News Article

Washington State University Spokane and Gonzaga University will co-host a lecture by internationally renowned education scholar and social activist Peter McClaren in the Barbieri Courtroom at Gonzaga University’s School of Law from 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, March 8.

The presentation and a subsequent question-and-answer period, followed by a reception, are free and open to the public. The lecture is titled, “A Pedagogy of Praxis” and it precedes the opening of the 2nd Annual Globalization, Diversity, and Education Conference at Washington State University in Pullman, where McClaren is a featured speaker.

As a professor of urban schooling at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, McClaren has authored some of the most important books on educational theory and philosophy in the last 20 years. As a “philosopher of praxis” and social and political activist, he is considered among the primary architects of what has come to be known as “critical pedagogy.” An award-winning author and editor, McClaren has published over 40 books on a wide range of educational topics.

McClaren lectures worldwide and his works have been translated into 15 languages. He is the inaugural recipient of the Paulo Freire Social Justice Award from Chapman University. McClaren’s work has been the subject of numerous international conferences and recently a group of educators in Mexico established La Fundacion McClaren de Pedagogia Critica to advance the work of critical pedagogy throughout the Americas.

McClaren’s book “Life in Schools” was recently named by an international panel of experts as among the world’s 12 most important educational texts. McClaren is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.

For more information, please contact Gonzaga Associate Professor Mary Jeannot at (509) 323-6559 or WSU Professor Bernardo Gallegos, a faculty member in the WSU College of Education and organizer of the Globalization, Diversity, and Education Conference, at (509) 432-5464.