Click here to view all recordings from the 6th Annual CEW+ Advocacy Symposium

The CEW+ Advocacy Symposium returned in person this fall to bring together staff, faculty, students, and community members to create change through introspection, dialogue and action. This year’s symposium featured:

• Opening Session: Financial Empowerment roundtable discussions and lunch hosted by Laurita Thomas, Executive in Residence, Center for Positive Organizations, President, American Research Universities Human Resources Institute; opening remarks from Anne Ollen, MA, CEBS, Managing Director, TIAA Institute; and Tiffany Marra, PhD, CEW+ Director.
• A capstone presentation by outgoing CEW+ Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist, Theresa Anderson, Senior Researcher, Urban Institute. Dr. Anderson’s work explores the networks that Michigan student parents navigate, providing insights on policy and practice changes that would make it easier for parenting students in the state, and specifically in the U-M system, to meet their educational goals. CEW+ also announced the incoming 2023 CEW+ Twink Frey Visiting Social Activists.
• Workshops hosted by CEW+, the Ginsberg Center, the Program on Intergroup Relations, and SAPAC designed to showcase a variety of approaches to advocacy. Workshops allowed attendees to engage in self-reflection, group discussion, and action planning to advance their advocacy efforts on behalf of causes central to their personal and professional goals.
• The awarding of the 2022 Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity and Social Change. Awardees included faculty, staff, and students whose sustained efforts have resulted in greater equity with regard to gender, race, class, age disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Awardees presented lightning talks and participated in a panel discussion.
• The Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe Lecture, “From Protests to Policy Reforms: Advancing Gender Equality in a Complex, Multi-ethnic and Multi-Religious Nigeria,” presented by Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, founding Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center and executive board member of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding and the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund. Dr. Akiyode-Afolabi is a professor, lawyer, and civil rights activist whose work is focused on maternal and reproductive health advocacy, gender-based violence, social justice, and the underrepresentation of women in governance.

Click here to view all recordings from the 6th Annual CEW+ Advocacy Symposium