Keynote Addresses
and
Special Features

Keynote
    ADDRESSES

Getting the Diversity Story Right

Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize Winning Columnist and Editorial Board Member, Chicago Tribune

Clarence Page, the 1989 Pulitzer Prize winner for Commentary, has been a columnist and a member of the newspaper's editorial board since July 1984. His column is syndicated nationally by Tribune Media Services and he does twice-weekly commentary on WGN-TV, Chicago. Page is a frequent guest panelist on "The McLaughlin Group," and recently "Meet The Press" with Tim Russert, as has been seen on ABC's "This Week." He has also been a regular contributor of essays to the "Lehrer News Hour" and a host of documentaries on the Public Broadcasting System. He is a regular panelist on Black Entertainment Television's (BET) weekly "Lead Story" news panel program and a biweekly commentator for National Public Radio's (NPR) "Weekend Sunday." Page's awards include a 1980 Illinois UPI award for community service for an investigative series titled "The Black Tax" and the Edward Scott Beck Award for overseas reporting of a 1976 series on the changing politics of Southern Africa. Clarence Page also participated in a 1972 Chicago Tribune Task Force series on vote fraud which won the Pulitzer Prize. He has also received awards from the Illinois and Wisconsin chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union for his columns on civil liberties and constitutional rights. He was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 1992. As a freelance writer, he has published articles in Chicago Magazine, the Chicago Reader, Washington Monthly, New Republic, Wall Street Journal, New York Newsday, and Emerge. His new book, Showing My Color: Impolite Essays on Race and Identity, has been published by Harper Collins. Page received his Bachelor of Science in journalism degree from Ohio University and has received honorary degrees from Columbia College in Chicago and Lake Forest (Illinois) College. Informal dialogue with Clarence Page-2:30-3:30 p.m.

Katela: Teaching Stories of Forty-One Generations of Lakota Women

Charlotte A. Black Elk, Political and Environmental Activist (Oglala Lakota)

Charlotte Black Elk is the great granddaughter of Nicholas Black Elk who gained renown through John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks. She is an activist for Native rights, a scholar of Lakota tradition and western technology. Her most passionate campaign is to have South Dakota's Black Hills returned to her people. Black Elk is the Lakota spiritual leader and primary advocate for return of the Black Hills, and as an authority in the verification of Lakota oral tradition, she lives near Manderson, South Dakota, with her family. The Lakota fully intends to have the Black Hills back. The return of the Black Hills to the Sioux Nation is the beginning of worldwide healing for children of the Earth. The spiritual regaining of the Black Hills must occur before material restoration. It isn't just participating in our ceremonies and life ways but the symbolism and what's involved. If restoration is not successful in our lifetime, our children are prepared to continue the battle. What Black Elk was really crying for was not some metaphorical notion of heaven but that we will be free to be Lakota and practice the ways we were taught. The turning point came when my father died. I kept his spirit for myself and the remembrance of him. I entered the arena from which there is no turning back, whatever the cost. I had lived consciously of what this responsibility meant and knew I could not step away and just be a regular reservation Indian. Black Elk has an undergraduate degree in microbiology from the University of Colorado and a Juries Doctorate also from the University of Colorado. She has been a lawyer to the United Nation and served as legal advisor to the National Congress of American Indians. Informal dialogue with Charlotte Black Elk-10:30-11:30 a.m.

The Struggle for Multiracial Democarcy in the 21st Century

Carlos Muñoz Jr., Ph.D., one of the most distinguished Latino Scholars in the nation

Muñoz is the son of poor working class Mexican immigrants. He is a Professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley where he previously was full Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies and affiliated faculty in the university's Center for Latin American Studies and the Peace and Conflict Studies Program. After 36 years of teaching in higher education, he has gained international prominence as political scientist, historian, journalist, and public intellectual. Carlos Muñoz is an acknowledged expert on the issues of ethnic and racial politics, multiculturalism, immigration, and affirmative action. He has appeared on PBS, NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, and the Spanish-speaking UNIVISION and Tele Mundo. Muñoz is a syndicated columnist with the Progressive Media Project. His newspaper columns are distributed nationally by the Knight-Ridder news wire service and have appeared online on Latino.com, and on the BBC, as well as World Service (Europe & Latin America). Muñoz played a prominent leadership role as a founder of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. Since then he has served as a leading organizer of various multiracial coalitions, including the Faculty for Human Rights in Central America, Faculty Against Apartheid in South Africa, and The Rainbow Coalition. In 1988, he was a key advisor to the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign. He is currently active in the struggles for affirmative action and immigrant rights. He served on the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and is a co-founder, with Angela Davis, Manning Marable and Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez, of the Institute for Multiracial Justice. He also co-founded Latinos Unidos, a grassroots community organization in Berkeley, California. Muñoz received numerous awards such as : University of Michigan's "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Rosa Parks Award" (1996); Scholar of the Year Award from the National Association of Chicana & Chicano Studies (1999); and the American Political Science Association honored Dr. Muñoz for his seminal scholarly contributions to the study of Mexican American and Latino politics (2001). In 2004, he is being honored in a traveling national exhibition tour entitled "The Long Walk To Freedom," as one of 28 civil rights activists. Muñoz has authored numerous pioneering works on the Mexican American political experience and on African American and Latino political coalitions. His book, Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement won the Gustavus Myers Book Award for "outstanding scholarship in the study of human rights in the United States." He is currently working on several new books: The Challenge for a Multiracial Democracy in America, a biographical novel on The Life & Times of Dr. Ernesto Galarza (1908-1984), the first Mexican American nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Book signing of Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement-1:50-2:15 p.m. Informal dialogue with Carlos Muñoz-2:30-3:30 p.m.

