Please check back frequently. Presenter information and workshop descriptions will be added as presentations are confirmed.  (Scroll down to see alphabetical listing of speakers.)

Suzanne Pharr is a self-described “Organizer, Strategist, Educator, Author, and Political Handywoman.”  She calls Tennessee home but has close ties to Arkansas, where she founded the Women’s Project in 1981.  Suzanne was a co-founder of Southerners on New Ground in 1984 and was the director of the Highlander Center 1999-2004. Suzanne’s work is focused on building a broad-based, multi-racial, multi-issued movement for social and economic justice in the United States. Major themes are intersectional issues and strategies, including anti-violence, racial and gender equality, cross-generational collaboration, democratic participation, economic justice, and human rights based on equality and justice. At the center of every effort is the question, “How can we make it possible for everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual identity, class, age, ability, and culture to live as a whole person, to have self-determination, to be treated with dignity and respect, and to have access to material necessities as well as joy?” Suzanne is the author of Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism, and In the Time of the Right: Reflections on Liberation.

Minnijean Brown Trickey has lifelong experience and commitment to peacemaking; environmental issues; developing youth leadership; diversity education and training; cross-cultural communication; gender and social justice advocacy. Her teaching experience in social work includes Carleton University, and community colleges in Canada. She served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity at the Department of Interior. She was the Shipley Visiting Writer for Heritage Studies at Arkansas State University.  For the past ten years she has been a nonviolence and antiracism facilitator for Sojourn to the Past, a ten-day interactive history experience for high school students. She continues as a teacher, writer and motivational speaker. Brown Trickey is the recipient of numerous awards for her community work for social justice, including Lifetime Achievement Tribute by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the International Wolf Award for contributions to racial harmony.  With the Little Rock Nine, she received the NAACP Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal.  She is a member of the Little Rock Nine Foundation that awards nine scholarships bi-annually. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work in Native Human Services from Laurentian University and Master of Social Work from Carleton University, in Ontario Canada. She is the recipient of four Honorary Doctorates.  She is the subject of a documentary, Journey to Little Rock: the Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey, which has received critical acclaim in international film festivals in Africa, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the U.S., South America and Canada.  She was featured in People Magazine, Newsweek, the Ottawa Citizen, the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, Donahue, CNN, the History Channel, the HBO documentary, Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later, and a variety of television, radio and print media.  She appeared with the Little Rock Nine on Oprah and the Today show.  Minnijean Brown Trickey is one of the nine African American students who collectively resisted opposition to the desegregation to enter Little Rock Central High School in 1957, with protection from federal troops. 

Tonia Ailsworth, RN, BSN, MHA, has been the Clinical Director of the Pine Bluff KIDS FIRST program for 5 years and is a trainer of Child Care Health Consultants, through the National Training Institute of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her special interest is in the area of health-care quality improvement, particularly for children with special health care needs.

Ruby Brown, B.A., is the Project Director for the project, “Living Well with Sickle Cell” at Partners for Inclusive Communities.  For the past 13 years she has provided education about sickle cell disease and helped to organize support groups for persons with the illness statewide. 

Beth Bryant-Claxton, Ph.D., received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Florida, completing her psychology internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the A.I. duPont Hospital for Children (DE). She subsequently worked as a clinician and researcher at the Westchester Institute for Human Development (WIHD) in Valhalla, NY, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). She was also faculty for WIHD’s Leadership in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program, and an assistant professor of Disability and Human Development in the New York Medical College School of Public Health. Dr. Bryant-Claxton relocated to Arkansas in 2008. She is currently a licensed psychologist at Partners for Inclusive Communities, Arkansas’ UCEDD and an affiliated program of UAMS. At Partners, she serves as the Director for the Positive Behavior Supports Training Project, and serves as psychology faculty for UAMS’ LEND Program.

Karan Burnette, M.A., CCC-SLP, has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology. She has 26 years experience working with children with disabilities in educational and residential settings, specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and behavioral intervention. Ms. Burnette has extensive experience as a consultant and conference speaker. She served as a Clinical Reviewer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Projects funded to collect national data on the prevalence of ASD. She is currently the Associate Director of Partners for Inclusive Communities, Arkansas' University Center of Excellence on Developmental Disabilities, a program of UAMS.

