Winter 2020 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Dominic Pangborn, Artist and Designer

The Road Less Traveled: Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities for Success

Thursday, March 12, 2020
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. - Keynote
6:30 - 7:30 p.m – Reception, snacks and beverages provided
DeVos Center, Loosemore Auditorium, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

From humble beginnings, Dominic Pangborn is an internationally recognized artist and designer. Born during the Korean War, Pangborn never met his father, an American G.I. He lived with his mother, a Korean villager, for the majority of his childhood. When Catholic missionaries visited the village, he was sent to United States at the age of 10 and was adopted by the Pangborn family of Jackson, Michigan. Growing up as bi-racial, immigrant and adopted kid, Pangborn was constantly bullied throughout his childhood. His experiences led him to turn to art as an escape and a way to express his emotions.

Most recently, Pangborn was one of the artists invited to Korea to create the art for the 2018 Winter Olympics. In 2014, he was voted a top-five finalist in Grand Rapids ArtPrize, the international public art competition, among 1,500 entries. Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins franchise commissioned him to create a 40-foot 3D art sculpture as a feature in their new stadium in 2012. Pangborn was commissioned to create an artwork for the White House Fellows 50^th Anniversary. Moreover, the Ella Sharp Museum of Michigan held a summer-long career retrospective “Evolution of Art & Design Through Revolution.”

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

Winter 2020 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Dr. Rik Stevenson, Professor of African American Studies, University of Florida

Our Roots Run Deep

Wednesday, February 5, 2020
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Pere Marquette, 2240 Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus

Join us as we warmly welcome Dr. Rik Stevenson back to Grand Valley State University! Dr. Stevenson will be presenting “Our Roots Run Deep,” a presentation that focuses on the legacy and cultural impact of Black/African American people, and how their contributions have truly impacted the world. Dr. Rik is a Visiting Assistant Professor of African American Studies at the University of Florida. He holds two Master’s Degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary, a Doctorate in Divinity from the Southern California School of Ministry and a Ph.D. From Michigan State University in African American and African Studies. He is bringing a wealth of knowledge with him and we are truly excited for him to share with us while uplifting the rich legacy of Blacks/African-Americans.

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

Fall 2019 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Dr. LaNada War Jack and Lenny Foster

A Conversation with Two Alcatraz Warriors 50 Years Later

Monday, November 4, 2019
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
2250 Kirkhof Center
Allendale Campus

Dr. LaNada War Jack and Lenny Foster will talk on the occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 and 1970 and the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan and the Bureau of Indian Affairs take over in Washington, D.C. The program will consist of a live interview and short video provided by Dr. War Jack.

LIB 100 & LIB 201 Approved

Fall 2018 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Transgender Day of Remembrance
with Qwo-Li Driskill

Monday, November 19, 2018
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
2204 Kirkhof Center
Allendale Campus

Cherokee poet, scholar, and activist Qwo-Li Driskill was raised in rural Colorado. Driskill earned a BA from the University of Northern Colorado, an MA from Antioch University Seattle, and a PhD from Michigan State University.
 
Driskill’s poetry engages themes of inheritance and healing, and is rooted in personal Cherokee Two-Spirit, queer, and mixed-race experience. Walking with Ghosts (2005), Driskill’s first poetry collection, was named Book of the Month by Sable: The LitMag for New Writing and was nominated for the Griffin Poetry Prize.
 
Driskill co-edited, with Colin Kennedy Donovan, Scars Tell Stories: A Queer and Trans (Dis)ability Zine (2007), and has work featured in several anthologies, including Beyond Masculinity: Essays by Queer Men on Gender and Politics (2008, edited by Trevor Hoppe) and Speak to Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry (2003, edited by Janice Gould and Dean Rader). The poet is the founder of Dragonfly Rising Press.
 
Driskill has taught at Antioch University Seattle and Texas A&M University.

