Impact Arizona

Impact AZ Pursuits of Education and Excellence header

Free | In-Person | Open to the Public

 

Symposium Schedule

2024 marks 70 years since the historic Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision that declared segregated education in the United States was unconstitutional.  Arizona was grappling with equal education opportunities and school segregation and several key court cases paved the way towards the 1954 decision.  
 

Join us for a two day program that examines Arizona’s histories of education and policy, community advocacy and legal pursuits of educational justice. 

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Register

 

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm – Film Screening of My Name is Pauli Murray

Location:  ASU Memorial Union,
La Paz 242,
301 E. Orange Street, Tempe, Arizona 85281 

Friday, September 27, 2024

Register

 

9:30 am - 5:00 pm – Pursuits of Education and Excellence Symposium

Location: ASU Memorial Union,
Ventana C Room,
301 E. Orange Street, Tempe, Arizona 85281

 

The event begins Thursday with a screening of My Name is Pauli Murray, the revelatory documentary that examines the life of Murray, an under-recognized legal scholar and educator who provided key legal strategies that ensured the successful outcome of the lawsuit.  The Friday program features panels with pioneering Arizona educators, attorneys on the frontlines of Arizona equal education efforts, administrators and alumni of Arizona’s African American schools in Phoenix and Tucson.

The morning keynote speaker is Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of the Brown family of Topeka, Kansas, in whose name the historic lawsuit was brought. Panels will focus on the impact of Brown v. Board in Phoenix and Tucson. The closing keynote speaker is Leslie Fenwick, Dean Emerita of Howard University School of Education and author of Jim Crow's Pink Slip: The Untold Story of Black Principal and Teacher Leadership.
 

 

Program Schedule

8:45 am Registration
9:30 am Welcome Remarks: Dr. Lois Brown
9:45 am

Session One: Arizona Educators and Legacies of Excellence

Dr. Wil Counts, Dr. Rufus Glasper, Dr. Camilla Westenberg Moderator: Dr. Karen Hardin

10:45 am Morning Keynote Address: Cheryl Brown Henderson
12:00 pm

Civic Actions Luncheon
Facilitators: 
Andrea Brownlee, Dale Larsen, Dr. James Wermers, Dr. Kermit Brown, Kristian Salter, Michele Neptune-McHenry, Tijuani Phelps Jackson and Dr. Patricia Neff

1:30 pm Session Two: African American Education in Arizona 

Freda Marshall, Barbara Lewis, Basil Ribakare, Michele Neptune-McHenry Moderator: Dr. Lois Brown

2:45 pm Session Three: Arizona, The Law and Brown v. Board

Rubin Salter Jr. Esq., Dr. Nolan Cabrera, Lincoln Ragsdale, Jr. Moderator: Samuel E. Brown, Esq.

4:00 pm Afternoon Keynote Address: Dr. Leslie Fenwick
5:00 pm  Closing Remarks: Dr. Lois Brown

Featured Speakers

 

Lois Brown, PhD
Director, Center for the Study of Race and Democracy
ASU Foundation Professor of English 

Samuel E. Brown, Esq.
Chief Civil Deputy Attorney, Pima County
President, Dunbar Coalition, Inc.

Wil Counts
Founding Dean of Students
South Mountain Community College

Leslie Fenwick, PhD
Dean Emerita, Howard University School of Education

Rufus Glasper 
President and CEO
League for Innovation in the Community College

Karen Hardin, EdD
President, Maricopa NAACP

Cheryl Brown Henderson
Founding President
Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research

Dale Larsen
Director of Community Relations
Professor of Practice
ASU Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions

Barbara Lewis
Dunbar Pavilion

Freda Marshall
Executive Director
The Dunbar Pavilion

Patricia Neff, PhD
Director of Education Enrichment
Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church

Charlene Newkirk, Esq. 

Southeast Regional President [ret.]
Community College of Allegheny County

Basil Ribakare ‘24
CSRD Impact Fellow
ASU Watts College of Public Service

Lincoln Ragsdale, Jr. 
Phoenix, Arizona

Rubin Salter Jr. Esq
Law Office of Rubin Salter Jr. 
Tucson, Arizona

Camilla Westenberg
Professor Emeritus
Phoenix College