The National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) will address challenging topics of diversity and opportunity this May during its national conference. NCORE, sponsored by OU Outreach at the University of Oklahoma, will host its annual conference at the Fort Worth Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, from May 30 to June 3.

Topics on race, ethnicity and indigenous issues will intersect with gender, sexual orientation, and equity for students, staff and faculty. Conference speakers will range from STEM scholars, university administrators, professional staff in multicultural affairs, chief diversity officers, ethnic studies professors as well as experts from the U.S. Department of Education, ACLU, political scientists, authors, civil rights attorneys, documentary film producers, artists and more. This year’s conference will feature more than 600 presenters and 350 sessions.

Keynote speakers will include Evon Peter, Vice Chancellor of the University of Alaska and advocate for environmental sustainability; Jenny Yang and Hari Kondabolu, both political comedians, social commentators and advocates for cultural change; Franchesca Ramsey, women’s rights activist and actress; with additional speakers soon to be announced. For detailed biographies of keynote speakers and on what topics they will be speaking, visit bit.ly/NCORE2017Bios.

In addition to the keynote speakers, NCORE will feature numerous workshops on teaching practices, curriculum, program development and assessment, film previews and discussions, author meet-and-greets, several special features and many other events. For a schedule overview, visit bit.ly/NCORE2017Schedule. NCORE also features 27 pre-conference institutes that conference attendees can attend. Those who register for an institute have access to one pre-conference institute of their choice (on a first come, first served basis).

Early bird registration is $795 through March 31 and includes a pre-conference institute. Regular registration is $895 (with pre-conference institute registration). Conference registration without a pre-conference institute is $695 through March 31 and $795 beginning April 1. Students can register for $495, which includes access to one pre-conference institute, regardless of registration date. To register, visit bit.ly/NCORE2017Register.

This year’s designated hotels for attendees include the Omni Fort Worth, Sheraton Fort Worth, and Hilton Fort Worth. More information on lodging can be found at bit.ly/NCORE2017Lodging. Hotel reservation deadlines are May 5 for the Omni and May 7 for the Sheraton and Hilton; however, hotels may sell out before the deadline.

Last year, the conference in San Francisco attracted 3,400 attendees from more than 1,000 universities. Of those attendees, 708 were students.

NCORE’s mission is to assist colleges and universities to create inclusive environments; to improve racial and ethnic relations, and to expand educational opportunities for culturally diverse and underrepresented populations.

NCORE was founded in 1988 by the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies to address issues of racism in higher education. NCORE attracts attendees from nearly every state and several countries. Every year, NCORE provides a multicultural forum and learning community for Black/African Americans, American Indians, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Latino/as and European Americans.

For more information about the conference, visit NCORE’s website at ncore.ou.edu. To receive regular updates about the conference, follow NCORE on Facebook @NCOREconference.