September 17, 2008 — On Friday, the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education launches the Curry Education Research Lectureship Series.

The lectures will be given on selected Fridays throughout the academic year, from 11 a.m. to noon in the Ruffner Hall Auditorium. They are free and open to the public.

In addition to exposing students and faculty to the work of outstanding scholars from across the nation, the series is intended to provide an opportunity for graduate students to interact with the speakers during their visits.

The wider U.Va. community and those engaged in education throughout the area are encouraged to attend. The topics covered in the series are relevant to many involved in education, from pre-kindergarten through higher education.

Speakers and topics for the fall semester include:

• Sept. 19: Arthur Graesser, chairman of the Department of Psychology and co-director of the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis, "Learning with Conversational Agents."

• Sept. 26: Carol Malloy, associate professor in mathematics education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "The Relation Between Reform Instruction & Student Learning in Middle Grades Mathematics Classrooms."

• Oct. 31: Dan Goldhaber, research professor at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education, "Is It Just a Bad Class? Examining the Stability of Value-Added Measures of Teacher Effectiveness."

• Nov. 14: Judy DeLoache, William R. Kenan Professor of Psychology at U.Va., "Becoming Symbol-Minded."