Diversity Conference Showcases Wooster's Commitment to 'Bridging Gaps'

Two-day event features speakers, roundtable discussions, and panel presentations

WOOSTER, Ohio - The College of Wooster will present "Bridging the Gaps: Diversity and Global Engagement in Liberal Arts Education," a two-day conference to celebrate its new Center for Diversity and Global Engagement, next weekend (March 26-27). The event will feature speakers, roundtable discussions, and presentations by students and faculty.

The presentations begin Friday (March 26) with a keynote address by College of Wooster President Grant Cornwell, whose vision led to the establishment of the new Center. Cornwell's presentation will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University St.). After that, a reception will be held at 6 p.m. in the formal lounge of Babcock Hall (1315 Beall Ave.), where directors Susan Lee and Marc Goulding will welcome guests. In addition, Wooster's Ambassadors - five international students - will be available for casual conversation along with display items from their home countries. A private dinner will follow in Kittredge Hall.

The conference sessions begin on Saturday morning with a panel presentation on "Diversity, Globality, and Liberal Arts Curricula" from 8:30-10 a.m. in Babcock's formal lounge. A second panel will follow from 10-11:30 a.m., during which students and faculty will discuss "Expanding Horizons: Off-Campus Experiences and the Liberal Arts."

The first of two alumni speakers will address the group at lunch in Kittredge Hall. Davis Houck, a 1989 Wooster graduate and now an associate professor of communication at Florida State University where he specializes in rhetorical theory and criticism on political communication and sports as well as media and culture, will talk about the unheard women's voices of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

After lunch, three roundtable discussions will take place concurrently between 1:30 and 2:45 p.m. The three topics are "De-Constructing 'Whiteness,'" "Gender and Sexuality Across Borders," and "The Global U.S."

The program concludes with a presentation from 3-4:30 p.m. by Thomas Espenshade, a 1965 Wooster graduate, and professor of sociology and a faculty associate in the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. Espenshade will discuss his latest book, No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal: Race and Class in Elite College Admission and Campus Life.

Wooster's Center for Diversity and Global Engagement (CDGE) is a nexus of programs and offices committed to "encouraging and fostering development of inter-cultural competency among all campus community members." Housed in the recently renovated Babcock Hall, which is also home for students living in the Cross-Cultural Living and Experiences Program, the CDGE serves as a base for campus and community initiatives addressing all forms of diversity. It also brings together student life and academic affairs while seeking to foster understanding of local experiences in a broader global context. The Center includes the Ambassadors Program, the Office of International Student Affairs, Off-Campus Studies, and the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Affairs.

The College of Wooster has a long history of promoting diversity, driven by the belief that academic excellence in a liberal arts education requires a culture in which students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds engage in meaningful dialogue. The Center for Diversity and Global Engagement seeks to foster an inclusive learning community built on diversity of race, class, sex, ethnicity, religion, national identity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, and age. Additional information about the conference is available by phone (330-263-2434) or e-mail.