2023 - 2024 Summit Schedule

In-person registration

Anderson Academic Commons 290 

This session, "Persisting for Justice: Embracing Diversity and Empowering Equity" will feature Vice Chancellor for DEI, Dr. Chris Whitt, as he offers his reflections and visioning for the year. 

Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Christopher Whitt, PhD.

In-person registration

Anderson Academic Commons 290

Sociologist Dr. Robert Bullard defined environmental racism as “any policy, practice or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (whether intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based on race.” Denver and the larger Rocky Mountain West, has a long history of environmental injustices, illuminated daily by advocates and activists in their calls for justice.  Join us in hearing from some of our local organizations seeking to create more equitable and sustainable environmental policies, practices, and ways of being.   

Speaker Biographies:

• Ean Thomas Tafoya, Colorado State Director for Green Latinos 

• Olga González (she, her, ella): Olga is an Indigenous Mexicana from the Yaqui and Otomi nations.  Aside from her college degrees, she also feels extremely grateful for the traditional ways that were taught to her as an Aztec dancer, a sahumadora (sacred smoke carrier), and through ceremonies led by Mexica, Otomi, and Lakota elders. Olga is a dedicated nonprofit professional with a social justice career of 30 years. She is the Executive Director of Cultivando, a Latino-serving organization that focuses on developing the leadership, advocacy, and capacity of the Spanish-speaking community. As the first Indigenous woman to lead Cultivando in its 25-year history, she has expanded the organization’s reach beyond Adams County to support Latinx communities and organizations statewide. In her four-year tenure, she has also tripled the organization’s budget and established the first community-led air monitoring and environmental justice program in Colorado holding corporate polluters accountable.

• Victor Galvan, Protégete Strategic Partnerships Manager 

• Ramona Beltran, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver 

• Linda Estelí Méndez-Barrientos, Assistant Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver 

In-person registration

Anderson Academic Commons 290 

This summer the US Supreme Court issued a decision curtailing the use of race-conscious admissions programs in higher education.  The continued presence of affirmative action in college admissions before the court goes as far back as 1978, each time leading to a more and more restricted use.  But what does this decision mean in higher education? How might we understand this most recent SCOTUS decision in light of previous decisions and current national trends?  How might we collective consider continued support for historically excluded populations on college campuses?  Join us for this panel as we learn together about the decision and its potential ripple effects.

Speaker Biographies: 

• Darrell Jackson, PhD, Winston Howard Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Wyoming 

• Rashmi Goel: Professor Rashmi Goel (she/ her) is an Associate Professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.  She holds a B.A. Hons and an LL.B. from the University of Saskatchewan and an LL.M. from Stanford University.  Born and raised in Canada, Prof. Goel brings to bear her experience on both sides of the border in her Criminal Law class and in her upper-level seminars, Multiculturalism, Race and the Law and Comparative Law. These courses reflect her interest in culturally specific adjudication – the use of a litigant’s cultural background to formulate a particular adjudicative process or outcome. More broadly, Prof. Goel is interested in bringing to bear the perspective and experience of the under-privileged in their interaction with the criminal justice system.  In conjunction with her ongoing research and scholarship in this area, she has also developed expertise in domestic violence, neuroscience in the law, and restorative justice. She is the author of several articles and book chapters and is the co-editor of Comparative Perspectives on Gender Violence:  Lessons from Efforts Worldwide published by Oxford University Press.  Currently, Prof. Goel is writing a three part series on people with dementia and the criminal justice system.  The first in this series, Grandma Got Arrested, focuses on police brutality against people with dementia.  Prof. Goel also serves as the chair of the Rocky Mountain Collective on Race, Place, and Law, a group of progressive scholars and law school community members founded in 2013 to promote social justice scholarship and activism at the law school. 

• Roberto Corrada, Professor, Sturm College of Law, University of Denver 

• Stephen Fusco, PhD, is an adjunct professor at the Morgridge College of Education, in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program. Dr. Fusco has over twenty years of policy, law, and education experience. After practicing law for 14 years, Stephen worked as a special education teacher at a residential treatment facility for children with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities. He was also in charge of a special education department at a large elementary school as a building leader. Stephen moved to Colorado to serve as Deputy General Counsel at an urban school district and later served as an educational advocate and pro bono attorney for families of children with special needs. Stephen currently serves as the Director of Legal Affairs and Data Security for HopSkipDrive, an organization dedicated to arranging safe, reliable transportation for youth, including individuals with disabilities. Stephen holds a PhD in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Denver where his research focuses on the analysis of discourse that perpetuates systems of oppression, particularly as it relates to students labeled disabled. He regularly teaches graduate-level classes at the Morgridge College of Education. 

