Wayne State University is celebrating International Literacy Day on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 3:30-5:30 p.m., at the Law School’s Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium, 471 West Palmer, in Detroit. The event is free and open to the general public.

Neal Shine, retired publisher and CEO of the Detroit Free Press and Professor Emeritus of Oakland University, will offer the keynote address. Passionate about literacy and reading, Shine will discuss the significance of the illiteracy epidemic which affects nearly 47 percent of metropolitan Detroit residents. Gregory Robinson, a local Detroit marathoner, scheduled to compete in the Sept. 30 “Run for Literacy,” will be speaking about the Atlanta-to-Detroit event and its impact on the communities included in the marathon’s route. In addition, Scholastic books and IBM computers will be donated to local literacy providers during the International Literacy Day celebration.

This year’s International Literacy Day’s event which carries the theme, “Literacy: The Road Map to a Successful Michigan,” is sponsored by Wayne State’s Department of Interdisciplinary Studies (IS), Institute of Gerontology, Humanities Center, University Library System and Community Relations Department, in collaboration with the University of Michigan–Dearborn, Wayne County Community College, and the Detroit Area Lifelong Learning Coalition.

International Literacy Day is celebrated around the world to bring attention to the nearly 1 billion people who are deprived of this universal right. The United Nations has declared Sept. 8 as the day of recognition of this unrelenting malady.

Daphne Ntiri, associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Wayne State University, is conducting cutting edge research in the literacy field and serves as the contact for this event. Since 1990, Ntiri has led southeast Michigan in recognizing the impact functional illiteracy has had on the daily lives of families and the community.

For more information, contact Ntiri dntiri@wayne.edu or Kay Flavin kflavin@wayne.edu or phone 313-875-5436.
The Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences provides a unique university education with a distinctive interdisciplinary curriculum tailored to adult learners. IS recognizes that most students seek an education that both prepares them for career advancement and fulfills their personal ambitions. For more information on educational opportunities in Interdisciplinary Studies, visit their website at www.clas.wayne.edu/IS.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.