Diversity work focus of conference

ommunity and diversity efforts on campus and at other institutions will be discussed at a day-long conference in the Lincoln Campus Center on Friday, Sept. 27. All members of the University community are encouraged to attend and participate in "Diversity & Learning: Lessons and Challenges."

     Sponsored by several campus units, the conference will mark the completion of a three-year, $150,000 grant from the Flora and William Hewlett Foundation's Program on Pluralism and Unity that enabled faculty, staff and students to create classroom and co-curricular communities that engage social and cultural diversity.

     The award, according to conference organizers, was an opportunity for the campus to build on existing structures while forging new avenues for students, faculty and staff to work and learn together in a community that acknowledges and values social group differences.

     The morning keynote speaker at the conference will be Sylvia Hurtado, associate professor of education at the University of Michigan and a leading expert on issues of racial climate, race relations and the dynamics of multi-culturalism on college campuses. The afternoon speaker will be Marcia Baxter Magolda, professor of educational leadership at Miami University in Ohio.

     The conference is scheduled to run from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m.

     Sponsors include the Center For Teaching, Department of Residential Life, Faculty Senate Council for General Education, Office of Human Relations, Office of the Provost, School of Education, University Resource Network and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.