Diversity at the University

2013 Diversity Conference

April 12, 2013
Our Differences, Our Strength

The keynote address will be given by Lani Guinier, prominent civil rights attorney and the first tenured African- American woman professor at Harvard Law School. In 2008, Professor Guinier was also one of the first recipients of Frederick Douglass medal awarded by the University of Rochester and our Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies.  The Frederick Douglass Medal is to acknowledge both scholarship and civic engagement that honors the legacy of Frederick Douglass. 

Theme: This year's theme "Our Differences, Our Strength" is intended to explore how diversity can be a source of strength in our academic community.  Differences and similarities exist within the multiple, different identities of the many groups within our university, and we intend to explore where they intersect and overlap.   We will encourage conference attendees to think of ways to: foster innovation through diversity; enhance inclusion practices; and transform points of controversy into positive interactions.

As in previous conferences, we seek to promote open-mindedness, the celebration of diversity and inclusiveness, and the acceptance of others within the University and our local communities.

Overview of the Day:

Click on the workshop links to find PDFs of many of the presentations!

The deadline for workshop proposals was February 21, 2013. The deadline for poster proposals was March 28, 2013. Both call for proposals are now closed.  To learn more about the process, please visit our workshop proposal webpage or the poster proposal webpage.