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2011 NASPA Multicultural Institute

Program Description
Pre-Institute Workshops | Speakers

Major Speakers

Dr. Ronald Williams, Vice President of the College Board

Ronald Williams is a vice president of the College Board. Among several leadership roles, Williams is responsible for strengthening the relationship between the College Board and community colleges throughout the United States. He also provides leadership to a cluster of initiatives dealing with students' access to, and persistence in, college. Williams joined the College Board in 2007 from Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., where he had served as president since 1999, capping an extensive career with community colleges. Williams is a member of the board of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the American Association of Community Colleges, and the American Council on Education's Center for Policy Analysis Advisory Committee. Williams attended Lehigh University, where he earned a doctorate in literature, a master's degree in English and a bachelor's degree in History and English. A writer, Williams has published two novels, Four Saints and an Angel and A Death in Panama.


Kathleen Martinez, United States Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy

Kathleen Martinez was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the third Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy. As head of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), Ms. Martinez advises the Secretary of Labor and works with all DOL agencies to lead a comprehensive and coordinated national policy regarding the employment of people with disabilities.

Blind since birth, Ms. Martinez comes to ODEP with a background as an internationally recognized disability rights leader specializing in employment, asset building, independent living, international development, diversity and gender issues.

 


Kenyon Farrow, Writer. Speaker. Activist.

 Kenyon Farrow picture Kenyon Farrow has been working as an organizer, communications strategist, and writer on issues at the intersection of HIV/AIDS, prisons, and homophobia. Kenyon is the former Executive Director of Queers for Economic Justice—an organization dedicated to organizing, research, and advocacy for and with low-income and working-class lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Prior to becoming ED, Kenyon served as the National Public Education Director, building the visibility of progressive racial and economic justice issues as they pertain to LGBTQ community through coalition-building, public education, and media advocacy. Currently he serves on the Executive Committee of Connect 2 Protect New York, and the Center for Gay & Lesbian Studies (CLAGS). Kenyon is working on a new report on the Tea Party and LGBT Politics with Political Research Associates, as well as working as a book editor with South End Press.

 
Dr. Richard Carvajal, President, Bainbridge College

Dr. Richard Carvajal started his tenure as the 4th president of Bainbridge College in January of 2011.  Previously, he served as the Vice President for Student Success Services at Cascadia Community College in Bothell, Washington.  While there, he oversaw a division consisting of enrollment services, advising/support services, international education, student life, diversity & equity services, and the College 101 program and faculty. 

Dr. Carvajal started his career in higher education administration after being selected to serve as a NASPA Minority Undergraduate Fellow, and he was the first NUFP alum to rise to the rank of president.  He also has served as a Lyndon B. Johnson Congressional Fellow, completed fellowships with the Washington Center in Washington, D.C. and the Global Affairs Council in Seattle, andis a graduate of the prestigious Leadership Kansas program coordinated by the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce. 


Dr. Cornel Pewewardy, Director and Professor, Indigenous Nations Studies, Portland State University

 

For Dr. Pewewardy, Director of PSU's Native American Studies program, encouragement is the key to a productive learning environment that leads to student success.

Pewewardy, who is Comanche and Kiowa, says he had very few outstanding teachers when he was growing up. "I learned from bad teachers how not to be," he says. After graduate studies in elementary education at University of Kansas, Pewewardy honed his teaching skills at the Comanche Nation College in Lawton, Oklahoma, and at University of Kansas.

Pewewardy tries to challenge his students to de-colonize their mindsets and introduces them to indigenous ways of knowing as he teaches courses that cover the history of Indian education, Federal Indian law, and issues of sovereignty, identity, and stereotypes. "Columbus didn't discover me," he may tell them, or he may recast Thanksgiving as "Thanks-taking." It's all done with the aim of encouraging critical thinking and student engagement.

Courtesy of Portland State Magazine

Dr. Emily Musil Church, Professor at Lafayette College

Emily Musil Church is a professor at Lafayette College where she teaches African history, human rights, history of the modern world, and women's and gender studies. She received her Ph.D. from UCLA, and has taught International Studies and History previously at American University in Washington DC and Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She has worked with Nomadic Wax to help promote the work of African hip hop artists and activists, and with Film Your Issue, a competition highlighting short films about social issues. She is working on a book about black women intellectuals and their contributions to the development of human rights.