2020 KSUnite Event - Difference Makes Us Stronger

Please visit this page soon for an archive of the 2020 KSUnite event.

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Schedule of Events, Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Time Event
11:00 a.m. KSUnite - Difference Makes Us Stronger Welcome Video
12:00 p.m. Plenary Speaker Bunky Echo-Hawk
1:00 p.m. Plenary Speaker Clint Smith
2:00 p.m. Breakout Sessions 1st period
3:00 p.m. Breakout Sessions 2nd period

Welcome Video

Tune in for an update on the Action Plan for a More Inclusive K-State, messages from three of K-State's Affinity Groups: Alianza , the Black Faculty and Staff Alliance , and The Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance and the 2020 KSUnite Event Student Speakers.

Student Speakers

Effie Antonoudi

Effie Antonoudi

Ph.D. Student in Personal Financial Planning

Effie Antonoudi

Victor Andrews

Ph.D. Student in Kinesiology

Jordan Peyton

Jordan Peyton

Senior in Biological Systems Engineering

Plenary Speakers

Bunky Echo-Hawk - Interactive Live Art - 12:00pm-12:50pm

Bunky Echo-Hawk’s approach to interactive live art is really a modernization of traditional art forms, cultivated by numerous tribes. In Pawnee culture, people would gather in an earthlodge (usually during winter months), with an artist serving as the host and entertainer. The artist would have a stretched hide and paints ready, and after speaking to the crowd, would engage in dialogue with the audience. In consensus, the audience would determine a significant event that took place the previous year, and through group conversation about the event, the artist would gain and capture an accurate illustration of that event. It was one of the ways we recorded our oral history.

In this session, Mr. Echo-Hawk will create a piece for the Morris Family Multicultural Student Center incorporating audience input.

From https://www.bunkyechohawk.com/about

Bunky Echo-Hawk BIO:
Bunky Echo-Hawk is an internationally known visual artist whose work is featured in gallery and museum exhibitions throughout the U.S. and overseas. Widely collected, his paintings are held in numerous private, public, corporate, non-profit and Tribal collections.

As a live painter, he has performed in major venues throughout the country. His live paintings and select partnerships raise much needed funding for indigenous programing needs. He has worked with Nike, serving as the Design Consultant for the Nike N7 line since 2011, and has recently partnered with Pendleton Woolen Mills to create a blanket for the American Indian College Fund. Through his art and strategic partnerships, he has aided in raising millions of dollars for Indian Country.

Clint Smith - Topic: Institutional Racism - 1:00pm-1:50pm

HISTORY RECONSIDERED

The United States is a country of great opportunity, but we must wrestle with how certain opportunities are contingent on different facets of one’s identity. The United States has provided economic mobility for millions of people, but we must wrestle with the history of violence and exploitation that helped to generate its economic foundation. The United States has freed millions around the world from despots and genocide, and we must wrestle with this same country’s pervasive history of barbarous imperialism. These are all parts of what make this country what it is. In this talk, combining poetry and history, Clint pushes the audience to wrestle with the complicated truths about the country we live in and helps crystalize how this history has shaped the contemporary social, political, and cultural landscape of our world today.

Clint Smith Bio:
Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Counting Descent, which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. Clint has received fellowships from New America, the Art For Justice Fund, Cave Canem, and the National Science Foundation. His writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review and elsewhere. He currently teaches writing and literature at the DC Central Detention Facility. His debut nonfiction book How the Word Is Passed, which explores how different historical sites reckon with—or fail to reckon with—their relationship to the history of slavery, will be published by Little, Brown in 2021. He received his B.A. in English from Davidson College and his Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University.

Breakout Sessions

Dr. Chardie Baird

Dr. Chardie Baird

Executive Director
Office for the Advancement of Women
in Science and Engineering

Collegiality & Inclusivity: Tips for and Practice Being an Ally (1st Period, 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Enagagement: Intermediate

Dr. Debra Bolton

Dr. Debra Bolton

Director of Intercultural Learning
and Academic Success
Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs

Understanding the Cognitive Toll Lost to Poverty, Racism, and Marginalization (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Immersive

Dr. Jeannie Brown Leonard

Dr. Jeannie Brown Leonard

Vice Provost, Student Success

Dr. Bin Ning

Dr. Bin Ning

Associate Provost, Institutional Research

Using Data to Inform Our Actions and Improve Educational Equity at K-State (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate

Dr. Fred Burrack

Dr. Frederick Burrack

Director, Office of Assessment

K-State's Undergraduate Diversity Learning Outcome (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate

Tara Coleman

Tara Coleman

Associate Professor, K-State Libraries

"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" Book Discussion (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Introductory

Dr. Steven Smethers

Dr. Steven Smethers (Moderator)