Embracing Diversity: An Imperative for Progress in a Democratic Society

Bob H. Suzuki, Ph.D., President of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (July 1991-2003)

Dr. Suzuki currently serves on the California Student Aid Commission, on the Boards of Directors of the Pasadena Bioscience Center and Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) in Los Angeles, and on the Advisory Board of the Ahimsa Center at Cal Poly Pomona. He has also served as a member of the National Science Board, the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and the Board of Trustees of the Japanese American National Museum. Dr. Bob Suzuki was born in Portland, Oregon to Japanese immigrant parents. During World War II, he was imprisoned with his family in an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho, where he received his first three years of schooling. After the completion of his doctorate from California Institute of Technology, he taught for four and half years in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Southern California. While teaching, he became deeply involved in civil rights and public and community affairs. Among numerous activities, he was one of the leaders of a successful nationwide campaign that led to the Congressional repeal of the Emergency Detention Act of 1950, and as chair of the National Education Commission of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), he was responsible for initiating action that led to the inclusion of Asian Americans in federally-mandated affirmative action programs. As a result of his deep involvement in these activities, he changed his professional field and devoted himself full-time to work that more directly addressed pressing societal problems. Dr. Suzuki returned to academic administration when he assumed the position of Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at California State University, Los Angeles. After four and half years, he assumed the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University, Northridge. In July of 1991, Dr. Suzuki was selected as the fourth president of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. During his tenure as president, Dr. Suzuki transformed and improved the quality of many of Cal Poly's academic programs and operations, and developed several innovative programs including the International Polytechnic High School, Agriscapes, and Innovation Village, among others. He was among the first scholars to debunk the "model minority" stereotype of Asian Americans when he published a seminal journal article on the subject in 1977. Dr. Suzuki has been honored on numerous occasions for his contributions in the areas of community service, education, and human and civil rights. Most recently, on November 3, 2003, he was conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Japanese Government. Informal dialogue with Bob Suzuki-2:30-3:30 p.m.





SPECIAL FEATURES:
INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION AND DIALOGUE

A History (and more) of Asian/Pacific Americans

Gary Okihiro, Ph.D., Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University-New York, New York

Gary Okihiro is also the Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and Director of Asian-American Studies Program in Columbia University. His research interests are Asian-American Studies and Southern Africa. He is the author of several recent books on U.S. and African Histories, including The Columbia Guide to Asian American History and Common Ground: Reimagining American History (Princeton University Press, 2001). Others include A Social History of the Bakwena and Peoples of the Kalahari of Southern Africa,19th Century (Edwin Mellen Press, 2000), Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II, and Storied Lives: Japanese American Students and World War II (University of Washington Press, 1996 and 1999 respectively). Professor Okihiro is the recipient of the lifetime achievement award from the American Studies Association and is a past President of the Association for Asian American Studies.

How to Enhance Diversity Issues on College Campuses

Mildred García,, Ph.D., President, Berkeley College-New York, New York

An educator with extensive administrative and teaching experience at all levels of higher education, Dr. Mildred García serves as President of Berkeley College. The College maintains two New York campuses in Mid-Town Manhattan and White Plains, and three New Jersey campuses located in West Paterson, Paramus, and Woodbridge. In addition, the College operates an Extension Center in Lower Manhattan. The College enrolls approximately 5,000 students and awards both Baccalaureate and Associate degrees in a wide variety of business-related fields. Since assuming the Presidency of Berkeley College in 2001, Dr. García has championed the cause of access with success; the obligation to make the attainment of a college degree a realistic goal for all who strive to succeed. Under Dr. García’s leadership, the College has added many new programs, including Bachelor’s and Associate’s degrees offered in an online format. The College has opened state-of-the-art new facilities in Paramus and Lower Manhattan, and has modernized and renovated existing facilities to enhance the College’s mission to provide a quality education for a diverse student population seeking careers in the vanguard of the business industry. Dr. García’s research has concentrated on equity in higher education and its impact on policy and practice. When the Ford Foundation was seeking evaluators to assess its Campus Diversity Initiative, Dr. García was selected along with three other scholars. Their assessments resulted in the 1995 coauthored monograph, Diversity in Higher Education: A Work in Progress. She was also selected by the Ford Foundation as part of a U.S. delegation, working with delegations from India and South Africa, to participate in an international seminar on diversity and democracy in India (1997) and in South Africa (1998). Her book Affirmative Action’s Testament of Hope: Strategies for a New Era (1997), extended her work on how to enhance diversity issues on college campuses. In 2000, Dr. García authored Succeeding in an Academic Career, which focuses on how faculty of color can succeed in higher education and in 2001 co-published Assessing Campus Diversity Initiatives, which underscores the importance of assessment and evaluation. Dr. García ’ s latest work is Transforming the First Year of College for Students of Color, which she co-authored in 2004. She was appointed by the Governor of New Jersey to Chair the Education Mandate Review Study Commission, and also serves as the Chair of the Commission for the Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity (CAREE) for the American Council on Education (ACE). She serves on the Advisory Committee of the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources. In addition, she serves on the Board of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, the Board of The Journal of General Education and as a founding board member of 100 Hispanic Women, Westchester Chapter. An active member of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), she served as the chair of the Association’s Publication Committee. She was appointed by the Mayor of New York City to serve on the City’s Workforce Investment Board and was appointed to its Executive Board. Further, she has also been selected to serve on the Board of Trustees of Caribbean University in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Dr. García holds a doctorate and master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University; a master’s degree from New York University, a B.S. from Bernard Baruch College of CUNY and an A.A.S. from New York City Community College of CUNY.

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