-
Conference History
New England Conference on Multicultural Education (NECME)
Conferences and Themes
1st Annual Conference (1996)
Sheraton Hartford Hotel
Theme: Bridging Theory and Practice
Conference
Program Book Keynote Speaker: Valerie Ooka Pang, San Diego State University
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/VPang/vpang.htmlHi, I am a professor in the School of Teacher Education at San
Diego State University. I teach courses in multicultural education, social
studies methods, curriculum & instruction, and social foundations. I am
especially interested in culturally meaningful teaching and the use of
culturally familiar analogies.I enjoy the student teachers in our credential program; they are
extremely committed to developing and providing the most effective and
culturally affirming learning environments for children. In addition, many of
our prospective teachers work an additional 30-40 hours a week so they can
complete their bachelors in order to enter the teacher certification program.
As part of my class I take my students on field trips and we are active in
inner city neighborhoods in San Diego.I am also a mother of two children. This is their picture when they were very
young. Now our daughter is a doctoral student researching genetics and
tuberculosis and our son is a public defender. Often times, I share their
educational experiences with teachers in my classes. They have taught me a
great deal about how to be a better teacher, parent, and person.My teaching career began in Seattle where I taught first grade
at an all Black neighborhood school. My experiences there showed how
unprepared I was to teach children from other cultural groups. Since then, I
am continually striving to become a better teacher. I also enjoy working with
various groups who have children as their primary concern such as like Sesame
Street, Fox Children’s Network, and Family Communications (Mr. Rogers
Neighborhood).My work in urban schools led me to write a text for educators
titled Multicultural Education: A Caring-Centered, Reflective Approach
(second edition, 2005, McGraw-Hill). I believe in a relationship-centered,
culture-centered approach to education where students work collaboratively to
create a strong democratic community. In addition I edited a book with my
colleague, Dr. Lilly Cheng, on issues discussing the education of Asian
Pacific American children called Struggling To Be Heard: The Unmet Needs of
Asian Pacific American Children. Another piece that discusses the cultural
capital of Asian American children and their families is a chapter found in
the text, Narrowing the Achievement Gap edited by Susan Paik and Herbert
Walberg. Other publications have appeared in journals such as Phi Delta
Kappan, Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Teacher Education, Theory and
Research in Social Education, The Reading Teacher, Action in Teacher Education,
Multicultural Education, and Education Forum.Other books–I have also acted as general editor with Wayne Ross
to a series of texts called Race, Ethnicity, and Education. The series
includes the following volumes: Principles and Practices of Multicultural
Education, Language and Literacy in Schools, Racial Identity in Education,
and Racism and Antiracism in Education.Sending my good wishes to you. Have a great day!
2nd Annual Conference (1997)
Radisson Hotel in Cromwell
Theme: Bridging Multicultural Theory and Practice
Keynote Speakers: G. Pritchy Smith, University of North FloridaJames P. Ashton, Virginia Department of EducationKeynote Speaker: G. Pritchy Smith, University of North Floridahttp://www.unf.edu/coehs/faculty/gpsmith.htm
Dr. Smith currently is teaching in the areas of Multicultural and Urban Education and Cultural and Social Foundations. His areas of research include the impact of admission and certification, testing on diversity in the national teaching force and the knowledge bases for diversity in teacher education. Dr. Smith areas of
interest include International Educational Programming, Ethnic and Racial
Identity Development and Social and Educational Justice. Dr. Smith also play
an important part as one of the program leaders with the international Belize
education program.3rd Annual Conference (1998)
Hartford Marriott, Farmington
Theme:Moving Multicultural Education Forward:Works in ProgressCall For PresentersKeynote Speakers: Keynote SpeakerLinda Christensen, Jefferson High School, Portland, OR
http://www.lclark.edu/faculty/lmc/Linda Christensen is the Director of the Oregon Writing Project
(OWP), located in the Graduate School of Education at Lewis & Clark
College. The OWP is part of the National Writing Project network, the oldest
and largest professional development project in the United States. NWP sites
use a teacher-teaching-teachers model that draws on the knowledge, expertise,
and leadership of successful classroom teachers. Linda is the author of
Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching about Social Justice and the Power
of the Written Word and co-editor of Rethinking School Reform: Views from the
Classroom and Rethinking Our Classrooms. She has given keynote addresses at
local, national, and international conferences about her work on literacy and
social justice. Her articles about literacy and social justice have appeared
in numerous journals. For the last thirty years, she has taught high school
Language Arts and worked as Language Arts Curriculum Specialist in Portland,
Oregon. She is a member of the Rethinking Schools editorial board. She
received the Fred Heschinger Award for use of research in teaching and
writing from National Writing Project in 1998 and the U.S. West Outstanding
Teacher of Western United States for “Reaching Beyond Classroom Walls”.Christine Sleeter, California State University at Monterey
http://home.csumb.edu/s/sleeterchristine/world/Homepage/Christine_Sleeter.htmlChristine E. Sleeter is Professor Emerita in the College of
Professional Studies at California State University, Monterey Bay. Formerly a
high school learning disabilities teacher in Seattle, before moving to
California she was a faculty member at Ripon College in Wisconsin and at the
University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She was recently a Visiting Professor at
Victoria University in New Zealand and at the University of Washington
Seattle. She served as Vice President of Division K (Teaching and Teacher
Education) of the American Educational Research Association. Her research
focuses on anti-racist multicultural education and multicultural teacher
education. Her journal articles appear in publications such as Journal of
Teacher Education, Teacher Education Quarterly, and Curriculum Inquiry.
