Why children are getting and what UB is - University at Buffalo

Lisa Albrecht was a senior in high school when she participated
in her first protest, a march against the Vietnam War.
But it was her experience at UB that really set her on the
path to becoming the “scholar activist” she is today as an
associate professor and Morse-Minnesota Alumni Association
Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the University of
Minnesota’s School of Social Work.
“I found my way intellectually and politically by bringing
together English education and women’s studies at UB,” she
explains. “I began to define myself and all my work. My writing,
teaching and service have been connected to social justice
ever since.”
It wasn’t just the courses that transformed Albrecht. It was
the way they were taught. “Women’s studies professor Liz
Kennedy used [Brazilian educator] Paulo Freire’s ideas about
teaching in the classroom, which created a transformative
learning environment,” Albrecht
says. “My classes had always
Albrecht close-up
been lectures, but we sat in a circle,
did critical analysis and gave
UB degrees PhD ’84, MA ’75 &
each other feedback on our work.
BA ’72; Personal heroes Audre
It really made sense to me.”
Lorde and Gloria Anzaldúa; Books
So much sense, that for more
she has coedited Sing, Whisper,
Shout, Pray!: Feminist Visions for
than two decades Albrecht, who
a Just World and Bridges of Power: is currently on leave to work on
Women’s Multicultural Alliances; a book, has been using Freirean
Hobbies swimming, gardening teaching philosophy in her own
and playing percussion in the
courses. “His work is about being
Klezmer band, the Tsatkelahs
an educator that creates spaces
for students to discover critical
consciousness,” she says. “I try to
set up contexts where students can discover themselves, learn
to situate themselves historically and learn to change the
world.”
Albrecht isn’t using a figure of speech. She means literally
changing the world. After teaching writing, as well as women’s
studies, in the University of Minnesota’s General College for 19
years, she was asked in 2004 to join the School of Social Work
to launch a social justice minor. In addition to learning social
movement theories, students become activists as they provide
a minimum of 30 hours each semester with social justice organizations.
For Albrecht, a lifelong activist who continues to work
for racial and economic justice while addressing sexism,
homophobia and anti-Semitism, it is an incredible opportunity.
“I think my worldview is very much about the
notion of critical consciousness,” she says. “I run
a program about the theories and practices of
social justice activism. I see students reading
about social justice and beginning
to question their lives and histories.
It’s very inspiring.”
Story by Meleah Maynard,
with photo by Dawn Villella
alumniprofile
Lisa Albrecht
Longtime ‘scholar activist’
engages students in social
justice issues
www.alumni.buffalo.edu www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY UBTODAY Spring|Summer Winter 2009 2008 33