In 2010, New York University and the Hip-Hop Association partnered to launch the Hip-Hop Education Center.  The Hip-Hop Education Center aims to “professionalize” the field of hip-hop education through “qualitative and quantitative research, program evaluation, community outreach and programming, teacher training and placement, policy development, advocacy, archiving, and social enterprising.” With so many courses in hip-hop already being offered at colleges and universities across the country, it’s time to unify the infiltration.

Now, the Hip-Hop Education center has announced their foray into the Ivy League with Columbia University. The new partnership is working to establish teaching certificates for “teaching artists, in-service teachers, and students of education using Hip-Hop in the classroom and extended-day programs.”

Ernest Morrell, the director of Columbia University’s Institute for Minority and Urban Education had the following to say about the program:

The partnership with IUME is a natural progression as more institutions of higher learning see the value of Hip-Hop culture as part of American history, knowledge (re)production, and a tool for innovation and social change.

Visit the Hip-Hop Education Center’s website to find out more about the program.

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