Carlos Alberto Torres, Distinguished Professor of Education and director of the UCLA Paulo Freire Institute at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS), has been appointed the inaugural chair on Global Learning and Global Citizenship Education at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This is the first such appointment by UNESCO in the University of California system.
UCLA Wasserman Dean Marcelo Suárez-Orozco underscored the historic appointment of Torres as “a tribute to the monumental scale of Carlos’ standing in our field. Carlos is a scholar’s scholar, a public intellectual without borders and the embodiment of engaged citizenship at its best. We are blessed to have Carlos in our faculty.”
GSEIS was selected as the site for the five-year, renewable UNESCO chair — and with the support of the UCLA Academic Senate and the UC Office of the President — because of the graduate school’s commitment to global education and strong alignment with the goals of the specialized United Nations agency.
“Being the first UNESCO chair in global citizenship education in the world and the inaugural holder of the first UNESCO chair in the University of California humbles me, helping renewing my commitment to social justice education through teaching, research and lecturing worldwide,” said Torres. “My work as a global public intellectual seeks to recognize that peace is an immaterial treasure of humanity, that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights of all human beings, and that we need to defend the planet, our only home, promoting planetarian citizenship against predatory cultures.”
Torres has extensive expertise in the political sociology of education and international and comparative education. His contributions to the growing body of knowledge of global citizenship made him ideal for this appointment, where he will be closely linked to the establishment of a teaching and research hub pertaining to global learning.
The creation of the UNESCO chair will serve to delineate and present theories and best practices of global citizenship education around the world through the attraction of students and scholars interested in conducting research projects, by fostering international student and teacher exchanges, and through publications and the creation of a website. Through the building of international networks, Torres will work to strengthen the cooperation of global learning and global citizenship education between the various institutions of higher education, civil society groups and development organizations.
Torres’ appointment as UNESCO chair will be officially launched this winter with a formal inauguration at UCLA.
This is an edited version of a story that originally appeared in the GSEIS news magazine, Ampersand.
