2026 Pluralistic Education Conference

Learn about Black, Asian American, Latine, Indigenous and LGBTQ history and the history of our solidarity in civil rights struggles Please join us at Princeton University Carl A. Fields Center for our 4th annual Pluralistic Education Conference on 10/8/26 from 9am-3pm. In person seats will be reserved for educators. Virtual attendance is open to all. Welcome - Laura Zhang-Choi of The E Pluribus Unum Project Keynote Address - Dr. Venkat Ramaprasad, NJ Educator and Founder of Heartfirst Keynote Address - Dr. Kim Pinckney of NJEA Consortium The workshop presenters are: Kelley Bova of Coalition of Natives and Allies Sima Kumar of The E Pluribus Unum Project and a NJ Educator Dr. Rosina Lozano of Princeton University Dr. Ying Lu of NYU-Steinhardt and The E Pluribus Unum Project Arla Patch of Coalition of Natives and Allies Dr. Rosetta Treece, superintendent of Hopewell Valley Regional School District and The E Pluribus Unum Project Kate Okeson, Executive Director of the New Jersey Advisory Commission on LGBTQIA+ Youth Equity and Inclusion in Schools This is information about our 2025, 2024 and 2023 conferences if you are interested. Workshops Offered: Toward a Pluralistic Approach to Teaching and Learning Integrating AAPI Studies in the Classroom Native Women and Allies Speak: What We Weren't Taught in School Integrating Latine American History into the K-12 Social Studies Curriculum How to foster difficult conversations in the classroom Spirit and Intent: LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Content in the Classroom Workshop Descriptions Toward a Pluralistic Approach to Teaching and Learning Professor Ying Lu and Sima Kumar will lead a professional development seminar that highlights resources for integrating AAPI, Black, Latine and Indigenous content while including lesson ideas on using historical thinking through an interdisciplinary lens on topics such as school desegregation, women’s suffrage and nonviolence. Spirit and Intent: LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Content in the Classroom with Kate Okeson, Executive Director of the New Jersey Advisory Commission on LGBTQIA+ Youth Equity and Inclusion in Schools At the intersection of pragmatic and aspirational, this workshop will focus on texts and approaches that embody the spirit and the intent of an LGBTQIA+ inclusive curriculum. With a focus on solidarity, visibility, and integrity, we will discuss promising and sustainable practices that bring LGBTQIA+ inclusive content to life, and address the realities and continuing support needed by teachers in our schools now. Integrating AAPI Studies in the Classroom In this panel discussion, Sima Kumar, Carol Fevola and Abhishta Tantry will share their experiences integrating AAPI Studies in the classroom. How to foster difficult conversations in the classroom with Dr. Rosetta Treece Hopewell Valley Regional School District Superintendent Dr. Rosetta Treece will lead a session on “How to foster difficult conversations in the classroom.” Integrating Latine American History into the K-12 Social Studies Curriculum In this presentation Dr. Rosina Lozano will offer a brief introduction to the history of Hispanic and Latine Americans in the United States, cover 10 themes/topics, share strategies for inclusive and respectful instruction and provide vetted instructional resources. The topics are #1 What’s in a Name? #2 Exploration & Colonization #3 Mexican American War U.S.-Mexico War (1846–1848) #4 Gold Rush Era / Cultural Celebrations #5 Great Depression #6 Segregated Schools #7 Naturalization Laws #8 World War II #9 Civil Rights #10 Culture Native Women and Allies Speak: What We Weren't Taught in School The Coalition of Natives and Allies, CNA is a coalition of Native and non-Native women whose purpose is to educate adults and youth about our country's accurate history with the intention of decolonizing communities, thereby understanding the harm of using Native people as mascots. Their PowerPoint presentation is a potent historical overview, that helps put in context the common and unacceptable practice of appropriation of Native imagery and culture for sports entertainment. Included in their talk are three personal and moving stories about: 1) a Native child forced into a residential school, never to see his parents again 2) adoption of Native babies and children by white people and 3) an ongoing, 10-year battle with a Pennsylvania school district to remove the racist Redskins mascot that continues today. Educational presentations made by CNA are unique in that they represent the voices of both Native and non-Native people. They include important handouts and Q & A discussions. A longer 50-minute documentary, made with the support and guidance of an Oscar-nominated filmmaker Eli Noyes, is also available for programming: NATIVE WOMEN AND ALLIES SPEAK: What We Weren't Taught in School. Speaker biographies: Kelley Bova was born in Sisseton, South Dakota on the Lake Traverse Reservation of the Dakota Sioux and was put up for adoption at birth. At 3 months old, she was adopted by a white couple and raised in Glenside, PA. When Kelley turned 50, she found her birth family in South Dakota. She is the second youngest of 9 and the only one who was adopted out. Until she met her family, she never really never met another Native American -- for 50 years! Since meeting her family 13 years ago, she has gone on a Spiritual journey of what it means to be Native American and Dakota. Kelley is learning her tribal ceremonies and ways. The one she most proud of? Becoming a Sun Dancer. Having the experience of being removed from her culture and people and being raised in a different one has had a profound effect on her. It has given her the unique perspective of being part of two distinct cultures. She is a mother of four children and four grandchildren. Sima Kumar is a New Jersey educator, mother, a Co-Founder and board member of The E Pluribus Unum Project (TEPUP), who testified at the Assembly and Senate Education Committee meeting in support of the Asian American and Pacific Islander curriculum. Governor Murphy signed the bill into law on January 18, 2022. She published an article in NJEA Review called “Asian American in America’s Literary Heritage,” which explored the origins of the invisibility of Asian and Asian American literature and history in the K-12 curricula. In the article, she provided a pedagogical approach for creating more inclusive curricula to meet the needs of the increasingly multiracial and multiethnic demography of students in today’s classrooms. She heads the professional development branch of The E Pluribus Unum Project (TEPUP), a nonprofit organization that serves as a hub to connect and mobilize communities across New Jersey for the purpose of transforming education to reflect our pluralistic society. Sima moderated an interdisciplinary exploration of Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences in the United States with poet Alison Roh Park and documentary filmmaker Angel Velasco Shaw, a collaborative event with Princeton Public Library. She was a guest speaker at the Center for Future Educators program at TCNJ. She received a BA from Smith College and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is currently pursuing an Ed.D. at Rutgers University. Dr. Rosina Lozano is a historian of United States history with a research and teaching focus on Latino/a/e history, the American West, migration and immigration, and comparative studies in race and ethnicity. Lozano's first book, An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States (University of California Press, 2018), is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States from the incorporation of the Mexican cession in 1848 through World War II, with some discussion of the following decades and present-day concerns. The nation has always been multilingual, and Spanish-language rights, in particular, have remained an important political issue into the present.