Kansas State University

2021 KSUnite Event - Our Lens, Our Focus, Our K-State

Kansas State University established a precedence with the KSUnite movement to provide all members of the K-State community an opportunity to meaningfully engage and holistically embrace opportunities for respect, civility, and tolerance, and to feel pride in participation, as we prepare students for global citizenry.

At K-State, we can all share and learn from one another. Facilitated conversations and hard work help guide the K-State community forward. K-State students, faculty, staff and surrounding communities will join together for the fifth KSUnite Conference on Tuesday, Oct. 12, to reaffirm who we are, what we value and what we stand for as the K-State community. This year's event will be run in a hybrid in-person/digital format due to the lingering prescence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Live portions of the event will take place from 11:00am-4:00pm and include plenary speakers and breakout sessions.

Kansas State University is committed to providing equal access opportunity and reasonable accommodation to campus programs and services for faculty, staff and students. If you require accommodation to view or hear a video live stream or archive, please submit a request for accommodation. Students should make their request to the Student Access Center. All others should request accommodation through Human Capital Services. 

Link to KSUnite 2021 Welcome and Plenary Sessions
Passcode: 517833

2021 Schedule of Events

2021 Breakout Sessions

Plenary Speakers

Penary Speaker #1 12:00pm-12:45pm

Return to Little Rock: A Seminal Moment in American Civil Rights and Education - Minnijean Brown-Trickey

As a living witness to history―and as an active participant who has helped shape it―Minnijean Brown-Trickey delivers a fascinating exploration of social change, diversity, and the battle against racism throughout the decades, from the beginnings of her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement to the present day. Unerringly hopeful but realistic, she is a stately speaker who helps today’s students understand both how far we have come and how far we still have to go in the battle for freedom and equality.

Minnijean Brown-Trickey

In 1957, MINNIJEAN BROWN-TRICKEY changed history by striding through the front doors of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. As a member of the Little Rock Nine, she helped desegregate public schools—a milestone in civil rights history—and alter the course of education in America. Her talks are a sweeping exploration of social change and a reminder that the fight is far from over.

In the autumn of 1957, Minnijean Brown-Trickey took her rightful place in what had previously been a whites-only school. In front of a worldwide television audience, she walked past armed guards and an angry mob to help set America on the path toward desegregation in public schools. Incredibly, this was just the beginning of her fiery career as a social activist. For her work, she has received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the Spingarn Medal, the Wolf Award, and a medal from the W.E.B. DuBois Institute, among other citations. Under the Clinton administration, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior, for diversity. She has also appeared in two acclaimed documentaries: Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey and HBO’s Little Rock: 50 Years Later.

In her adult life, Brown-Trickey continues to be an activist for minority rights. She lived in Canada for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s, getting involved in First Nations activism and studying social work at Laurentian University.

Plenary Speaker #2 1:00pm-1:45pm

Community Building, Vulnerability, and Mental Health - Dr. Caleb Stephens

Dr. Caleb Stephens be presenting on the complex yet essential interconnectivity of community building, vulnerability, and mental health. The focus will be on marginalized and oppressed identities. This presentation will help to draw direct lines of applicability in ways we can utilize vulnerability and courage within our communities to solidify and even fortify hope, trust, and connection.

Dr. Caleb Stephens

Dr. Caleb Stephens is a LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker) and an LMAC (Licensed Master’s Addictions Counselor) and has a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas Department of Theatre and Dance. He graduated from Bethel College, Kansas, in 2011, and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare in 2014.

Caleb worked in Child Welfare as a Reintegration Case Manager and then an Intensive In-Home Therapist, from 2011 through 2014. He is an activist for Social Justice and specializes in Intrapersonal Conflict, Identity, and the different intersectionalities of Race, Substance Abuse, Coping, and Hope; he implements those through his company called IdentiFight.  Consequential to Caleb's formerly noted foci he is competent in specialized work encompassing the Black Narrative. His emphasis centers around the understanding of Safety, Truth, and Hope. He utilizes various sources of strength and connection, to create safe spaces to empower authentic, intentional Truths.

Caleb enjoys competitive powerlifting, writing, speaking on various issues, and pouring into the Lawrence and University of Kansas community. Oh, and he loves food.

Related Exhibitions at the Beach Museum

Be sure to visit these ongoing exhibits at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art:

Doug Barrett: Find Your Voice 

Gallery exhibition: September 7, 2021 – May 28, 2022
Virtual exhibition launch: September 30, 2021

Gordon Parks: "Homeward to the Prairie I Come"

Gallery exhibition: September 7, 2021 – May 28, 2022
Virtual exhibition launch: September 30, 2021