Bremer Symposium to rally community support for language, literacy and learning in eastern North Carolina

Bremer Symposium to rally community support for language, literacy and learning in eastern North Carolina

GREENVILLE, N.C. (10/9/2024) - East Carolina University will host a first-of-its-kind symposium at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25, that aims to unite eastern North Carolina parents, educators and researchers in an exploration of creative approaches to assist those with language, literacy and learning challenges. The goal of the symposium is to foster student success, particularly in rural parts of eastern North Carolina.

Dr. Yolanda Holt, the Bremer Distinguished Professor and symposium director, is a speech-language pathologist and associate professor of communication sciences and disorders in the College of Allied Health Sciences. Holt said the symposium seeks to bring together regional members of the education and allied health community with representatives from ECU's departments of education, psychology, kinesiology, African and African American studies, foreign languages, and Allied Health Sciences to promote rural empowerment, resource development and networking opportunities in support of young people with language, literacy and learning challenges.

"The idea is to develop partnerships between those with access to resources and those who need them," Holt said. "There is a lot of need in the East, but there are just as many people and organizations available and excited to do the work and bridge those language, literacy and learning gaps in the community."

Speaking at the symposium, to be held at the ECU Health Sciences Student Center, are Dr. Tracy Cole, principal of ECU's Community school; Dr. Kristen Cuthrell, past director of ECU's Rural Education Institute; and Dr. Jerry Johnson, the Phoebe Moore Dail Distinguished Professor in Rural Education at ECU and current director of the Rural Education Institute.

The symposium will provide participants with three education Continuing Education Units.

Dr. Christopher Bremer and Barbara Bremer established the Barbara W. Bremer Distinguished Professorship in Language Learning and Literacy Disorders in 2007. The professorship allows the university to recognize a senior faculty member for his or her skills as an educator, researcher and clinician.

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