Provost's Conversations on
Diversity, Democracy, and Higher Education


The Provost's Conversations on Diversity, Democracy and Higher Education began in the Spring semester of 2003. During the first semester the series was offered in partnership with the Division of Student Affairs. The mission of the program was highlighted in the following paragraph which we've used to promote each of our sessions.

"As the student population of the University of Maryland grows in racial/ethnic diversity, we have a great opportunity to engage this diversity to the educational benefit of all students. Faculty and staff play a key role in creating a positive climate for our students, and we are committed to assuring that faculty and staff have the knowledge and tools needed to address the challenges and maximize the opportunities that come with an increasingly diverse student population. To this end, these conversations are designed to share information and strategies to help academic units/departments and the institution as a whole implement policy and practices that encourage a positive, diverse learning environment for faculty, staff and ultimately students."

Forty-four Provost's Conversations Programs have been offered since the first in March 2003. Dr. Yolanda T. Moses, President of the American Association for Higher Education was our first speaker.  She spoke on the topic of “Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Faculty.


Spring 2008 Calendar


Click here to view previous Conversations





“From Sodomy Laws to Marriage Amendments: A History of Sexual Identity/Politics”
A Conversation with George Chauncey

*This event is Co-Sponsored with the Office of LGBT Equity and the Program in LGBT Studies 

George Chauncey, Yale University Professor of History

Scholar of 20th century U.S. history and lesbian and gay history, Professor Chauncey is the award winning author of Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 (1994) and Why Marriage? The History Shaping Today’s Debate over Gay Equality (2004).

This talk analyzes the changes over the course of the twentieth century in gay life, in American sexual politics, and in marriage itself that propelled the gay marriage issue to the forefront of American political and moral debate.

Please click the link to view the Annotated Reading List prepared by Otis and Marie Chadley, UM Libraries.

Thursday, February 21, 2008.
This event has passed.




“The Accurate Stereotype: New Racism, New Black Female Imagining, and New Drama”
A Conversation with Jeffrey McCune, Jr.

Jeffrey McCune, Jr., University of Maryland Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and American Studies

With interests in critical race/gender/sexuality theory, masculinities, whiteness studies, and 20th-century African American literature and culture, Professor McCune’s latest work examines the intersection of race and sexuality.

This conversation is the beginning of research which engages contemporary black female impersonations by heterosexual black men and queer white men.

Through close examinations of certain moves across gender and race, McCune discusses new technologies, new racism/sexism, and the politics of camp as active agents in the framing of stereotypes as "accurate."

While challenging the idea of racial accuracy, he asserts that it is the dialectical relationship between camp and notions of the accurate that inform public fascination with black female impersonations, outside the context of drag culture.  This conversation forges an important conversation around the politics of impersonation and appropriation.

Please click the link to view the Annotated Reading List prepared by Otis and Marie Chadley, UM Libraries.

Thursday, March 6, 2008.
This event has passed.



“Dispatch from the Front Lines of the Affirmative Action War"
A Conversation with Peter Schmidt

Peter Schmidt, A Senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education

In 2007 Schmidt published Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War over College Affirmative Action to expose the ways in which class inequality undergirds affirmative action policy work and leaves poor and working-class students out of higher education.  

This talk will explore what's behind the legal and political struggles over affirmative action on college campuses.  Veteran education journalist Peter Schmidt argues that the debate has been distorted by both sides' unwillingness to discuss issues of class and the grip that the economically privileged have on selective colleges and universities. Higher education institutions claim to be defending diversity, but what they seem most worried about losing is the almighty dollar.

Please click the link to view the Annotated Reading List prepared by Otis and Marie Chadley, UM Libraries.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008.
This event has passed.


“Journey from the Land of No”
A Conversation with Roya Hakakian

Roya Hakakian, Yale University Fellow
    
Acclaimed writer, poet, and activist, Ms. Hakakian is the author of Journey from the Land of No (2004), the memoir of her life growing up Jewish in post-revolutionary Iran.  

Ms. Hakakian will read from her memoir and speak about her life in Iran.

Please click the link to view the Annotated Reading List prepared by Otis and Marie Chadley, UM Libraries.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008.
This event has passed.




Wednesday,
April 23, 2008
at 7 PM

The Hoff Theater
Stamp Student Union
"Stopping Genocide in Darfur:
What You Can Do"
A Conversation with John Prendergast



John Prendergast, Author and Human Rights Activist

Having worked on crises in Africa for over twenty years, Mr. Prendergast is a dedicated humanitarian.  During the Clinton administration he was the director of African Affairs for the National Security Council (1996-1999) and was a Special Advisor to the State Department (1999-2001). Currently he serves as a Senior Advisor of the International Crisis Group. With focused efforts in Sudan, the Congo, Chad, and Uganda, Mr. Prendergast is the Co-Chair of the Enough Project, which was founded in 2006 to work with individuals and policy-makers to promote peace and help end genocide and crimes against humanity.  Mr. Prendergast co-authored his most recent publication with actor Don Cheadle, Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond (2007). 

The Enough Project prepared the following historical information about Sudan.

Please click the link to view the Annotated Reading List prepared by Otis and Marie Chadley, UM Libraries.

This event has passed.

To RSVP please email  Isis Semaj isemaj@umd.edu
For more information or for contact information for our speakers, please call the Office of the Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity (5-6810)