EASTON, Pa.(www.lafayette.edu), March 7, 2008 — The College’s Hispanic Society is sponsoring the third annual Latino Awareness Conference running Thursday, March 27- Saturday, March 29. The theme for this year’s conference is “Facing Challenges and Envisioning Possibilities: Education in the Americas.”
“The goal of this conference is to provide the opportunity for cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogue on campus revolving around the education of people of color, but more specifically Hispanics both here in the United States as well as abroad,” explains Vanessa Araujo-Lopera ’08 (Woodhaven, N.Y.), an international economics and commerce major and president of the Hispanic Society. “We hope to elaborate on the idea of challenges and possibilities and shed light on economic, social, environmental, and cultural perspectives. We hope to accomplish this throughout the course of the conference by having a variety of events aimed at various groups on campus.”
Presenting this year’s keynote address is urban sociologist Pedro Noguera, a professor at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, co-director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings, and director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education.
Noguera is one of America’s most important voices on education reform and diversity and an advocate for a strong and vibrant public education system. As one of America's leading urban sociologists, Noguera pursues research that focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban environment.
Noguera is an expert on topics such as urban school reform, youth violence, the potential impact of school choice and vouchers on urban public schools, conditions that promote student achievement, and race and ethnic relations in American society.
Sponsors of this year’s conference include, the department of foreign languages and literatures, the department of government and law, the Policy Studies program, Africans Creating African Consciousness and Interest Abroad, Association of Black Collegians, Hillel Society, International Affairs Club, International Student Organization, Lafayette African and Caribbean Students Association, Lafayette Activities Forum, Lafayette Intercultural Networking Council, Muslim Student Association, Nia (Multicultural Women’s Support Group), Office of Intercultural Development, and Quest.
For information about the conference, please email the Hispanic Society.
Conference schedule of events:
Thursday, March 27
- 5 p.m. Interfaith Chapel; Alphabet Soup … the ABC’s of Cultural Impact on Education - an informal conversation with students and faculty focusing on various experiences and thoughts on education.
Friday, March 28
- Noon Pardee Hall 320A; Educational Debate: A Means for Educational Equality - a discussion about creating a model policy for educational equality.
- 5 p.m. Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, Room 104; Keynote Address, “Facing Challenges and Envisioning Possibilities: Education in the Americas,” by Pedro Noguera.
Saturday, March 29
- 5 p.m. Limburg Theater; Movie: Walkout (HBO, 2007) - A film with a powerful message that resonates 38 years after the events it depicts occurred. Walkout is the stirring true story of the Chicano students of East Los Angeles who, in 1968, staged several dramatic walkouts in their high schools to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions.
