Alumnus Fred Bonner to Keynote Friday's DEI Symposium at Fayetteville Public Library

Photo Submitted

The U of A community is invited to a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Symposium from 9-10:30 a.m. Friday, March 3, in the Willard and Pat Walker Community Room at the Fayetteville Public Library.

The symposium, hosted by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Health Professions, will feature alumnus Fred Bonner II, a professor at Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

Bonner is the founding executive director and chief scientist of the Minority Achievement of the Creativity and High-Ability (MACH-III) Center at Prairie View A&M.

"Dr. Bonner and his doctoral students were invited to collaborate with our faculty and doctoral students to move our department's DEI work forward," said Marcia Imbeau, a professor of gifted education. "We believe this initial visit will be the beginning of what we hope is a long-term relationship to improve the experiences of not only our students but, just as importantly, the children our students teach."

Bonner's keynote presentation is titled, "Building on Resilience: Models and Frameworks of Black Male Success Across the P-20 Pipeline."

Bonner is formerly the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University and an esteemed expert in the field of diversity in education. Prior to joining Rutgers, he was professor of higher education administration and dean of faculties at Texas A&M University-College Station. He earned a B.A. in chemistry from the University of North Texas, an M.S.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Baylor University and an Ed.D. in higher education administration & college teaching from the U of A.

Bonner has received numerous awards, including the American Association for Higher Education Black Caucus Dissertation Award and the Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundation's Dissertation of the Year Award from the U of A College of Education and Health Professions. In 2020, Bonner was selected for the prestigious Regents Professor Award by the Texas A&M University System. His work has been featured nationally and internationally. He is the author of the book, Square Pegs and Round Holes: Alternative Approaches to Diverse College Student Development Theory (2021).

For more information, email Marcia Imbeau at mimbeau@uark.edu.