Statewide Diversity Summit Slated

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 14, 2011) -- University of Kentucky Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Judy “JJ” Jackson has a dream — a dream for Kentucky and its people that she has been nurturing since she first moved to the Blue Grass state three years ago. That dream is simple in concept but complex in application — to do what she can to help Kentucky achieve its full potential.

To that end, she has led a team of dozens of volunteers to plan a coordinated, statewide conference to discuss how, first, individuals, then schools, then businesses, then government can create a plan to succeed. This will be only the first Kentucky Summit on Diversity and Inclusion to be held at the Hyatt Regency Sept. 26-28; realizing that even a three-day summit isn’t enough, Jackson is planning the second in a biennial series that has no real end date. 

“We have the power to be a great state, where all residents are well able to care for their families, further their education, enjoy the riches of nature and the arts, and actively engage in the political process,” said Jackson. “It is a truism that economic productivity determines the level of education, good health, effective government and social harmony of our citizenry.  The Commonwealth’s quest for such greatness demands strategic collaboration by people from across Kentucky.” 

While this first Kentucky Summit on Diversity and Inclusion will focus on professionals from the state’s higher education and business worlds, future diversity summits will focus on the worlds of government, health care and the nonprofit arena. 

Jackson envisions “an integrated discussion on recognizing and combating the critical impediments to our progress toward greatness.  In this one-of-a-kind Kentucky Summit on Diversity and Inclusion, we will have some difficult dialogues around stereotype threat, enlightening discussion regarding learning, poignant questions and encouraging conversation about business and education, and the role of individuals in our quest for greatness,” she said. 

When the summit is over, Jackson hopes that the attendees will take home a new agenda for success and will share those ideals with others. As for herself, Jackson will travel to Frankfort to meet with the governor, in hand a formal appeal to form a coalition or commission to develop an action plan for actualizing Kentucky’s power to be a great state in all areas. 

Jackson would like to see “a 10- or 20-year action plan around an agenda focused on inclusion as Kentucky achieves greatness in education and business. We will have a conference every two years to deal with the pressing current issues around diversity and inclusion, to check our status for the need for course corrections, and to plan for the ensuing two years.” 

With greetings from UK President Eli Capilouto, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and UK Provost Kumble Subbaswamy, this year’s Kentucky Summit on Diversity and Inclusion offers a “Mental Models Workshop,” a facilitated, structured, interactive workshop that focuses participants’ attention on the way common biases govern our thinking and action. Workshop leaders, Vince Mattox and Barbara Connor, will take participants through a set of thought-provoking exercises and dialogues to recognize and counter our biases in order to develop more effective ways of interacting with our colleagues, family, friends and the people with whom we engage on a daily basis in a diverse community. 

This concept will be reinforced by the summit’s keynote speaker, Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University, and her topic “Stereotype Threat: The Impact and the Remedy.” Purdie-Vaughns’ address will be followed by a panel discussion, “Kentucky in Ten Years,” with Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, Princeton Mayor Gale Cherry and Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dave Adkisson. 

Stu Silberman, former superintendent of Fayette County Schools, will lead a panel discussion that will include Kentucky Rep. Carl Rollins with superintendents of secondary schools in Clark and Floyd counties and representatives of some of the state’s colleges and universities, including UK Associate Provost of Undergraduate Education Michael Mullen, Kentucky State University Interim Provost Mac Stewart and Joe Bagnoli, dean of enrollment and academic services at Berea College. Renee Shaw of Kentucky Educational Television will end the first full day by moderating a presentation  “Imagine You – Unbridling the Kentucky Spirit.” 

The second-day agenda begins with panel discussions, “Pushing Back on Ethno-Stereotype Threat” and “Whose Community Is It: Mining Kentucky’s Common Wealth.” Then, P.G. Peeples, CEO of the LFUCG Urban League, will moderate a historical reflection “Have We Been Down This Road Before?” with three professors from the history department at UK, Gerald Smith, Tracy Campbell and Randolph Hollingsworth. The summit will conclude with the interactive, compelling discussion “What to Do With What We’ve Learned.” 

“This conference is about relieving the daily fight against discrimination that results in academic achievement gaps and unfairness in employment.  It calls attention to ways of combating the biases that result in discrimination,” said Jackson. 

To attend the Kentucky Summit on Diversity and Inclusion or for more detailed information about the event, visit http://www.uky.edu/diversity/summit.

 MEDIA CONTACT:  Gail Hairston, (859) 257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu