PASSWORDMANAGEMENT
Overview
The Social Justice Symposium (SJS) is an intensive conference led by ÌÇÐÄÉÙÅ® undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and the community. Participants will host/attend breakout sessions that explore diverse cultures, challenge social norms and inequality, and learn activist practices through interactive activities, individual reflections, and group dialogues. This year, we are featuring speaker Dr. Tara J. Yosso.
The symposium consists of two intermittent sessions where 3-4 presenters will host lectures, group discussions, and/or interactive activities within the hour in different rooms. Guests get to choose which one they'd like to attend.
This year's theme: Our Stories, Our Strengths centers on the idea that students come to ÌÇÐÄÉÙÅ® with deep cultural knowledge, lived experiences, and community-rooted skills that are powerful assets—not obstacles. Grounded in Tara Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth model, this theme invites students, staff, and faculty to explore and uplift the wisdom held in their identities, families, languages, histories, and communities. Through storytelling, reflection, dialogue, and creative expression, this theme creates space to honor the cultural wealth that drives student resilience, belonging, and leadership. It encourages our campus community to see students not through deficit lenses, but through the strengths and brilliance they already carry.
Through the experience and learning of SJS, guests will:
- Develop a working knowledge of different social justice frameworks.
- Draw upon personal experiences and class learning for opportunities for self-reflection.
- Develop skills to become socially conscious leaders and community members.
- Engage and network with diverse community members and their research and community
outreach.
Types of activities
Presentation
A presentation consists of an exhibit of materials reporting research activities or informational resources in visual and summary form. Good platform for facilitating personal discussion of work with interested colleagues and allowing meeting attendees to browse current research at their own pace. Research on submissions of all topics will be considered.
Roundtable Discussion
Informal roundtables offer opportunities for those who share conceptual, methodological, professional, or policy concerns to meet one another and to initiate and expand networks. These discussion sessions also are particularly valuable for those who are developing new ideas on formulating issues in new ways and who would like to explore these ideas or issues with colleagues who have similar interests.
Interactive Workshops
Sessions engaging participants through hands-on activities, dialogue, or creative methods that invite active involvement covering issues pertaining to social justice. Facilitators must comply with accessibility requests. Workshop duration must be 40-50* mins long (*with buffer for travel, introductions, and evaluations)
Cultural Demonstration/Artistic Expression
Opportunities for those who share different forms of art to display or perform that explains a cultural tradition, and consists of practice such as paintings, poetry, spoken word, dance, music. accompanied with a presentation if desired.
Interested in facilitating any of these activities above?
Mission: The ÌÇÐÄÉÙÅ® Social Justice Symposium provides an opportunity for students to increase their social consciousness levels and skills by presenting critical dialogue focusing on cultural, social, and political climates and topics. We aim to educate and empower participants to engage in action-orientated work that leads to a more just society.