Anarella Cellitti, Ph.D., MA, is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), Department of Teacher Education.  Dr. Cellitti has worked extensively with the Latino population regarding issues with language barriers. At the University of Arkansas at Little Rock she currently educates prospective teachers on the importance of culturally appropriate communication strategies and how to recognize potential communication interferences. She teaches methods which address these situations in order to achieve a proper partnership with students and parents.  Dr. Cellitti received her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.

Ruth Craw is the Director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) Center for Public Collaboration. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Washington and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Mediation from UALR.  Ms. Craw has 20 years of experience with UALR doing consulting and research projects for state and local government and nonprofit organizations.  She is an author of UALR’s annual study of racial attitudes in Pulaski County and teaches a graduate seminar in Managing Public Disputes.

Cynthia Davison - Co-Founder/Co-Director PFLAG Little Rock (Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays) - We, the parents, families and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, celebrate diversity and envision a society that embraces everyone, including those of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Only with respect, dignity and equality for all will we reach our full potential as human beings, individually and collectively.  PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of LGBT persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. 

G. David Deere, M.S.W., M.Th., is the Executive Director of Partners for Inclusive Communities, Arkansas’ University Center on Disabilities, through UAMS.  David is a Licensed Certified Social Worker and an Ordained Elder with the United Methodist Church.  He is the co-chair of the Arkansas Homeless Coalition and a member of the Mayor’s Commission on Homelessness.

Rodney Farley is the Parent Consultant with Arkansas DHS Developmental Disabilities Services’ (DDS) Children Services, Maternal Child Health Title V, children with special health care needs program.  Rodney is instrumental in establishing Parent Support Groups for families with children who have special health care needs throughout the state.  He was a charter member of the Children’s Medical Services Parent Advisory Council, served as Vice-President for 2 years and was elected as President. He is the single father of two children, a son, Jeremy age 28, born with Spina Bifida and a daughter, Kacy age 19. His involvement with his son has taught him to become an advocate for families of children with special health care needs. He has served as the Chair of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Family Advisory Board and is a Family Voices State & Regional Coordinator. He also has served for 5 years as Secretary of the Executive Board of Directors for the Arkansas Disability Coalition, which is the Parent Training and Information Center for Arkansas.

John Freshour is second year graduate student in the Public History program at the University of Arkansas Little Rock.  This is his second year at the Sequoyah Research Center.  John’s interests include governmental treatment of ethnic minorities including Native Americans in the United States, Rom Gypsies in Eastern Europe, and Jews in Western Europe.

María E. García is a Family/Education Liaison & Bilingual Resource Specialist with Head Start.   Maria earned a Bachelors Degree in Child Development from California State University in Los Angeles.  She worked as a paraprofessional and later as a teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 14 years.   Currently, she works for UAMS Head Start as a liaison between the family and the school which allows her to provide help and support to the families who have children enrolled in the Little Rock School District.  She is also a certified medical interpreter.  Maria is presently working on her Masters Degree in Speech Pathology at UALR. 

Rocio Ortega Hlass is originally from Ecuador but grew up in Bogota, Columbia.  She is fluent in Spanish and English.  At the present time Rocío works as Program Developer at the AR Department of Human Services Division of Volunteerism. She provides training and technical assistance in all areas of program development and other related subjects for non-profits and other groups working with volunteers.  Rocio believes that serving the community provides people from all backgrounds with the opportunity to learn, to give, to share knowledge, culture, and self, while contributing to the betterment of one’s life, one’s community and the world.

Betsy Johnson, LCSW, is employed by Partners for Inclusive Communities-UAMS, where she works with the Crime Victims with Disabilities Project. She also works as an instructor at the UALR School of Social Work, and as a counselor at the Arkansas Employee Assistance Program. Prior to joining Partners in 2005 to work as the spina bifida research project coordinator, Betsy worked for 14 years as a counselor for children and families. She is a licensed clinical social worker and a certified life coach.

