News & Events

UNC Asheville to Host Talk by Distinguished Educator Yong Zhao

March 18, 2010

UNC Asheville will host a talk on "Catching Up or Leading the Way" by distinguished educator Yong Zhao at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 31, at UNC Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium. Zhao is author of the acclaimed book by the same title, which addresses global education. The event is free and open to the public.

During his talk, Zhao will explain how American education systems are moving increasingly toward standardization, while the Chinese system is aggressively moving toward innovation and knowledge application. He will provide a non-Western perspective on global education.

"American education is at a crossroads," Zhao said. "There are two paths in front of us: one in which we destroy our strengths in order to 'catch up' with others in test scores and one in which we build on our strengths so we can keep the lead in innovation and creativity."

Zhao is the University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University's College of Education, where he also serves as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology, executive director of the Confucius Institute and director the U.S.-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. He has extensive international experiences and has spoken on educational issues on six continents. His current work focuses on designing 21st century schools in the context of globalization and digital revolution. Zhao also is conducting researching on computer gaming and education, diffusion of innovations, teacher adoption of technology and computer-assisted language learning.

A native of China's Sichuan Province, Zhao holds a doctorate in education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the faculty at Michigan State in 1996, after serving as the Language Center coordinator at Williamette University and a language specialist at Hamilton College.

Zhao's talk is sponsored by Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools, Western Regional Education Service Alliance, University School Teacher Education Partnership, along with the following UNC Asheville departments and programs, Asheville Graduate Center, Center for Diversity Education, Center for Teaching and Learning, Cultural Events & University Programs, Division of Student Affairs, Master of Liberal Arts Program, Office of Academic Affairs, Office of the Chancellor and the Teaching Fellows Program.

For more information, call the Asheville Graduate Center at 828/251-6099.