers/ARC of MA, Waltham, MA, former Dean of the Graduate School, Wheelock College)
Using parent-authored memoirs and a video documentary, we will highlight the issues faced by youth and young adults with developmental disabilities as they transition to the adult systems of healthcare and social services. Discussion will include potential conflict between the philosophies of family-centered care and self-determination.
Room: 002

Job Search Strategies in a Challenging Economy
Mary Sullivan, Director of the Center for Career and Professional Development
Join us for a session on job search strategies in this challenging economy. Changing careers? Returning to work after a period of time? Retiring and looking for a next step? Remember that careers are built over a long period of time, and you may choose different career paths during your professional life. Wheelock is here to support you with career services in a variety of ways. Come and learn more!
Room: 107

To RSVP email rsmokowski@wheelock.edu or call 617-879-2320.

Spouses, friend, colleagues are welcome! There is no charge for this event.

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Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Award

This award is given during the alumni symposium to recognize and honor the work of one alumna/us who has completed post-graduate work at Wheelock College.  Recipients must have completed a graduate or post-baccalaureate certificate program at Wheelock College.  The recipient's professional or volunteer work should exemplify the mission of Wheelock College: "to improve the lives of children and families; as well as a demonstrated commitment to finding unity in all types of diversity."

Ms. Peabody is best known as a teacher and educational reformer, and more specifically as the mother of kindergarten in America.  Inspired by the work and philosophies of Friedrich Froebel, she established the first kindergarten in Boston in 1860.  Ms. Peabody was also a popular instructor in training courses for kindergarten teachers, and it was she who encouraged a young Lucy Wheelock to enroll in one of those training courses.  Miss Lucy Wheelock was always extremely proud that Elizabeth Palmer Peabody's signature was on her diploma, certifying her to teach young children.  To honor Lucy Wheelock's mentor, a woman whose dreams are so well reflected at Wheelock College, the Alumni Association will present this award annually to an alumna/us of a graduate program at the College who reflects Ms. Peabody's commitment to diversity and education, and the values of Wheelock College.

This year's recipient of The Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Award is Dr. Angela Paige Cook ‘73MS

Dr. Angela Paige Cook is a seeker of truth and knowledge who has learned much of what she knows from the Black community and African Diaspora as well as other teachers and scholars.  She was raised in Washington, D.C. in a family of educators.  Her mom was a principal of an inner city school in Washington D.C. where Dr. Cook was able to observe the craft of good teaching.  She attended Fisk University a Historically Black College in Nashville Tenn.  Dr. Cook believes in Black leadership and sent all four of her children to Historically Black Colleges with include Fisk University, Howard University, Morehouse College and Spelman College.

Dr. Cook has always believed that her work must reflect the solution.  In the 1960's, she became actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement during her undergraduate years at a historically Black college, Fisk University, in the southern town of Nashville, Tennessee where she got a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Theater Arts she and a group of fellow students opened one of the first Freedom Schools to teach young Black children who lived in the inner city of Nashville.  They taught African and African-American history to help the students develop a sense of pride in their culture and an appreciation for the work of their ancestors, which is often still absent from much of public education.

After relocating to Boston to pursue further education, she obtained her Masters Degree at Wheelock College here in Boston, class of 1973 and was an Urban Studies Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1980-81.  While earning her Doctorate in Education in a program entitled Leadership in Urban Education at the University of Massachusetts, she was also research associate at the Trotter Institute.  Her dissertation was on the importance and effectiveness of a culturally resonant curriculum in African American communities: A Case Study of a Black Independent School Reflections on Cultural Resonance in an Elementary and Pre-School Setting  Cook, A.P. (2002).

Dr. Cook then founded Paige Academy in 1975 because she saw a need to rescue Black boys and girls who were routinely failing in the local public schools due to a lack of understanding of how Black children learn and excel.  Paige Academy has a "Cultural Resonance" that helps to successfully educate hundreds of Black and Latino students using high academic standards to developed a positive sense of self and become empowered to overcome any obstacle with courage and determination.

The name Paige Academy was chosen in memory of the key founder's great aunt Lucy Paige Williams (1876-1965), who was known by all in her Richmond, Virginia community as an extraordinary educator.  During the Reconstruction era, Lucy Paige Williams opened her own home to teach her adult neighbors and their children the basic educational and life skills needed to survive.  Her "schools of benevolence" inspired members of her family to recognize the value of well-trained, dedicated teachers and the lasting gift these teachers can give to the children and adults with whom they come in contact.  The spirit of Lucy Paige Williams lives on at Paige Academy today through the guidance and vision of its director Dr. Angela Paige Cook.

Forty years later, she is still deeply concerned about the causes and limitations Black children and their families continue to face in an effort to find quality education for their children.  Historically, the Black Independent School Movement began when African-Americans, brought to this country to work as slaves, were faced with the task of educating their children in an oppressive environment. The challenge continues today and Paige Academy, for the past 40 years, has been striving to meet that challenge.