6th Annual CEW+ Advocacy Symposium

The Annual CEW+ Advocacy Symposium returns in person this fall to bring together staff, faculty, students, and community members to create change through introspection, dialogue, and action.

This year’s symposium will feature: 

• Opening Session: Financial Empowerment roundtable discussions and lunch hosted by Laurita Thomas, Executive in Residence, Center for Positive Organizations, President, American Research Universities Human Resources Institute;  with opening remarks from Anne Ollen, MA, CEBS, Managing Director, TIAA Institute; and Tiffany Marra, PhD, CEW+ Director.
• A capstone presentation by outgoing CEW+ Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist, Theresa Anderson, Senior Researcher, Urban Institute. Dr. Anderson’s work explores the networks that Michigan student parents navigate, providing insights on policy and practice changes that would make it easier for parenting students in the state, and specifically in the U-M system, to meet their educational goals. CEW+ will also announce the incoming 2023 CEW+ Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist. 
• Workshops hosted by CEW+, the Ginsberg Center, the Program on Intergroup Relations, and SAPAC are designed to showcase a variety of approaches to advocacy. Workshops provide attendees the opportunity to engage in self-reflection, group discussion, and action-planning to advance their advocacy efforts on behalf of causes that are central to their personal and professional goals.
• The Awarding of the 2022 Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity and Social Change. Awardees include faculty, staff, and students whose sustained efforts have resulted in greater equity with regard to gender, race, class, age disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Awardees will present lightning talks and participate in a panel discussion.
• The Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe Lecture, “From Protests to Policy Reforms: Advancing Gender Equality in a Complex, Multi-ethnic and Multi-Religious Nigeria,” presented by Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, founding Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center and executive board member of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding and the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund. Dr. Akiyode-Afolabi is a professor, lawyer, and civil rights activist whose work is focused on maternal and reproductive health advocacy, gender-based violence, social justice, and the underrepresentation of women in governance.

This Symposium is free and open to all activists, advocates, and allies from all U-M campuses (students, staff, faculty) as well as the local community.

Click here to RSVP

The CEW+ Advocacy Symposium is made possible with support from TIAA, our corporate sponsor, and with funding from CEW+’s Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe Lecture fund.

CEW+ Leadership Council Member Emerita Menakka Bailey created the Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe Fund in honor of her mother, Christobel Kotelawela Weerasinghe, a lifelong advocate of cross-cultural dialogue and advancement for women.

The CEW+ Advocacy Symposium is co-sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.