College and high school student leaders, as well as, administrative teams from local elementary, middle, and high schools will discuss classroom issues and initiatives that impact them most at this year’s Educators Summit, hosted by the Albany State University College of Education. The conference will be held Saturday, Sept. 24 from 8 a.m. to noon in the Billy C. Black Auditorium, located on the campus.

The 2016 summit theme is, “Advancing Educational Excellence in K-12 Schools and Beyond.”  The summit will feature research presentations in all areas of K-12 education including counseling, teaching, and educational leadership, as well as, areas of industries educational policymaking, instructional technology, and higher education.

“The Educators Summit highlights Albany State’s College of Education as a regional leader in educational research and scholarship,” said Erica DeCuir, assistant professor in the ASU Department of Teacher Education and chair of the College of Education Research and Scholarship Committee.” The Summit brings together all educators on the front line of school and student improvement—pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, teacher educators, counselors, and leaders—to share innovative ideas and learn new ways to improve teaching and learning in schools.”

The keynote speaker for the conference will be Kathaleena Edward Monds, co-director of the Albany State University Center for Economic Education/Small and Minority Entrepreneurship.

In her role as co-director, Monds works with students, and K-12 teachers utilizing new venture creation as the catalyst for economic development and empowerment.

Monds’ research interests include information economics, bottom-up community development, technology tools used to teach entrepreneurship, and online learning.  She has published research articles and refereed pieces in the Journal of Computer Information Systems, the Journal of Private Enterprise Education, and the International Journal of Information and Computer Security.

At Albany State University, Monds has served as interim dean of the College of Business, managed the Center for Advanced Logistics Management; partnered with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Industrial Assessment Center and partnered with more than 20 corporations in Georgia to expand Supply Chain and Logistics Education via the Innovation in Logistics Grant.

A native of Detroit, Mich., Monds holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Spelman College, a master’s degree in computer science from Wayne State University, and a doctoral degree in Instructional Technology, with an emphasis in End-User Computing, from Wayne State University.