About this Event
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
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. The book is organized in two parts. The first five chapters argue that Spanish was a language of politics in the U.S. Southwest following the U.S. takeover. The second half of the book transitions to exploring the multifaceted use of Spanish in the twentieth century as it became a political language that instigated local and national political debates related to immigration and Americanization and aided the hemispheric interests of the nation.
An American Language received the PROSE award in Language and Linguistics (2019) and the First Book Prize from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society. Lozano was featured on Al Punto with Jorge Ramos and has given numerous academic and public talks about her book.
Lozano is working on a second book, tentatively titled Intertwined Roots: Mexican Americans and Native Americans in the Southwest, which tells the story of the ever-changing relationship between Mexican Americans and Native peoples from 1848 through the 1970s. The results of U.S. policies for each of these groups are well known separately, but Intertwined Roots considers them relationally, never forgetting that their connections preceded these policies and continued to form independent of them, too. Through the comparison, the book also explores the impact of state and federal politics on ethnic identities. Triangulating the analysis of Anglos, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans offers the opportunity to understand how local and state power has shaped the Southwest against the backdrop of federal policy.
Lozano has received fellowships from the Huntington Library and the New Mexico Office of the State Historian to aid her research. During the 2012-2013 academic year, Lozano held a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation that she completed at the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University.
At Princeton, Lozano is associated with the Program in Latino Studies, the Effron Center for the Study of America, and the Program in Latin American Studies.
Dr. Ying Lu is an Associate Professor of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities at NYU Steinhardt and Co-founder and board member of The E Pluribus Unum Project. Before joining NYU Steinhardt, Lu was an assistant professor at the Departments of Sociology, and Political Science at University of Colorado at Boulder. She was also a faculty affiliate at the Institute of Behavioral Science at UCB.
Her primary research interest is quantitative methodology in social and behavioral sciences, with applications in demography, health and political behavior. Her current research also includes general statistical methodology such as model selection and hypothesis testing for high dimensional data.
She has a unique interdisciplinary educational background with a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Demography from Princeton University (2005) and a Ph.D. in Statistics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2009).
Kate Okeson is a dedicated educator and advocate serving as the Executive Director of the LGBTQIA+ Youth Equity Commission at the New Jersey Department of Education. Drawing on 27 years of experience as a public school art teacher, Kate champions the affirmation, acceptance and positive outcomes of LGBTQIA+ youth through targeted education and community building. Her recent work centers on empowering educators, school leaders, and communities of care to successfully and sustainably implement the letter and the spirit of New Jersey’s LGBTQIA+ inclusive education mandate with authenticity and integrity.
Arla Patch is an artist, writer of two award winning books and a certified PA teacher. Raised in Bucks Co. PA, she lived in Maine for 30 years where she was part of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as the Community Engagement Coordinator for Maine Wabanaki REACH. Arla is the recipient of two grants from the NJ Council for the Humanities for developing educational programming on Indigenous concerns with NJ tribal collaboration.
Arla uses art as a tool for healing and has worked with incarcerated women, breast cancer survivors, at risk teens, domestic abuse and incest survivors. She received a Quaker grant to offer mask making workshops with the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribal communities in Maine. She is a member of Doylestown Friends Meeting (Quaker) and is a grandmother to Anders and Vera. Arla is a co-founding member and the Program Coordinator for CNA.
Dr. Kim Pinckney With over 20 years in the training and education fields across K-12, government, higher ed, and industry sectors, Dr. Kim Pinckney currently leverages her performance improvement and instructional design skills as an Associate Director within the New Jersey Education Association’s Professional Development and Instructional Issues Division. As their Consortium Coordinator, she oversees the implementation of a grant to develop shareable, peer-reviewed, curricular resources inclusive of the Holocaust, Amistad, LGBTQIA+, Persons with Disabilities, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Pinckney holds an MA in Second Language Acquisition and a PhD in Instructional Design & Technology. Through KP Solutions & Consulting, LLC she is a passionate inclusive education advocate, instructional designer, and performance improvement consultant. She is also a proud Board Member of The E Pluribus Unum Project. Her research interests include exploring the intersections between learning theories, special populations, digital-age technology demands, needs assessment and evaluation best practices, and maximizing knowledge transfer.
Dr. Venkat Ramaprasad is a teacher, professor, researcher, author, consultant at Heartfirst, and public speaker melding theoretical expertise to practical implementations.
Venkat earned his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin (2016) in Curriculum and Instruction, with a specific focus on curricular and cultural studies. His research explores how various groups have been constructed in the U.S., and how these ideas inform how youth construct identities through interactions in schools and communities.
He brings over ten years of educational experience in international, university, and secondary school settings in education to identify and solve problems.
Dr. Rosetta Treece has been an educator for 20 years. During her time in public school education, she has served as a high school English Teacher, Vice Principal, Principal, and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Treece is the Superintendent of Schools for Hopewell Valley Regional School District. Dr. Treece graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of New Jersey earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Secondary Education. She holds a master’s degree in Educational Administration and earned her Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership from Rowan University. Her doctoral thesis was on how to promote emotional intelligence in adolescents. Dr. Treece is an Advanced Nurtured Heart Trainer and a Peer Leader. She is an Attitudes in Reverse (A.I.R.) therapy dog handler and a mental health champion. She is committed to preparing teachers, support staff, and school leaders to create learning environments that are culturally responsive and that cultivate resiliency in young adults.
Laura Zhang Choi is passionate about the work at the intersections of faith and justice, educational equity, and community organizing. She is a board member of The E Pluribus Unum Project, a board member of the Asian American Education Project, a hospital chaplain and former member of the school board of Greenwich Township School District in Warren County, NJ; on the leadership team of API Rainbow Parents of PFLAG NYC/NJ; the Director of Christian Education at Stewartsville Presbyterian Church; and a homebound instructor for NJ students recovering from mental health crises. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Laura completed her Master of Divinity at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and is under care for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Her proudest title will always be Mama.
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.
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.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our generous co-sponsors for making this conference possible: Princeton Carl A. Fields Center, New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) Consortium, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) and The Asian American Foundation (TAAF).
At The E Pluribus Unum Project, we believe education is the key to combating hatred and building a more inclusive society. Our mission is to transform New Jersey’s K-12 curriculum to reflect the rich diversity of our public schools, ensuring that every student learns from accurate, engaging, and equitable materials.
By centering on the communities and histories that have shaped our nation, we strive to counter structural racism and xenophobia. We unite students, parents, educators, policymakers,and community members to advocate for and support educational equity. Join us as we mobilize diverse communities and provide open access to resources, empowering educators to create classrooms that truly represent our pluralistic society.
Follow us on FB and Instagram @theepuprojectinc.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Carl A. Fields Center, 58 Prospect Avenue, Princeton, United States
USD 0.00
