LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The current economic downturn has highlighted the lack of basic financial literacy around the world. The new Center for Economic Education at Bellarmine University – a collaborative effort with the Kentucky Council on Economic Education – gives teachers the resources to make every day money decisions relevant for a new generation. The center opened Nov. 17.
"We as citizen consumers helped create this financial quagmire by not being vigilant and informed about our own money and financial futures," said Kathleen Cooter, who co-directs the center with Corrie Orthober. Both are professors in the Bellarmine School of Education. "Deregulation certainly played a role but we as citizen consumers were like lemmings moving en masse to the sea without the knowledge to act as our own financial planners and managers."
The economic education center includes a stocked library with the latest materials related to financial education, as well as ready-made lesson plans. The center is available to both education students and practicing teachers.
In addition to her expertise as an early childhood and special needs educator, Cooter is a former high school economics teacher. As a former family credit interviewer for the Habitat for Humanity office in Fort Worth, Texas, she recognizes the power of financial knowledge to make homes and stability possible for families. This year, she co-authored a book titled "Financial Literacy for Children and Youth," with Thomas Lucey, an education professor at Illinois State University in Normal.
Orthober teaches social studies methods courses to aspiring elementary, middle and high school teachers, as well as research methodology to graduate students.
Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs and a doctor of physical therapy. Forbes magazine and the Princeton Review rank Bellarmine among America’s best colleges, and U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Bellarmine as a top tier university.
For more information about the center, visit:
http://www.bellarmine.edu/education/centerforeconomiceducation.asp.