OLLAS to Celebrate its First Decade

Issues critical to the Latino community and the agenda for social change in the 21st Century will be among the themes of dialogues November 8 and 9 at Cumbre 2013, a celebration of 10 years of advancing knowledge, influencing policy and changing lives in the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

Cumbre 2013 is free and open to the public. Participants are asked to register at the conference website and purchase individual tickets or tables for the keynote luncheon. Free passes will be available for students and community volunteers. All other reserved seats cost $50 per person or $400 for an eight-seat table.

This year's keynote speaker is Pedro Noguera, one of the country's most important voices on education reform, diversity and the achievement gap. Trained as an urban sociologist, Noguera speaks clearly about how social, political and economic conditions in our cities and towns limit educational opportunities for Latino and African American youth.

Events for the weekend kick off on Friday, November 8 with a welcome reception at the Courtyard Marriott Aksarben Village. Saturday begins with registration at 8 a.m. in the College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS) room 132D. The keynote luncheon Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in the Milo Bail Student Center Ballroom will highlight the event.

Cumbre 2013 will also include panel discussions with renowned academics, community organizers, policy makers and engaged students. Panelists will engage with audiences in lively dialogues about critical Latino issues.

"People who attend Cumbre will find that there is so much critical and relevant information here for anyone interested in the future of Nebraska," said OLLAS Director Dr. Lourdes Gouveia. "This is about celebrating the sharing of information."

For more information, contact Yuriko Doku, project coordinator, Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS), at 402.554.3835 orydoku@unomaha.edu.

More about the keynote speaker

Pedro Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew professor of education at New York University, the executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and the co-director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS).

More about OLLAS

The Office of Latino/Latin American Studies of the Great Plains (OLLAS—pronounced "oy-yas") at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) was established in 2003 with the support of UNO faculty, staff and students as well as the metropolitan community. OLLAS has helped fill a void in the Nebraska and Great Plains region's infrastructure dedicated to the productive incorporation of the new and growing Latino population into the political, economic and social life of the region. The office is dedicated to developing our institutional capacities and academic initiatives aimed at improving our understanding of Latino/Latin American issues and populations within and across borders.

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The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska's metropolitan university. The core values of the institution place students at the center of all that the university does; call for the campus to strive for academic excellence; and promote community engagement that transforms and improves urban, regional, national and global life. UNO, inaugurated in 1968, emerged from the Municipal University of Omaha, established in 1931, which grew out of the University of Omaha founded in 1908.