LIB 100/201 APPROVED

Fall 2017 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Gary "Litefoot" Davis
Empower Yourself, Empower Your Communities

Wednesday, November 8, 2017
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Grand River Room, KC
Allendale Campus

An inspirational and powerful presentation on empowerment. When you empower yourself, you will by default empower your communities. Gary “Litefoot” Davis is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and is a successful actor, rap artist, public speaker and entrepreneur. For over 25 years, Mr. Davis has traveled across North America as a consistent voice of inspiration and motivation for American Indian people, Tribes, Tribal programs, Schools, Universities and National Organizations. His inspirational messages are rooted in traditional values which he proudly proclaims have helped him achieve many accomplishments in his own life. Today, he successfully owns and operates his own companies with interests in a variety of business sectors ranging from entertainment and fashion to energy. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Native American Financial Services Association based in Washington,
DC. Mr. Davis also produces a weekly podcast, “The Litefoot Show” and has his own web series entitled, “Litefoot’s Relentless Pursuit”. Mr. Davis serves as an example of what can be accomplished by living your purpose and intertwining it with hard work, focus and resolve in order to accomplish one's goals.

LIB 100/201 Approved!

Fall 2017 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Dr. Antonia Novello
Hispanics: More Than Statistics

Wednesday, September 27, 2017
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Grand River Room, KC
Allendale Campus

14th Surgeon General of the United States

Dr. Antonia Coello Novello was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a B.S. degree in 1965 and an M.D. degree in 1970. She completed her subspecialty training in pediatric nephrology at University of Michigan and Georgetown University. Dr. Novello received a masters in Public Health from the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1982 and a Doctor of Public Health in May 2000.  She holds countless awards including the Legion of Merit, The James Smithson Bicentennial Medal, and the National Governor's Association Distinguished Service to State Government Award, as well as a membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society and Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences to name a few, and over 53 honoris causa. In 2011, Dr. Novello received the Don Quijote Lifetime Achievement Award.

On March 9, 1990, Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to serve as the 14th Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service. Her appointment marked two firsts: Dr. Novello became the first woman and the first Hispanic ever to hold this position.  As Surgeon General, Dr. Novello advised the public on health matters such as smoking, AIDS, diet and nutrition, environmental health hazards and the importance of immunization and disease prevention.

On June 3, 1999, Governor George E. Pataki nominated Dr. Novello to be the 13th New York State Health Commissioner; one of the leading health agencies in the nation with a $49 Billion budget - one-third of the whole NY state budget. Most recently, Dr. Novello served as the Executive Director of Public Health Policy at Florida Hospital. She currently serves as a liaison between the government of Dominican Republic and its Attorney General on raising the awareness of domestic violence and spearheading efforts for national legislation.

LIB 100 and LIB 201 Approved!

Winter 2017 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Dr. Samuel Museus
The Racial Realities of Asian Americans in Higher Education

Wednesday, February 8, 2017
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Grand River Room, KC
Allendale Campus

Samuel D. Museus is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. He also serves as Founding Director of the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Project. Museus has produced over 200 publications and conference presentations focused on diversity and equity, campus environments, and college student outcomes. These publications include 9 books, including Creating Campus Cultures: Fostering Success among Racially Diverse Student Populations and Racism and Racial Equity in Higher Education. Museus is also creator of the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Model of College Success and the CECE survey, which are tools that colleges and universities around the nation are now using to advance their inclusion and equity agendas and foster success among racially diverse populations.

Museus has previously received several national awards in recognition of the impact of his scholarship, including the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Early Career Award in 2011 and the NASPA George D. Kuh Outstanding Contribution to Research and Literature Award in 2014. His work has also been featured in several high-profile media outlets, such as NPR, the Boston Globe, and the Washington Post. Museus also consults with college campuses in the United States and abroad that seek to transform their institutions and cultivate more inclusive organizational environments.

