MEDIA ADVISORY: Beach Center to honor Dominican Republican educator at D.C. symposium

LAWRENCE -- The Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas is co-sponsoring a symposium in Washington, D.C., Tuesday on "The History and Development of Special Education in the Dominican Republic."

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Inter-American Children's Institute, which is a specialized branch of the Organization of American States, headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay. It will take place in the OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., 1901 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.

At the symposium, the Beach Center will honor keynote speaker Mary P³rez de Marranzini with the Eloisa Garcia Etchegoyhen de Lorezno Prize. The prize is bestowed upon someone in South America, Central America, the Caribbean or North America who has contributed at the highest levels of excellence to the quality of life of families who have children with developmental or mental/emotional disabilities.

Marranzini is credited with starting a revolution in the Dominican Republic by raising awareness and stimulating a national response for the most effective interventions for people who -- like her firstborn -- were stricken with polio. She is president of the Asociacion Dominicana de Rehabilitacion Inc. National Directing Board. The association, founded in 1959, has 17 rehabilitation centers in 17 cities and a School of Special Education that offers services for children from 18 months to 16 years.

After the symposium, Ann and Rudd Turnbull, co-directors of KU's Beach Center, will host an award celebration in Marranzini's honor. Among those expected to attend the celebration are Marianna and Ross Beach of Lawrence and Hays, the current IACI directing council president, IACI delegates from Canada, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic, and the ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United States, among others.