Feb. 19, 2020
UNT student, faculty and staff registration for the annual UNT Equity and Diversity Conference presented by Peterbilt sold out in a record 24 hours this year — a great way to celebrate the 20th conference, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020.
If you weren't able to secure a spot, you can download the conference program, catch a livestream of the keynote speeches, or find them after the event on the conference website. The site also will feature submitted workshop presentations, along with interviews with keynote speakers on the Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity's “Social Justice and Community Engagement” television program.
UNT System Chancellor Lesa Roe and her cabinet will attend the conference this year, and she will give opening remarks. The G. Brint Ryan College of Business will receive the Inclusive Excellence Award presented by Hilti.
Keynote speakers
The addresses and workshops at the annual conference feature topics related to social justice, identity, equity and inclusion. This year's keynote speaker is Bakari Sellers, who made history in 2006 when at 22 he became the youngest member of the South Carolina Legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. The son of Civil Rights leader Cleveland Sellers, he will speak about interactions with his father and present-day hopes and struggles in his noon address titled “Journey to Excellence,” presented by Peterbilt, the conference's first-ever presenting sponsor.
Sellers also is delivering an invitation-only workshop to students, faculty and staff involved in identity-based, diversity and inclusion, and social justice efforts at UNT, as well as an invitation-only private conversation for internal and external sponsors and special guests. While this event is closed, it will be recorded and available for viewing after the conference.
This year's social justice keynote speaker is Dr. Juan Sánchez Muñoz, president of the University of Houston-Downtown and previously a chief diversity officer at Texas Tech, where he served as vice provost for undergraduate education and student affairs and senior vice president for diversity, equity and community engagement. In “The Wisdom of Inclusion,” his address presented by Fidelity Investments at 9 a.m., he will speak about the importance of structural change in higher education to inspire inclusion and representation.
#EDC20atUNT
Can't attend the conference but want to be part of the day? You can tweet questions for both keynote presenters, as well as any other insights about the conference's events, using the #EDC20atUNT hashtag. All tweets will appear on the conference's social media wall in the Union ballroom and the CrowdCompass conference app.
Career Fair
New this year, an Equity and Diversity Career Fair presented by Comerica is being offered in conjunction with the conference, from 2 to 5 p.m. in the University Union, Rooms 333B-C. Students and alumni seeking internships or full-time opportunities at companies with a robust diversity and inclusion infrastructure are welcome to attend.
For more information about the conference or other programs, email Diversity.Inclusion@unt.edu or call 940-565-3119.