Recent books include Un-Standardizing Curriculum (Teachers College Press),
Facing Accountability in Education (Teachers College Press) and Doing
Multicultural Education for Achievement and Equity (with Carl Grant;
Routledge). Awards for her work include the California State University
Monterey Bay President’s Medal and the National Association for Multicultural
Education Research Award.Sonia Nieto, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
http://people.umass.edu/snieto/Sonia Nieto is Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy, and
Culture, School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, New York, she was educated in the New York City Public
Schools. She attended St. John’s University, Brooklyn campus, where she
received a B.S. in Elementary Education in 1965. Upon graduation, she
attended New York University’s Graduate Program in Madrid, Spain, and
received her MA in Spanish and Hispanic Literature in 1966. A junior high
school teacher of English, Spanish, and ESL in Ocean Hiil/Brownsville,
Brooklyn, in 1968 she took a job at P.S. 25 in the Bronx, the first fully
bilingual school in the Northeast. Her first position in higher education was
as an Instructor in the Department of Puerto Rican Studies in Brooklyn
College, where she taught in a bilingual education teacher preparation
program co-sponsored with the School of Education. Moving to Massachusetts
with her family in 1975, she completed her doctoral studies in 1979 with
specializations in curriculum studies, bilingual education, and multicultural
education.Dr. Nieto has taught students at all levels from elementary
grades through graduate school, and she continues to speak and write on
multicultural education, teacher preparation, and the education of Latinos
and other culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. Her book
Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education
(5th ed, 2008, with co-author Patty Bode), is widely used in teacher preparation
and inservice courses throughout the nation and beyond. Other books include
The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities (1999),
and What Keeps Teachers Going? (2003), as well as three edited volumes,
Puerto Rican Students in U.S. Schools (2000), Why We Teach (2005), and Dear
Paulo: Letters From Those Who Dare Teach (2008). In addition, she has
published dozens of book chapters and articles in such journals as
Educational Leadership, Multicultural Education, Theory into Practice and The
Harvard Educational Review, including an invited article for the 75th
anniversary issue in 2005. She serves as Trustee or Advisor on several
regional and national boards that focus on educational equity and social
justice, including the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), Facing History
and Ourselves (FHAO) and Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR), as well
as on the editorial advisory boards of numerous educational journals. She is
Editor for the Language, Culture, and Teaching Series for Routledge
Publishers.Dr. Nieto’s many awards for scholarship, advocacy, and activism
include the 1989 Human and Civil Rights Award from the Massachusetts Teachers
Association, the 1996 Teacher of the Year Award from the Hispanic Educators
of Massachusetts, the 1997 Multicultural Educator of the Year Award from the
National Association for Multicultural Education, the Excellence in Education
Award from Boricua College, the 2003 Críticas Journal Hall of Fame Spanish
Language Community Advocate of the Year Award, and the 2005 Outstanding
Educator from the National Council of Teachers of English. Dr. Nieto has
received several awards from AERA, the American Educational Research
Association, including the 2006 Enrique T. Trueba Lifetime Achievement Award
for Scholarship, Mentorship, and Service, the Distinguished Career Award from
the Committee on Scholars of Color in Education (2006), the Senior Scholar
Award for Research on the Social Context of Education from Division G (2006),
the 2008 Social Justice in Education Award, and the Division K (Teacher
Education) Legacy Award. She was an Annenberg Institute Senior Fellow from
1998-2000 and she was awarded a month-long residency at the Rockefeller
Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy in 2000. In addition, she has received
three honorary doctorates, one in Humane Letters from Lesley University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts (1999), another in Intercultural Relations from
Bridgewater State College, Massachusetts (2004), and the third in Humane
Letters from DePaul University (2007). She is married to Angel Nieto, a
children’s book author and former public school teacher, and they have two
