UW-W Invites Public to Spring Diversity Forum 2023; Two events may be streamed

Schedule of Events

Theme Summary: The Chancellor’s Committee on Inclusive Excellence is pleased to center this Spring 2023 Diversity Forum on disability justice and encouraging opportunities for learning, reflection and community building. The forum will feature panel discussions, a photographic exhibit, an opening keynote by Lydia X.Z. Brown, and more.


Keynote Speaker: Lydia X.Z. Brown

Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Event Time: 3:30PM to 4:30PM

Virtual Event Details:

Click HERE for link or copy and paste the following text to the URL address bar, 
https://uww.webex.com/uww/j.php?MTID=mfd398af950def0784c9741e150d0b2c3

Webinar password if requested, but not needed: Forum2023

Physical Listening Location Available: University Center 259

Description: The 2023 Spring Diversity Forum will center on disability justice and encouraging opportunities for learning, reflection and community building. Join us by welcoming the keynote speaker Lydia X.Z. Brown, an advocate, organizer, educator, attorney, strategist, and writer, whose work focuses on addressing state and interpersonal violence targeting disabled people living at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, faith, language, and nation.

About Lydia X.Z. Brown, click here.

Closed captioning services will be provided.


Film: Code of the Freaks

Date: Thursday, March 2, 2023
Location: University Center 76, Summer’s Auditorium
Event Time: 3:30PM to 5:30PM

Description: Code of the Freaks is a documentary that examines the representation of disabled people in Hollywood movies. A discussion will be moderated after the viewing with two special guests from the University of Illinois Chicago, film writers Alyson Patsavas and Carrie Sandahl.

Documentary Trailer 

American Sign Language interpreter(s) will be present, and closed captioning services will be provided for the film.


Conversation with Author Dr. Sami Schalk

Date: Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Location: University Center 275, Old Main Ballroom
Event Time: 11:00AM to 12:15PM

Description: Dr. Schalk is an Associate Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Her interdisciplinary research focuses broadly on disability, race, and gender in contemporary American literature and culture, and she is the author of the books, Bodyminds Reimagined and Black Disability Politics. Please join us for a conversation with Dr. Schalk on her recent book, that explores how issues of disability have been and continue to be central to Black activism from the 1970s to the present.

About Sami Schalk, click HERE

American Sign Language interpreter(s) will be present.


Diversity & Inclusivity Award Reception

Date: Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Location: University Center 275, Old Main Ballroom
Event Time: 12:30PM to 1:15PM

Description: The Diversity and Inclusivity Awards are awarded to UW-Whitewater faculty, staff and students who have made outstanding contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on our campus. Each award has been named after distinguished faculty and staff at UW-Whitewater, each of whom spent their careers promoting and supporting equity, inclusion and diversity on our campus, including Dr. Fannie Hicklin, Dr. Roger Pulliam and Mr. John Truesdale. The fourth award is designated for UW-Whitewater students and student organizations who have made exceptional efforts to support inclusivity and diversity at UW-Whitewater. Join us as we honor and celebrate inclusive excellence in action!

Virtual Option Details:

Click HERE for link or copy and paste the following text to the URL address bar,
https://uww.webex.com/uww/j.php?MTID=m977346fb3756ae205a446d778cca0515

Webinar password if requested, but not needed: Spring2023P

American Sign Language interpreter(s) will be present, and closed captioning services will be provided for individuals who attend virtually.


Disability History Exhibit

Dates: Tuesday, February 15 to March 5, 2023
Location: Lenox Library, UW-Whitewater at Rock County

Description: This disability history exhibit enlists photographic storytelling and archival images from advertising and the press to narrate, across 23 vivid panels, the centuries of struggles and victories fought and won by disabled persons in the United States, and the intersection of these struggles with religion, society, medical care, capitalism, scientific advancement, and their part in the broader human condition. Courtesty of the Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education for the State of Alaska.

More information on the pieces, click HERE

Content Warning and Language Disclaimer: This exhibit includes disturbing information and images regarding the historical treatment of individuals with disabilities. Please take care while reviewing. Additionally, text and images from this exhibit come from primary sources that may be racist, sexist, ableist, or otherwise offensive. The language is retained in this exhibit to document the ways in which disability has been viewed in these social and historical contexts.


If in need of accommodation(s), please advise us as soon as possible. Requests are confidential. UW-Whitewater provides equal opportunities in employment and programming including Title IX and ADA requirements. Please contact edi@uww.edu

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