With a dialogue on social justice and racial diversity, Lancers are being given the opportunity to learn how to be better citizen leaders by scholars, researchers and activists who will lead the Second Annual Social Justice in Action Leadership Summit (SJALS).
The summit will be held on-campus from Friday, Feb. 22 to Saturday, Feb. 23. Registration to participate in the summit ends Feb. 15.
To participate in the two-day summit, students are sent an email invitation to register after being nominated by Longwood faculty and staff. Students are also able to self-nominate themselves by registering online at the Office of Diversity & Inclusion website.
Susan Sullivan, director for the Office of Student Union and Involvement, described the event as an “opportunity” and later went on to state, “We really want to make sure that we get students who are attending who really want to learn about the issues of social justice and how they can make their community a better place.”
She further stated, “We want students who want to make an impact, who want to make change and who believe in these issues, and want to make our community better.”
While about 45 people attended the first SJALS summit in February 2012, Sullivan hopes for there to be between 60 and 75 students attending this year’s event.
Sullivan said that the summit allows a dialogue to occur for students to become more aware of racial barriers and how to combat the issues, therein. For students to become more aware and proactive, Sullivan stated that students will be able to greatly improve the campus, saying it will create a campus “where students feel comfortable, where students feel accepted, where students feel they can talk about issues that are on their mind and not feel they are being judged or questioned.” “I think this summit gives the students the opportunity to be able to feel empowered to do that,” she said.
During the two-day event, the first day will be devoted to hearing from the key note speaker, and the second day will be devoted to hands-on workshops.
The key note speaker for the summit is Jessica Pettitt, a social justice speaker and educator who previously spoke at Longwood on Oct. 2012.
Sullivan described Pettitt as “very powerful, very outspoken. Students really enjoyed what they had to say.” She further described her saying, “She’s funny. She’s witty. She’s nuts, not somebody who says do, do, do or don’t, don’t, don’t.”
Other speakers who will be attending the event include Dr. Jennifer Joy-Gaba, assistant professor of Social Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU); Dr. Sabrina Pendergrass, assistant professor of Sociology and Professor within the Carter G. Woodson Institute of African- American Studies at the University of Virginia; and Calvin Lai, doctoral student in Social Psychology at the University of Virginia.
According to the VCU website, Joy-Gaba’s research involves cognitive and social psychology in how automatic processes influence thoughts,
feelings and behaviors. Joy-Gaba’s projects involve “examining the
basic mechanisms that contribute to situational or long-term shifts in automatic racial biases and interventions in real-world settings that apply that learning,” as stated on the VCU website.
On Pendergrass’ website, it describes her research as being focused on African-American migration to the urban South as well as the economic, social and cultural experiences that occur , therein. Her current project involves more than 120 in-depth interviews on African-American migrants to Charlotte, N.C.
On the People Virginia website, it states that Lai’s research interests include implicit social cognition, attitude change, prejudice and stereotyping.
Lai’s current project involves “investigating the processes that contribute to change in implicit social cognitions, such as attitudes, stereotypes and self- concepts,” according to the People Virginia website. Lai’s current project is being conducted with Dr. Brian Nosek, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia.
The summit is organized in collaboration with the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, Disability Resources, the Student Union and Involvement Office and the Leadership and Civic Engagement Office. The summit is free and open to all Longwood students and is part of the university’s National Black History Month Celebration.
To learn more about the Social Justice in Action Leadership Summit, go online to the Office of Diversity & Inclusion website.
