Walking Proudly: Embodying Liberation Capital in Chicago's West African Dance and Drum Communities grows out of Dr. Zabriskie’s research on dancers and their place in Black life in Chicago from the 1960s through the 2010s. In this presentation, Zabriskie will engage audiences in a movement-based presentation about “embodied liberation capital” drawing on her historical, ethnographic, and performance-based research on West African Drum and Dance practices in Chicago, IL.

There has been renewed interest toward progressing the cause of justice and equity in recent years. However, producing tangible results in this regard is especially challenging without an effective strategy and a firm conceptual foundation. Dr. Joe F. Bozeman III, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech, will provide key concepts and tools to help address this gap.

Dr. Pierceson is a leading scholar on LGBTQ rights. His book, Sexual Minorities and Politics, is the first textbook to provide a comprehensive overview of the historical, political, and legal status of sexual and gender minorities. For this reason, Sexual Minorities was placed on the Navy’s Professional Reading List in 2021. However, the Navy removed Sexual Minorities from the list in 2022, along with other books about race, gender, and sexuality like Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist and Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Dr.

We each live a unique story, but taking the time to understand our own narrative is the first step is embracing the social responsibility of respecting everyone’s individual lived experiences. Dr. LeClair will share her inspiring story of overcoming trauma. You will be encouraged to explore your emotional past, explore your relational patterns, release negative experiences, and build resilience so you can communicate authentically and create healthier relationships personally and professionally.

According to The Center for First-Generation Student Success, as of 2015-2016, first-generation students represented 56 percent of all undergraduates in the US. The concerted efforts to enhance access to higher education in recent decades have undeniably narrowed enrollment gaps and resulted in a significant influx of low-income first-generation students into colleges.

The focus of this event is to draw the audience’s attention to the field of autism as it relates to employment-based support and accommodations. With a supposed “autism tsunami” in the years to come in which organizations will likely see a significant increase of applicants or employees who are on the spectrum, leaders need to prepare their organizations for it, at all levels. Participants will learn about the research Dr. Pierce conducted with a company in the Chicago area that hires and supports employees with high-functioning autism.

Mike Miller and Brian Gillis will engage in a presentation and discussion that explores their art practice and A Public Commons, a project where the UIS Visual Arts Gallery is transformed into a replica of the 1970’s era non-hierarchical classrooms employed by Sangamon State University. This “classroom” space will host discussion and/or mediation sessions that bring together crucial community stakeholders connected to social issues and employ a variety of mediation and communication methodologies, models, and strategies to facilitate productive discussions in a neutral, safe space.

The UN Climate Negotiations: A Complex Space for Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change and Determining Pathways Forward

Brandon Barclay Derman | Wednesday, April 26, 6:00 P.M.
Brookens Auditorium

Ethical Artificial Intelligence: An Industry Perspective | Doug Hamilton | Wednesday, April 12, 6:00 P.M. | Student Union Ballroom

Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents an enormous opportunity to advance human well-being.  It also, however, represents a sea-change in how decisions are made, who is making those decisions, and who is liable for outcomes.  Today this very topic is being tackled by an odd admixture of ethicists, attorneys, statisticians, computer scientists, and regulators.