Date/Time
Date(s) - April 18, 2019
5:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Location
Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, University Center for the Arts


MIIX – MULTICULTURAL, INTERSECTIONAL, INCLUSIVITY EXCHANGE

THURSDAY, April 18, 2018
5:00 – 7:30p.m. | Gregory Allicar Museum of Art

In the realm of minority representation and social justice efforts, there is still so much that needs to be done in different areas of society. Conversations about feminism, sexual minorities rights, gender, racism, accessibility, xenophobia and other important issues have been ongoing for decades but being aware of the problems is not enough. Whether it’s inside museums, which have historically played a role as gatekeepers of culture, often replicating the barriers to minorities in society; or universities, which are still far from being accessible for all social classes; or the corporate and political worlds, with its glass ceilings still largely intact. The question is: how do we affect change?

This year’s starting point for discussion is the current exhibition To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults, and will explore the nuanced and varied experiences of gender nonconformity and its intersection with other facets of identity.

Refreshments will be served.

Download MIIX Schedule


Eric Aoki

Dr. Eric Aoki – MODERATOR

Dr. Eric Aoki teaches courses in Interpersonal, Co-Cultural, and Intercultural Communication at the undergraduate level and Communication & Cultural Diversity at the graduate level. His courses are grounded in two guiding principles: “conversations are the most meaningful events of our lives” (learned from his mentor, Dr. John Stewart), and “it is imperative that we keep the cultural conversation going.” Eric’s advocacy includes work with CSU student diversity offices and other diversity-based causes. Eric’s research intersects the areas of identity, voice, and cultural (re)presentations in media and public spaces. Two of his publication titles include: “Mexican American Ethnicity in Biola, CA: An ethnographic account of hard work, family, and religion” in The Howard Journal of Communications, and “Spaces of remembering and forgetting: The reverent eye/I at the Plains Indian Museum” in Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies with his co-authors Brian Ott and Greg Dickinson. Eric is also published in Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Women’s Studies in Communication, Cultural Studies<=> Critical Methodologies, and the Western Journal of Communication.

Kelly shortandqueerKelly Shortandqueer – PANELIST

Kelly Shortandqueer is one of the co-founders of the Denver Zine Library, a volunteer-run nonprofit organization that boasts over 15,000 zines in the lending collection. Established in December 2003, the DZL has hosted multiple Denver Zine Fests, facilitated tons of zine-making workshops, and has championed the power of self-publishing as a powerful tool for marginalized voices. For the past decade, Kelly has been publishing the zine series “shortandqueer”, each issue focusing on a different theme through the lens of being queer and transgender. His storytelling has been featured on The Narrators stage  as well as through a collaboration between the Narrators and DCPA’s Off-Center at the Jones Theater, in a show titled “Lived/Re-Lived”. Besides writing and storytelling, Kelly is also a drag artist, performing under the name Olive de Bottom. Since being crowned Honky Tonk Queen of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs in 2014, he has performed at several local and national venues and is always looking for new excuses to make appearances.

Jacob McWilliamsDr.  Jacob McWilliams – PANELIST

Women & Gender Center Director at University of Colorado Denver, Jacob came to CU Denver from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he worked as a postdoctoral research associate and instructor in the School of Education and in the INVST Community Leadership Program. Jacob earned his PhD in Education, with a minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Policy Studies, from Indiana University. Jacob’s research focuses on issues of gender and sexual diversity in education, and recent work involves developing queer pedagogies for supporting new media literacies practices in the elementary classroom and, most recently, drawing on queer and transgender theory for understanding the dominant discourses of engineering education and how those discourses marginalize and exclude people from traditionally vulnerable gender, sexual, and ethnic groups.

Patrice PalmerPatrice Palmer – PANELIST

Currently working in the College of Business as the coordinator of a student lead group known as Business Diversity Leadership Alliance; while being a full time academic advisor Patrice also teaches a course within the College of Business, Social Responsibility and Leadership that blends Social identity concepts and Business theory to create a more just business environment. Also guest lecturing in the College of Education teaching classism to practicum ready teaching assistants and continuously looking for opportunities to blend knowledge of Diversity, Social Justice and Inclusion with educational leadership.

MegMeg Skeehan – PANELIST

Meg Skeehan is a Program Assistant in the Department of Accounting in the College of Business. Meg serves on the Classified Personnel Council as the Chair, representing state classified employees at Colorado State University, and is very involved with various committees and events on campus. Over the last few months, Meg has worked with campus collaborators to address the needs and concerns of trans and non-binary students, staff and faculty at CSU, serving on multiple committees working to address systems and needs at CSU and within the Fort Collins community. Currently, Meg is working on a B.A. in Ethnic Studies and Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts while working fulling time at CSU, with aspirations to continue their education with advanced degrees in the future focused on student affairs. Ethnic studies has inspired Meg to learn how to help create and contribute to a more diverse and inclusive environment on the CSU campus, actively seeking out trainings to expand on how they can help support faculty, staff, and students.

Briana Jara – PANELIST

Briana Jara is a fourth year studying English Education at Colorado State University. They are from Denver, and will be working in Greeley schools after graduation. Briana worked at the Pride Resource Center for three years as the office manager. It was there that they learned more about diversity and social justice. They also co-founded a student organization for queer students and volunteer with the Visible Voices program. Briana seeks to blend their passion for inclusion and social justice into their classroom. Knowing that students need to have significant adults in their lives that mirror the identities they hold, Briana believes in being authentic and honest with their students. Briana is currently student teaching, and will be graduating in May.