daughters and 11 grandchildren.4th Annual Conference (1999)
Sheraton Waterbury
Theme: Multicultural Education – Creating a Culturally Responsive Curriculum
Keynote Speaker: Beverly Daniel Tatum, Mt. Holyoke College http://www.spelman.edu/administration/office/
Scholar, teacher, author, administrator and race relations expert, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum is the ninth president of Spelman College. Prior to her appointment to the Spelman presidency in 2002, she spent 13 years at Mount Holyoke College, serving in various roles during her tenure there as professor of psychology, department chair, dean of the College and acting president.Dr. Tatum is a clinical psychologist whose areas of research interest include black families in white communities, racial identity in teens, and the role of race in the classroom. For over 20 years, Dr. Tatum has taught a course on the psychology of racism. She has also toured extensively, leading workshops on racial identity development and its impact in the classroom.In her critically acclaimed 1997 book, “Why Are All the Black
Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations about Race,
she applies her expertise on race to argue that straight talk about racial
identity is essential to the nation. Going beyond the usual black-white
paradigm, the book, which uses real life examples and the latest research,
not only dispels race as taboo, but gives readers a new lens for
understanding the emergence of racial identity as a developmental process
experienced by everyone.Dr. Tatum is also the author of Assimilation Blues: Black Families
in a White Community (1987). In addition, she has published numerous
articles, including her classic 1992 Harvard Educational Review article,
“Talking about Race, Learning about Racism: An Application of Racial Identity
Development Theory in the Classroom.”Dr. Tatum was raised in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. She earned a
B.A. in psychology from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and a
M.A. and PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. She also
holds a M.A. degree in religious studies from Hartford Seminary.Prior to joining the Mount Holyoke faculty in 1989, Dr. Tatum
was an associate professor and assistant professor of psychology at Westfield
State College in Westfield, Massachusetts, and a lecturer in Black Studies at
the University of California at Santa Barbara.She is married to Dr. Travis Tatum, a former professor of
education at Westfield State College in Massachusetts, and the mother of two
sons.Featured Speakers and Guests: Donna Gollnick, NCATE
http://www.ncate.org/public/staffbios.asp?ch=145&nm=dgollnickDonna M. Gollnick is Senior Vice President of the National
Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) where she coordinates
accreditation activities. In this role she staffs the Unit Accreditation
Board, which determines the accreditation status of professional education
units, and assists institutions in preparing for accreditation visits. Dr.
Gollnick is the co-author with Philip Chinn of the textbook, Multicultural
Education in a Pluralistic Society, which is in its 8th edition. She is
co-author of Introduction to the Foundations of American Education, now in
its 14th edition, and a new introduction to education text entitled The Joy
of Teaching: Making a Difference in Student Learning. Donna has been
recognized by Purdue University’s College of Consumer and Family Sciences as
one of its distinguished alumni and by the American Association of Colleges
for Teacher Education (AACTE) with an Advocate for Justice Award. Before
joining NCATE in 1986, she was Director of Professional Development at AACTE,
and had taught for seven years in Indiana high schools.5th Annual Conference (2000)
Sheraton Waterbury
Theme: Multicultural Education – Equity, Social Justice, and Achievement
for All StudentsConference
Program BookKeynote Speakers: Jeannie Oakes, UCLAhttp://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/members/oakes
Jeannie Oakes is Presidential Professor in Educational Equity and Director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education & Access (IDEA) and UCLA’s All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (ACCORD). IDEA addresses the relationship between educational access and the broader political economy in diverse Los Angeles. UC ACCORD, a system-wide research unit of the University of California
conducts multi-disciplinary research to inform more equitable college preparation,
access, eligibility, and retention in California’s public schools and
universities. Jeannie Oakes’ own research examines inequalities in U.S.
