Colorado State’s Diversity Conference Features NewsHour Senior Correspondent Ray Suarez Sept. 21

Colorado State University’s 10th Annual Diversity Conference will feature Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for The NewsHour. Suarez will be the keynote speaker and will discuss the conference theme, “What the Recession Revealed,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in the Main Ballroom of CSU’s Lory Student Center on campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Suarez joined The NewsHour in October 1999 as a Washington-based senior correspondent. He has more than 30 years of experience in the news business. Suarez came to The NewsHour from National Public Radio where he had been host of the nationwide, call-in news program, “Talk of the Nation,” since 1993. Prior to that, he spent seven years covering local, national and international stories for the NBC-owned station, WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

Since 2009, Suarez has covered the global health beat for The NewsHour, traveling the world to report on severe health threats and progress against some of the world’s most dangerous diseases. His stories have ranged from the possible effects of global climate change on the world’s poorest to the struggle to keep women from dying in childbirth.

Suarez is author of a recent book that examines the tightening relationship between religion and politics in America, “The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America.”

He was co-recipient of NPR’s 1993-94 and 1994-95 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Awards for on-site coverage of the first all-race elections in South Africa and the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, respectively.

A Life Member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Suarez was a founding member of the Chicago Association of Hispanic Journalists.

This year’s conference, “Diversity in the 21st Century: What the Recession Revealed,” is designed to offer the opportunity to engage in discussions about diversity to understand how biases may inhibit progress toward shared goals and develop strategies to reduce their impact.

During this year’s Diversity Conference, more than 40 sessions will be offered from Sept. 21-23. Some of the topics covered during the sessions will include the following.

Sept. 21
– Students of Color Experiencing and Surviving Racism in Classrooms on a Predominantly White Campus
– Environmental Justice During A Recession; Can We Still Afford Progress?
– Prospective Veteran Students: CSU’s Experience Since the Post 9-11 GI Bill
– Latinos in Agriculture-What the Recession Revealed

Sept. 22
– Challenging Heterosexism, Homophobia and Biphobia: Acknowledging Sexual Diversity in the College Classroom During a time of Economic Crisis
– How Diverse was the Great Recession? A closer look at unemployment rate differences across demographic lines
– Understanding Native American Tribes and their Students
– Media coverage of the Recession: How Effectively did Journalists Cover the So-called silent Depression and Its Effects on Minority Populations?

Sept. 23
– Building Community Partnerships to Facilitate Higher Education Access
– The Recession’s Effect on International Volunteering
– Teaching Diversity: Important Lessons for Hard Times
– Arizona’s SB1070: Faculty Perspectives

All sessions are free and open to the public. A full schedule can be found at http://www.diversity.colostate.edu/program.aspx.

In 2001, the very first Colorado State University Diversity Summit, "Undergraduate Student Retention and Diversity," was held for a select number of invited deans, department heads and directors. In 2002, the Summit opened its doors to the CSU and Fort Collins communities.

Over the years, conference themes have changed with the times to spark discussion about Diversity. Specially selected presenters lead workshops or host panels to create a safe place for conference attendees to explore issues surrounding race, color, gender, disability, religion, national origin, economical standing and sexual orientation.

Each conference hosts inspirational and provocative guest speakers that address each theme. In the past, invited guests have included Pulitzer Prize winner N. Scott Momaday; and Monfort Professors such as actor Edward James Olmos; Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space; and Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

For more information, visit www.diversity.colostate.edu or the Face Book page for the conference at http://www.facebook.com/2010DiversityConference.CSU.

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