Campus events look at hate, body image, Hmong issues, psychology

Special programs focusing on hate and bias, body image, Hmong issues and psychology will be featured at UW-Stout Monday, Feb. 23, Friday, Feb. 27, and Saturday, Feb. 28.

On Monday, UW-Stout Peace Initiatives and Ally Initiatives will host a Serve2Unite presentation at 5 p.m. in Ballroom C of the Memorial Student Center. The featured speakers will be Pardeep Kaleka and Arno Michaelis. Kaleka is the son of Satwant Sing Kaleka, president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin who was killed in the 2012 shootings there. Michaelis is a former white supremacist youth. They will discuss how to battle hate and bias in our communities.

On Friday, the first Spreading Beautiful Body Image Summit, sponsored by Ally Initiatives of UW-Stout, will be held from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the ballrooms of the Memorial Student Center. The event will include speakers, activities and a student panel discussion.

Session topics will look at body image as it relates to gender, world views and the media. “It is an event to empower UW-Stout students and to help promote a healthy and positive body image,” said Katie Quinn, of Edina, Minn., a student and the event organizer. “This summit is something I am very passionate about. I think this will spark more conversation on campus about the importance of body positivity and inner beauty, which could be very impactful to our students and the culture of UW Stout.”

On Saturday, the Hmong Stout Student Organization will hold its 29th annual Hmong Education Conference, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Memorial Student Center. The event focuses on educating the community about Hmong culture and building better leaders.

This year’s theme is “Critical Conversations: Privilege, Power and the Hmong American Experience.” Speakers include Lee Pao Xiong, director of Hmong Studies at Concordia University in Minnesota, and Synu Yang, author of “Ib Tug Hmoob Nyob Pem roob,” a biography about a Hmong man’s journey to America.

The conference also will include workshops and a play, “The Vow.” For more information, contact Keodara Moua, mouak0124@my.uwstout.edu, or Mainhia Yang, yangm0797@my.uwstout.edu.

Also on Saturday, the TOPSS Symposium, sponsored by the Chippewa Valley Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools, will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the North Point dining center, room 39, and in UW-Stout labs.

Participants will learn about brain anatomy at the university’s cadaver lab, led by Professor Ann Parsons, and get a chance to look at their own brain waves in the psychophysiology lab, led by Professor Desiree Budd.

The keynote speaker will be Michael Mensink, UW-Stout assistant professor of psychology, on “Educational Neuromyths: Separating Fact from Fiction in Teaching and Learning.” Also speaking will be Amy Ramponi, Kimberly High School AP psychology teacher, on “Neuroscience and Biopsych Activities.”

Leave a Reply