In person registration

Anderson Academic Commons 290 

According to Trans Legislation Tracker, so far in 2023 568 bills have been proposed across the nation.  We have and continue to witness an increased legislative appetite to block our trans and non-binary communities from receiving healthcare, from being recognized in education, and from being able to live without fear.  Join us for this panel as we explore and consider the current locations of anti-trans legislation, the impacts it is having across the country, and what you can do in support and action toward creating welcoming, affirming, and humanizing spaces. 

Speaker Biographies: 

• Eric Duran, Director of the Cultural Center for Gender & Sexuality Student Success, University of Denver 

• Alex Floyd (they/them), Alex is an LCSW and currently works as One Colorado’s Health Equity Director. Prior to joining One Colorado, they spent almost 8 years as a clinical social worker specializing in the field of complex trauma, specifically with LGBTQIA+ youth and adults. They are passionate about how systemic levels of trauma not only disconnect us from our communities but from ourselves as well. During their time as a clinician, they developed a passion for advocating for mental health equity through training and educating other health professionals. Alex also enjoys teaching and supervising MSW students and new clinicians, supporting them in developing an understanding for the systemic and complex issues impacting those seeking care. They have also worked to train other healthcare professionals in understanding the specific needs of working with LGBTQ+ clients. Currently, they are doing macro level social work focused on LGBTQ+ health equity advocacy, specifically focused on trans Coloradans access to care. They deeply believe in the importance of working towards our collective liberation.  

• Jax Gonzalez (they/them/theirs), PhD, OASOS Program Manager for Boulder County Public Health. Dr. Jax Gonzalez (they/them) is the Program Manager for OASOS at Boulder County Public Health, and is a trans & queer community organizer. Jax believes that young peoples' capacity to dream is a valuable resource in the fight for collective liberation and is passionate about co-creating a world where marginalized youth thrive and feed affirmed. When they aren't organizing, they throw pottery, cuddle their tiny dog, and adventure to natural hot springs in the southwest.

• Anaya Robinson (he/him) is a Latine queer trans man, born and raised in West Michigan, who now calls Denver home. He is currently the Senior Policy Strategist at the ACLU of Colorado. Outside of his day job, he is one of three co-founders of Transformative Freedom Fund, an organization that cover costs for gender affirming care for trans and non-binary folx in Colorado. He has been working in policy and legislative advocacy for a decade, and has 9 years of non-profit management experience. Anaya believes firmly that collectively working from an intersectional anti-oppressive lens is the only way to fully dismantle systems of privilege and power and achieve true equity and justice. 

• Page Valentine Regan (they/them) is foremost a teacher committed to enacting the transformative and radical possibilities of the classroom. As an interdisciplinary scholar, they bring critical trans and queer theories to bear on education research and practice in order to destabilize the ways in which identity politics prevent healing, learning, and coalition-building. They leverage over fifteen years of work in education across various contexts, to offer pedagogies, learning experiences and consulting to audiences interested in collaborating on the side of trans freedom, which they maintain as collective freedom. They're currently completing a PhD at the University of Colorado, Boulder, teaching in Education and Feminist and Gender Studies at Colorado College, and remaining awed by the insect world. 

Register here for this Webinar

How do we create a positive university climate for student engagement across religion and worldview diversity? The IDEALS UK project has adapted ground-breaking US research (Rockenbach et al. 2020), for the United Kingdom's higher education sector, exploring through survey and case study research how different university climates enable or impede positive relationships among students of different faiths and worldview perspectives. This presentation will deliver project findings and explore how universities might enhance inter- and intra-faith relations among students, better equipping them to relate respectfully to those with a different outlook from their own.

Speaker Biographies

• Lucy Peacock (She/Her): Dr Lucy Peacock is a Research Fellow in the Sociology of Religion at Coventry University, specialising in interfaith studies and education. Dr Peacock was Research Fellow on the IDEALS UK project on religion and worldview diversity in higher education. She has recently led a related study which aims to promote meaningful university Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) opportunities across religious and worldview perspectives by better understanding how to foster STEM environments inclusive of belief diversity (www.tinyurl.com/stem-belief)

• Mathew Guest (He/Him): Dr Mathew Guest is Professor in the Sociology of Religion and Head of the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. He co-led the IDEALS-UK project, building on over a decade’s experience researching how UK universities accommodate and challenge the religious identities of their students. IDEALS-UK is his fourth major project on faith identities within university contexts, his earlier work covering how the university experience shapes Christian faith among students, how Islam and Muslims are constructed as a security risk within university environments and how students respond to this, and the role of chaplains within universities that affirm an ambivalent perspective on matters of faith. Amongst his many publications, he has co-authored two book-length studies of student faith at university: Christianity and the University Experience: Understanding Student Faith (Bloomsbury 2013) and Islam on Campus: Contested Identities and the Cultures of Higher Education in Britain (Oxford University Press, 2020).