Like students and staff at other Venture campuses, I find that early September is not short on things to do. This semester, I varied my usual routine by facilitating the orientation for Venture’s Urban Education Semester. This Fall, 11 students from all over the world descended on New York City to examine public education by spending three days a week in classrooms and two days studying education, public policy, and current issues that affect teachers, parents, students, and learning.




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Venture’s offices have moved to a new location! As of July 2nd, the Venture Consortium at Brown University will be located at Hemisphere Building at 167 Angell Street. The Angell Street building will house Career Development Center, Phi Beta Kappa, Howard Foundation, and the Venture Consortium. Venture’s newly renovated offices will be conveniently located on the lower level beneath Career Development. We look forward to your visit!

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UPDATE - We are currently reviewing applications and we are no longer accepting new applications.

Venture is now accepting applications for our summer intern position. If you are a student interested in working part-time in our office over the summer, then please see our posting on Brown University’s Student Employment website.

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On March 23, 2007, representatives from Venture Schools met at Brown University to discuss their institutions’ various partnerships with their local public school system and greater community. The goals of the meeting were to reflect on the work that we do with regards to our partnerships with local public schools, to deepen our understanding for doing this work effectively and to consider possible ways that Venture can aid its campuses in this work. Through lunch and a four-hour discussion, many insightful stories were shared and strategies were generated for the improvement of our respective communities. Among many topics discussed during the meeting, the subject of assessing the work we do, and its actual impact on the students, faculty, and community members involved was a major focus of the discussion. The meeting was mediated by Professor Kenneth Wong, a faculty member in the Education Department at Brown.

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The February 20th edition of Wesleyan’s bi-weekly newspaper, The Wesleyan Argus, featured an article on the Urban Education Semester.

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The Urban Education Semester is an interdisciplinary, academic immersion program in New York City that gives students the opportunity to study the theory and and experience the practice of urban public education. Deadlines for the Fall 2007 Urban Education Semester are approaching.

For students at Brown, Franklin & Marshall, Holy Cross, and Swarthmore, applications are due to your UES Campus Program Coordinator on Monday, March 19, 2007.

For students at Vassar and Wesleyan, applications are due to your UES Campus Program Coordinator on Monday, March 26, 2007.

>> learn more about UES

>> check out our facebook alumni group to see who on your campus has done the program

>> contact your UES Campus Program Coordinator

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Brown University recently held its mid-year completion ceremony. This ceremony provides and opportunity to celebrate and recognize students who complete their graduation requirements at the end of the Fall semester. Many of these students are graduating in the Fall because they have taken time off for a semester. Copies of the text of the three speeches is located on Venture’s blog:

• Midyear Completion Speech by Benjamin Boas (Brown ‘06.5)
• Aporia, Education, and “Real Life” by Andrew Marantz (Brown ‘06.5)
• A Dissent Against Pseudo-Life - Remarks on the Occasion of the Mid-Year Completion Ceremony by Glenn C. Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences

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The following entry is taken from a speech given by Glenn C. Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown University’s Midyear Completion Ceremony. It is published with the permission of the author.

Several summers ago, I took some time to read the non-fiction writings of the great 19th century Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy. As you may know, he became an eccentric pacifist and radical Christian critic at the end of his life. I was stunned at the force of some of his arguments (though, I confess, I was not entirely persuaded on one of his key points — that a true Christian must be absolutely celibate!) What struck me most was Tolstoy’s provocative claim that the core of Christianity lies in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount: You see that other fellow committing some terrible sin? Well, Jesus preaches, if you have ever lusted, or allowed jealousy, or envy or hatred to enter your own heart, then you are to be equally condemned! This, Tolstoy claims, is the central teaching of the Christian faith: namely, that we’re all in the same fix! Read the rest of this entry »

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