Looking for ways to navigate diversity and inclusion in the face of divisive politics is the theme for Illinois State University’s Fall 2018 Culturally Responsive Campus Community (CRCC) Conference. This fall’s conference, titled Diversity and Inclusion in an Ever-Changing Political Environment, will be October 30-31 at the Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Normal. The event is free, but registration is required. Register here.
The two-day conference will include a series of presentations and workshops from members of the University and local community. There will be a focus on presentations and panels on a future multicultural center on campus. The conference will also include a Multicultural Gala and invited speakers addressing art in the face of oppression, and the intersection of race, housing, and education.
The workshop will also include panels from Diversity Advocacy titled “Change Starts with US” that aim to provide hands on practice to help students de-escalate micro-aggressions in the classroom, on campus, and on social media.
A full schedule is available at the CRCC website.
Seating is limited, so registration is required by Saturday, October 20. Those who need help registering, or those who need special accommodation to fully participate in this event, please email CRCC@ilstu.edu.
“The conference aims to honor the contributions and talents of our diverse community, and seeks tangible strategies and recommendations that can empower individuals to take a more active role in breaking down and dismantling systems of oppression,” said co-organizer Associate Dean of Students Renee’ Watson.
The annual Multicultural Gala will be from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, October 30, at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. The gala, which is free and open to the public, provides a showcase for the different multicultural clubs and organizations on campus and educates the campus community. The gala is just one of many of the unique programs sponsored by the United International Association and Office of International Studies and Programs at ISU. For more information about how to get involved with the organizations presenting at the gala, contact Matt Schwab at mlschwa@ilstu.edu.
The CRCC will host three keynote speakers, and a series of panels and presentations dealing with diversity and inclusion, including “Multicultural Centers: Campus Impact, Theory and Practice,” which will explore Illinois State’s pursuit of a cultural center.
Keynote speakers include:
Leonard Moore
Leonard Moore
Moore is the vice president for Diversity and Community Engagement and the George Littlefield Professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin. At UT Austin he teaches a class on the black power movement and a signature course titled “Race in the Age of Trump.”
The author of Black Rage in New Orleans: Police Brutality and African American Activism from World War II to Hurricane Katrina and Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power, Moore’s latest book, The Defeat of Black Power: Civil Rights and the National Black Political Convention of 1972, examines the crippling of the Black Power movement at a convention that fundamentally altered the political strategy of civil rights proponents.
Moore’s innovative, unique, and engaging teaching style has earned a number of teaching awards, including the Jean Holloway Award for Excellence in Teaching and the John Warfield Teaching Award. He also directs study abroad programs in Beijing and Cape Town. Both programs have become national models for diversifying global education.
Adong Judith
Adong Judith
A director, writer, and producer, Judith is the founder and artistic director of the performing arts company Silent Voices Uganda. She creates art that provokes meaningful conversations on issues often considered taboo. Judith wrote her first play, Silent Voices, after accidentally encountering the inescapable stories of war crime victims in her hometown of Gulu, Uganda. Adong’s film, Right Song, Wrong C(h)ord tackles a young African woman’s search for home, recognition, and respect in the face of racial prejudice and the burgeoning promise of true love in the world of the American dream. For her talk, Judith will screen an excerpt from her film Right Song, Wrong C(h)ord, and discuss her own struggles as a graduate student with self-inclusion and exclusion.
Judith is the director-in-residence at Illinois State University this fall, where she directed her 2016 social media buzz-stirring play production, Ga-AD! She is a Women 4 Women Awardee 2018 and TED Fellow 2017, where she gave a TEDTalk titled “How I use art to bridge misunderstanding.”
She is a 2017 Berliner Theatertreffen global theatre influencer, 2016 Netherland’s Get Lost Programme Artist Resident, 2015 WHO IS WHO in American Universities and Colleges awardee, 2014 Margaret McNamara Memory Education Fund USA/Canada recipient, and 2012 Fulbright Fellow on Temple University’s MFA filmmaking and media arts.
David Stovall
David Stovall
Stovall is a professor of African American studies and criminology, law, and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His scholarship investigates critical race theory, the relationship between housing and education, and the intersection of race, place, and school.
In the attempt to bring theory to action, he works with community organizations and schools to develop curriculum that address issues of equity and justice. His work led him to become a member of the design team for the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School of Social Justice High School, which opened in the fall of 2005.
Furthering his work with communities, students, and teachers, his work manifests itself in his involvement with the Peoples Education Movement, a collection of classroom teachers, community members, students, and university professors in Chicago, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area who engage in collaborative community projects centered in creating relevant curriculum. In addition to his duties and responsibilities as a professor at UIC, he also serves as a volunteer social studies teacher at the Greater Lawndale/Little Village School for Social Justice.
More information about the conference can be found on the CRCC website, or by contacting CRCC@ilstu.edu, or April Mustian, CRCC co-organizer, at amustia@ilstu.edu.
