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Dr. Peter McLaren, CES and Dean Charlene Baldwin, Leatherby Libraries

On September 28, 2013 the College of Educational Studies presented a special Paulo Freire Democratic Project event titled
What Difference has Critical Pedagogy Made? in collaboration with the Leatherby Libraries on the campus of Chapman University. Professor Peter McLaren, who is Professor in the Division of Urban Schooling, at UCLA and Distinguished Fellow in Critical Studies
at Chapman University gifted over a hundred political posters, t-shirts, and artifacts. Part of his collection “Revolutionary Art from South America” is currently exhibited at the Chapman University Library until January 2014.  Dr. McLaren has authored and edited over 50 books including five that have won the critics’ choice award by the American Education Studies Association.  His book Life in Schools is now in its 5th edition. Through an affiliation withDr. Shirley Steinberg, Professor at the University of Calgary, another gift was made to the Chapman University Paulo Freire Archival Collection by Dr. Henry Giroux with documents and papers on critical pedagogy as well as his correspondences about his controversy at Boston University. Dr. Giroux, an American cultural critic and one of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy in the United States is best known for his pioneering work in critical pedagogy, neoliberalism, and youth studies.

The Freire Archival Collection is dedicated to the scholarship of Paulo Freire and Critical Pedagogy and is overseen by Dr. Suzanne SooHoo, co-director of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project and Hassinger Endowed Chair of Culture, Community and Collaboration, and Dr. Tom Wilson, co-director, who was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Paulo Freire AERA SIG, the Freire Project.Org. and the International Institute for Critical Pedagogy and Transformative Leadership.  Dr. Wilson has presented at over 100 academic conferences. His recent work is a co-edited volume, Memories of Paulo, with Dr. Anaida Colon-Muniz. Professor Wilson has applied his understanding of pedagogy and social justice by reaching out locally and internationally on topics such as democratic education, organizational behavior, educational ethics, moral education, critical pedagogy, and social justice.

Dr. Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy. He is best known for his influential work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which is considered one of the foundational texts of the critical pedagogy movement.