NOTE: This page will be updated as planned events on campus resume.

An alumna and founding member of Grand Valley's Muslim Student Association will discuss Islamophobia at an event hosted by Campus Interfaith Resources.

Petra Alsoofy will present "Islamophobia Impacts Everyone" on Monday, March 9, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center, Pere Marquette Room. The event is approved for LIB 100/201.

Alsoofy is the outreach and partnerships manager at Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. She will present ISPU’s research, which examines the impact of Islamophobia on the wider public, in addition to recommendations to combat it. 

For more information, visit gvsu.edu/campusinterfaith. 

EqualiTEA, an annual celebration, will be held Wednesday, March 11, as part of the Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity’s Women’s History Month programming. 

The event will run from noon-1:30 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center, Grand River Room.  

The event will celebrate 2020 as the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

For more information, visit gvsu.edu/cwge.

Two events on March 16 will offer participants an in-depth look at how a patient's religious beliefs might impact treatment and decision making.

The West Michigan Health Care Ethics Conference (1-5 p.m.) and the DeVos Medical Ethics Colloquy (6-8 p.m.) are planned at the Eberhard Center. Registration for both events is free for GVSU students, faculty and staff; there is a $45 conference fee for all others. RSVP online at gvsu.edu/colloquy before March 11. Details of each event are below.

• Ethics Conference: "Waiting for a Miracle: Religion's Role in Patient Decision Making" will feature an interfaith panel of leaders, moderated by the Rev. Joanna Bailey, from Mercy Health Saint Mary's. Other activities include poster presentations, interactive exercises, and an opportunity to hear from keynote speakers who will also give presentations at the evening colloquy.

• DeVos Medical Ethics Colloquy: "The Role of Religion in Health Care" is a collaboration between GVSU's Vice Provost for Health and Spectrum Health.

Speakers are Ana Iltis, professor of university studies and philosophy, and director of the Center for Bioethics Health and Society at Wake Forest University; and Ryan Nash, director of the Ohio State University Center for Bioethics, director of the Division of Bioethics, Dept. of Biomedical Education and Anatomy, and chair of medical ethics and professionalism. Rabbi Emeritus Albert Lewis from Temple Emanuel will serve as moderator.

Continuing education credits are offered for medical education, nursing and social work for both the conference and colloquy. Information is online at gvsu.edu/colloquy. The colloquy will be live streamed; register on the website before March 11. 

The DeVos Medical Ethics Colloquy is held twice per year. Grand Valley began hosting this series in 2015, after receiving a gift from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation. 

The colloquy is sponsored by Spectrum Health, Mercy Health and Metro Health/University of Michigan Health. The ethics conference is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield/Blue Care Network of Michigan.

The CLAS Advising Center will host the annual Health Professional and Graduate School Fair on March 19 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center. 

Representatives from more than 80 health professional schools and graduate programs are expected. The event is free for all students; view a list of confirmed schools online at gvsu.edu/clasadvising.

The author of a book recounting her discovery of how children and residents of Flint were exposed to lead in their drinking water will appear on campus as part of the Great Michigan Read.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha will discuss her nationally recognized book, "What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City," on Tuesday, March 24, beginning at 6 p.m. in the DeVos Center, Loosemore Auditorium. Hanna-Attisha will have a conversation with state Rep. Rachel Hood, a Democrat who represents the 76th District, which is most of the city of Grand Rapids.

The event is free and open to the public and presented in partnership with Grand Valley's Kutsche Office of Local History and Grand Rapids Public Library. Hanna-Attisha will also sign books.

Kimberly McKee, director of the Kutsche Office of Local History, said the event aligns with how the office deploys an intersectional approach to history, and connects with its recent project highlighting the Grand River.

"Hosting Dr. Hanna-Attisha for a conversation supports the Kutsche Office’s interest in considering how local history intersects with environmental history, picking up on some of the themes that emerged from our Connections Along the Grand River project," McKee said. The Grand River project was also funded by Michigan Humanities, sponsor of the Great Michigan Read. 

Hanna-Attisha is the founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative in Flint.

Currently an associate professor of pediatrics and human development at the MSU College of Human Medicine, she has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. She was among the first to question if lead was leaching from the city’s water pipes after its water supply was switched to the Flint River in 2014. 

"What the Eyes Don't See" was named a New York Times Notable Book in 2019.

The 2019-2020 Great Michigan Read is presented by Michigan Humanities and supported by national, statewide, and local partners, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and The Meijer Foundation.

More information about the event can be found online at gvsu.edu/kutsche or by calling (616) 331-8099.