Dr. Paige Joins UMHB, NAAAS Participants

Dr. Rod Paige, National Educational Leader
Joins UMHB Personnel and NAAAS Participants

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UMHB's Sean Herbert speaks with Dr. Paige UMHB's Will Johnson speaks with Dr. Paige

Dr. Diane Howard, Performance Studies Professor at UMHB and Special Events Coordinator for NAAAS, was able to arrange for Dr. Rod Paige to speak at the international NAAAS conference and to meet UMHB personnel who were in attendance. NAAAS ( National Association of African American Studies and Affiliates- National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies, National Association of Native American Studies, and the International Association of Asian Studies), is the only scholarly organization of its kind to support the academic work of leading faculty and students from the four major American minority groups and their international associates, as well as to appeal to scholars from all ethnic backgrounds. Dr. Paige has been the National Secretary of Educational in President George Bush's first term cabinet. He has also been the superintendent of Houston's schools. He has returned to Texas as a national and state educational leader. Dr. Howard, Ms. Donna Teel, and UMHB students were able to hear Dr. Paige speak at the conference and were able to meet him personally.

Dr. Paige spoke of the importance of teaching to the future; addressing the achievement gap that becomes accumulative over time; facilitating reasoning and thinking skills; incorporating cutting-edge technology; and working toward a new paradigm that includes parents, communities, and schools. He countered many misrepresentations and misunderstandings about the No Child Left Behind Act. He clarified education roles of state and federal governments.

Dr. Howard, UMHB Professor of Communication and Performance Studies, and Ms. Donna Teel, UMHB Instructor of Business Computer Information Systems, presented and published at the February International NAAAS Conference in Houston. Having presented and published with her students for several years at NAAAS, http://www.naaas.org/, conferences, Dr. Howard now serves, as well, on the NAAAS Board of Directors. For the 2005 conference
Dr. Howard presented and published Facilitating Balanced Empowerment through Effective Online Collaboration.
She spoke and wrote concerning her students' effective online collaborative work on UMHB's online component to its on-site classes, the Learning Management System (LMS). Dee Hughes, Performance Studies Major, presented, published, and performed her script of Harriet Tubman, When Freedom Comes, that was produced by online collaboration. Ms. Donna Teel presented and published Forging a Technology Link to Facilitate Multi-Cultural Appreciation. UMHB students Lennard Ball, Sean Herbert, Marianna Lugo, Erin Swartz, and William Johnson also participated in the conference with Dr. Howard and Ms. Teel.

Alumna, Carlotta Russell Maneice, who has a B.A. in Communication and an M.B.A. in Business from UMHB, performed her autobiographical presentation of Sojourner Truth to much acclaim in a plenary session at the conference. Ms. Maneice, has been sought after for her performances of Sojourner Truth and of poetry by African American female poets. Her presentations are extremely popular. She has been active as an historical performer in the Cultural Activities Center's Artists-in- Schools program in Temple, TX. She has been in demand as a performer in African American, autobiographical, performance work presented over the BellNet videoconference network. Likewise, she has been sought as a performer at Ft. Hood, TX, and in regional, Bell County schools, colleges, churches, and libraries. She has performed in Central Texas at a technology fair via videoconferencing equipment and for an Austin television poetry program. Ms. Maneice is presently the Affairs Specialist for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Housing Service. See http://www.dianehoward.com/Carlotta_Russell_Maneice.htm .