The festival will feature authentic Mexican and Central American food, arts and crafts, and games for children throughout the afternoon.

There will be live Latin American bands, folkloric ballet, Mariachi, zumba and salsa dance, international and authentic Mexican food trucks, and more.

The event is free and open to the public. However, donations will be accepted on behalf of the UALR Patricia Guardado Endowed Scholarship Fund and other UALR scholarships.

For more information, go to Arkansas events.

For more information on how to make a gift to the Guardado scholarship fund, please contact Angela Elizandro at 501-683-7501.

Students & Diversity Programs to host campus celebration

The Office of Campus Life Diversity Programs and the Hispanic/Latino Initiative, a student success program, will celebrate Cinco de Mayo from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, May 6, in the upper concourse of the Donaghey Student Center

The event is a cultural celebration and will include music, dancing, and free food.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations.

Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music performances and street festivals in cities and towns across Mexico and the United States.

For more information, contact, Kara M. Brown, of UALR Diversity Programs.

The survey, designed and implemented by the UALR Institute of Government, was completed by faculty, staff, and students from across the campus to gather information regarding perceptions of diversity at UALR.

Chancellor Joel E. Anderson, who established the council to lead the campus in launching strategic diversity initiatives, will welcome all guests to the lunch and learn.

In addition to focusing on the outcomes of the surveys, participants will take part in roundtable discussions while campus stakeholders facilitate the discussions.

“We’d like to be known for championing diversity with our actions, and the Lunch and Learn series is one small step in that direction,” said Dr. John Miller Jr., co-chair of the Diversity Council and assistant professor in the UALR School of Social Work.

All members of the university community are ask to come and participate.

The goal is to lead by example

The Diversity Council was created under the direction of Chancellor Anderson in order to lead the university in becoming a diverse, multi-ethnic community characterized by an absence of institutional racism.

The council’s purpose falls under goal six of the mission of the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity.

The Diversity Council seeks to help UALR in its overall goals of promoting dialogue, enhancing understanding, and fostering respect for all students, faculty, and staff.

Want to present your research at an upcoming event?

“We feel that a strength of our metropolitan university is the rich and diverse knowledge and expertise of our faculty and staff. We are particularly interested in presentations that address diversity related issues including, but not limited to, disability, LGBT, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and the elderly, “ said Miller.

The council is accepting proposals from anyone who would like to lead one of the lunch and learn events. If you are interested in participating in an upcoming summer or fall session, please submit your proposal at Lunch and Learn Topics.

A decade later, much has changed to improve race relations; however, the issue still clearly persists. Anderson said this fact is supported by the 2012-13 survey on crime and punishment, which was issued by the UALR Institute of Government in conjunction with the 10th Annual Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference on Thursday, March 28.

The UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity hosted the conference and offered the results of the survey, which went live on the institute’s website Thursday afternoon. Survey data for all 10 years can be found on the institute’s site.

“Ten years may sound like a lot, but for the issues we’re addressing, I would say we are just now to the point where we have begun to have a real baseline for looking at ourselves and our movement,” Anderson said.

Anderson said a positive trend was indicated in the increased improvement seen in questions related to trust, “particularly given that trust is the foundation on which easy and enduring cooperation is built.”

In general terms, both blacks and whites rate race relations as “very good” or “somewhat good.” Yet a more nuanced look at the numbers shows a level of disparity regarding racial profiling, Anderson said. Nonetheless, the perception of profiling has indeed waned among blacks.

“I would offer speculation … that this could be a case where direct attention to an issue by responsible officials [such as law enforcement] actually produced that result,” he said.

Anderson said that such data encouraged “cautious optimism” about race relations in Arkansas. But, he added, glaring examples also existed to demonstrate that profound gaps are still prevalent among African-American and Latino perceptions of life in the community compared with whites.

Anderson said he would challenge those who believe in the myth that there are not problems in racial and ethnic perceptions to look at the survey data.

“It is not helpful to deny it and it is not helpful to fail to recognize it,” he said.

A distinguished panel of area leaders also contributed their thoughts regarding the results of 2012-13 survey following Anderson’s remarks, including retired Appellate Court Judge Olly Neal, who grew up during Jim Crow segregation in Arkansas.

Other guest panelists included Robert Tellez of the Monterrey & Tellez law firm; Leta Anthony of the Willie Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center; Little Rock assistant chief of police, Eric Higgins; and Dr. Charles Chastain of the Prison Library Project and professor emeritus of criminal justice at UALR.

Thurday’s event concluded with a roundtable strategy session to encourage community dialogue.

The UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity was founded in July 2011 to seek racial and ethnic justice in Arkansas by remembering and understanding the past, informing and engaging the present, and shaping and defining the future. UALR has collected data on attitudes concerning race relations since the beginning of Anderson’s tenure as chancellor in 2003.

Video of the conference may be found at ualr.edu/race-ethnicity/press/1389-2/.

Crime and Punishment Focus of 2013 Survey

During the conference, the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity will present and lead discussion of the findings of the 2012-13 survey, on crime and punishment, conducted by the UALR Institute of Government.

Chancellor Joel E. Anderson will address what it means to the state of Arkansas to have 10 years’ worth of data on racial attitudes by highlighting trends that have surfaced during the survey collection process.

“People find it easy to dismiss national data as not really relevant to state or local problems. It is hard to deny the findings of a local survey,” he said. “Over the last decade the annual surveys on racial attitudes, and the work of the Institute over the last two years, have increased awareness of the fact that there is still a racial divide here.”

Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, director for the Racial Disparities in the Arkansas Criminal Justice System project, will join a panel of stakeholders to address the survey results. Following the panel discussion, the audience will participate in a round table strategy session on community issues.

The event is free and open to the public. The conference will begin at 9 a.m. followed by the roundtable strategy session from noon until 2 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Register online at the 10th Racial Attitudes Conference site.

Featured panelists will include retired Appellate Court Judge Olly Neal, Robert Tellez of the Monterrey and Tellez law firm, Leta Anthony of the Willie Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center, Little Rock Assistant Chief of Police Eric Higgins, and Dr. Charles Chastain of the Prison Library Project and professor emeritus of criminal justice at UALR.

IOG has collected data on attitudes concerning race relations in central Arkansas since the beginning of Anderson’s tenure as chancellor in 2003.

“Consistent with a pledge in the university’s strategic plan, UALR has been a keeper of the flame on the subject of race,” said Anderson.

The UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity was founded in July 2011 to seek racial and ethnic justice in Arkansas by remembering and understanding the past, informing and engaging the present, and shaping and defining the future. It serves as a resource for multidisciplinary, research-driven data – including historical, sociological, educational, and economic analyses to combat structural racism and fulfill its mission.

To learn more about the 2013 Racial Attitudes Conference, go to the 10th Racial Attitudes Conference site.

For more information, contact the Institute at race-ethnicity@ualr.edu or by phone at 501-569-8932.

The Brown Bag Lunch and Learn forum is open to students, faculty, and staff. Drinks will be provided.

“Our purpose in hosting the events is to engage the campus community in discussions about diversity and to allow some time for faculty and staff to share any concerns they may have about diversity at the university,” said Dr. John Miller Jr., co-chair of the Diversity Council and assistant professor in the UALR School of Social Work.

In 2011, Chancellor Joel E. Anderson established the council to lead the campus in planning related to diversity and in launching strategic diversity initiatives.

“Goal four of our revised strategic plan charges us to be committed to diversity in all areas of the university. We have done well in our efforts to be an inclusive and welcoming community, but much more can be done. The Diversity Council will lead the campus in planning and launching initiatives to ensure UALR is a diverse community, characterized by an absence of institutional discrimination,” said Anderson.

Additional forums will be conducted by the council throughout the semester to promote ongoing dialogue, but their intention is to allow campus stakeholders the opportunity to facilitate the discussions.

“We feel that a strength of our metropolitan university is the rich and diverse knowledge and expertise of our faculty and staff. By sharing that knowledge we want our lunch and learn events to serve as an opportunity for our university to come together and discuss topics that will enlighten us and expand our perspective,” said Miller.

