by Brittany  Aronson

The 13th Annual Educational Leadership Graduate Student Conference, held in February 2016 in McGuffey Hall, continued our tradition of sharing student scholarship on themes of culture, leadership, and education. The EDL Graduate Student Council came together, under the guidance of Visiting Assistant Professor Brittany Aronson, to create a conference call around the theme “Critical Thought, Radical Practices, and Working towards Social Justice.” The council sought keynote speakers whose research and teaching aligned with the conference theme. Fortunately, Dr. Darius Prier of Duquesne University and 2009 graduate of EDL’s Ph.D. program, graciously accepted the invitation to keynote. Darius delivered a powerfully dynamic talk, "Remixing a Polyphonic Fusion within Cultural Work in Urban Education." Dr. Prier also led a "fireside chat" with the EDL doctoral students discussing critical issues in education, surviving and thriving in a PhD program, and his experiences transitioning from student to professor. The conference was well attended by EDL and EDT graduate students, students from surrounding regional institutions, as well as our own faculty and leadership within EHS