Each year the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston College addresses a racial or cultural issue that could benefit from a pragmatic, scholarly, or grassroots focus through its Diversity Challenge conference. The theme of Diversity Challenge 2010 is race and culture in teaching, training, and supervision. The two-day conference includes panel discussion/symposia, workshops, structured discussions, a poster session, and individual presentations by invited experts and selected guests including educators, administrators, researchers, mental health professionals, and community organizations. Areas of emphasis include: community activities and activism, developments in research, professional practice, education, and/or social justice initiatives as they pertain to race, culture, and racial identity. Drake and Dervisevic will be addressing microaggressions through an individual presentation at the conference, held on October 15 and 16, to discuss implications for counselors, faculty, and other support staff to bring awareness.
The Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention (CPSVP) and its affiliated Students for Non-Violence club at Virginia Tech are holding the first ACCIAC Student Research Symposium, entitled: “Cultivating Peace: A Symposium for Violence Preventionâ€. Undergraduate and graduate students from regional, national, and international colleges and universities were selected to attend and may present both individual and collaborative work from diverse fields and in a range of presentation formats, such as papers, oral or poster presentations, and multi-media projects. Areas of interest include: Campus Violence Prevention and University Community Partnerships, Violence Prevention in Socioeconomic and Cultural Context, Sustainable Development and Peace, Social Media and Violence, and Creatively Fostering Nonviolence: Peace, the Arts, and Literature. Drake and Dervisevic will be presenting a poster presentation on microaggressions at the conference, held November 12-14, 2010.