For future forum events, those interested in presenting their research are asked to submit proposals for presentations addressing diversity related issues including, but not limited to, disability, LGBT, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and the elderly.

The deadline to submit proposals for the February forum has passed; however, proposals for upcoming sessions can be emailed to Miller at jwmillerjr@ualr.edu.

“We’d like to be known for championing diversity with our actions and the lunch and learn series is one small step in that direction,” said Miller.

The UALR Diversity Council’s mission is to help the university in its overall goals of promoting dialogue, enhancing understanding, and fostering respect for all students, faculty, and staff.

The event, sponsored by the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity in partnership with the Little Rock Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, was part of a civil rights tour conducted by IU Bloomington.

The Civil Rights Immersion Trip, an annual excursion in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gives students the opportunity “to visit a culturally and historically significant site.”

While visiting the Old State House Museum, approximately 55 students viewed the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, an Institute on Race and Ethnicity initiative, with interim director Priscilla McChristian and staff members, Tamisha Cheatham, and Donna L. Shelton. Kirk explained the history and purpose of the heritage trail.

“Understanding our history is fundamental to any progress we hope to make toward racial and ethnic justice in Arkansas,” said McChristian.

Later during his presentation, “A Movement is More Than a Moment: The Civil Rights Struggle in Arkansas Since 1940,” Kirk discussed local historical events ranging from the familiar to contributions by lesser known individuals such as William Harold Flowers, Ozell Sutton, and Edith Irby Jones.

“We must understand what happened before the 1957 crisis and since 1957 if we are going to get a complete picture of the history of the civil rights movement in Arkansas,” he said.

While the Central High Crisis of 1957 is the most recognized event in Arkansas civil rights history, according to Kirk, local activism efforts in Arkansas started in the 19th century when African Americans successfully participated in the political process during reconstruction and beyond.

“Up North, all they really tell us (about the Central High Crisis) is after the troops let the kids in, it’s like they won, it was over. That was our perception of it; but you have to really listen to the stories and get a mental image of what actually happened. It gave us another perspective on social injustices,” said IU Bloomington student Derrick Hutton-Kinsey.

According to Barry Magee, assistant director for Diversity Education at IU Bloomington, the theme of the trip was “Making a Career of Humanity.” While in Little Rock, the students visited local organizations known nationally for their humanitarian efforts such as Heifer International and the Clinton School of Public Service.

They also visited other sites that were integral parts of the Arkansas Civil Rights movement including, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Philander Smith College, and Little Rock Central High School.

The Institute on Race and Ethnicity was founded in July 2011 during the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Riders coming to Little Rock and the unveiling of the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail. The trail was established to raise awareness about the rich and important civil rights legacy in Arkansas.

UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson joined a panel of experts at the Clinton School of Public Service to discuss the report, which examines demographic trends and the economic impact of the state’s immigrant population.

The panel also included Dr. Randy Capps, the head researcher on the study from the Migration Policy Institute; Dr. Steve Appold of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who also contributed to the report; Dr. Andre Guerrero, director of the Arkansas Department of Education Programs for Language Minority Students; Rex Nelson, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist and president of Arkansas’s Independent Colleges and Universities in Little Rock; and Randy Zook, president and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

The discussion was moderated by Dr. Sherece West-Scantlebury, the president and CEO of Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. The first two volumes of the report focus on the state’s workforce, family demographics, and economic impact, while the third volume is a profile of the Marshallese community in Arkansas.

“We need to think beyond the costs, the economic cost, the balances. It’s a great historic time. I like to think that this just makes our state more interesting. It makes it richer in terms of its culture,” Guerrero said.

According to the report, Arkansas’s foreign-born population increased by 82 percent in a 10-year span, with many immigrant families remaining in the U.S. In 2010, 57 percent had lived in Arkansas (or elsewhere in the country) 10 years or more.

Anderson addressed the future of higher education in Arkansas and the importance of increasing access to education to all families that reside in the state.

