Nation’s Black Colleges, Black Males Focus of Sixth UA Diversity Symposium

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A leader in the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities is headed to The University of Alabama for the College of Communication and Information Sciences’ sixth annual Discerning Diverse Voices Symposium March 11 at Gorgas Library, room 205.

Dr. Ivory Toldson, deputy director of the Initiative and editor of the Journal of Negro Education, will present a lecture titled “Debunking the Myths, Breaking the Barriers, and Building the School-to-College Pipeline for Black Males” at 3 p.m.

His keynote address will be followed by a panel discussion featuring research on the 105 two-year and four-year institutions with an HBCU designation. The two signature events are part of a daylong symposium that showcases scholarship and creative activity on all aspects of diversity.

“The Discerning Diverse Voices on Communication and Diversity Symposium explores all aspects of communicating diversity and related issues,” said Dr. Caryl Cooper, event organizer and associate professor of advertising in the College. “Education is one important element of how diversity-related issues and solutions are communicated to society.”

The symposium kicks off at 9 a.m. with a panel of research projects on LGBT-Q issues, including a new study of pulpit rhetoric on same-gender couples. Later in the afternoon, nearly a dozen research projects will be showcased in a poster session on diversity research.

“The Discerning Diverse Voices symposium is one of the best indications of what our students across the College are learning in the area of diversity and difference,” said Dr. George Daniels, assistant dean for administration of the College of Communication and Information Sciences.

Prior to Toldson’s keynote address, Daniels will moderate a panel of researchers that includes Dr. Stephen Katsinas, from UA’s Education Policy Center, and Anthony Holliman, vice president of institutional advancement at Stillman College

“As a graduate of an HBCU, I’m especially pleased to see those institutions getting attention in the research being done not only in our College, but elsewhere on the UA campus,” Daniels said.

The symposium, which is sponsored by the College of Communication and Information Sciences and the Office of Community Affairs, is free and open to the public.