Retired Appellate Court Judge Olly Neal, whose compelling memories were recently shared on NPR’s StoryCorps program, will be among the featured panelists at the annual Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference this Thursday, March 28.

The event, free and open to the public, will be held at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building. The conference is presented by the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity.

The conference begins at 9 a.m. with a panel discussion focused on the topic of the most recent survey, crime and punishment. The morning session will be followed by a round table discussion from noon until 2 p.m.

In addition to Neal, guest panelists will include 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.

Chancellor Joel E. Anderson will also announce the online publication of all 10 years of survey data results conducted by the UALR Institute of Government.

“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.

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

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.

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