Two Veteran Broome Community College
Educators Selected To Speak At Oxford University

-Veteran Educators To Present Papers On Science & Faith-

(TOWN OF DICKINSON, NY) Broome Community College President Dr. Laurence Spraggs today announced that Dr. Richard Firenze and Professor Bruce Oldfield are presenting papers at this year’s Oxford Roundtable, which is taking place from July 23rd through July 28th at Exeter College, Oxford University.

Scholastic representatives from all over the world will be in attendance at the roundtable representing several major institutions. This year’s roundtable is titled “Science and Faith: The Great Matter”.

“It is truly an honor to be selected to present a paper at Oxford University and we are extremely proud of the success of these faculty members and the academic distinction they bring to the College,” said BCC President Dr. Laurence Spraggs. “The selection process to present at the Oxford Roundtable is rigorous and in-depth, and many veteran educators who apply to present papers from four year and Ivy League academic institutions are not accepted.” 

The purpose of the Oxford Round Table is to promote human advancement and understanding through the improvement of education.  To this end, the Oxford Round Table provides a forum for the study and consideration of current issues facing state and national systems of education. The Round Table meets periodically and at each session is comprised of a small select group of leaders from both the public and private sectors of several countries.

Dr. Firenze’s paper is “The Identification, Assessment, and Amelioration of Barriers to America’s Acceptance of Evolutionary Theory”. Professor Oldfield will speak on “Science and Religion in Colonial America: The Early Years.”   

Invitations are sent to selected persons throughout the country.  These individuals are identified through several screening processes:  by nomination of previous participants in the Round Table;  from recommendations to the Round Table directors who, also, are actively involved in higher education and public school leadership;  from recognized presentations and awards of state and national organizations;  and, by invitations to an individual in a successful university or school district. 

Dr. Firenze is Chairperson of the Biology Department and Mr. Oldfield is a professor from the Engineering Science Department. Dr. Firenze is a 36 year veteran at BCC, while Professor Oldfield has worked for the College for the last 34 years.

Dr. Firenze and Professor Oldfield expect to return from the Roundtable on Monday, July 31, 2006. In August, 1989, the Oxford Round Table convened in Oxford, England for the first time to consider major issues in contemporary educational policy in the United States, the United Kingdom and other selected countries.  Exeter College was founded in 1314.