This is the third major conference presented by Chancellor, Dr. Curtis L. Ivery, and Wayne County Community College District’s Institute for Social Progress focusing on key issues of urban America and U.S. politics and education. Following these past efforts that addressed major areas of economic inequality, mass incarceration, illiteracy, and significant related issues, this conference extends the scope of that work to consider critical areas of integration, civic engagement, and educational equity in advancing the project of American Democracy.
Nikolai Vitti, Superintendent, Detroit Public Schools Community District
Ilya Benjamin, Creative Director and Operations Manager, #wearewelcomehere
Rob Breymaier, Executive Director, Oak Park Regional Housing Center
Maria Krysan, Professor and Head in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois – Chicago, and professor in the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at UIC.
Natalie Moore, Reporter, WBEZ/NPR, Chicago
Tom Pedroni, Associate Professor, Curriculum Studies and Policy Sociology - Wayne State University
Verdis Robinson, National Director, The Democracy Commitment
John King, 10th U.S. Secretary of Education from 2016-2017, President and CEO of The Education Trust
Leonard Pitts, nationally syndicated, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, educator, radio producer, and lecturer
john powell, Director, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California, Berkeley
Maya Wiley, Senior Vice President for Social Justice; Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Policy and Management, New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, Management & Urban Policy
Elizabeth Anderson, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies, University of Michigan
Erica Frankenberg, Associate professor of education and demography in the College of Education, Pennsylvania State University
Andrew Grant Thomas, Co-Founder, Embrace Race
Michael Hilton, Policy Analyst, Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Lee Teitel, Lecturer on Education; Faculty Director of the Reimagining Integration: The Diverse and Equitable Schools Project, Harvard University Graduate School of Education
Josh Bassett, Director, WCCCD Institute for Social Progress
Tanya House, Co-Founder, Clay House Consulting
R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Associate Professor of Sociology and Black Studies at the City College of New York
Rubén Martinez, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University
Bankole Thompson, Columnist, The Detroit News
