ODU Darden Lecturer, Author David Kirp, Is Guest on ‘HearSay’ Today

Author David Kirp, who is scheduled to deliver the annual Darden Lecture at Old Dominion later this month, will be a guest on WHRV-FM's "HearSay with Cathy Lewis" at noon Thursday, Oct. 10.

If anyone has a grasp on the great social problems that face America, it is Kirp, the James D. Marver Professor of Public Policy at the university of California at Berkeley. In his 17 books and scores of articles in both the popular press and scholarly journals, he has tackled some of America's biggest social problems, including affordable housing, access to health care, gender discrimination and AIDS. His main focus has been on education and children's policy, from cradle to college and career.

The former newspaper editor and policy consultant's latest book is "Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for American Education." Hailed by Publishers Weekly, it has garnered endorsements across the political spectrum. In the book, Kirp chronicles how a poor urban school district (Union City, N.J., four miles and a light year from Times Square) has transported Latino immigrant children, many of them undocumented, into the education mainstream: 90 percent of those youngsters are graduating from high school and 75 percent are going to college.

"HearSay with Cathy Lewis" is WHRV-FM's locally produced, public affairs radio call-in program that discusses issues important to Hampton Roads. The show airs every Monday through Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. on WHRV-FM (89.5), reaching more than 52,000 listeners, from Richmond to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Kirp's Darden Lecture, part of the "ODU Presents" series, will offer a look at the future of America's ailing public school system. The lecture is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23 in ODU's University Theatre.