In 2013, I worked with the NIU Latino Student Alliance and planned a Unity Conference and Celebration held during Latino Heritage Month; the theme was Empowering Students with Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Hope. The event was a campus-wide collaborative effort to celebrate unity and diversity, as well as feature Freireian inspired social justice work. We proudly featured keynote speaker Dr. Antonia Darder and offered 24 engaging and dynamic workshops which aimed to inspire and empower participants. The final piece of the conference included a Skyped address by Jose Gonzalez, ethnic studies educator and advocate, followed by a forum discussion on the current state of the movement to support ethnic studies education. In the evaluations, conference participants indicated gratitude and satisfaction with the quality and content of the conference keynote address and breakout sessions.

NIU Today article on the Unity Conference and Celebration:

https://niutoday.info/2013/09/12/niu-to-host-unity-conference-celebration/