Ruby K. Payne, Founder and CEO of aha! Process, Inc., to Speak at Walden University Academic Residency

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D., founder and CEO of aha! Process, Inc. and an expert in educational leadership, will speak to more than 500 students at Walden University's academic residency on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013, at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. Dr. Payne, who has more than 40 years of experience in public schools, speaks at about 200 workshops and seminars a year about understanding the impact of poverty on students and helping low-income children learn.

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In her career as an educator, Dr. Payne realized that the behavior of some low-income students might seem wrong to teachers from middle-income backgrounds, but made sense in the context of the students' lives. She explained her observations to other teachers and, soon, was in so much demand that she found herself writing a book about the topic. Dr. Payne's internationally recognized book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, explains to teachers how economic class differences in an educational setting can make teaching and learning challenging. Dr. Payne also founded aha! Process, Inc., a company that helps to improve the lives and education of individuals throughout the world. She currently serves as its CEO.

Dr. Payne has written and co-authored more than a dozen books about issues of poverty in the areas of education, social services, business, communities, churches, relationships and leadership. In 2011, she received a Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards as well as the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers for her publications. Dr. Payne received a bachelor's degree from Goshen College in Indiana, a master's degree in English literature from Western Michigan University and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from Loyola University of Chicago.

Academic residencies at Walden, an accredited online university, support students' academic and professional goals by connecting them with individual faculty mentors, student support staff and hundreds of peers. During academic residencies, students from select doctoral and master's degree programs have the opportunity to conceptualize and develop research that contributes to positive social change.

Walden's plenary sessions are an integral part of the residencies and are led by speakers from around the world who share an array of experiences and viewpoints with the hope of inspiring debate and lively conversation. These sessions are intended to provide Walden students and faculty and staff members with the opportunity to hear perspectives on a variety of topics that are meaningful and relevant to their lives as scholars and practitioners.

For more information about Walden University, visit www.WaldenU.edu.

About Walden University
For more than 40 years, Walden University has supported working professionals in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and their communities. Today, more than 50,000 students from all 50 states and more than 145 countries are pursuing their bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees online at Walden. The university provides students with an engaging educational experience that connects them with expert faculty and peers around the world. Walden is the flagship online university in the Laureate International Universities network—a global network of 70 campus-based and online universities in 29 countries.

Walden offers more than 75 degree programs with more than 385 specializations and concentrations. Areas of study include health sciences, counseling, human services, management, psychology, education, public health, nursing, public administration and information technology. For more information, visit www.waldenu.edu. Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association, www.ncahlc.org.

SOURCE Walden University