Update: Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College, joins Dr. Steve Perry and Tim Wise as Keynoters at the AAAA Conference

Dear Colleagues:

On behalf of the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) we want to extend this personal invitation to join us at our 38th National Conference and Annual Meeting, June 13 – 15, 2012 in Washington, DC.  The conference theme is: “The Fierce Urgency of Now: The Economic Case for EEO, Affirmative Action and Diversity.”  The quadrennial convening in the Nation’s Capital will take place at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel, 999 9th Street, NW.  See the AAAA Conference Brochure attached.  AAAA 2012 Conference Brochure.

The conference theme is derived from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 and from the reality that by mid-21st Century nearly half of all Americans will be persons of color.  The demographics of this reality demand that we take affirmative steps today to educate and prepare for a workforce that will reflect all of us in the near future.

The planning committee has worked diligently to secure speakers and presenters with expertise and passion relative to the conference theme and goal.  Among our featured speakers is Dr. Steve Perry, noted educator and CNN Contributor.  Dr. Perry is in a hurry to transform the educational experience for all children. Born into poverty, he believes that success in life is determined by where you end, not where you start. It’s this philosophy that inspired him, early on, to transform the lives of poor and minority children by providing them with access to a college education, and more recently, has inspired him to bring his ideas and passion to children everywhere, no matter what their socioeconomic or academic background.

In 1998 Dr. Perry founded ConnCAP, the Connecticut Collegiate Awareness Program, at Capital Community College. For a period of six years, the program sent 100% of its low-income first-generation graduates to four-year colleges. Then in 2004 Capital Preparatory Magnet School was established in Hartford, Connecticut’s lowest performing district, and since its inception that school, too, has sent 100% of its graduates to four-year colleges! Capital Prep has been recognized by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best High Schools. Dr. Perry’s uncompromising, no-excuses approach to designing the ideal educational experience for children led to his being featured on CNN’s documentary “Black in America” and from there to an official role as a weekly education contributor to the network. His “Perry’s Principles” and other reportage, regularly seen on both Anderson Cooper 360 and American Morning, tackles the most contentious issues being debated in American education.

Tim Wise, anti-racist essayist, author and educator has been called, “One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation,” has spoken in all 50 states of the U.S., on over 800 college and high school campuses, and to community groups across the nation.  He is the author of six books, including the highly acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son; an academic volume on affirmative action, entitled, Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White.

We want to ensure that all participants have workshop options that will be meaningful and relative to their respective professions.  With that in mind, we have established three tracks of workshops to appeal to AAAA’s constituencies: higher education, private sector and government.  The latter group includes the Federal government and we welcome our colleagues from that sector as well.  For the federal EEO community we are offering an eight hour refresher pre-conference workshop on EEO Law and a workshop on writing Federal Agency Decisions.  We will also reprise AAAA’s presentation for the Office of Personnel Management on the intersection of diversity, human resources and EEO.

Our workshops this year will feature a broad range of subjects including pay equity enforcement, the OFCCP’s Section 503 regulations, leveraging corporate diversity, bullying, recruiting individuals with disabilities and veterans, and the upcoming Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas.  Our pre-conference workshops will focus on current issues of interest to the EEO officer/practitioner.  The topics are: A. “Annual Refresher for Federal EEO Counselors and Investigators”; B. “Put Your EEO/AA Policy Statement into Action: Unleashing the Power of an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer Brand”; and C. "The Electronic Workplace."

To register for the conference please click on the following link:  AAAA Conference Registration.  Hotel reservations may be made at:  AAAA Conference Hotel Registration.  To be a Sponsor of the Conference, click here for the Sponsorship Brochure: AAAA Sponsorship Brochure.  For more information visit the AAAA website, www.affirmativeaction.org or call us at the AAAA National Office, 202-349-9855.

We look forward to seeing you in the Nation’s Capital as we continue to pursue fairness and equality with affirmative action through thought-provoking workshops and plenary sessions.

Tammy H. Currie
AAAA 2012 Conference Chair

Gregory T. Chambers
AAAA President