14th annual Latino Issues Conference planned

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Dr. Diana Marinez, a biochemist and longtime college administrator who has devoted her life to the advancement of women and minorities in science, will be the keynote speaker April 16 at the 14th annual Latino Issues Conference at Bowling Green State University. The theme this year is “Gender and Empowerment of Latino/as in Contemporary America.”

Students and faculty from BGSU and other universities will gather in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the event, which will include five discussion sessions comprising faculty, community members and students, and a luncheon.

At the noon luncheon, Marinez, a retired dean of the Corpus Christi College of Science and Technology at Texas A&M University, will speak on “Latinas in the Sciences.”

During her tenure as dean, her college’s enrollment rose from the lowest among Texas A&M’s colleges to the highest, and she created numerous programs to encourage students from high school onward to pursue science-related degrees and careers. She has managed significant grants from the National Science Foundation and other organizations to promote science and math education in poor, rural Texas school districts and create pipelines to higher education.

She especially aims to get more women into engineering and the physical and math-related sciences, where the lack is greater than in biology, psychology and the social sciences, she says.

Session topics will include “Between Gender, Service-Learning and Activism,” at 9:30 a.m.; “Between Education, Race and History,” at 10:45 a.m.; “Between History, Law and Free Trade,” at 2 p.m.; “Between Slavery, the Border and Film,” at 4 p.m., and “Election 2008: The Role of Latino/as,” an open forum for students, faculty, staff and community members, at 5:30 p.m.

Artwork for the conference has been provided by Santa Fe artist Pola Lopez (http://www.polalopez.com/).

The cost of the Latino-themed luncheon is $8. For reservations, call 419-372-2642.

The conference is presented by the Center for Multicultural and Academic Initiatives.

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Media Contact: Bonnie Blankinship, Marketing and Communications, 419-372-2618.

(Posted April 09, 2008 )