schools, investigates strategies for enhancing the quality and retention of
urban teachers, and follows the progress of educators and activists who seek
to build socially just school communities. In addition to her scholarly
publications, Oakes assists state and national policymakers in developing
equity-focused education, teacher education and school reform. Oakes’ awards
include the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Educational Press
Association of America, three major awards from the American Educational
Research Association, the National Association for Multicultural Education’s
Multicultural Research Award, and the AACTE’s Award for Distinguished
Research in Teacher Education. She is also the recipient of Southern
Christian Leadership Conference’s Ralph David Abernathy Award for Public
Service and the World Cultural Council’s Jose Vasconcelos World Award in
Education. Her book, Becoming Good American Schools: The Struggle for Civic
Virtue in Education Reform, won AERA’s Outstanding Book Award in 2001.Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin
6th Annual Conference (2001)
Sheraton Waterbury
Theme:Teaching for Social Justice
Conference
Program BookKeynote Speaker: Louise Derman Sparks, Pacific Oaks CollegeLouise Derman-Sparks is a long-time human development faculty member at
Pacific Oaks College, now Professor Emeritus. Previously, Ms. Derman-Sparks
worked with young children and families as an early childhood education
teacher and program director. She is the author and co-author of several
books, including: Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children,
(National Association for the Education of Young Children); Teaching/Learning
Anti-Racism: A Developmental Approach (Teachers College Press); In Our Own
Way: How Anti-Bias Work Shapes Our Lives and Future Vision, Current Work:
Lessons from the Culturally Relevant Anti-Bias Education Leadership Project
(Redleaf Press), and numerous articles and book chapters. Her most recent
book, co-authored with Dr. Patricia Ramsey, is titled “What If All the Kids
are White?” Anti-bias/ Multicultural Education with Young Children and
Families, (Teachers College Press, April 2006). Ms. Derman-Sparks speaks,
conducts workshops and consults widely throughout the United States and
internationally. A former member of the Governing Board of the National
Association for the Education of Young Children (1998-2002), she currently
serves on the National Board of Crossroads Ministry: An Interfaith &
Community- Based Anti-Racism Training Organization and on the National
Diversity Advisory Council of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Ms.
Derman-Sparks is the mother of a son and daughter, Douglass and Holly Sparks,
and has been an activist for social justice for 40 years.7th Annual Conference (2002)
Hartford Marriott, Farmington
Theme: Moving Beyond Tolerance: Creating Successful
Learning Communities Through Multicultural EducationPhotos - by Carole MulreadyConference
Program BookKeynote Speaker: Lee Mun Wah, Stir-Fry Seminars & Consulting http://www.stirfryseminars.com/
A nationally-acclaimed lecturer and Master Diversity & Communications Trainer, Lee Mun Wah is a Chinese American community therapist, documentary filmmaker, Special Education educator, performing poet, Asian folkteller and author. He is also the Executive Director of StirFry Seminars & Consulting, which works with corporations, government agencies, educational institutions, and social agencies to facilitate diversity issues through healthy and authentic cross cultural relationships.
In 1993 his first film on Asian Americans, Stolen Ground, won
the San Francisco International Film Festival’s Certificate of Merit Award
for Best Bay Area Documentary. The National Media Network voted his second
film, The Color of Fear, the Gold Medal for the Best Social Studies
Documentary in 1995. In 1998 The Color of Fear 2 won the Cindy International Film
Festival’s Silver Medal for Best Social Studies Award. In 1995 Oprah Winfrey
presented a one-hour special on his work and life, which was viewed by over
15 million viewers across the nation. His latest film, Last Chance for Eden,
a six part film series on racism, sexism, and heterosexism was released in
the Spring of 2003.Thousands have taken his workshops and trainings throughout the
United States and around the world. Lee Mun Wah believes when we value others
for their uniqueness and differences, then we enhance the possibilities for
out children and ourselves.8th Annual Conference (2003)
Hartford Marriott, Farmington
Theme: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Stories from Multicultural America
Photos- by Carole MulreadyConference
Program BookKeynote Speaker: James W. Loewen, Washington, DC http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/
A sociologist who spent two years at the Smithsonian surveying twelve leading
high school textbooks of American history only to find an embarrassing blend
of bland optimism, blind nationalism, and plain misinformation, weighing in
at an average of 888 pages and almost five pounds. A best-selling author who
wrote Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook
Got Wrong and Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. A
researcher who discovered that many, and in many states most communities were
“Sundown Towns” that kept out blacks (and sometimes other groups)
for decades. (Some still do.) An educator who attended Carleton College,
holds the Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University, and taught race
relations for twenty years at the University of Vermont.9th Annual Conference (2004)
Hartford Marriott, Farmington
Theme: Brown v. Board of Education: Which Achievement Gap Are We Closing?Photos – by Bill Clay
Conference Program BookKeynote Speaker: Enid Lee, Santa Cruz, CAhttp://www.enidlee.com/
Enid Lee began her career as a classroom teacher 35 years ago.
