Published: Feb. 9, 2009

The 14th Annual Diversity Summit on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus offers a wide variety of speakers and sessions, covering subjects from inclusive practices to social injustice. The summit takes place Feb. 16-17 in the University Memorial Center with presentations throughout each day.

All events are free and open to the public. This year's summit theme is "Inclusive Excellence and Intergroup Relations," aimed at empowering groups and individuals to support diversity in their communities.

On Monday, Feb. 16, an interactive session will be presented by Erin Yoshimura, founder of Empowerful Changes and a certified personal brand strategist through Reach Communications Consulting Inc. Yoshimura will offer a dialogue on the impact of various ethnic popular icons and artifacts portrayed in the media, and how these images become part of the thought process, from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Dennis Small Cultural Center, UMC room 457.

KUSA-Channel 9 reporter Adam Schrager will give a talk on his book, "The Principled Politician: The Story of Ralph Carr," about the former Colorado governor and CU-Boulder alumnus who put into action his principles of inclusion. Schrager will talk on Tuesday, Feb. 17, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the UMC's Glenn Miller Ballroom.

Environmental pollution, an often overlooked driver of social injustice, will be examined in a session led by Dave Newport, director of the CU Environmental Center, in the UMC's middle ballroom from 3:15 to 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16. Newport's session will explore "How Environmental Pollution Creates Social Injustice, and What CU Is Doing About It." The center's Environmental Justice Project seeks to bring this issue to the attention of the campus and to field programs in local neighborhoods that want to mitigate its effects.

Keynote speeches by higher education experts Jesus Trevino and Brenda J. Allen, and other sessions exploring Disabilities and Digital Accessibility, Developing Skills to Support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer People, Prevention of Sexual Assault, and Technology and Diversity will be presented. Some sessions will be offered in Spanish.

The Annual Diversity Summit is sponsored by the chancellor's advisory committees, hosted by the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs, with support from the Chancellor's Committee on Women, the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender issues and the Program Accessibility Committee.

A full schedule of events will be available online at .