February 11, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University of Alabama Board of Trustees approved the creation of a new UAB Center for Urban Education during its Feb. 8 meeting.

The new center will be housed in the UAB School of Education. Directed by Deborah Voltz, Ed.D., who currently directs the school’s Urban Education Project, the new center will coordinate ongoing teaching, research and service programs that promote quality education for children in poor, urban school districts.

Specifically, the new center will promote the recruitment, development and retention of leaders for urban school environments and offer education courses centered on issues of race, class and culture. Faculty in the center also will research new ways to enhance the educational achievement of students in urban schools.

The center will link faculty from the UAB schools of Education, Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Social and Behavioral Sciences, as well as researchers in the UAB Center for Aging and other centers and departments on campus.