NEW ORLEANS — On Wednesday, the annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education kicked off with more than 2,500 attendees convening on the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel.
Originally launched by the University of Oklahoma 26 years ago, NCORE engages students, administrators, professors and leaders in higher education in a series of seminars, workshops and keynote addresses that foster open discussions and relationship building. Its mission is to ameliorate racial and ethnic relations, help colleges and universities to engender more inclusive and welcoming milieus and expand opportunities for historically underrepresented groups in higher education.
Dr. Belinda P. Biscoe Boni, associate vice president of community outreach in the College of Continuing Education at the University of Oklahoma, noted that NCORE is “much more than just a conference,” but what she describes as a life-changing experience.
“It is perhaps the most diverse educational conference out there,” said Biscoe Boni, “and even though NCORE started to address issues of race and diversity, we realize the landscape is changing in the collegiate environment and we address the intersections of individual differences regardless of what those differences may be.
“The conference isn’t just a one-time event,” Biscoe Bonie continued. “The real work begins when you (attendees) go back home. What happens after the conference is most important.”
First time attendee Yolany Gonell, assistant director of the Cross Cultural Center at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., agreed with the importance of NCORE and the connections she looks to form during the conference.
