Local author to hold book signing April 7 at UT

April 3, 2014 | Events, Research, UToday, — Languages, Literature and Social Sciences, Judith Herb College of Education
By Samantha Watson



For Lucy Thelma Osbourne, going to an academic university was a completely different experience from the African-American quilting culture she had grown up in.

PowerPoint PresentationA nontraditional graduate student, Osbourne built upon her own base of knowledge to succeed in academics. It is this experience that she chronicles in her first book, Quilt University: Transforming Oral Learning Into Academic Knowledge.

Osbourne will have a book signing for her newly released work Monday, April 7, at 4:30 p.m. in Rocket Hall Room 1551 at The University of Toledo. It is co-sponsored by the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, and the UT@TPS Program.

“If individuals are to survive in the dominant culture and in academic university, they need to rely on their inner voices and trust themselves and the universe as centers from which to speak, identify and validate self,” Osbourne said.

In her book, Osbourne brings eight decades of experience to bear on persistent racism, the violence of exclusion, and the rules of mainstream schooling that make it difficult to survive and thrive. She addresses these issues in a positive way — by describing how she handled these obstacles and achieved the ability to be fully human in both “academic university” and “quilt university.”

Though Osbourne focuses on her experiences as an African-American woman, she says transforming academic learning by building on personal experience is relevant for any person regardless of age, ethnicity or gender.

She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UT in 1994 and 1999, respectively.

For more information on the book or to order a copy, email QUpress@bex.net or call 419.690.4757.

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