Today she is an accomplished “front line teacher,” teacher
educator, researcher, writer, consultant, facilitator and speaker. She has
taught in the Caribbean, Canada and the USA and has been involved in the professional development of teachers for two decades. She consults internationally on anti-racist, inclusionary and equitable education.Through her consulting firm, Enid assists urban schools districts and individual schools to continuously restructure themselves for equitable outcomes for all students. She has pioneered the equity-centered initiative, Putting Race On The Table, which is designed to help teachers and administrators develop the skills, knowledge and will to create and maintain equity-centered classrooms. She facilitates an international network of schools enabling educators to share strategies for addressing questions of language, race, culture and class in education and for ensuring that teaching and learning are characterized by academic rigor and readiness for social justice action.
Enid Lee is the author of over 30 publications. They include “Letters to Marcia: A teacher’s guide to Anti-racist education,” the docudramas, “Quick to Judge” and “Food for Thought” from the television series, “Many Voices,” and “Beyond Heroes
and Holidays: A Practical Guides to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education
and Staff Development.” Her current area of research is professional
development and anti-racist school leadership.She has served on numerous boards and commissions concerned with
education, immigration and employment and has been an advisor to leaders in
education, social services and cultural and arts organizations on equity
issues. She is currently a Visiting Scholar with Teaching For Change in
Washington, D.C. and formerly held the same position at The New Teacher
Center, University of California at Santa Cruz.Enid Lee has been the recipient of several awards for her
ground-breaking work in anti-racist education and community-building among
Black communities and immigrant parents. She recently received an Honorary
Doctor of Laws from one of Canada’s oldest Universities for her contribution
to the development of anti-racist education in that country.The question which continues to guide her work is this: “What do we do now, in concrete, everyday terms to change this situation and move us to greater social justice and human possibility?” The clarity, confidence and courage embedded in this question shape the collaborative relationships she enjoys with educators in a wide variety of contexts.
10th Annual Conference (2005)
Hartford Marriott, Farmington
Theme: Multicultural Education – 10 Years Later: A RetrospectivePhotos – by Bill Clay
Conference
Program BookSpeakers: Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star, ModeratorLewis W. Diuguid is vice president for community resources at The Kansas City
Star. He serves on the editorial board, is an opinion page columnist and is
responsible for The Star’s philanthropic efforts in the community. Since 1995
he has co-chaired the diversity initiative at The Star and since 1993 has
facilitated diversity workshops for Star Co. staffers, colleges and community
organizations.Diuguid joined the staff of The Kansas City Star-Times in May
1977 after graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of
Journalism. He has worked as a reporter, photographer, copy editor,
automotive editor, assistant bureau chief, bureau chief, assistant city
editor, associate editor and columnist. He has written a column for The
Kansas City Star since 1987.Diuguid is the author of the 2004award-winning book, A Teacher’s
Cry: Expose the Truth About Education Today. The book offers ways to improve
public schools, particularly in urban areas. A Teacher’s Cryis rooted in his
studies with the Class of 1999 from the students’ freshman year until
graduation at Washington High School in Kansas City, Kan. He wrote about 100
columns for The Star chronicling what it’s like to be a teenager and teacher
today.In July 2007, Diuguid’s second book was published. The subject
is diversity, which for more than 20 years has been a key focus of his
columns in The Kansas City Star. The title is Discovering the Real America:
Toward a More Perfect Union.Diuguid is a founding member, treasurer, newsletter editor and
Media Awards Committee chairman of the Kansas City Association of Black
Journalists. He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists,
a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, a member of the
National Association for Multicultural Education, a member of the Monroe
Trotter Group of Black Voices in Commentary, a member of the Missourian
Publishing Association Board of Directors with the University of
Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism and a member of the William Allen
White Foundation Board of Trustees with the William Allen White School of
Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. He is a
certified diversity facilitator with the Newspaper Association of America.