Director, A.Q. Miller School of
Journalism and Mass Communication

CJ Janovy

C.J. Janovoy (Panelist)

Author of "No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas"

Dr. Brandon Haddock

Dr. Brandon Haddock (Panelist)

LGBT Resource Center Coordinator

Darci Pottroff

Darci Pottroff (Panelist)

Director of Application Services
Information Technology

Christopher Renner

Christopher Renner (Panelist)

Applied Linguist, Educator, Multiculturalist
and Community Organizer

Gloria Freeland (Coordinator)

Professor Emerita
A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Diverse Voices in the Media: Lessons from Reporting on LGBTQ Kansas (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Sponsored by the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media/A.Q. Miller School of JMC
Engagement: Introductory

Jessica Harrington

Jessica Harrington

Student Engagement Coordinator
College of Health and Human Sciences

Surrounding Yourself with Difference: The Trusted 6 (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate

Daniel Ireton

Daniel Ireton

Associate Professor, K-State Libraries

Courtney Hochman

Courtney Hochman

Alumni Representative

Aayat Kazi

Senior, Construction Science and Management
President, Muslim Student Association

An Atheist Asks: What am I Missing? (1st Period, 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate

Dr. Mary Kohn

Dr. Mary Kohn

Director of the Chapman Center
Associate Professor of English

Dr. Lisa Tatonetti

Dr. Lisa Tatonetti

Full Professor
Department of English

Black and Indigenous Activist Kansas (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Introductory

Dr. Brenee King

Dr. Brenee King

Assistant Director
Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry (OURCI)

Dr. Sara Luly

Dr. Sara Luly

Associate Professor of German
Department of Modern Languages

Kiley Moody

Kiley Moody

Managing Director, Scholar Services
Office of First-generation Students

Rebeca Paz

Rebeca Paz

Assistant Director
Office of First-generation Students

Cheryl Rauh

Cheryl Rauh

Program Manager
McNair Scholars Program

Mariya Vaughan

Mariya Vaughan

Assistant Director
K-State First

Paulicia Williams

Paulicia Williams

Student Services Coordinator
TRIO Educational Supportive Services (ESS)

Unpacking Whiteness: Moving Beyond Allyship (1st Period, 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate

Dr. Callie Rost

Dr. Callie Rost, DVM

Assistant Dean for Admissions
College of Veterinary Medicine

Dr. Zelia Wiley

Dr. Zelia Wiley

Assistant Dean for Diversity
College of Agriculture

The Diversity Bonus: Differences Make Teams Stronger (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate

Dr. Don Saucier

Dr. Don Saucier

University Distinguished Teaching Scholar
Department of Psychological Sciences

Preparing for Class Discussions on Issues Related to Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Introductory

Dr. Tim Shaffer

Dr. Timothy Shaffer

Director
Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy

Civic Discourse as a Disposition for Engaging Difference (2nd Period, 3:00pm-3:50pm)
Engagement: Introductory

Victor Andrews

Victor Andrews

Ph.D. Student in Kinesiology

Laverne Bitsie-Baldwin

Laverne Bitsie-Baldwin

Director, Multicultural Engineering Program

Dr. Debra Bolton

Dr. Debra Bolton

Director of Intercultural Learning
and Academic Success
Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs

Dr. Alex Red Corn

D r. Alex Red Corn

Assistant Professor and
Coordinator for Indigenous Partnerships
Educational Leadership

From Deficit to Possibility: Indigenous Presence at K-State and the IFSA (1st Period, 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Engagement: Introductory

Clara Valadares Kientz

Clara Valadares Kientz

Assistant Director
Center for Advocacy, Response and Education

Jessica Hennault

Jessica Henault

Sexual & Relationship Violence Prevention Specialist
Center for Advocacy, Response and Education

Unpacking Unhealthy Relationships in 2020 - CANCELLED
Engagement: Introductory

Doug Barrett

Doug Barrett

Director of Photography, 400 North Creative

Aileen Wang
Photo courtesy of Doug Barrett

Dr. Aileen Wang

Curator, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
Kansas State University

Choice of Weapons: Art to Open Minds (1st Period, 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Engagement: Introductory

Dr. Andy Wefald

Dr. Andrew Wefald

Associate Professor
Staley School of Leadership Studies

Listening as a Path to Openness (1st Period, 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate

Zelia Wiley

Dr. Zelia Wiley

Assistant Dean for Diversity
College
of Agriculture

Dr. Amber Campbell

Dr. Amber Campbell

Project Manager
Rainfed Agriculture Innovation Network (RAIN)

Mirit Shamir

Mirit Shamir

Academic Services Coordinator
Rural Resource Resiliency NSF Research Traineeship
Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering

Collaborating to increase recruitment and retention of diverse students in undergraduate and graduate education in STEM Fields (1st Period, 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Engagement: Intermediate