Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Registration continues for Mississippi State's 2010 diversity conference on global competitiveness, to be held next month on campus.
Formally titled "Enhancing Mississippi Global Competitiveness through Diversity: Community, Business and Education," the March 24-26 event takes place in the Colvard Student Union's Foster Ballroom.
The MSU President's Commission on the Status of Minorities is coordinating the program, which will feature speakers representing the private sector, K-12 schools and higher education, along with various state communities and government agencies.
"The committee has brought together an outstanding lineup of speakers and panelists who will share a wealth of hands-on experiences and viewpoints for creating and managing diversity to achieve the benefits it offers," said MSU President Mark Keenum.
The land-grant institution's 19th chief executive will lead the 8-9:30 a.m. welcome ceremony on the 25th. The Rev. Dolphus Weary, president emeritus of Mission Mississippi, also will speak on the topic "I Ain't Coming Back."
Registration begins at 1 p.m. on the 24th, followed by a 6 p.m. reception jointly sponsored by MSU's Richard Holmes Cultural Diversity Center and gender studies academic program. (For more, visit www.ce.msstate.edu/divconference.)
Also scheduled on the 25th are several sessions, including:
--9:40-10:45 a.m.--Diversity in Education.
--11 a.m.-12:15 p.m., "Understanding the Millennium Generation," led by Fred Bonner, Texas A&M University professor of higher education and associate dean of faculty.
--12:30-1:45 p.m., "Skirts in the Boardroom," also a luncheon featuring former Miss America finalist Marshawn Evans, now majority owner and president of Atlanta-based EDGE 3M Sports and Entertainment.
--2-3:30 p.m.--"Diversity in Business," featuring a panel discussion among local and state business leaders.
--3:45-5:15, "Diversity in Health Care," addressed by Dr. Ervin Fox, associate professor of medicine and director of the echocardiography and nuclear laboratories at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
On the 26th:
--8:30-10 a.m., breakfast buffet and 2010 diversity awards presentation.
--10:15-11:30 a.m.--"Diversity in Community," a panel discussion among several Mississippi mayors, moderated by Marty Wiseman, director of MSU's Stennis Institute for Government.
--11:30 a.m.-noon, "Diversity in Education," led by Mary L. Alexander, director of MSU's Office of Diversity and Equity Programs.
"These two days of programs will help all participants learn more about how we can best build on Mississippi's human capital," Keenum said.
NEWS/ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: For more details, telephone Tommy Stevenson, chair of the MSU President's Commission on the Status of Minorities, at 662-325-2270.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.