Fall 2017 Symposium Day Featured Speakers
Threshold: Stories from a Changing Planet
The Gerber Center, Gävle Room
Sept. 28, 10:15-11:15 a.m.
Amy Martin ’95 is the founder and executive producer of “Threshold,” a podcast and public radio program. Each season, “Threshold” focuses on a story of pivotal change in the natural world. The first season of “Threshold” told the story of the American bison, and was named Best Non-Commercial Radio Program of the Year by the Montana Broadcasters Association. The second season will focus on the Arctic; it will be released in the first quarter of 2018. In addition to producing “Threshold,” Martin files stories for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PRI’s “The World” and other outlets. In 2016, she was selected for the Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, Boulder. While earning her bachelor’s in philosophy from Augustana, she worked at WVIK.
The Latest on U.S. Immigration Law
The Gerber Center, Gävle Room
Sept. 28, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Donald B. Kempster has been practicing law since 1976. He currently is the managing partner of Kempster, Corcoran, Quiceno & Lenz-Calvo, Ltd., one of the most highly regarded firms in Chicago. Kempster has argued cases before the Board of Immigration Appeal, three different Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal and has won a number of precedent decisions for the firm’s clients. He has published articles on a variety of immigration issues, and he teaches a course on immigration law and procedure at the Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago Kent College of Law. He also serves as pro bono counsel on immigration issues to the Consulate General of Mexico in Chicago.
The Two Reynas: Becoming Twice the Girl I Used To Be
The Gerber Center, Gävle Room
Sept. 28, 12:45-1:45 p.m.
Reyna Grande is an award-winning author and advocate of Latino literature. At a time when the immigration debate is at the forefront, Grande is a spokeswoman for Mexican-Americans, and for American immigrants
in general. Her memoir, titled “The Distance Between Us,” offers an unprecedented perspective of what millions face on a daily basis. It is an inspirational coming-of-age story about the pursuit of a better life. Grande was 2 years old when her father left Mexico to find work in the United States, and she later followed him as an undocumented immigrant at age 10. Grande went on to become the first person in her family to graduate from college.
Women in the Black Panther Party + Young Lords: A Conversation
The Gerber Center, Gävle Room
Sept. 28, 2-3 p.m.
Iris Morales is a lifelong activist dedicated to human rights, racial justice and the decolonization of Puerto Rico; her current projects are devoted
to these issues. As founder of Red Sugarcane Press, she publishes books about the Puerto Rican and Latinx Diasporas. Morales was a leading member of the Young Lords Party for five years, and her book, “Through the Eyes of Rebel Women,” is the first account of the women members. She is also the producer of the award-winning documentary, “¡Palante Siempre Palante, The Young Lords!”
Joan McCarty was a member of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in 1969. She worked in the areas of education and with the community busing to prisons program until 1974 when the BPP moved its operations to Oakland, Calif. She is an instructor in the theatre and performance department at Spelman College in Atlanta. She currently is teaching a class there on the history of women in the Black Panther Party. McCarty is an active member of the Illinois History Black Panther Party Project. The project seeks to gather oral histories of surviving BPP members and friends of the BPP.