July 5, 2022
Bolton presents at international conferences
Debra Bolton, director of intercultural learning and academic success in Diversity and Multicultural Student Affairs, presented two invited workshops/breakout sessions in May and June.
In May, her talk at the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, addressed "Underrepresented Voices in the Sciences: Honoring Traditional Knowledge and Addressing Institutional Biases." Others from K-State presented at this conference, too.
On June 23, Bolton presented her research at the 13th Cambio de Colores research and practice conference at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. The conference brings together scholars, mostly focused on Latinx communities, to share their findings. The conference features student research, too. Approximately four years ago, the Cambio conference widened its focus to study refugee and other historically excluded identities living in the U.S., which has been Bolton's main research.
Bolton's 90-minute workshop presented her preliminary research findings, titled, "The History of Exclusion and its Effects on Identity Development in Historically Underrepresented Populations."
In addition, another event at the Cambio conference is the North Central Educational Research Activity, or NCERA, 216 annual meeting, chaired by Bolton these past three years. The group, authorized by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, collaborates across a 12-state region that make up the North Central Region. Members, mostly from land-grant institutions, engage in interstate collaborations on grant applications to fund research with subsequent research and practice to address: Building Diversity-Competent Organizations and Institution; Families and Education; Entrepreneurship and Business; Building Latinx and Immigrant-Friendly Communities; and Demographics and Change.
As chair of NCERA 216, Bolton leads outcomes-based reporting to NIFA from the 12-state regional partners. Bolton plans to step down from her leadership role as chair to participate in other committees within NCERA 216, once the report, due in September, is submitted with NIFA in the National Information Management and Support System.