MESPA Leadership Conference 2020: Virtual Edition

MESPA: Improve. Unite. Encourage. Advocate.

Save the date for Leadership 2020: Virtual Edition!
Monday, September 28, 2020

MESPA's annual Leadership Conference is an opportunity for MESPA's leaders to get together to help plan another fantastic year for MESPA members. This conference brings together the Executive Committee, Board of Directors, and all committee members to meet, plan, network, and have some fun!

Your presence is vital! This conference is the kickoff to our MESPA year. We need your voice at this conference. Your input will determine the association's priorities, as well as establish a key network to communicate and carry out MESPA activities, issues, and concerns. YOU represent our membership! We need you there to ensure that we are moving forward as an association, with divisions and committees all supporting one another. It is a requirement for division leaders, committee chairs, and committee representatives to attend this conference.

MESPA Leadership Schedule

View the full, detailed schedule with all meeting links at mespa.net/Leadership.

We've condensed most of Leadership from a two-day conference to just one half day to be sensitive to your needs this fall! All meetings will be held virtually via Zoom.

I. Monday, September 28: Leadership Conference (All MESPA Leaders)

II. Between Sep 28 and Oct 9: Your Division's Planning Meeting (All MESPA Leaders)

This 1-hour meeting, to be scheduled by your Division President and President-Elect, will be used to set your division's meetings for the year, and to discuss any other goals from MESPA Leadership. All MESPA Leaders are asked to attend their division's Planning Meeting. Meeting dates are linked here.

III. Friday, October 9: Board of Directors Meeting (MESPA Board only) - 12:00-2:00pm

Who attends the Board of Directors Meeting?
The MESPA board consists of the 12 division presidents, 12 division presidents-elect, 8 committee chairs, 1 RPM rep, and the MESPA executive committee. The Board Meeting will be held on Friday, October 9 from 12-2pm. Please RSVP here. Check out all Board meeting dates at mespa.net/BOD.

F.A.Q.
What if I can't attend the conference? It is important that all divisions are equally represented. We ask that you please notify the MESPA office as soon as possible, and work with your Division President to locate a replacement.

Is there a cost to attend? There is no cost to attend the conference.

Additional questions? We can help you! Contact the MESPA office at 952.297.8670 or mespa@mespa.net.

About our keynote speaker

Angelina E. Castagno, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Just Perspective, LLC, as well a Professor of Educational Leadership and Foundations at Northern Arizona University (NAU). She is a former Director of the Ethnic Studies Program at NAU and has spent over a decade researching and teaching in the areas of diversity and equity across the educational spectrum (early childhood through graduate education). Her expertise lies especially in the areas of race and whiteness in education, as well as in American Indian education. She has given keynote presentations, facilitated community dialogues, and presented at various schools and districts on issues of diversity and equity. She has also served as lead program evaluator for multiple non-profit educational programs, district efforts, and federally-funded programs in both K12 and higher education settings.

Dr. Castagno has published in highly respected academic journals and regularly presented as national and international conferences. Her books include Postsecondary Education for American Indians and Alaska Natives: Higher Education for Nation Building and Self-Determination (co-authored with Brayboy, Fann, and Solyom); Educated in Whiteness: Good Intentions and Diversity in Schools; and The Anthropology of Education Policy: Ethnographic Inquiries into Policy as Sociocultural Process (co-edited with McCarty). Her newest book project, The Price of Nice: How Niceness Perpetuates Educational Inequity, is an edited volume exploring the concept of Niceness in schools and universities across the U.S.

Dr. Castagno's keynote: The Price of Nice: How (Minnesota) Niceness Reinforces Educational Inequity

Despite their good intentions and the general Niceness among educators, most schools in the U.S. contribute to inequity every day. How does this happen? And what might be done about this paradox? In this keynote, I address these questions so that the audience can examine their own role in patterned educational inequities, and specifically, how Niceness may be getting in the way of efforts to advance equity at the school and district level. I will offer a definition of Niceness, illustrate what Niceness looks and feels like in schools, and offer some ways to begin to identify and disrupt Niceness among educators.