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Multicultural Education Conference
The 28th Multicultural Education Conference
Sacramento State's College of Education is excited to host the 28th annual Multicultural Education Conference. This year’s theme is Sankofa, a Ghanaian word from the Twi language that means “to retrieve.” This year’s theme speaks to our need to move forward as we reflect on the past, mourn, learn, and let go.
Download a copy of the 2022 MCE Program
Welcome from the Conference Co-Chairs
We are honored to welcome you to the 28th Annual Multicultural Education Conference!
This year's conference theme is Sankofa which means "to retrieve" in Twi a Ghanian language. It speaks to our need to reflect on our past, mourn, learn, and let go as we move forward. We experience tumultuous times. We acknowledge the people of Ukraine and refugees from other war-torn countries, the loss of life due to the pandemics, and the pain and sadness of all of it. As we come out of the haze of the past two years, we greet each other, we heal, and dream of a world that we work to create together. Thank you for your attendance, commitment, and strength.
In Solidarity,
– Drs. Aaminah Norris and Dale Allender, Conference Co-Chairs
Conference Details
Conference Information:
Date: April 2nd, 2022, 9:00 am- 2:00 pm.
Join the Webinar (will be live 4/2/22)
The webinar session will be recorded and transcribed. We will also have an ASL interpreter and Closed Captioner to support accessibility.
Conference Schedule
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00- 9:10 a.m. | Opening |
| 9:10- 9:40 a.m. | Keynote speaker Kyle T Mays |
| 9:40- 10:00 a.m. | Q&A |
| 10:00- 10:15 a.m. | Break |
| 10:15- 11:15 a.m. | 1st panel 20 min each (Drs. Sharim Hannegan-Martinez, Tiffani Marie & Dionna Latimer-Hearn) |
| 11:15- 11:30 a.m. | Q&A |
| 11:30- 12:00 p.m. | Social Justice Award Recipients: Dr. Margarita Berta-Ávila, Community & Marvin Reed, Alumnus Award |
| 12:00- 12:30 p.m. | Lunch break |
| 12:30- 1:00 p.m. | Watch the short film : Living Legacy of the Black Panther Party Producer Jordan McGowan Quick Preview (No Closed Caption) |
| 1:00- 1:20 p.m. | 2nd panel- Film (Mr. McGowan and Dr. Whitaker) |
| 1:20- 1:45 p.m. | Q&A |
| 1:45 -2:00 p.m. | Closing and Thank You |
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Kyle T. Mays
Kyle T. Mays (he/his) is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at UCLA. He is a transdisciplinary scholar of urban history and studies, Afro-Indigenous Studies, and contemporary popular culture. He is the author of Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America (SUNY Press, 2018). He is currently finishing two manuscripts. The first, forthcoming with Beacon Press is titled, An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States, which will be a part of their ReVisioning American History series. This book argues that African enslavement and Indigenous dispossession have been central to the founding of the United States, and explores how Black and Indigenous peoples have resisted U.S. democracy from the founding of the U.S. to the present. The second manuscript is tentatively titled, Detroit vs. Every(body): The Sites of Dispossession and Transformation in a Modern American City (currently under review). The book argues that the transformation of modern Detroit (from the late 19th until the emergency management era) is rooted in the simultaneous processes of Black American and Indigenous dispossession. He also has a forthcoming chapter, “Blackness and Indigeneity” in the collection, 400 Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, Keisha Blain and Ibram Kendi (eds.), (New York: Random House, 2020).
The intersection of education and wellness
Live Presentations
Presenter: Dr. Sharim Hannegan-Martinez
Dr. Sharim Hannegan-Martinez is an assistant professor of English Education in the department of curriculum and instruction at the University of Kentucky and a founding member of the People’s education movement. Before graduating from UCLA with her Phd, she was a high school English teacher in East Oakland. Her work explores the pedagogy of loving relationships as an intervention to traumatic stressors within the context of urban classrooms.
Presenter: Dr. Tiffani Marie
Tiffani Marie is the daughter of Sheryll Marie, granddaughter of Dorothy Wilson and Annette Williams, and the great-grandaughter of Artelia Green and Olivia Williams. She comes from a long line of Arkansas educators. She is passionate about learning with and from youth, sewing, music production, and connecting to the natural world. Tiffani is also excited about joining the Teacher Education Department and working with Ethnic Studies faculty colleagues at San Jose State University, particularly for the emerging collaborations and collective energy around supporting schools and communities to ensure that every child is seen and treated as a blessing.
Presenter: Dr. Dionna Latimer-Hearn
Dr. Dionna Latimer-Hearn (she/her/hers) is from Middletown, Ohio and received her Ph.D. with distinction in Educational Leadership at Notre Dame of Maryland University. She has served as a multilingual speech-language pathologist and educational consultant since 2002, holding positions in Illinois, Japan, Maryland and Texas. She currently works as an educational consultant and continuing education provider for a number of organizations in the US and abroad.