Diuguid gives numerous speeches and lectures a year on behalf of The Star. He
has received more than 60 awards, including the 2000 Missouri Honor Medal for
Distinguished Service in Journalism and the 2007 University of
Missouri-Columbia Faculty-Alumni Award.Diuguid was born and reared in St. Louis and has two adult
children, Adrianne and Leslie.Carl Grant, University of Wisconsin, Madison
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ci/faculty/details.asp?id=grantCarl A. Grant is Hoefs-Bascom Professor of Teacher Education at
the University Wisconsin-Madison and Professor in the Department of Afro
American Studies. He has served as President of the National Association for
Multicultural Education (1993-1999), Editor of the Review of Educational
Research (1996-1999), and member of the National Research Council’s
Committee on Assessment and Teacher Quality (1999-2001), and chair of
AERA’s Publication Committee. Dr. Grant is the recipient of the Angela
Davis Race, Gender & Class Award from the Race, Gender & Class
Project (1991), the Multicultural Education Award from National Association for
Multicultural Education (1991), and the University of Wisconsin School of
Education Distinguished Achievement Award (1997).Christine Sleeter, California State University, Monterey
Sonia Nieto, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Philip C. Chinn, California State University, Los Angeles
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/pchinn/Professor Chinn has been at California State University, Los
Angeles since 1988. He retired in 2000 and teaches in the Faculty Early
Retirement Program (FERP) on a part-time basis. His primary area of interest
is in multicultural education and in the education of culturally and
linguistically diverse exceptional children. Prior to teaching at Cal State, Los
Angeles, Professor Chinn taught special education students in Kentucky,
Texas, and Hawaii. He also taught in special education university programs in
Utah and Texas. From 1978 to 1984, he directed the Office of Minority
Concerns (now Diversity Affairs) at the Council for Exceptional Children. He
served on the California State Commission for Special Education from 1995
until his retirement. From 1992 until 2004, he directed the Alliance Project
Center for Asian and Pacific Concerns at Cal State, Los Angeles. The
federally funded project, headquartered at Vanderbilt University, provided
special education technical assistance to faculty of minority higher
education institutions throughout the United States.11th Annual Conference (2006)
Hartford Marriott, Farmington
Theme: Best Practices in Multicultural Education
Photos: by Bill Clay
Conference Program BookKeynote Speaker: Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of GLSEN, NYC
http://www.kevinjennings.com/blog/welcome/Kevin Jennings is a writer, a teacher, and a leader in the fields of K-12 education and civil rights. A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Kevin Jennings graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he delivered the Harvard Oration at the 1985 Commencement. He became a high school history teacher after graduation. He became the faculty advisor to the nation’s first gay-Straight Alliance (GSA)
at Concord (Massachusetts) Academy in 1988, launching his life on a path
dedicated to seeking to make sure schools become places where young people
learn to value and respect everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or
gender identity.As more and more educators and students began contacting him for
help, Kevin saw a need that wasn’t being met and in 1990 founded the Gay,
Lesbian and Straight Education Network (www.GLSEN.org), a local volunteer group
in the Boston area bringing together LGBT and straight teachers, parents,
students and community members who wanted to end anti-LGBT bias in the
state’s K-12 schools. In 1992 Kevin was appointed to co-chair the Education
Committee of the Governor’s Commission on Gay & Lesbian Youth by
Massachusetts Governor William Weld. He was the principal author of its
report Making Schools Safe for Gay & Lesbian Youth, whose recommendations
were adopted as policy by the Massachusetts State Board of Education. The Commission led the fight that made Massachusetts the first state in the nation to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against public school
students and to establish a statewide program to insure educational equity on
issues of sexual orientation in 1993.Kevin left Boston to come to New York that same year as a Joseph
Kingenstein Fellow at Columbia University, from which he received his M.A. in
1994. Upon graduating from Columbia, Kevin left teaching to set about
building the all-volunteer GLSEN organization into a national force. Under
Kevin’s leadership, GLSEN has made safe schools into a national issue,
increased the number of students protected from harassment and discrimination
based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity by over 600%, and grown
the number of GSA’s from under 50 in 1995 to over 4,300 today. Under Kevin’s
leadership, GLSEN programs like GSA’s, No Name-Calling Week
(www.NoNameCallingWeek.org), and Day of Silence (www.DayofSilence.org) became commonplace in America’s schools. Kevin was named to Newsweek magazine’s “Century Club” as one of “100 people to watch in the new century” and is also the recipient of the Human and Civil Rights Award of the National Education
Association, the Distinguished Service Award of the National Association of
Secondary School Principals, and the Diversity Leadership Award of the
National Association of Independent Schools. After 14 years, Kevin stepped
down as the Executive Director of GLSEN in October, 2008.Along the way Kevin earned an M.B.A. from NYU’s Stern School of Business in
1999, authored six books (one of which, Telling Tales Out of School, won a
Lambda Literary Award) and helped write and produce the documentary Out of
the Past, which won the 1998 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best
Documentary. Kevin serves on the boards of the Harvard Alumni Association,
Cambodian Living Arts, and the Tectonic Theater Project, and is the National
Fundraising Chair for the Appalachian Community Fund
(www.AppalachianCommunityFund.org), where he established the Alice Jennings
Fund to help low income and battered women have the opportunities his own
mother was denied as a girl and woman from Appalachia. He also served on the
National Finance Committee and was the LGBT Finance Co-Chair for Obama for
America. In his spare time, he plays left wing for the New York City Gay
Hockey Association (www.nycgayhockey.org) and enjoys walks with his partner
Jeff and their golden retriever, Amber, and their Bernese Mountain Dog, Ben.12th Annual Conference (2007) Connecticut Convention CenterHartford, CT
Theme: Best Practices in Multicultural Education
Photos - by Bill Clay
Conference
Program BookKeynote Speaker: Ronald Takaki, University of California, Berkeley
http://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/faculty/takaki/Ronald T. Takaki, Ph.D., professor of ethnic studies at the University of
California at Berkeley, will deliver the first of two lectures in the
Multiculturalism Debate. Takaki’s lecture, which is part of the Assembly
Series and is free and open to the public, begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb.
