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Thursday, Sept. 25–Saturday, Sept. 27
 

TACOMA, Wash. – There are now more reasons to attend the 2014 Race & Pedagogy National Conference at University of Puget Sound in Tacoma this fall (Thurs.–Sat., Sept. 25–27).

In addition to the roster of high-profile speakersAngela Davis, Winona LaDuke, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Eduardo Bonilla Silva— the conference will include six Spotlight Sessions. These sessions are for those interested in teacher development, the genetic side of race, criminal justice, civil rights, arts as a teaching tool, and preparing schools and colleges for the future.

There also will be two waves of events focused on innovative arts and young people. Details on the R & P Arts Program—including exhibitions, music, comedy, spoken word, and poetry—and the Youth Summit will follow shortly. One highlight in the conference arts program will be a concert performance by world-renowned pianist, violinist, and conductor Awadagin Pratt, in Schneebeck Concert Hall, at the close of the conference on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.

 Immediately before the start of the conference the university Black Student Union is holding a Scholarship Fundraising Dinner, silent auction, and raffle, open to the general public. This event, which will raise funds for students’ books and technology, will be held 5–6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25, with the silent auction opening at 4 p.m., in Rasmussen Rotunda on campus. The dinner is complimentary, though donations are greatly appreciated. Please RSVP by Friday, Sept. 12, via the link below.

Registration for the conference is $200 for one day (in advance) and $375 for three days. Tickets for the four keynote speeches for non-conference goers will be $20 for each lecture and will go on sale in September (date to be announced). Conference registration is required for all other events, except the art exhibitions. Ticket sales enable the university to make the conference available to those who may not be able to afford the full cost. More details and registration are available at www.pugetsound.edu/RPNC.

Over the three days of the conference, hundreds of participants from around the country will address the theme “What NOW is the Work of Education and Justice?: Mapping a New Critical Conscience.”  

This theme will run through the six “spotlight sessions” or interconnected strands of the conference presentations and workshops. The sessions, which will include prominent speakers and experts in each field, are:

Teacher Development and Preparation
Learning and Teaching About Human Genetic Variation and Race
Race, Education, and Criminal Justice
Knowledge Reclamation, Language, and Land Rights
Arts as Public Pedagogy
Institutional Readiness and Transformation

The conference program will include more than 60 panels, as well as stage presentations, and poster sessions. The keynote speakers, listed below, will all present at Memorial Fieldhouse on campus. More about the speakers is available at https://www.pugetsound.edu/news-and-events/campus-news/details/1302/. Ticket information is below.

Angela Davis
7–9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25
Angela Davis is a civil rights activist, prison abolitionist, and professor emerita at University of California, Santa Cruz.     

Winona LaDuke
8:30–10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 26
Winona LaDuke is an environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights advocate, and former Green Party vice-presidential candidate.

Henry Louis Gates Jr.
4–6:00 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a Harvard University professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
8:30–10:30 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 27
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva is a Duke University professor of sociology and author of the highly-acclaimed book Racism Without Racists

The Race and Pedagogy Initiative, in conjunction with its community partners, coordinated national conferences in 2006 and 2010 and has organized a series of summits and conferences targeting issues of youth, race, education, and criminal justice ever since its founding in 2002.  

The 2014 Race and Pedagogy Conference is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Puget Sound Energy, Russell Investments, State of Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tacoma Arts Commission, University of Puget Sound, Wells Fargo, and an anonymous local foundation donor. 

For conference registration or information, please visit: pugetsound.edu/RPNC or call 253.879.2435
Public Tickets for the Keynote Speakers will be on sale, on a date to be announced, at: tickets.pugetsound.edu
The latest conference news is on Facebook: facebook.com/raceandpedagogy and Twitter:  @PSRacePedagogy   

To attend the Black Student Union Scholarship Fundraising Dinner visit: www.pugetsound.edu/bsudinner.

For interviews with conference speakers or organizers, please contact Shirley Skeel at 253.879.2611, 510.684.6715 (cell), or sskeel@pugetsound.edu
Press photos of the speakers can be downloaded from: pugetsound.edu/pressphotos
Photos on page:  Top left: A workshop at the 2010 Race & Pedagogy National Conference; Above right: Members of the Black Student Union; Above left: Teacher Development spotlight speaker Richard Milner, University of Pittsburgh and author of Start Where You Are, But Don't Stay There

Directions and a map of the University of Puget Sound campus:pugetsound.edu/directions
For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253.879.3236, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility

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