AUBURN - Auburn University will host teams from East Alabama middle schools in the inaugural History and Current Event Scholars Tournament on Nov. 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Auburn University Student Center ballroom. Registration for the tournament is under way with an Oct. 30 deadline.

The purpose of the competition, hosted by Access and Community Initiatives, a unit of Auburn University's Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, is to promote teamwork and study skills, to encourage a broader sense of social awareness and to give students an opportunity to showcase school pride.

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AUBURN – Researchers in an Alabama educational alliance have received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help Alabama students with disabilities earn college degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and, ultimately, enter the workforce.

The funding was granted to the Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – which is a collaborative effort involving Alabama State University, Auburn University, Auburn University Montgomery, Tuskegee University, Central Alabama Community College, Southern Union State Community College and the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. The alliance also includes six school districts in Lee, Chambers, Elmore, Montgomery, Macon and Tallapoosa counties and has an outreach component that covers the entire state.

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AUBURN – “Cry, the Beloved County,” the 1995 film adaptation of Alan Paton’s 1948 novel, will be shown Thursday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. in the ballroom of the Auburn University Student Center. Critics have described the movie as illuminating the rigid and racist structures of society in South Africa that would later give rise to apartheid.

Overtoun Jenda, a native of the African country of Malawi and head of the Auburn’s Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, will offer brief introductory remarks. There will be an opportunity for group discussion following the film. Sponsored by Auburn’s Honors College, the film is open to the public and admission is free.

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AUBURN - Francesca Adler-Baeder, an associate professor and extension specialist in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, was recently named one of Auburn University's 2009 Distinguished Diversity Researchers. The competitive award is given by the Research Initiative for the Study of Diversity and the Office of the Vice President for Research to celebrate and showcase the best diversity research being done on campus.

Selected among nominees in the category of "established diversity researcher," Adler-Baeder's work assesses community-based relationship education programs targeting low-resource and underserved populations of youth, couples and non-married parents. A hallmark of her work is the development and use of diverse partnership teams of researchers, students and community partners.

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AUBURN -- Auburn University's Women's Resource Center will present the third annual Women's Leadership Conference March 30-31 with the theme of "Redefining Woman: Celebrating Diversity, Finding Voice."

The conference features the Inaugural Awards Dinner on Monday, March 30, at 6:30 p.m. at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center honoring distinguished Auburn alumna, faculty member and students. Mary Ellen Mazey, Auburn provost and vice president for academic affairs, will give the keynote address.

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AUBURN – The first lecture in the new "Stone Lecture Series for Multicultural Understanding, Equality and Justice" will feature Cecile Coquet-Mokoko, a professor of American Culture and African American Studies at the University of Tours, France. She will present "Biracial Couples in France and the United States" on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 4 p.m. in room 2223 of the Auburn University Student Center. A reception will follow.

Coquet-Mokoko developed an interest in the concept of interracialism in American history and society as a graduate teaching assistant at Harvard. She received her doctorate from the University of Paris with the dissertation, "The Afro-American Preacher and the Art of Folk Sermon: Poetics of Election," and has since taught and published on a broad range of topics relating to African American culture. Prior to her appointment at the University of Tours, she taught at the University of Aix-Marseille, France, and at Harvard University.

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AUBURN – Auburn University will host Michael Eric Dyson, noted author, public speaker and Georgetown University professor, on Thursday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom. “Becoming Our Sister’s and Brother’s Keeper in the Post Civil Rights Era” will be the subject of Dyson’s talk.

A popular lecturer and professor at Georgetown University, Dyson is a leading scholar on hip-hop music and the culture that surrounds it, as well as its roots in African and African American cultures and influence on American popular culture. As a historian, he forges links between older and younger Americans by connecting civil rights identity to hip-hop culture.

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AUBURN – Auburn University's Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs will sponsor the first "Alabama Men of Every Color Leadership Symposium" on Friday, Feb. 20 at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center.

This community-based initiative will highlight issues such as health and education that affect all men, and, as reflected in its theme of "Becoming my Brothers' Keeper," help generate support networks to promote personal achievement and leadership ability. Throughout the day, participants will hear speakers, join breakout sessions, participate in a period of reflection and discussion and hold a town hall meeting.

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AUBURN – Auburn University’s January 2009 celebration of King Week will include an oratory contest, “Word from the Mountain Top,” to encourage students to reflect on the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. and to connect his message to issues facing our nation in the 21st century.

“Word from the Mountain Top” is sponsored by Access and Community Initiatives, a unit of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at Auburn University. The contest is open to students who are residents of Lee County and are currently enrolled in a college, university, community college, high school, middle school or junior high school.

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