UN traveling experts support White House “global literacy” initiative with grassroots outreach to U.S. cities.

As a follow up to First Lady Laura Bush’s recent launch of The White House Conference on Global Literacy on Sept. 18, a UN panel of international experts will examine issues related to the educational advancement of girls in developing nations, on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., at the Wayne State University Law School’s Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium, 471 West Palmer, in Detroit.

Slated for Detroit and Memphis, “The Education of Girls in the Developing World,” panel discussion is sponsored by the United States Mission to the United Nations (UN) and is exemplary of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s stated goal of helping the American people to better understand the broad purpose and mission of the UN. Gretchen Bolton, wife of John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, will moderate the event, which features international panel experts from countries including Afghanistan, El Salvador, India, Indonesia and Liberia and is open to the public free-of-charge.

According to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), more than 771 million adults around the world cannot read. Eighty-five percent of them live in just 35 countries, concentrated in regions of poverty. More than two-thirds of these illiterate adults are women.

Pamela Trotman Reid, provost and executive vice president at Roosevelt University, will serve as the local panel expert highlighting Wayne State’s successful initiatives to encourage female participation in science, mathematics and engineering.

Reid is one of the founders of the highly acclaimed Wayne State “GO-GIRLS” (Gaining Options-Girls Investigate Real Life) program for seventh-grade girls and is the wife of WSU President Irvin D. Reid.

Wayne State University alumnus and WSU Foundation Board Member Yousif B. Ghafari is a former Public Delegate Designate to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Ghafari was instrumental in bringing the United Nations panel to Wayne State based upon the university’s diverse population and innovative programs for K-12 urban students. Examples of these educational initiatives include: “Women in Engineering Training,” which teaches algebra and communications to 14-year-old girls; Math Corps, a combined math enrichment and mentoring summer camp program for Detroit middle and high school students; the Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA), which encourages students to pursue careers in science, engineering, mathematics and technology; and the Metropolitan Detroit Teen Conference, sponsored annually by the Merrill Palmer Institute and Wayne State to promote the value of higher education among ninth- and tenth-graders representing more than 50 schools and organizations in metro Detroit.

In addition to presenting as panelists on Sept. 26, the UN experts will engage in a morning dialogue with students representing Wayne State’s “model United Nations” and later, with Wayne State faculty to share and compare successful teaching strategies.

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.