2013 Arizona Historic Preservation Conference comes to Mesa, June 12-14, 2013

    SCOTTSDALE, AZ, May 15, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The 11th Annual Arizona Historic Preservation Conference will take place in Mesa, June 12-14, 2013, emphasizing the theme "Making Preservation Relevant: The Past in Future Tense."

This annual conference, taking place at the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa, will draw hundreds from around the country and abroad to explore various aspects of historic preservation that include archaeology, architecture, urban planning, rural economic development, sustainability, sense of place, cultural resource management, commercial and residential structure preservation and rehabilitation, archival research, historic photography, commercial archaeology, cultural tourism, project management, funding sources, and legislation updates. The speaker line-up consists of scholars, consultants, architects, archaeologists, city planners, authors, government officials, legislators, and historians.

The planning partners offer field study sessions to such historic sites as the Buckhorn Baths, the Sunkist Building, Hayden Flour Mill, Mesa's Historic Commercial District, and an evening session highlighting the neon signage preservation efforts of Mesa. AIA continuing education units are available for some of the field study sessions for registered architects. In addition, a free-to-the-public Historic Homeowner's Expo will take place on Saturday, June 15, 2013, 9:00am - 1:00pm at the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa where homeowners may find exhibitors and vendors of products and services directly related to the preservation of historic homes.

The conference will also gather Tribal representatives from around the Southwest to participate in a Traditional Cultural Places Workshop. The purpose of the workshop is to better preserve and protect Traditional Cultural Places today and for future generations through the promotion of mutual respect and understanding. It is intended to define and discuss issues related to the identification, evaluation, and protection of these special places. Leadership representatives from the National Register of Historic Places will be present to address the current status of the National Register's Bulletin 38 that addresses management of historic and sacred sites. This workshop will take place Wednesday and Thursday, June 12 and 13, 2013 at the same conference hotel. The workshop is supported by the generosity of NextEra Energy Resources, the Arizona State Museum, and the El Paso Natural Gas Company (a Kinder Morgan Company).

The annual Arizona Historic Preservation Conference is developed and orchestrated jointly by Arizona State Parks, the (AZ) State Historic Preservation Office, the National Park Service, the Arizona Preservation Foundation, the Arizona Historical Society, and the Arizona Archaeological Council. The host city partner for 2013 is Mesa, Arizona. The full conference agenda may be found at https://azpreservation.com/resources/agenda.html.

The conference actively seeks sponsors and financial partners who have a vested interest in the historic preservation movement and industry. For sponsorship and partnership, or general information, please contact questions@azpreservation.com. Conference registration information is currently available online at http://www.azpreservation.com.

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LMU Conference Serves as Launch Pad for Intellectual Virtues Charter School

Top scholars in education, philosophy and psychology gathered at Loyola Marymount University for a first-of-its-kind conference on the importance of teaching intellectual character and intellectual virtues in schools.

The conference was the brainchild of Jason Baehr, a professor in the Philosophy Department of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts.  Baehr received a $1 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation last year to develop a curriculum and a charter school to be used as models for educating children in intellectual virtues.

Intellectual virtues are the character traits of a good thinker or learner. They include curiosity, open-mindedness, attentiveness, creativity, intellectual humility and intellectual perseverance.

Baehr opened the two-day conference by telling the more than 120 participants that the purpose of the event was “to expand knowledge behind the theory and practice of intellectual virtues in education.”  

Internationally known scholars discussed and debated intellectual virtues, why they are important to education, and what it looks like in the classroom when you educate to encourage these traits.

Ian McCurry, an English teacher at the Opportunities Unlimited Charter High School in Los Angeles who has been training with Baehr’s team, demonstrated how he focuses on intellectual virtues in his teaching. He’s reorganized his class, giving students assigned roles in discussion groups and letting students evaluate each other on their participation and responsiveness.  

McCurry told the group that when he started training in intellectual virtue techniques, “I was teetering on the edge of burnout with teaching and wasn’t getting through to my students.” The training has “helped renew my love of teaching and helped me make some of my students more engaged in the learning process.”

Scott Crass, a math professor at California State University, Long Beach, demonstrated an intellectual virtues geometry class where he used plastic toys to show how angles create spherical shapes; then he described how to involve students in activities to help them observe and assess what they’ve seen.

“It produces a deeper understanding of mathematics,” Crass told the group. “Math is exploration. If you are not exploring, you’re not doing mathematics.”

Using many of the techniques demonstrated and debated at the conference, Baehr and his team will launch the Intellectual Virtues Academy charter school in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach this fall, with two sixth-grade classes of about 25 students each.  

School organizers have hired a principal and are in the process of hiring two teachers and finalizing the curriculum. The school will have its first parent/teacher meeting in the next few weeks. Organizers hope to add seventh- and eighth-grade classes over the next two years.

For more information on the Intellectual Virtues and Education Project at LMU go to http://intellectualvirtues.org/.

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