Old Dominion's Latin American Studies program will sponsor a symposium, "Pedagogy and Culture in Latin America," from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, in room 104 of the Batten Arts and Letters Building and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, in the Cape Charles/Isle of Wight, Richmond, Smithfield and Virginia Rice Webb rooms of Webb Center.

Franklin Martínez Mendoza of the University of Havana, an internationally recognized specialist in Latin American education, will deliver the keynote address at 9:15 a.m. Friday. A Cuban scholar in psychology and preschool education, Mendoza has specialized in language development of preschool-age children for 25 years.

Mendoza's trip is believed to be the first formal visit to Old Dominion by a Cuban scholar, according to Regina Root, assistant professor of Spanish and director of the Latin American Studies minor program. It is also another step toward further globalizing the university, organizers note.

This spring, Old Dominion will offer a course on pedagogy and culture in Latin America, the Art of Teaching, which will include a study abroad trip to Cuba.

For his service as an education consultant to several Latin American countries, the United Nations presented Mendoza with the UNICEF Award in the Congress of Pedagogy in 1993. Currently, he serves as a chief researcher for the group on language development in preschool children at the Central Institute of Pedagogical Sciences in Havana.

Other speakers will include Silvia Tieffemberg of the University of Buenos Aires, a visiting scholar sponsored by the Latin American Studies Association, who will discuss the representation of dictatorship and the transition to democracy in contemporary Argentina, and James Johnson, associate professor of business management at Old Dominion, who will discuss the relationship of business and pedagogy, and the art of teaching, in Latin America.