Dr. Derek Greenfield, director of Diversity and Equity Engagement at Alcorn State University, served as a keynote speaker today at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence (CADE) 2012 Summer Meeting held in Savannah, Georgia. This year’s meeting focused on the core mission of CADE: “broadening access and opportunity in the academic community, utilizing diversity to expand the range and quality of the undergraduate experience, and achieving diversity within student and faculty populations.”
Dr. Greenfield’s dynamic and interactive presentation “Talk Isn’t Cheap: Rethinking our Language, Celebrating Our Success” critiqued existing diversity frameworks and proposed innovative language and communication practices for promoting greater understanding, building a stronger sense of community, fostering enhanced appreciation of efforts to advance inclusion and access, and maintaining focus and motivation for diversity work during challenging times. He also offered practical ideas and strategies drawn from the accomplishments of the Office of Diversity and Equity Engagement at Alcorn for achieving the goal of improved outcomes.
“It is essential for educational leaders to think critically about the role of language in defining our purpose and agendas as well as in positively shaping the narratives that exist around access and diversity in higher education,” stated Dr. Greenfield. “I was honored to be selected as a keynote speaker, and as always, to proudly represent Alcorn at this important event.”
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (A٠P٠L٠U) is a research and advocacy organization of public research universities, land-grant institutions, and many state university systems. The association’s overriding mission is to support high-quality public higher education and its member institutions as they perform their learning, discovery and engagement missions. CADE serves as a national action forum for addressing relevant diversity and social change issues impacting learning, discovery, and engagement at American colleges and universities. For more information, visit www.aplu.org