LIB 100 & 201 Approved ~ Connections to the Classroom
Social Justice & Human Rights: (LIB 100)
Upon completion of this program, attendees will have gained an increased understanding of how race and racism shape the lives of Asian Americans.

Diverse Communities: (LIB 201)
Upon completion of this program, attendees will have improved their knowledge of how the struggles of Asian American communities are related to other communities of color

Oppression/Discrimination: (LIB 201)
Upon completion of this program, attendees will be able to engage in critical dialogue about how Asian Americans and other communities can collectively advocate for racial justice and equity

Fall 2015 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Dr. Adrienne Keene
Conversation on Cultural Appropriation & Pop Culture

Tuesday, November 17, 2015
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Cook DeWitt Auditorium
Allendale Campus

Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation) is a Native scholar, writer, blogger and activist. She is passionate about reframing how the world sees contemporary Native cultures. She is the creator and author of "Native Appropriations," a blog discussing cultural appropriation and stereotypes of Native peoples in fashion and other forms of pop culture.

*Event is part of Native American Heritage Celebration and
Professionals of Color Lecture Series

LIB 100 & 201 Approved

Connection to the Classroom
Social Justice & Human Rights: (LIB 100)
1.  Upon completion of this program, attendees will have gained new awareness about Native Americans in today’s society and how the history of marginalization and discrimination are still challenges in today’s society. 

Activism:  (LIB 201)
1.Upon completion of this program, attendees will have gained new insight into how contemporary Native Americans are working towards social change. 

Oppression/Discrimination (LIB 201)
1.Upon completion of this program, attendees will have increased knowledge about how Native Americans are negatively portrayed in media, sporting events and pop culture and the direct connection to continued oppression, discrimination and marginalization of their communities. 

Winter 2015 Professionals of Color Lectures Series

Linal Harris, Business Leader
Inspirational Leadership

Thursday, February 26, 2015
2:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Charles W. Loosemore, 1008-B
L. Williams Seidman Center,
Grand Rapids Pew Campus

Linal Harris

A respected business leader, Harris serves as the vice president and chief diversity officer for U.S. Cellular®, where he is responsible for leading a best-in-class diversity strategy that supports the company's overall business goal to deliver the world's best customer experience and establish U.S. Cellular® as an employer of choice for top talent, particularly diverse talent. Harris also leads teams responsible for human resource solutions; policy; insights and analytics; talent programs & strategies; and third party labor vendor relations. Under Harris’s leadership U.S. Cellular® has received a number of awards for its leadership; continued support of diverse suppliers; and the work done within diverse communities.

Fall 2014 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Dr. Anton Treuer

Wednesday, November 5, 2014
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Cook - Dewitt Center Auditorium
Allendale Campus

Anton Treuer

Anton Treuer is the executive director of the American Indian Resource Center at Bemidji State University and author of 13 books. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Minnesota. He is editor of the Oshkaabewis Native Journal, the only academic journal of the Ojibwe language. Treuer has served on many organizational boards and has received numerous awards and fellowships. His published works include “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask,” “The Assassination of Hole in the Day,” and “Atlas of Indian Nations.” During his presentation, Dr. Treuer will share his personal and professional journey and lessons learned along the way.

Fall 2014 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Presente! Latinos y Latinas in the 21st Century: Rosa Clemente

Thursday, October 2, 2014
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Grand River Room, Russell H. Kirkhof Center
Allendale Campus

Rosa Clemente

Clemente was nominated by the Green Party as a vice presidential candidate in the 2008’s election. Along with Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, the pair became the first women of color ticket in American history. For more than 15 years, Clemente has been a community organizer and activist, and a featured keynote speaker, panelist and political commentator. In 1995, she developed Know Thy Self Productions, which has since produced four major community activism tours. She also consults on issues such as hip-hop activism, media justice, voter engagement among youth of color, third-party politics, intercultural relations between African Americans and Latinos, immigrants’ rights as an extension of human rights and universal health care.

