Work by Emporia State’s Diversity and Inclusion Alliance and the university continues this week with a second student forum as well as a summit for practitioners.
Associated Student Government is sponsoring a second student forum from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3 in the Memorial Union’s Webb Hall 2. Pizza will be provided and students will have various ways to share their experiences and thoughts, including writing their comments on notecards that can be read by others during the forum.
On Friday, Dec. 4, the Emporia State University Equity & Inclusion Summit: A Practitioners Experience will be in Memorial Union’s Webb Hall. The half-day event begins with an opening session luncheon featuring Alonzo Jones of Arizona State University as the keynote speaker.
Jones is associate dean of students at Arizona State University and founder of Apoch Programs, a life skills training program for youth-based community organizations and institutions. His professional career has been spent managing and developing programs within a higher education setting to combat the problematic enrollment, retention and graduation rates of Black, Latino, and Native American youth.
After the keynote, a set of four concurrent sessions will be offered from 1 to 1:50 p.m. then presented a second time from 2 to 2:50. Delivering the sessions will be Jason Brooks, ESU director of diversity and inclusion; Mary Shivley, ESU director of advancement communications; Bryant Smith of Smith Consulting and Networking; and Robert Page of The Legacy Group.
Smith wrote “Black Not Blind,” a social commentary on race relations in the United States. A proud product of the Chicago Public School system, he has served as a university administrator and faculty member and is now a highly sought after lecturer. His ability to achieve success against the odds is why “difficult does not equal impossible” is his personal mantra.
Page has worked in postsecondary education for over 24 years and specializes in retention and recruitment programs for students of color, multicultural Greek letter student development and leadership, diversity training and awareness, conference coordination, as well as the motivation of all students to achieve at their highest potential.
The summit is scheduled to end at 3:45 p.m. It closes with remarks from Doug Smith, ESU faculty member and Dr. Jackie Vietti, interim president.
To register for the summit, contact Meghan Anderson in the Office of the President at Emporia State, mander22@emporia.edu or 620-341-5551.