OKDHS Lecture Series Continues October 12

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- The next installment of the OKDHS Lecture Series will be Wednesday, October 12, from Noon to 1 pm in the Chesapeake Room of the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. “Using Research to Inform Best Practices in Early Childhood Education:  Tulsa Educare,” will feature Dr. Diane M. Horm and Annie Koppel Van Hanken.

Horm is the George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education and Founding Director of the Early Childhood Education Institute (ECEI) at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa. This is her fifth year at OU. Prior to her 2006 OU appointment, she held faculty and administrative positions at the University of Rhode Island (URI) including Associate Dean of the College of Human Sciences, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, and Director of the URI Child Development Centers. Through the ECEI, Horm is currently leading several applied research initiatives in early childhood education including program evaluation research in collaboration with Oklahoma’s State Pilot Program to Expand and Enhance Infant/Toddler Programming and Tulsa’s Educare programs.

Koppel Van Hanken is a senior program officer at George Kaiser Family Foundation where she oversees the Foundation’s early childhood education and common education initiatives. She has a Master’s Degree in Education, with an emphasis on learning disabilities, from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining the Foundation in 2002, she worked in inner-city Los Angeles at a community-based youth development center. She is President of the Tulsa Educare Board of Directors and serves on the Oklahoma City Educare and Smart Start Oklahoma Board of Directors.

The Practice and Policy Lecture Series has been developed to provide thought-provoking presentations on Oklahoma's emerging policy issues, trends and best practices. The series is sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services Office of Planning, Research and Statistics and the University of Oklahoma Center for Public Management. The goal is to provide the best educational opportunities available in a forum that offers participants an opportunity to question, share and learn from each other.

All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information contact the Office of Planning, Research and Statistics at (405) 521-3552.

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