A new UAB Center for Urban Education will coordinate ongoing teaching, research and service programs that promote quality education for children in poor, urban school districts.

The new center, housed in the UAB School of Education, was approved by the University of Alabama Board of Trustees during its Feb. 8 meeting.

Deborah Voltz, Ed.D., who currently directs the school’s Urban Education Project, will lead the center that will link faculty from the schools of Education, Natural Sciences & Mathematics and Social & Behavioral Sciences and other UAB centers and departments.

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.