Winter 2014 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Effective Leadership and Service

Thursday, February 6, 2014
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Cook DeWitt Center
Allendale Campus
 

Patrick Miles, Jr.

Patrick Miles, Jr. was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 29, 2012 to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 29, 2012 and assumed office on July 9, 2012. Mr. Miles is a Grand Rapids native and attended Grand Rapids Public Schools. He holds a bachelors of science degree in business administration with an economics major from Aquinas College. Mr. Miles is a 1991 Harvard Law School graduate. He was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Record. Following law school, Mr. Miles joined Varnum LLP, a 150-attorney law firm based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1997, at the age of 29, Mr. Miles became the first African-American partner in Varnum's 110-year history. In 2006, Mr. Miles became a member of Dickinson Wright PLLC, a law firm with 260 attorneys and offices in Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Nashville, Phoenix, Washington, DC and Toronto. Mr. Miles was elected to serve as President of the Grand Rapids Bar Association from 2004 to 2005 and as a trustee from 1999 to 2002. He has also served over two dozen charitable and professional boards and committees.

Winter 2014 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Beyond Math Geeks and China Dolls: Overcoming Stereotypes about Asian Americans to Find Success in the Real World

Tuesday, February 4, 2014
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Cook Dewitt Center
Allendale Campus

Yul Kwon

Yul has enjoyed a diverse career across technology, business, law, public policy, and media. His work on television includes hosting America Revealed on PBS, anchoring LinkAsia on KCETLink, working as a special correspondent for CNN, and becoming the first Asian American to win the CBS reality show, Survivor. In the private sector, Yul has held positions at Facebook (where he is currently Head of Facebook’s Privacy Program), Google, McKinsey & Company, Venture Law Group, and Wiltshire & Grannis. In the public sector, Yul's government experience includes serving as Deputy Chief of the FCC's Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, an adjunct instructor at the FBI Academy, a legislative counsel in the U.S Senate, and a judicial clerk on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Fall 2013 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

An Evening with Joy Harjo

Wednesday, November 6, 2013
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Cook Dewitt Center
Allendale Campus

Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo is an internationally known poet, performer, writer and saxophone player of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. She has published a memoir, “Crazy Brave,” detailing her journey to becoming a poet. She also performs her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which premiered at the Wells Fargo Theater in Los Angeles in 2009. Harjo writes a column, “Comings and Goings,” for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Fall 2013 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

A Conversation with Peter Bratt

Wednesday, October 2, 2013
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Russel H. Kirkhof Center
Grand River Room
Allendale Campus

Peter Bratt

Join us for an engaging conversation as we explore the intersection of race and sexual orientation and the story told in the 2009 film La Mission with filmmaker, Peter Bratt. Bratt is an acclaimed director, screenwriter and producer. His first film, Follow Me Home, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in official competition in 1996. It opened audiences’ eyes with its honest look at the social issues faced by five urban individuals as they traveled across the United States to Washington, D.C. Its exploration of the journey to redemption and the ultimate reach toward conquering societal ills is also a theme explored in Bratt’s sophomore effort, La Mission.

Winter 2013 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Effective Leadership and Service
(Canceled, to be rescheduled)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Russel H. Kirkhof Center
Pere Marquee Room
Allendale Campus

Patrick Miles, Jr.

Patrick Miles, Jr. was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 29, 2012 to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 29, 2012 and assumed office on July 9, 2012.  Mr. Miles is a Grand Rapids native and attended Grand Rapids Public Schools. He holds a bachelors of science degree in business administration with an economics major from Aquinas College. Mr. Miles is a 1991 Harvard Law School graduate. He was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Record. Following law school, Mr. Miles joined Varnum LLP, a 150-attorney law firm based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1997, at the age of 29, Mr. Miles became the first African-American partner in Varnum's 110-year history. In 2006, Mr. Miles became a member of Dickinson Wright PLLC, a law firm with 260 attorneys and offices in Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Nashville, Phoenix, Washington, DC and Toronto. Mr. Miles was elected to serve as President of the Grand Rapids Bar Association from 2004 to 2005 and as a trustee from 1999 to 2002. He has also served over two dozen charitable and professional boards and committees.

