The University of Central Arkansas Division of Outreach and Community Engagement is hosting its second Centering Equity Conference on May 12, 2022.
The conference, which is sponsored by the UCA College of Education, will be presented virtually via Zoom at no cost to participants. It serves as an extension of the diversity, belonging, inclusion and equity efforts taking place across the UCA campus.
Professor and Distinguished Equity Fellow Candice Maxwell serves as the conference organizer. She says the event is highly interactive and a way to encourage conversations and learning opportunities about equity.
“I think there are a lot of ways in which people are really trying to transform their spaces and their lives around the deepening of values around equity and understanding what that term really means. I saw this conference as an opportunity to do that,” Maxwell said.
The theme of this year’s event is “Centering Equity through Allyships.” Maxwell wants participants to walk away with a better understanding of what it means to be an ally and what it takes to create an allyship.
“It’s not only engaging those personal commitments to equity work, but it also means that we are leveraging the privileges and positions to make sure historically excluded or marginalized individuals and groups of people have access to resources and opportunities,” Maxwell said. “A lot of that comes from affirming those individuals and making sure their stories are not dismissed.”
Jarrod Benjamin, the keynote speaker, is an adjunct professor at Florida International University, where he also serves as the cybersecurity apprenticeship program director. There is also a pre-conference workshop on May 11 with Denise Donnell leading a session on “Disrupting the Patterns of Narrative Deception.”
For a full list of conference speakers and panelists, visit the Centering Equity Conference webpage. Registration is open until the conference begins.