Presenter: Dr. Amir Whitaker
Amir is senior policy counsel with the ACLU of Southern California. Prior to joining the ACLU, Amir represented students and incarcerated youth throughout Florida and Alabama for the Southern Poverty Law Center. Referred to as a "civil rights and education stalwart" by the Daytona Times, Amir has negotiated settlements and policy changes improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. He has worked as a researcher with the UCLA Civil Rights Project, and has written for TIME Magazine and other publications. At the ACLU, Amir is responsible for legislation focused on education equity and funding.
Amir has taught across multiple educational settings for more than a decade, and has held teaching credentials in Florida, California, and New Jersey. He received his doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California, juris doctorate from the University of Miami, and his bachelors from Rutgers University. Often referred to as "Dr. KnuckleHead," Amir was arrested at age 15 and eventually expelled from school. In 2014, Amir started Project KnuckleHead to inspire vulnerable youth and help them reach their potential through education, music, and art programs. Amir is also the board chair of the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network, a collaborative of a dozen organizations providing art programming to youth throughout LA county. He has been a card-carrying member of the ACLU since 2012.
Presenter: Jordan McGowan, M.Ed, Black Educator, Neighbor Program
Jordan McGowan is the founder, chair and serves as the Minister of Programs for Neighbor Program. He holds degrees in political science, African-American studies, and a masters in education. After a short career as a professional athlete, he began his career as an educator (teacher and coach) in Sacramento. He has taught grades 3rd-12th while being a guest lecturer at UC-Berkeley, Sacramento State, Sacramento City College, and various k-12 schools. Jordan views his recent work in film through the lens of creating revolutionary educational content - modeled after the Black Panthers & their propaganda team.
Social Justice Awards
COMMUNITY AWARD: Dr. Margarita Berta-Ávila
Dr. Margarita Berta-Ávila is a union organizer with the California Faculty Association (CFA), and currently holds the following positions: Capital Chapter President, CFA Vice President of Chapter Presidents - North, and Bargaining Team Member. In addition, Dr. Berta-Ávila is Professor of Education at Sacramento State University. She received her doctorate in International and Multicultural Education in the School of Education at the University of San Francisco. She majored in Chicana/o/x Studies from the University of California, Davis and pursued a M.A. in Education and a teaching credential from Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Berta-Ávila pursues scholarly work in the areas of participatory action research, critical pedagogy, anti-racism/social justice education, and Chicana/o/x educators in the field. She published an edited work with Dr. Julie Figueroa and Dr. Anita Tijerina-Revilla titled Marching Students: Chicana/o Activism in Education, 1968 to the Present in the spring of 2011 and has a recently edited work with Dr. Jennifer Ayala, Dr. Julio Cammarota, Dr. Melissa Rivera, Dr. Louie Rodriguez, and Dr. Maria Torrre titled PAR Entremundos: A pedagogy of the Americas published in spring of 2018. Dr. Berta-Ávila is active in testifying at the state’s capitol, organizing on campus and in the community with respect to access, equity, and justice in education for Ethnic Studies, bilingual education, BIPOC students, undocumented students, and/or other marginalized communities.
ALUMNUS AWARD: Marvin Reed
Marvin Reed resides in the Bay Area and teaches third grade at Rosa Parks Elementary School in the Berkeley Unified School District. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology, a master’s degree in higher education and leadership policies, a Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential and currently is pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership from California State University, Sacramento. He was recognized in 2021 as the Computer-Using Educators (CUE) Emerging Teacher of the Year.
He has served as a judge and as a leadership clinician with many prestigious marching band programs around the state of California, including those with Granite Bay, Foothill (Pleasanton), Amador Valley, John F. Kennedy, Ayala, American Canyon, Elk Grove, Washington Union, Laguna Creek and Ponderosa High Schools. Marvin also served as the leadership director and as a member of the board of directors for the Sacramento Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps. Since 2011, he has been part of the Concord Blue Devils organization (Blue Devils B and the Blue Devils A Corps). He currently serves on the organization’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Taskforce and as the assistant corps director of Blue Devils B.
Outside of the marching arts, Marvin formerly served as a camp director. He supervised more than 21 summer camp staff members and provided professional leadership development for counselors-in-training. He was also a 2019-2021 advisory board member for Learning for Justice.
Resources
Sankofa Iron 'sankofa' symbol on a memorial to the enslaved workers who 'helped' build the Unitarian Church in Charleston, SC" by Spencer Means is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view the terms, visit here
Acknowledgements
Thank You From The Multicultural Education Conference Committee
The Multicultural Education Conference Committee:
HyunGyung Joo, Eric Claravall, Dale Allender (co-chair), Aaminah Norris (co-chair), Alma Flores, Maiko Xiong, Carly Scarton, Rachael Marshall, Ebony Williams, Leah Zarchy and Maha Elsinbawi.
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The MCE Conference Committee would like to acknowledge the many brave, kind, and compassionate people of our community that have banded together to make a difference in these trying times. You make a difference.
The MCE conference 2022 was sponsored by NSF (National Science Foundation) grant number 2122709
Disclaimer
All images, presentations and materials are the property of their respective creators, owners or its third party. Sacramento State University hosts the content submitted by conference participants, but does not provide copyright enforcement or protection services.