Immigration is focus of BU conference
Office of Communications
Waller Administration Building
Bloomsburg, PA 17815-1301
TEL: 570-389-5134 / FAX: 570-389-4724
http://www.bloomu.edu
For Immediate Release
Date: April 3, 2009
Contact: Haili Shetler, Communications Assistant
or Bonnie Martin, Writer/Editor
BLOOMSBURG—Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project will be the keynote speaker for Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania's Frederick Douglass Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Conference. Her speech, "Nativism Resurgent: A Look at the Modern Anti-Immigrant Movement," will be presented Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in the Kehr Union Ballroom.
The Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project monitors more than 800 hate groups and extremist activities in the U.S. and publishes the Intelligence Report. It also offers training to help law enforcement officials and human rights groups combat organized racism, including an online hate crime training course for law enforcement professionals.
Other programs offered as part of the three-day research conference, running from Thursday through Saturday, April 16 to 18, are:
Thursday, April 16
- Graduate school fair, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Kehr Union, Ballroom.
- Dance Ensemble, 1 p.m., Kehr Union Ballroom.
- Student panels, 2 p.m., Kehr Union, rooms 409, 410, 411 and Hideaway.
- Information fair with free international food, noon to 2 p.m., Kehr Union, multipurpose B.
- Musical performance, Rebel Diaz, a hip-hop group that uses music as a tool for education and social change, 9 p.m., Kehr Union Ballroom.
Friday, April 17
- Student panels, 9 a.m. to noon, Kehr Union, rooms 409, 410, 411 and Hideaway.
- Faculty discussion on Barack Obama's presidency, 1 p.m., Kehr Union Ballroom.
- Scott Page, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, "How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies," 3 p.m., Kehr Union Ballroom.
Saturday, April 18
- English as a Second Language panel, 1 p.m., Kehr Union, Multicultural Center. Panel members are: Len Rieser, Education Law Center's English Language Learners (ELL) Task Force; Kim Cardimona and Julie Teter, English as a Second Language teachers; and Vickey Rainis of BU and students from the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit's English as a Second Language program.
- Hazleton Concerned Parents Panel, 3 p.m., Kehr Union, multipurpose B. The group, founded by Eugenio Sosa, works to close the cultural gap between area teachers and school administrators and Latino parents and students.
- Catholic Social Services Healthcare Panel, 3 p.m., Kehr Union, multipurpose A, moderated by Joan Miller, BU nursing faculty and nursing outreach with Keystone Health Farm Worker Program. Speakers include Mary Englerth, director of the State Migrant Program, Adams County Migrant Health Program; Kermit Kohn, vice president of human resources, Furman Industries, Northumberland; Carol Romanski, site coordinator, Keystone Health Farm Worker programs; and Allison Maloney, nursing outreach, Keystone Health Farm Worker Program.
For more information, contact Heather Feldhaus, associate professor of sociology, social work and criminal justice, at (570) 389-4221 or hfeldhau@bloomu.edu.
Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Professional Studies, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.
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