The 28th annual conference on Diversity, Race, and Learning will take place on May 1 to May 2 at the Blackwell Inn and Pfahl Conference Theater, and Fawcett Conference Theater. April 27, 2023. Courtesy of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion will host its 28th annual Conference on Diversity, Race and Learning Monday through Tuesday to promote diversity practices to professionals in different fields in Ohio and nationwide.
According to the ODI website, the conference is organized by the Career Readiness Initiatives and Special Programming unit and is the university’s most comprehensive conference focused on initiating change and progress on the issues of diversity, race and acceptance. It will feature 20 presenters and hundreds of registrants.
Starr Davis, CRISP program specialist, said attendees will include professors, equity and inclusion practitioners, business leaders and researchers.
“The goal of the conference is to really effectively bridge political, economic and social, educational divides and bring them together to strengthen to make new strides towards meaningful change,” Davis said. “An opportunity for everyone to come together to see what someone’s doing, what is working, what’s not working and really building something that can be powerful for someone.”
Colby Taylor, CRISP program manager, said the unit sends out thousands of invitations to potential presenters nationwide. Twenty presenters, who Taylor described as the “cream of the crop,” will speak on promoting diversity and coordinate break-out sessions at the conference.
Taylor said he was excited for the speakers to present at the conference.
“It’s really hard to peel down in just one or two because there’s so much knowledge and information to be passed on, but from a personal standpoint, I’m always excited to see people who have matriculated through Ohio State or been back at Ohio State at some point,” Taylor said.
Taylor said a vast array of topics will be presented at the sessions, including teaching the importance of racial awareness and student voices in leadership. Taylor said details of the sessions can be found on the conference website.
Davis said in previous years, the conference has geared programming relevant to those who work in education. However, CRISP pushed for more sessions coordinated by corporate professionals to share practices to help promote diversity and inclusion in many fields.
“I think we have a lot of people that participate in the conference. They work at Nationwide Children’s [Hospital], they work for the city of Columbus, they work at other industries. And so this is also helping them to take more of a corporate perspective, not just in higher education that is in corporate to ensure that minority populations and workers are seen and valued.”
Taylor said he hopes people are able to use what they learn in their own professions.
“I want people to leave feeling inspired, engaged to act based on what they learned and having left with a toolkit of sorts of information based upon best practices in their particular field,” Taylor said.
Registration for the conference is closed, and Taylor said more than 480 registrants, including speakers, are expected to attend.
The conference will take place Monday 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Blackwell Inn, the Pfahl Conference Center and the Fawcett Conference Theatre.
