Lehigh’s College of Education celebrates key anniversaries

As Lehigh celebrates its Sesquicentennial, the College of Education also marks three key anniversaries—50 years as a College, 100 years of education at Lehigh, and 50 years of the highly regarded Centennial School for children with educational disabilities.

The year-long celebrations kick off Thursday with the inaugural John Stoops Lecture Series, named for the College’s first dean. The series will feature Pasi Sahlberg, visiting professor of practice at Harvard University, who will discuss “Education Around the World: Past, Present and Future.”

The presentation, which is free to the public, will begin at 6 p.m. in Baker Hall in the Zoellner Arts Center. A reception, featuring student research, will follow.

The College of Education also is planning an awards ceremony next spring that will honor distinguished educators from each discipline of the College as well as a distinguished educator. The College also will be publishing a book that chronicles education at Lehigh.

Sahlberg, a Finnish citizen who has been active in promoting education changes in Finland and beyond, has a long professional history in education and development. At Harvard, he works with graduate and doctoral students, teaching courses about international educational change and how education policies and reforms can improve but also harm school systems, teachers and students.

Sahlberg started his teaching career in 1985 in the Teacher Training School and Department of Teacher Education at the University of Helsinki. He then moved to the Ministry of Education in 1991 to serve as senior advisor in science education, head of the school improvement unit, and later, counselor to the deputy director general on education police development and education reform. In 2000, he took the leadership post at the Centre for School Development in the University of Helsinki.

Beginning in 2003, Sahlberg was senior education specialist in the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for education portfolios and analytical work in Europe and Central Asia. In 2007, he became lead education specialist for the European Training Foundation in Torino, Italy, offering policy advice to governments, schools and leaders to improve education policies and practices.

In December 2009, Sahlberg became Director General of the Center for International Mobility and Cooperation at the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland. He has worked with governments and educators in Europe, Central Asia, North America, Africa and Asia-Pacific region to help them in improving education policies and implementing system-wide education reforms.

Registration for the Sahlberg presentation is requested.