A global perspective of migrations is focus of conference

Issues associated with migrations, from understanding to actions and reactions, will be addressed in more than 20 panel presentations at the 39th annual Great Lakes History Conference at Grand Valley State University.

The 2013 conference, following the theme “Collisions and Encounters: Migrations in a Global Perspective - 15th Century to Present,”  will run October 11-12, on Grand Valley’s Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

“This year we are collaborating with the Michigan Council for History Education,” said Gretchen Galbraith, associate professor of history and conference co-coordinator, with Gordon Andrews, assistant professor of history. “Gordon is the current MCHE president and brings a new mix to this conference of traditional scholarly panels by including workshops and roundtables geared toward K-12 teachers.”

Melanie Shell-Weiss, director of Grand Valley’s Kutsche Office of Local History and a scholar of human migration, will be the keynote speaker Friday, October 11, 7 p.m. in the DeVos Center. Her address, “Neighborhood History as Activism: A Call to Action,” is free and open to the public.

Professor Donna Gabaccia, a scholar from the University of Minnesota, will present the keynote address entitled “From Immigration History to Mobility Studies”  at the conference luncheon on Saturday, October 12, at the L.V. Eberhard Center.

Conference registration is required by Friday, September 27, and includes the luncheons and all sessions. Conference fees are $40/educators and $20/general public. Grand Valley students should contact the History Department.

The conference is sponsored by the Michigan Council of History Education, Grand Valley’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, History Department and the Kutsche Office of Local History.

For more details and online registration, visit www.gvsu.edu/history and click on the link to Great Lakes History Conference.