Fall 2012 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Global Unity

Monday, November 12, 2012
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Cook - DeWitt Center
Allendale Campus

Billy Mills

Billy Mills is the only American to ever win the Olympic gold medal in the 10,000-meter run. A Lakota Sioux raised in one of the poorest communities in America, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Mills was orphaned as a young boy, facing prejudice and cultural discrimination most of his childhood life. It was through a running scholarship to the University of Kansas that he was able to leave the reservation. Billy will share what remains constant in our changing world. How we address this consistency is our key to global unity through the dignity character and beauty of global diversity. He takes his audience on a compassionate and powerful journey, weaving stories of his young life as an orphaned Native American child living in poverty while encountering the ignorance of racism.

How Billy draws strength from the virtues and values of diversity and his Native American culture will help all individually and collectively to meet change by reaching within the depths of our capabilities and performing to the greatest of out potential. We leave knowing it was the daily choices he made in life, not just the talent he possessed, that choreographed his quest for Olympic glory.

Fall 2012 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Women and Minorities in the Political Arena

Wednesday, October 3, 2012
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Cook Dewitt Center
Allendale Campus

Patti Solis Doyle

As campaign manager for Hillary Clinton in 2008, Solis Doyle was the first Hispanic woman to lead a presidential campaign — working in an arena In which there aren’t many women campaign managers and fewer people of color in those roles.  She worked to promote Clinton administration policies on children, health care and women’s issues, and helped garner political support for other national Democratic candidates. Solis Doyle has been honored by Hispanic Magazine with the “2007 Latinas of Excellence Award” for her accomplishments in the area of government, politics and civil leadership. She also received Siempre Mujer magazine’s Siempre Inspiran award, honoring remarkable Latinas whose achievements and contributions to their communities are helping shape the future of Hispanic women in this country. Hispanic Business Magazine recently counted her among America’s 100 Most Influential Hispanics.

Winter 2012 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

1961, The Freedom Riders & Our Struggle for Racial Justice

Tuesday, February 28, 2012
12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Kirkhof Center, Room 2204
Allendale Campus

Diane Nash

A Chicago native who had never experienced segregation in public accommodation before moving to the South, Diane Nash went on to become one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement. Nash’s involvement in the non-violent movement began in 1959 while she was a student at Fisk University. In 1960, she became the chairperson of the students sit-in movement in Nashville, Tennessee, the first southern city to desegregate its lunch counters. Nash was one of the founding students of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee.

In 1961 she coordinated the Freedom Ride from Birmingham, Alabama, to Jackson, Mississippi, a story which was documented in the recent PBS American Experience film Freedom Riders. Her many arrests for her civil rights activities culminated in Nash being imprisoned for 30 days in 1961, while she was pregnant with her first child. Undeterred, she went on to join a national committee to which she was appointed by President John F. Kennedy that promoted passages of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Diane Nash is the recipient of numerous awards, including the War Resisters’ League Peace Award; the Distinguished American Award presented by the John F. Kennedy Library; the LBJ Award for Leadership in Civil Rights from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum; and an honorary doctorate of human letters from Fisk University, her alma mater. Most recently, Nash delivered the 2009 Slavery Remembrance Day Memorial Lecture in Liverpool, England.  Her work has been cited in numerous books, documentaries, magazines and newspaper articles and she has appeared on such TV shows and films as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Spike Lee’s Four Lile Girls, and PBS’s Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954 – 1965.

