State of Black Affairs Summit returns for second year at OSU Portland Center

By: Theresa Hogue, [email protected]

Source: Tenisha Tevis, [email protected]

This release is available at: https://beav.es/S6P

Photo of last year’s summit: https://beav.es/S6m

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon State University is hosting the second annual State of Black Affairs summit Thursday, May 25 in Portland. The summit is for faculty, administrators, advocates and community members from across Oregon to learn, network and discuss ideas to empower Black professionals, students and families in the state.

The event is organized by the President’s Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff Affairs at Oregon State.

The summit will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the OSU Portland Center and can be attended in person or virtually. Topics to be addressed include strategies to support Black rural students, Black entrepreneurship, advancing public health among Black Oregonians and creating inclusive spaces.

“Based on feedback from our inaugural summit last May, we’ve added more sessions, and have moved from hourlong sessions to 75 minutes to deepen conversations. We’ve placed an even stronger emphasis on educating the community,” said Tenisha Tevis, chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff and associate professor in the adult and higher education program at OSU’s College of Public Education. “Another highlight will be a fireside chat focused on policing and school shootings.”

Oregon State Representative Travis Nelson, Portland, will provide the keynote address. Nelson is the first Black LGBTQIA+ member of the Oregon Legislature. Other speakers include Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell, Multnomah County’s first female sheriff; Jayathi Y. Murthy, OSU president; Danny Jacobs, president of Oregon Health & Science University; and Robin Holmes-Sullivan, president of Lewis & Clark College. Other speakers will include professors, directors of diversity initiatives and business leaders.

Registration for the summit is required. It is $100 to attend in-person and $75 to attend virtually. The summit will include three concurrent sessions, as well as networking opportunities and a happy hour.

To find out more, visit https://leadership.oregonstate.edu/pcsbfsa/blacksummit. The OSU Portland Center is located at 555 S.W. Morrison Street in downtown Portland.

About Oregon State University: As one of only three universities in the nation designated as a land, sea, space and sun grant institution, Oregon State serves Oregon and the world by working on today’s most pressing issues. Our more than 35,000 students come from across the globe, and our programs operate in every Oregon county. Oregon State receives more research funding than all of the state’s comprehensive public universities combined. At our campuses in Corvallis and Bend, marine research center in Newport and top-ranked Ecampus online degree programs, we excel at shaping today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders.