Ernest Morrell has been named the new director of TC’s Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME). Morrell, a faculty member at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), succeeds IUME founding director Edmund W. Gordon.

Morrell has done research and teaching in the fields of literacy, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, urban education and ethnic studies. As Associate Director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA), he has worked with high school students in Los Angeles on in-school and out-of-school literacy instruction, cultural studies and civic involvement. • IUME was created in 1973 on the premise that, in order to succeed on par with their wealthier peers, urban minority children need excellent teaching and extra, out-of-school supports to compensate for deficiencies in their environment. During the 1980s, IUME was the largest research and development unit of Teachers College, taking in substantial federal and private dollars.

To see a video interview with Morrell, go to http://bit.ly/fsqebF.

Published Thursday, May. 19, 2011