2025 Civic Learning and Social Change Conference

Presenters: 

• Marsita Ferguson, Director, David and Frances Brain Center, Baldwin Wallace University
• Alexis Crosby, Ohio State Coordinator, Campus Vote Project

Enjoy a hearty breakfast while stepping into a structured five-chair Breakfast Brawl. This civic dialogue program invites participants to rotate through advocate, challenger, bridge builder, data curator, and reflector roles as they unpack a timely policy question. Participants get to practice active listening while boosting civic confidence. We close with a ten-minute replication clinic that provides access to a Quick Guide of surveys, rubrics, and logistics so you can seamlessly add this energizing format to your campus civic-engagement toolkit.

Presenter: Michael Gavin, President, Delta College

Through this session, participants will identify what they and/or their institutions can control in their political contexts, and what they cannot. They will leave with action plans for their campuses, which will include policies and procedures to revise, cultural leadership within and institution, and anticipation of legal and/or cultural changes because of academia being a focus of legislators locally, regionally, at the state and federal level.

Presenters:

• Alejandro Covarrubias, Consultant, Social Justice Training Institute
• Kathy Obear, President, Alliance for Change

Facilitating constructive dialogue and navigating triggering situations are core competencies for creating socially just campus communities. Dialogue can become “difficult” when participants feel “triggered” and experience intense, unexpected emotional reactions to the comments and actions of others. Effectively managing difficult triggering situations can result in greater understanding and communication. During this interactive session, participants will identify their common triggers and less effective reactions, practice tools to effectively navigate triggered reactions, and explore strategies to use triggering events as teachable moments.

Presenter: Nikkia Young, Consultant, Nikkia Young Consulting 

Healthy cross-racial supervisory relationships in high-voltage times requires acknowledging that we’re racialized differently and hold different levels of power. Power lines create charge that stress and disorganize our nervous systems and relationships when not anticipated and grounded. Come open-hearted—leave equipped to think systemically/ act relationally to foster supervision that encourages critical self-reflection, accountability, authenticity, vulnerability and solidarity. With down-to-earth relatable examples, storytelling, visuals and reflect-connect time, we’ll address: reactive/ effective coping, neurobiology-informed relationship, negotiating conflict gracefully and YOUR next step.

Presenters:

• Becky Martinez, Consultant, Infinity Martinez Consulting
• James Washington, President, Washington Consulting Group

Class comes with obscure definitions, fluidity, and a sense of taboo and while we never talk about class we are always talking about it. This session provides concepts related to class beyond money while also engaging the lived reality of class that shapes how students, staff, and faculty navigate campus and beyond. Participants will explore how class is embedded in the academy and leave with language, tools and strategies to create greater inclusion with a class framework.

Presenters: 

• Courtney Gutierrez, Associate Director, Northeastern University
• Grace Freeburg, Program Coordinator, Northeastern University Oakland

This interactive workshop enhances skills in care-centered boundary-setting, benefiting both students and staff while safeguarding against dual relationships. Participants engage in activities and role-play to learn trauma-informed boundary techniques, strength-based referral discussions, and build professional confidence. By the end, attendees receive practical scripts, referral guides, and tailored boundary plans to foster caring connections while adhering to professional boundaries.

Presenters:

• Jill Dunlap, Assistant Vice President for Research and Policy, NASPA
• Aileen Favilla, Program Manager for Campus Free Speech, PEN America

PEN America facilitators will share strategies for teaching free expression developed over hundreds of workshops delivered to campus communities, empowering participants to return to their campuses with newfound comfort and confidence to be leaders in a "Campus for All." Participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences integrating free expression education on their own campus and will collaborate with one another to generate new ideas for anchoring free expression education within campus Civic Engagement offices and programs.