Germaine Johnson has a lifetime experience in the fight to "Break the Sickle Cycle." He began his role in advocacy with a support group for Sickle Cell patients.  Germaine, being a sickle cell patient himself, realized that Sickle Cell Patients needed more than a support group. Thus, he incorporated Sickle Cell Support Services. The supportive services have impacted the lives of several families by offering transportation, moral support and financial assistance. 

Kendra Koehler, M.Ed., L.P.C., currently serves as the Domestic Violence Project Coordinator for the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence (Commission). She has worked for the Commission since January 2003. Kendra holds a B.A. in Psychology from Lyon College and has a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology, concentration in Community Counseling from the University of Mississippi. She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor.

Antionette Mitchell’s background as an instructor is rooted in diversity work for State Government, private sector and Universities.  Antionette is a known motivational speaker and program developer.   Antionette has been awarded for speaker skills in Toastmasters and conducted training at the district and regional levels.  Antionette’s educational background is in HR Management and Business Administration at Arkansas State University.  Antionette has over 30 years combined  work experience in customer service skills and human resources.  Antionette’s vision is to train awareness and skills in a manner that is understandable and applicable to all people.

Kareem Moody recently joined Pulaski Technical College as Director of the Network for Student Success, a program dedicated to recruitment, retention and ensuring the academic success of African American male students.  Mr. Moody is the author of a popular parenting book, Raise them up: the real deal on reaching unreachable kids. He previously served for 10 years as the Program Director of P.A.R.K. (Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids) and as the City of Little Rock’s Youth Services Coordinator.  He began his career in the field of youth development as a Youth Initiative Project coordinator, a city of Little Rock funded initiative, designed to work at the grass roots level to engage youth in constructive activities.  Mr. Moody was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He grew up in Dumas, AR and is a graduate of Henderson State University.

Terry L Richard, Ph. D. - Dr. Richard received his Ph.D. from North Texas University in Sociology and Anthropology in 1978. He earned his Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973 and his undergraduate work was completed at Southwestern University in Georgetown Texas in 1971. Dr. Richard’s areas of specialization are in race and ethnic relations, sociology of developing nations and environmental sociology. He has numerous publications in the fields of ethnic relations, gerontology, thanatology and third world development. For the past ten years he has been a full professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where he has taught for the twenty-five years. During the past four years Dr. Richard has worked on various assessment projects involving Welcome the Children Project and various UALR program evaluation modules.

Jacqueline Richardson is the Outreach and Staff Development Coordinator for Arkansas Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY). Prior to serving in this capacity, she was a HIPPY Coordinator with Little Rock School District. Jacque serves as HIPPY USA National Trainer, Pre-K ELLA Trainer, Pre-K Science and Math, and Pre-K Social Emotional Trainer for Early Childhood Educators throughout the state.

Randi M. Romo is the co-founder and current director of the Center for Artistic Revolution, CAR, based in Little Rock, AR. CAR is an inclusive, multi-issued, statewide grassroots community organization that is building a progressive movement in Arkansas. She has worked in the southeast on a variety of issues including; LGBTQ rights, immigrant communities, pesticides, farm workers, HIV/AIDS, youth/young adults, workers and women.

Sandra L. Withers, APN – Ms. Withers is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner who oversees nursing care provided at UAMS/KIDS FIRST clinics across the state of Arkansas.  She has 26 years experience in providing Family-Centered Care for children with special health care needs, particularly infancy through preschool age, who often have families with limited literacy skills.

Brenda Veach Zedlitz is currently the Program Director for EOA of Washington County Arkansas Head Start/Early Head Start which serves 349 children and families in Fayetteville, Springdale, and Lincoln, AR.  Brenda is a native Texan graduating from University of Texas at Arlington with an MSSW in 2007.  She and her family have been residents of Northwest Arkansas since 2005. From 2007 - 2009, Brenda served as Patient Advocate and then Manager of Patient Services for Community Clinic of NWA, a community health center serving the low-income and insured located in Washington and Benton Counties of Arkansas where she worked extensively with the Marshall Islander and Hispanic populations.  She is a member of the Gaps in Services Marshallese Task Force, Springdale, AR, the National Head Start Association, and the NWA Social Justice Network.