In April of 2013, after much planning and effort from Jack McKnight, assistant director of Partnerships and Field Experiences, and many others, WSUNER held its first partnership conference. Representatives from 10 local partnership school districts attended the conference and gave presentations on research and best practices in their districts. The conference was an excellent opportunity for Wright State faculty and staff to interact and engage with the teachers and administrators from the partnership school districts, and for conference attendees to learn from each other. Planning is already underway for the 2014 conference.
NNER Co-Directors Greg Bernhardt and Ann Foster at the WSUNER conference.
Student and staff volunteers at the WSUNER conference.
Wright State University Network for Educational Renewal 2nd Annual Conference
The second annual Wright State University Network for Educational Renewal (WSUNER) Conference was held for April 26, 2014. Wright State University’s President Dr. David Hopkins opened the conference with a keynote address. Faculty and staff presented thirty-six examples of best practices from partnership school districts and the Dayton Regional STEM School. Community organization partners also participate by highlighting the advantages of their programs to PK-12.
This year’s the conference included a two hour NNER training workshop for twenty partnership district administrators and WSU faculty. This session afforded an opportunity to expose those in leadership positions to the mission of NNER encouraging continued commitment to the concepts of “simultaneous renewal” and “democratic engagement.” Ann Foster and Greg Bernhardt, Co-executive Directors of NNER, and James Tomlin, Chair of the WSU Department of Teacher Education, led the session.
A total of 260 professionals attended the conference including teachers, administrators, community organization members, WSU faculty and student teachers. The event was held in Allyn Hall, the home of the College of Education and Human Services, on the WSU campus. The WSUNER Conference committee is very appreciative of the $4000 Setting Renewal Grant awarded by the National Network for Educational Renewal in support of the 2014 event.