Prof talks about school/clinic project in West Bank

PULLMAN – A project to build a school in the occupied West Bank region of Palestine will be the focus of a free public presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, in Smith CUE 203.
Michael Hayes, associate professor of teaching and learning in the College of Education, will speak about the “Jordan Valley Solidarity Project,” as part of the Common Reading Tuesdays lecture series.
 
This year’s Common Reading Program book, “Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with books, not bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” is written by Montana humanitarian Greg Mortenson, and details his efforts to build schools for rural communities in the title countries.
 
Hayes has traveled to Palestine since 2008 to conduct research and gather footage for a documentary film on Palestinian nonviolent popular resistance. In May, he will take a group to work with the Jordan Valley Solidarity committee to build a school and clinic for a Bedouin community.
 
The Common Reading Program is part of the University College at WSU. For each of the past four academic years, the program has selected and distributed to incoming freshman a book that is used in classes and programming across the university.
 
Book nominations for the 2011-12 school year are being reviewed by the selection committee. For more information, visit http://CommonReading.wsu.edu or www.facebook.com/CommonReading.