12, in Graham Chapel.The Multiculturalism Debate is titled “Battleground
or Meeting Ground?” The second lecture in the debate will be delivered
Feb. 19 by Todd Gitlin, Ph.D., a professor in the culture and communication,
journalism and sociology departments at New York University.Takaki, the grandson of Japanese plantation laborers in Hawaii,
is one of the most prominent advocates of multicultural education. He is the
author of “A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America,”
a collection of accounts of American immigrant history. In the book, Takaki
writes, “By sometime in the 21st century, most Americans will trace
their descent to Africa, Asia, the Hispanic world, the Pacific islands,
Arabia — almost anywhere but white Europe.”Takaki is dedicated to emphasizing that multiculturalism is not
only an accurate assessment of social reality but also an intellectually
stimulating approach to a variety of academic disciplines. He is the author
of “Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian
Americans,” which was listed as one of The New York Times Book Review’s
most notable books of 1989 and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His most
recent work is titled “Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic
Bomb.”In 1967, after receiving a doctorate in American history from
Berkeley, Takaki went to the University of California at Los Angeles to teach
its first black-history course. He returned to Berkeley in 1972 and served as
chair of the ethnic studies department and graduate adviser of the new ethnic
studies doctoral program, the first of its kind in the country. He also was
instrumental in establishing Berkeley’s “American Cultures
Requirement” for graduation.Keynote Speaker: Beth Harry, University of Miami
http://www.education.miami.edu/facultystaff/Faculty_Bio.asp?ID=33A professor of special education at the University of Miami
since 1995, Beth Harry earned her Ph.D. in special education from Syracuse
University. Previously an associate professor at the University of Maryland
at College Park, Harry has taught in Toronto, and the British West Indies,
and was founder and director of Immortelle Center for Special Education, Port
of Spain, Trinidad.Harry’s research interests focus on the disproportionate
placement of ethnic minorities in special education. She has addressed
professional conferences and written articles and books on this topic,
including co-authoring “Building Cultural Reciprocity with Families: Case
Studies in Special Education.” Dr. Harry serves as professor in residence at
Poinciana Park Elementary.A former member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on the
Disproportionate Placement of Minorities in Special Education, she serves on
several editorial boards, including Teacher Education and Special Education .
