A $5 million donation will finance the founding of the Lender Center for Social Justice, a multidisciplinary center in Syracuse University’s School of Education, the university announced Tuesday.  

SU alumni Marvin and Helaine Lender gave the donation after years of planning with the university, according to a Tuesday SU News release. The center, which the university has been considering since 2015, will host programs and speakers related to social justice.

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The Lender Center will also hold an annual symposium and offer a faculty and student fellowship program. The Lender Faculty Fellow will receive funding to run a two-year project with five Lender Student Fellows. All projects will be shown at the symposium, where experts from around the country will be asked to lead discussions about the Lender fellows’ research and proposals, per the release.

There will be two faculty co-directors of the new center. Marcelle Haddix, chair of the School of Education’s Reading and Language Arts program and Kendall Phillips, a professor of communication and rhetorical studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Haddix directs two literacy programs: One focused on elevating the writing skills of students in urban areas and the other dedicated fostering the writing of black middle school girls. Phillips works on research in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism.

The Lender Center for Social Justice will formally open Sept. 14 after a ceremony at the Lender Auditorium in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Chancellor Kent Syverud and Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly will speak at the event. The program will end with a speech by Kevin Kumashiro, an expert on social justice and school reform.

Published on September 4, 2018 at 9:25 pm

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