Rev. Iris Banister Featured in Baobab Dialogue Series on Education
September 24, 2009
Rev. Iris Banister, Associate Minister, St. Luke Community Church, will present "School suspension and impact on productivity and teacher satisfaction", a discussion as part of series of education reform strategies and conversations on Thursday, September 24, 2009, 6:30 PM, at the Baobab Cultural Center, 728 University Ave., Rochester. The discussion is open to the public; a $5 donation per participant is suggested.
Iris Banister is a native of Oklahoma City Oklahoma. Prior to retirement she was employed by the Rochester City School District for thirty-two years as an elementary teacher, reading specialist, guidance counselor, transition facilitator, House Administrator, and Program Administrator for the Senior High Alternative Program of Education (SHAPE) a behavior modification educational program for violent and disruptive students. She served as principal of the Charter School of Science and Technology. She entered the non-profit world as the Executive Director of Wilson Commencement Park and the former Executive Director of the Rochester Surround Care Community Corp. She is the founder and Chief Facilitator of NAMOW (woman spelled backwards) a counseling, support, and referral service for women specifically and the general public seeking counseling services in general.
Banister is a doctoral student at the University of Rochester in Human Development-Counseling and is an accomplished author and much sought after motivational speaker, lecturer, and workshop presenter. She has three publications to her credit, Lasso Your Whirlwind, Empowerment: Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk, and The Fifth Ace as well as compiled and edited “Empower Women and Inspire Vision”. She has dedicated the vast portion of her work to community organizing and revitalization, parent-child relations and Christian counseling and leadership.
Mrs. Banister has been married to Thomas Banister for 39 years. She is the mother of three sons: Rev. Thomas III, Duke University graduate is the Pastor of Temple Memorial Baptist Church in Highpoint, NC; Simeon, Princeton University graduate working in NY politics; and Ethan a Langston University graduate is currently working in Rochester public schools.
She is recognized as and is a highly awarded committed community activist. She demonstrates that activism through her service to the Rochester community. She plays a major role as board member and volunteers on many non-profit, community-based, and civic organizations. She is dedicated to peace and non-violence and mutual cultural relations both in her professional endeavors and her personal life.
Rev. Banister is a fully ordained minister and is currently an Associate Minister at St. Luke Community Church. She is the director of guidance and counseling and is responsible for congregational care.
Rev. Banister has traveled extensively in Africa and has been crowned Queen Mother Nana Ama Bortsewa I of the township of Winneba, Ghana in West Africa. Her area of responsibility is the growth and development of women and their children. She has just completed building and equipping of a Early Childhood Learning Center on the campus of Winneba University of Education in Ghana, West Africa.
Mrs. Banister lives her life by a simple motto, “Each person should, in every way possible, work to light up the corner where he and she is and the darkness will flee.”
The next scheduled discussion in the Education series will take place on Thursday, October 1, 2009 as Dr. Bill Cala discusses "New models for primary and secondary education."
The Baobab Cultural Center presents community dialogues and special guest speakers as a way to build trust and shared understanding of our collective human experience-a time-treasured African tradition. More information about the center and its programs is available at www.thebaobab.org.