NC State University logo

Festival!

NC State Chocolate Festival:
A Sweet Way to a Cure

The brainchild of Dr. Frances Graham, former director of the Women's Center, the Chocolate Festival will be held for the ninth time on November 9, 2012 in the Talley Student Center. The first Chocolate Festival was held in October 2003 in the Sankofa Room of the African American Cultural Center. There were approximately 250 people who attended the first event and it was an instant hit – but then again, most people enjoy a program where they can eat chocolate!

Pink breast cancer ribbonAs wonderful as spending a couple hours tasting chocolate sounds, the Chocolate Festival is about much more than eating chocolate. It's also about breast cancer. Proceeds from the event are divided among several breast cancer organizations with a small percentage returning to the Women's Center to help fund future events. Coach Kay Yow was a wonderful supporter of the Chocolate Festival. She attended whenever she was able and always contributed merchandise to the event for the silent auction. She was a wonderful role model for young people on campus and the Women's Center is fortunate to have a way to honor her. For the past several years, the majority of the proceeds from the Chocolate Festival have been contributed to the WBCA/Kay Yow Cancer Fund ®. A donation is also made to some local organizations that directly help women with obtaining treatment such as the Pretty In Pink Foundation.

The Chocolate Festival was chosen by students as one of the 54 things to do at NC State and continues to be very popular, getting bigger every year with over 1000 people attending Chocolate Festival volunteerslast year and at least that many expected this year. Each year we attempt to add something new – more activities, additional ways to honor breast cancer survivors, etc. With next year being the 10th year of the Festival, we are planning an even bigger, more exciting event.

The Chocolate Festival is part of Parents' and Families' Weekend. See the Chocolate Festival website for more information. Be sure to buy your tickets now as they are selling out fast!  We still need volunteers and donations to the silent auction. Please see the website for more information about how YOU can get involved.

North Carolina Diversity and Inclusion Partners (NC DIP)
Fall Conference at NC State

The North Carolina Diversity and Partners (NC DIP) invite you to register for the Fall Conference, "Diversity in Higher Educations: Strategy, Structure, and Change" on November 29, 2012. This conference will be hosted by NC State's own Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity at McKimmon Center.

North Carolina Diversity and Inclusion Partners logo

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Damon A. Williams, Associate Vice Chancellor and Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The morning will also include concurrent sessions on Title IX, campus diversity planning, and Fisher v. University of Texas.

In the afternoon, there will be a panel discussion, "The Role of Senior Leaders in Promoting Diversity and Inclusive Practices in Fiscally Challenged Academic Environments" as well as additional concurrent sessions on GLBT issues, diversity education and cultural competency, and veterans' issues.

To learn more and register, please see the NC DIP website.

Forging Faculty Alliances in Academia: White Wo/Men and Women of Color in Dialogue – Webinar

Join Dr. Christine Grant of NC State University's College of Engineering and Dr. David Leonard, from Washington State University's Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, in a live webinar presentation and dialogue on building cross-racial alliances and advancing women of color (WOC) faculty members on November 1, 2012 from 3:30PM - 4:30PM.

Dr. Christine Grant and Dr. David Leonard

Webinar topics to be addressed are:

  • What are the barriers preventing majority faculty from speaking up in support of WOC faculty and how to overcome these barriers?

  • How do you build and nurture meaningful cross-racial alliances?

  • How to address a common bias that "excellence" is not synonymous with "diversity"?

  • What are strategies for success for WOC faculty?

  • What are ways that majority institutions can partner in a meaningful way with Minority Serving Institutions?

The webinar will be moderated by Dr. Ming Trammel, NC State University and Dr. Gretal Leibnitz , Washington State University.  

To learn more about this webinar, please visit WEPAN: Women in Engineering ProActive Network.

Diversity Announcements

For diversity-related announcements, events, opportunities, and articles from NC State and beyond, please see the new OIED Announcements website. Also included are OIED links and resources.

We hope you enjoy this resource! Please bookmark it in your browser.