Dr. James Comer, an internationally renowned child psychiatrist at Yale University, will keynote California State University, Fresno’s 24th annual Conference on Character and Civic Education on April 16 at the Fresno Convention Center in downtown Fresno.
Fresno State’s is the nation’s longest-running character education conference, providing hundreds of prospective teachers with information on local civic agencies devoted to assisting children and families with life issues, said Dr. Jacques S. Benninga, conference co-director.
Benniga is an education professor in the conference sponsor, the Kremen School of Education and Human Development’s Bonner Center for Character Education. He said participants are presented with ethical issues facing today’s teachers and with professionally appropriate ways of dealing with those issues and with strategies to enhance character strengths in students.
Comer will speak at 8:30 a.m. He is the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at Yale’s School of Medicine, the author of five books and hundreds of articles, and is among Education Week’s 100 most-significant educators. Recognized internationally for his work on promoting child-development principles to improve schools, Comer has more than 35 years experience in child development and education.
At the same general session, the center will recognize the elementary schools that give exemplary attention to character education by presenting the 21st annual Virtues and Character Recognition awards. The day-long conference also presents workshops on professional ethics and decision-making.
For more information contact Benninga at 559.278.0253 or
jackb@csufresno.edu <mailto:jackb@csufresno.edu> , conference co-director Jane Moosoolian at 559.270.0115 or janem@csufresno.edu <mailto:janem@csufresno.edu> , or Mona Nyandoro, Kremen School development director, at 559.278.0393 or monan@csufresno.edu <mailto:monan@csufresno.edu> .
