Jackson Free Press

Millsaps College will host a one-day conference called "Global Climate Action: Sustainable investment in Germany and the United States" in partnership with the Atlanta-based German Consulate and the Ecologic Institute U.S. on Thursday, Nov. 2, in the campus' Gertrude C. Ford Academic Complex.

The Institute for Civic and Professional Engagement at Millsaps, which focuses on ethics, poverty studies and communities, organized the conference in cooperation with Millsaps' International Perspectives Program.

"The conference will bring together German and American company leaders to talk about creative ways to address climate issues," Kenneth Townsend, executive director of the ICPE, told the Jackson Free Press. "We hope to bring together people with different perspectives to both develop the economy and manage our environmental impact. A lot of people here in America feel we have to choose between economic growth and the environment, but Germany has been growing while still being sensitive to environmental issues, and we want to hear their ideas on manufacturing and best practices."

Speakers at the conference will include Detlev Ruenger, consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany in Atlanta; 2degrees Mississippi president and board member Dominika Parry; Millsaps history professor and International Perspective Program Faculty Fellow Bill Storey; and representatives of Continental Tire, Siemens USA, Feuer Powertrain and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The conference begins at 10 a.m., and is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, email [email protected] or call 601-974-1061.

JSU Receives Grant for Visually Impaired Teaching Program

The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded Jackson State University's College of Education and Human Development a five-year, $1.25-million grant to train teachers of visually impaired students in the South.

Starting in January 2018, JSU will offer a master's degree in special education with a concentration in visual impairments. The program will offer 10 to 13 scholarships for master's degrees in the subject each year and is also open to individuals seeking kindergarten through 12th-grade endorsement in visually impaired training. An endorsement goes towards a teacher's certification training to teach visually impaired students. However, the grant does not provide financial support for endorsement only.

Courses in this program include Braille training, teaching orientation and mobility skills for blind students, and more.

"This program will provide children who are blind with an opportunity for a more level playing field with their peers," Glenda Windfield, project director of JSU's Deep South Synergy TVI project, which trains teachers how to serve visually impaired students in the Deep South, told the Jackson Free Press. "It will empower them to make decisions to live and work where they want and to develop the talents that they innately have."

For more information about the program, contact Windfield at 601-979-2370 or email [email protected].

Mississippi EPFP Names New Education Policy Fellows

The Mississippi Education Policy Fellowship Program named 18 teachers and administrators throughout the state as new fellows this month. The program is one of 13 in the United States and is a collaboration of Mississippi State University's John C. Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development, the university's Research and Curriculum Unit, and the Office of Research and Economic Development.

The Mississippi Fellows cohort will convene from October through May, with the next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 15. The members will discuss state and national education policies, and ways to advocate on behalf of Mississippi students and schools. In March 2018, the fellows will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with elected representatives and leaders of the national Institute for Educational Leadership.

For more information about the Mississippi EPFP, visit sig.msstate.edu/programs/epfp/ or call 662-325-3328.