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University of Wyoming

Symposium recognized for democracy focus

   The Shepard Symposium for Social Justice (SSSJ) with roots in the College of Education, has gained recognition from the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER). 

   The Shepard Symposium for Social Justice received the NNER’s 2006 Nicholas Michelli Award for Advancing Social Justice, which acknowledges efforts  to advance the network’s “Agenda for Education in a Democracy.”

   The Wyoming School-University Partnership nominated the symposium for the prestigious Nicholas Michelli Award.  Representatives of the Shepard Symposium for Social Justice accepted the award at the October conference in Cheyenne commemorating the 20th anniversaries of the Wyoming School-University Partnership and the Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal.   Representatives also participated recognition ceremonies at the 2006 National Network of Educational Renewal conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.

   Criteria for the award included concerted work on equity issues within the local context; broad inclusion of partners including K-12 education, the College of Education, and the College of Arts & Sciences; an ongoing focus on social justice; evidence of progress toward greater equity in the identified area; and long-range planning to monitor and adapt strategies for sustainability and improved conditions.

Symposium  History 

      Elementary and early childhood education faculty members Omowale Akintunde and Peggy Cooney established the Symposium for the Eradication of Social Inequality in 1997 to provide education students with an opportunity to explore race, class, and gender in teaching and learning. The symposium expanded to a campus-wide opportunity in 1999, when organizers collaborated with the UW College of Law to bring noted speaker and activist Morris Dees to campus to deliver the symposium keynote address.

     That collaboration became the model for subsequent symposia and ultimately transitioned the program to a university-sponsored event. In 2002, the symposium received a name change, to the Symposium on Social Justice.  It became the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice in 2003, in honor of slain UW student Matthew Shepard.  At the same time, the UW president committed substantial annual funding for the symposium from an “Endowment Fund for Social Justice” established by an anonymous donor. Financial support from that fund has ensured stability of programming for future institutes.

SSSJ-The Purpose and Promise           

      The Shepard Symposium on Social Justice is “truly a community effort,” reports event chairperson Rosie Castañeda. For most of its 10 years, the organizing committee has actively involved University of Wyoming faculty and staff, K-12 public school teachers and administrators, and community representatives from a variety of businesses and organizations in the planning process. This “visionary, eclectic” group of volunteers has a both a strong commitment to the program and an equally strong sense of what it could be, co-founder Cooney says.

      As a result, the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice’s first decade has experienced increased participation from the university campus and local community to the state, regional, national and even international symposium presenters and attendees. It continues to address many critical issues of social justice-including but not limited to those related to race, ethnicity, gender, social class, religion, sexual orientation and ability. 

   The concept of diversity is broad and complex, former co-chairperson and long time committee member Deb Parkinson says. Ten years after its birth, the Shepard Symposium for Social Justice is still only beginning to peel back the layers, she says, noting that learning about social justice issues is a continual process.

   While the format continues to include a series of concurrent sessions that draw scholars, activists and students, the symposium schedule also has expanded to include new opportunities to raise awareness about social justice issues. For example, the Shepard Symposium for Social Justice began hosting readings from elementary school essay contest winners in 2006   Other new additions in 2006 were a forum showcasing adolescent artists engaged in music, poetry, hip-hop, and breaking dancing; a musical performance by a Peruvian panpipe ensemble; and a Cesar Chavez dinner celebration.

   The Shepard Symposium for Social Justice’s grassroots history and the diverse, talented and visionary planning group committed to the symposium’s future, keeps each year’s program vibrant and innovative, according to Castañeda and Parkinson. 

    “The committee lives the message,” Parkinson says. Castañeda credits committee members’ vast experiences and as part of the continued excitement and commitment to symposium.

   Watching the little college event she co-founded evolve into a rich conversation that draws international participation is “extremely powerful and heartwarming,” Cooney says. “