“Village Conversations: Building Kinship in Our Neighborhoods” is a conference that will deal with issues of diversity on a predominantly white campus. The conference will allow participants to engage in conversation about their differences and talk about ways to overcome those differences in an environment that is comfortable and open. The conference is open to all IU faculty, staff and students, employees and students from other universities and the general public. Attendees are expected from Purdue, Ball State and Vincennes universities and Ivy Tech State College.

Pat Efiom, associate director of administration at IU and conference planner, said that the purpose of the conference is “to give us shared wisdom and knowledge through which we will be able to better serve each other.”

The keynote speaker and workshop presenter will be Frances Kendall, author of Diversity in the Classroom and a consultant/facilitator who focuses on managing issues of workforce diversity and organizational change.

The registration fee is $60 for IU faculty and staff, and $25 for IU students. The fee for the general public or attendees from other universities is $75. Students from other universities may register for $35. Registration deadline is Oct. 1. Onsite registration depends on space availability. For more information or to obtain a registration form, call 812-855-2309 or E-mail: pefiom@indiana.edu.