The 3rd Annual Equity and Diversity Educator Conference successfully took place virtually January 24-29, 2022. Students from at least 9 education programs attended, with an average of 48 attendees each day. Educators from 8 different Central Ohio districts and organizations shared their experiences and expertise with our students and community. Thank you to the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Global Engagement, the Department of T&L, and the Office of Accreditation, Placement, and Licensure for your continued support.
Key Overall Data
- Conference theme: “Rethinking Our ‘New Normal’: Centering Representation, Truth, and Access in Our Educational Spaces”
- Participation number across all speaker events: 246 (number includes participants that showed for multiple days)
- 93% of those who took the survey found speaker events to be impactful
- Students from the 9 teacher education programs were in attendance
Keynote Address
Speaker: Izetta Thomas
Description: The rainbow is known as a symbol of hope in most cultures and most popularly in the U.S. as a symbol of pride. Rainbows tend to appear after a thunderstorm or when the environment is seemingly at its darkest. Our education system is currently in one of the darkest phases its seen in decades. We need a light at the end of this tunnel, a rainbow after the storm. The three main ingredients in a rainbow are light, air, and water. Through her experiences as both student and educator, the speaker will seek to guide her listeners on a journey toward radical equity in education where representation is the light, truth is the air and water is access.
Attendance: 51
Average rating: 9.7
Key comments from attendees:
Tuesday Panel—Hidden Silencing in Curriculum
Panelists: John Sands, Maya Shabaan, and Stella Villalba
Description: This panel will discuss the multiple ways the silencing of marginalized peoples, cultures, and languages is woven into the curriculum and pedagogy of many schools and classrooms.
Attendance: 67
Average rating: 9.5
Key comments from attendees:
Wednesday Panel—Books as Beacons for Truth and Light
Panelists: Courtney Johnson, Tiffany Thomas, and Allison Volz
Description: This panel will address how to navigate and/or respond to policies, parents, and administrations that threaten to erase books and representation in our schools and communities.
Attendance: 58
Average rating: 9.5
Key comments from attendees:
Thursday Panel—Meaningful Representation in the STEM Classroom
Panelists: Allison McMannis, Schyvonne Ross, and Eric Valentine
Description: In this session, panelists will discuss multi-layered and sustained representation in STEM classrooms and beyond.
Attendance: 35
Average rating: 8.7
Key comments from attendees:
Friday Panel— Critical Social Justice Educators
Panelists: Robbie Harris, Ivory Kennedy, and Jania Phillips
Description: In this session, educators across multiple grade levels, experience levels, and content areas discuss how they have enacted pedagogies grounded in social justice.
Attendance: 35
Average rating: 9.6
Key comments from attendees:
Conference Director
Jennell Igeleke Penn, PhD
Assistant Professor
Assistant Director of Teacher Education
Clinical, Department of Teaching and Learning
Conference Planning Team
Carlotta Penn, PhD
Senior Director of Partnerships and Engagement
Equity, Diversity, and Global Engagement
Austin McClellan
Graphic Designer
Equity, Diversity, and Global Engagement