Fall 2011 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

American Indian History and Culture

Wednesday, November 9, 2011
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Grand River Room
Russel H. Kirkhof Center
Allendale Campus

Dennis Zotigh

Dennis W. Zotigh is a Kiowa, San Juan Pueblo, and Santee Dakota Indian.  He is a member of the Kiowa Gourd Clan, and a descendent of Sitting Bear and No Retreat, principal war chief of the Kiowa.  Zotigh began singing and dancing at Native celebrations at a very young age and grew up learning traditional values.  With his wealth of knowledge, he has lectured at universities, educational conferences and symposiums on topics concerning American Indian culture.  He is the director of the internationally known dance company, The Great American Indian Dancers.

Prior to joining the staff of National Museum of the American Indian, Zotigh played an important role in developing the American Indian Gallery of the new Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the capacity of American Indian Researcher and Historian.  Zotigh seeks to preserve the past, to broaden how Native Americans are viewed in the present and to create new opportunities for Indian youth in the future.

Fall 2011 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

Planting the Seeds of Social Justice

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
4:30 - 6:00 p.m. - Reception following lecture
Cook-DeWitt Center
Allendale Campus

Jaime Martinez

Jaime P. Martinez was born in 1946 in San Antonio, Texas and was reared by his Mexican migrant worker grandparents in the Westside barrio, a Spanish speaking community. His involvement in activism began in 1966 as a member of his local union in San Antonio, Texas IUE-AFL-CIO Local 789, Friedrich workers. He marched and fasted for justice for the farm workers alongside Cesar Chavez, President of the United Farm Workers of America. Mr. Martinez has defended the rights of workers and marches for civil rights throughout America and has worked with community leadership such as Rev. Abernathy, right hand man of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks. Jaime P. Martinez will speak about his experience working for social justice and human rights in the United States.

Between 1994 and 1996, Jaime Martinez began meeting with activists, labor, and Hispanic grass roots organizations laying the groundwork in the United States as one of the original organizers for the first Latino Civil Rights march of October 12, 1996. This march was attended by over 200,000 people in Washington, D.C. In 1999 Jaime Martinez submitted a report and testimony in Los Angeles, California, on immigrant rights on the Labor Force to delegates of the AFL-CIO, representing 13.5 million workers who adopted resolution #17 “Defending the Rights of Immigrant Workers.” In 2000, Mr. Martinez was appointed delegate to the International Metal Workers Federation World Council meeting in Washington D.C.— only 100 delegates from 25 countries were selected for this historic convention. In 2001, he was appointed National Chairperson of the Immigration Committee for the Labor Council for Latin America Advancement, representing 1.5 million Latino workers in the United States. In 2006, Mr. Martinez was the lead organizer and chairperson of the 10th Annual Cesar E. Chavez March for Justice in San Antonio, Texas which gathered 20,000 participants.

Fall 2011 Professionals of Color Lecture Series

What is the impact of Globalization and Immigration on Businesses Around the World?

Thursday, October 13, 2011
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Loosemore Auditorium
Russel H. Kirkhof Center
Allendale Campus
 

Marcelo Suarez Orozco

A distinguished voice on immigration, globalization and education, Dr. Suarez-Orozco is the co-founder of the Harvard Immigration Projects, and has lectured around the world, including at the United Nations and the Vatican. He is currently the Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education at New York University. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and has been a tenure professor at Harvard and a fellow at Stanford.

Suarez-Orozco's latest book, a re-release of Latinos: Remaking America, is a comprehensive study of the fastest-growing ethnic group in America - by mid-century Latinos will comprise a quarter of the country's population.  Suarez-Orozco's Learning in a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society, based on a five-year study of the lives, dreams, frustrations and ironies of hundreds of newly arrived children from the Caribbean, China, and Central America, recently won the prestigious Stone Award for 2008 for Best Book on Education.

Events are Free and open to the Public.  For information on parking or for individuals requiring special accommodations, please contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (616) 331-2177 or email us at [email protected].