Famed Teacher Jaime Escalante to Speak in Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month
Contact: Linda Daniels, Office of Multicultural Programs Director, at (740) 597-4027
ATHENS, Ohio (September 25, 2000) -- The Office of Multicultural Programs, the Black Student Cultural Programming Board, and Alpha Psi Lambda Fraternity, Inc. are pleased to present teacher Jaime Escalante in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Escalante will lecture Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Baker University Center Ballroom at Ohio University.
Escalante, the focus of the acclaimed 1998 film Stand and Deliver, is considered one of the most famous educators in the United States. He is best known for leading his students, underprivileged and predominately Hispanic, to top scores in the Advanced Placement Calculus test in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
Escalante taught math and physics in Bolivia for 11 years until 1964, when he immigrated to the U.S. Unfortunately, he was unable to teach because he did not have credentials. He worked various jobs while putting himself through college and also worked as a computer engineer. He took a considerable cut in pay to become a math teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles in 1974.
Escalante helped turn Garfield High, then a troubled inner-city school dominated with drugs, gangs and violence, into a magnet school ranked seventh in the country in calculus. He holds the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics.
The Office of Multicultural Programs seeks to provide a diverse range of programs and opportunities that are educational, recreational, social and cultural. Committed to supporting and promoting multicultural awareness, the staff develops programs that increase understanding and appreciation of cultural differences by familiarizing the campus community with the contributions and histories of African American, Hispanic/Latino American, Asian American and Native American cultures.
