Visiting Academics Highlight Black History Month Celebration

Two nationally recognized academics in the field of diversity, multiculturalism, and racism are visiting Buffalo State this week to highlight the college’s celebration of Black History Month.

Daymond Glenn, vice president of community life, chief diversity officer, and assistant professor of urban studies at Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, will present “Exploring the Complexity of Hip-Hop Culture: Implications for Understanding the Experiences of Black Males in Schools and Society” on Wednesday, February 10, at 1:00 p.m., in the Campbell Student Union Assembly Hall as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. It is free and open to the public.

Glenn is author of Critical Condition: Black Males and Multiculturalism in Higher Education. His research includes the college experiences of undergraduate black males attending predominantly white institutions and multicultural theory and practice.

In two talks on Thursday, February 11, H. Richard Milner IV, Helen Faison Chair of Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh, will address urban education, culturally responsive teaching, and the impacts that racism and poverty have on pre-K–20 students’ opportunities to learn.

The first talk, “Rac(e)ing to Higher Education: Lingering Issues, Possible Solutions to Inequity,” will take place from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center South. He will highlight the prevalence and pervasiveness of racism and discrimination on college and university campuses and question what impact those experience have on students’ subsequent performance, as well as how to confront and disrupt racist attitudes, beliefs, and practices while better supporting all students. This talk will be streamed live.

His second presentation, “Understanding Race and Poverty in Schools,” will take place from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center South. This forum will frame issues of race and poverty to help educators and community members understand pre-K–12 students’ experiences and educators’ mindsets and practices that prevent and support students’ opportunities to learn.  Part of the Woods-Beals Endowment in Urban Education Speaker Series, both of these free events can be followed on Twitter at #BSCUrbanEdTalk.

Members of the campus’s Elementary Education Club familiar with Milner’s work requested his visit, said Jevon Hunter, associate professor of elementary education and reading and Woods-Beals Endowed Chair of Urban Education, School of Education.

“We definitely appreciate the opportunity to explore how race is affecting college students and our broader community,” Hunter said. “Milner’s visit is a continuation of this exploration, a dialogue that considers what has been happening nationally with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and locally with the Black Cross Project, an initiative arranged by a group of Buffalo State faculty last fall. We must continue to examine the ways racism is present in our society and find solutions to redress it.”

Other Black History Month events sponsored by the Equity and Campus Diversity Office::

• Black Excellence Celebration featuring Buffalo State President Katherine Conway-Turner  as keynote speaker, Friday, February 12, at 6:30 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union Social Hall.

• The Equity and Campus Diversity Music Series Wednesday, February 17, at 12:15 in the Campbell Student Union.

• Beyond Boundaries: Dare to be Diverse Film and Discussion Series: 31/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets, Thursday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center Auditorium.

For more information, contact the Equity and Campus Diversity Office at (716) 878-6210.