Marc Johnston-Guerrero to speak about diversity, multiraciality at Florida State MLS

Students at Florida State University will soon have the opportunity to hear Marc Johnston-Guerrero speak about race and diversity at the 2017 Multicultural Leadership Summit.

Johnston-Guerrero’s keynote address will cover multiracial identity especially as it exists in a classroom setting. This is part of this year’s MLS theme, Dumping the Melting Pot: Embracing the Mosaic, which will emphasize the problem of assimilation as a result of viewing diversity in the United States as a melting pot. The summit will explore the impact of acknowledging and celebrating different identities and backgrounds in their many forms rather than treating the country as one people with a singular culture.

“The idea of the melting pot focuses on stripping people of their identities in order to make them more stereotypically American, and Johnston-Guerrero hopes to highlight the importance of valuing identities outside of this binary,” said Nancy Wong, program coordinator at the Center for Leadership & Social Change. “Hopefully students will come away from this summit with a deeper understanding of multiculturalism and social justice.”

Johnston-Guerrero is an assistant professor at the Ohio State University with a Ph.D. in Education, a BS in Human Biology, and an MA in Student Affairs Administration. His work focuses on diversity, multiraciality, social justice and multicultural issues in education, and he has given more than 70 presentations and has contributed to over 25 published works related to these topics.

The Multicultural Leadership Summit provides students with access to information about diversity and multiculturalism in their local and global communities. MLS aims to educate students and give them the tools they need to become active leaders and allies in their community.

Registration for the summit, which takes place on Jan. 27-28, is at capacity, but students can still apply for the waiting list.

— Charlie Andelman