{UAH} IF YOU ARE IN OKOLAOMA

Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe to speak at OU about women's rights, education in Uganda

1 image

Provided by Twitter

Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe will speak for the 2017 edition of the Cathey Simmons Humphreys Distinguished Education Lecture Series. Nyirumbe has been named a CNN Hero and one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People.

1

Shane Byler, news reporter | Updated 21 hours ago

An internationally renowned Ugandan nun and advocate for women and women's education will deliver a free lecture at OU this week.

Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe will speak at 1 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Oklahoma Memorial Union's Meacham Auditorium for the 2017 edition of the Cathey Simmons Humphreys Distinguished Education Lecture Series. The annual event, funded by an endowment from Cathey and Don Humphreys, showcases lectures on education-specific topics.

Emily Reed, director of development in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, said more than 300 people have registered to attend the event.

Directly afterward there will be a reception, followed by a discussion regarding how OU will further collaborate with Nyirumbe in June by continuing to help educate Ugandan women.

In 2007, Nyirumbe was named a CNN Hero, and in 2014 she was on TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list, according to a press release.

Education professor Sally Beach said that around three years ago, OU community members from several colleges traveled to Uganda to assist Nyirumbe's efforts to educate women.

"There are so many entities at OU that have become involved with Sister Rosemary and her efforts," said Melanie Schneider, the director of communications for the College of Education. "So I think we want to spread the word to the Oklahoma community at large a little more about what she is doing, how Oklahoma is involved and how they can become involved — whether it's donations, or volunteering or things like that."

According to the fall 2016 edition of the college's Bridges Magazine, the College of Education has worked with her directly, creating lesson plans and teacher guides.

"My associate dean basically said to the sister, 'So what can the College of Education do for you?'" Beach said. "And (Nyirumbe) said 'You can help me start a school.'"

In 1982, before OU began working with Nyirumbe, she co-founded St. Monica's Vocational School for Girls in Gulu, Uganda. Her goal was to train disadvantaged women and girls in various trades they could employ to earn a living, Schneider said.

Beach said Nyirumbe's recent request from the College of Education — assistance in starting a new school — involved designing a curriculum that prepares students, many of whom speak little English, for the primary exit exam so they can continue their education.

Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students have been working to shorten the Ugandan curriculum by three years and adjust it to suit young adults rather than children, Beach said.

Beach said Nyirumbe is wonderful to work with.

"She is an outstanding person," Beach added. "She is a visionary. She thinks big, but she also knows that you have to start small."

Though she advocates abroad and most recently attended the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast, Nyirumbe's primary efforts go toward educating Ugandan women.

"Her focus is on the women, and helping them build a sustainable life, and these children — building sustainable lives through generations of these women," Schneider said.

Reed said the Humphreys are strongly interested in international work and emerging countries. They have also funded scholarships for education students to study abroad.

Some of the scholarship funds have helped education students travel to Uganda to work with Niyrumbe, Schneider said.

"Since that international tie-in was there and we had the relationship with Sister Rosemary ... it was the perfect storm for this year's speaker," Reed said.

Anyone interesting in attending can register in advance

Sent from my MetroPCS 4G LTE Android Device