In 2002, Harry was named a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar and spent five
months studying minorities and special education among Moroccan students in
Spain.Harry serves as a senior policy advisor, Policy Makers’
Partnership. National Association of State Directors of Special Education,
and as a consultant to the Alliance Project, USDOE/Vanderbilt University. She
is also a research fellow, Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice,
and a consultant to Family Networks, the Florida Mental Health Institute,
Tampa.13th Annual Conference (2008) Connecticut Convention CenterHartford, CT
Theme: Best Practices in Multicultural Education
Photos - by Bill Clay
Conference Program BookKeynote Speaker: Carlos E. Cortés, University of California, Riverside
http://www.facultydirectory.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/pub/public_individual.pl?faculty=798Since 1990 he has served on the summer faculty of the Harvard Institutes for
Higher Education and since 1995 on the faculty of the Summer Institute for
Intercultural Communication. Cortés has lectured widely throughout the United
States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia on such topics as: race
and ethnicity; multiculturalism; diversity in the media; multicultural,
global, bilingual, and social studies education; media literacy; Hispanic
culture; film-and-history; Latin American and Chicano history; and the
implications of diversity for education, government, and private business. A
consultant to many government agencies, school systems, universities, mass
media, private businesses, and other organizations, he has written film and
television documentaries, has appeared as guest host on the PBS national
television series, Why in the World?, is the featured presenter on the Video
Journal of Education’s 1994 training video Diversity in the Classroom, and
currently serves as Cultural Consultant for Nickelodeon’s pre-school series,
Dora the Explorer.14th Annual Conference (2009)
University of HartfordWest Hartford, CT
Theme: Using Culturally Responsive Teaching to Close
the Achievement Gap: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Applications.Keynote SpeakerCarl A. GrantUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison Due to illness of Dr. Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Dr. Carl A. Grant has graciously offered to be our keynote speaker.Keynote Speaker: Carl A. Grant, Hoefs-Bascom Professor of Teacher Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–MadisonUsing Culturally Responsive Teaching to Close the Achievement
Gap:Theoretical Perspectives and Practical ApplicationsFor more than thirty years, Dr. Carl A. Grant has worked with
teachers and administrators committed to improving student achievement. He
focuses on enhancing educators’ knowledge and skills to further multicultural
social justice and culturally responsive teaching and curriculum development.
To this end, he has written numerous books and articles addressing student
achievement, curriculum development, teaching strategies, and parent-teacher
engagement.Dr. Grant received a B.S. from Tennessee State University, an
M.A. from Loyola University, Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin, Madison. He is a former teacher and administrator in the Chicago
public schools.He has written or edited numerous books and monographs in
multicultural education and teacher education. He has written more than 90
articles, chapters in books and reviews. His most recent book is Teach! Change! Empower! Solutions for Closing the Achievement
Gap (Corwin Press, 2009).His book Bringing Teaching to Life, After the School Bell Rings (with Christine Sleeter) was selected by the American Educational Studies Association (AESA) Critics Choice Selection Panel in 1987 as one of the most outstanding books in the area of educational studies. Other books include Making Choices for
Multicultural Education: Five Approaches to Race, Class and Gender and
Turning on Learning: Five Approaches for Multicultural Teaching
Plans for Race, Class, Gender, and Disability (both with Christine
Sleeter). He has also written An Education Guide to Diversity in the Classroom and Global Construction of Multicultural Education: Theories and Realities (with Joy L. Lei).Dr. Grant has also served as guest editor for The Journal of Negro Education–Multicultural Education in the International Year of the Child, Journal of Research and Development in Education–Staff Development: State of the Scene and
Possibilities, and The Kappan–School Desegregation.His article (with Christine Sleeter), “Race, Class, and Gender and Abandoned Dreams,” published by Teachers College Record was selected as one of the three top articles by Educational Press Association of America for 1988.
15th Annual Conference (2010)
Hartford Marriott, Farmington
Theme: Improving Student Achievement through
Multicultural Learning: Engagement and Success for AllKeynote Speaker:Dr. Gloria Ladson-BillingsLadson-Billings is the author of the critically acclaimed books, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms, and Beyond the Big House: African American Educators on Teacher Education, and more than 50 journal
articles and book chapters. She is the former editor of the American
Educational Research Journal and a member of several editorial boards. Her
work has won numerous scholarly awards, including the H. I. Romnes Faculty
Fellowship, Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship, and the Palmer O. Johnson
outstanding research award. In 2002 she was awarded an honorary doctorate
from Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. During the 2003–2004 academic year she
was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences,
Stanford, California. In fall 2004 she received the George and Louise
Spindler Award from the Council on Anthropology and Education for significant
and ongoing contributions to the field of educational anthropology. In spring
2005 she was elected to the National Academy of Education and the National
Society for the Study of Education. She is a 2008 recipient of the state of
Wisconsin’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Heritage Award and the Teachers College,
Columbia University 2008 Distinguished Service Medal.16th Annual Conference (2011)
Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT
Keynote Speaker: “Diversity in America: Challenges and Opportunities
for Educating Citizens in a Global Age” Dr. James A. Banks, Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies and Director – Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington, SeattleKeynote Speaker: “If these Halls Could Talk: Film Preview & Diversity Dialogue”with Director Lee Mun Wah (Stirfry Seminars & Consulting)Keynote Speaker: “What’s the Cultural in Multicultural?” Dr.
Kris D. Gutiérrez, University of Colorado, Boulder