“There is just a very great state interest in having a state population with more and more people who have a college education,” said Anderson. “In a world that now is categorized by a global economy, with people in Arkansas … competing with people halfway around the world – education becomes an important tool, qualification, or asset.”

Anderson listed a number of reasons why increasing access to education for children of undocumented immigrants would be beneficial to the state. Individuals who obtain a college degree “are less dependent on government and others for financial support. They have better health and make fewer demands on the health care system,” he said.

The UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity has found benefits of adopting legislation to allow children of undocumented immigrants to attend public institutions of higher education at in-state rates.

The full report is available on the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation site.

Chancellor Anderson said that McChristian knows the Institute well and will keep the institute on course and moving forward until a new director is on the job.

McChristian has been a member of the Chancellor’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity and played a unique role in the development of the institute, according to Anderson.

“Priscilla McChristian helped turn the concept of this institute into reality by giving energy and direction to the initiative during the planning year leading up to the institute’s establishment. She also gave voice to it in the case statement that secured foundation support for launching it,” Anderson said.

McChristian will continue to serve as chief of staff and as chair of the Institute Director Search Advisory Committee.

Before coming to UALR four-and-one-half years ago, McChristian worked as assistant to the president of the Feminist Majority in Washington, D.C. She later worked in development and foundation relations for Hendrix College, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Missouri History Museum. She graduated with distinction from both Hendrix College (BA, History) and DePaul University (MA, History).

The university is conducting a national search for the new director, assisted by Academic Search, Inc., a national search firm. Professor Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, inaugural director of the institute, is returning to the faculty of the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. She will also lead a major study of racial disparities in the Arkansas criminal justice system, a project she launched as inaugural director.

Chancellor Anderson said a new director could be on the job as early as April but that July 1 is a more likely date. Visit the institute site for more information about the position of director, including information on submitting nominations and applications.

“Unsung activists like Ms. Jackson are often the lifeblood of impoverished Arkansas Delta communities in helping to sustain daily life,” Chancellor Joel E. Anderson said in nominating Jackson for the honor.

“The award of an honorary degree recognizes the contributions of Jackson and other women like her whose efforts are significant yet all too often sidelined because they remain out of the headlines and out of sight.”

In the mid-1960s, Jackson and her husband, a farmer in a community beyond Turner and south of Marvell in Phillips County, invited the area Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) field secretary to hold weekly meetings in the community’s church to give people an outlet to air grievances.

“Local people like the Jacksons were crucial in forming an all-important bridge between external groups like SNCC and local Arkansas communities,” said History Department chair and Donaghey Professor  Dr. John A. Kirk, co-editor of “Arsnick: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas,” published by the University of Arkansas Press in 2011.

When the white-dominated school board ignored sewer backups in the segregated Turner Elementary School, the Jacksons organized families to keep their children home until the problem was corrected. Buoyed by that success, the people enlisted Jackson to lead efforts to improve school conditions.

“In 1966, she and her husband led a boycott of schools and launched a class action lawsuit for desegregation that was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals,” the chancellor said.

Jackson helped lead a group to establish the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center that continues today in Marvell aimed at developing the full potential of poor children and their families. It continues to be a center of community life in the Marvell area. Now in her 80s, Jackson still volunteers at the center, working for the children and youth of her community.

Gertrude Newsome Jackson was born in Madison, Ill., and attended a reputable public school blocks from her home. She was in the second grade when her family moved to Gum Bottom, an area near the Turner community, to operate the family’s small farm. She had to walk nine miles a day to attend a one-room school for black children that covered grades one through eight. She later attended a high school for black students in Marvell that only went to the 10th grade.

Jackson and her husband, Earlis Jackson, are the parents of 11 children, all of whom graduated from high school. Seven earned college degrees.

Davis’ presentation will be at 6:30 p.m. in UALR’s University Theatre in the Center for Performing Arts. (See Directions and Parking)

Her lecture is sponsored by the UALR William G. Cooper Jr. Honors Program in English in association with the Institute on Race and Ethnicity and the Office of Campus Life.