Wayne State University's Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, in collaboration with the Myron P. Leven Foundation, the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, the Wayne State Graduate School, AARP, and El Salón de Nuestra Cultura, will host the fifth annual La Academia del Pueblo: Latino/a and Latin American Studies Research Conference from 9 a.m.to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center.

The conference will unite undergraduate and graduate scholars with faculty, community activists and corporate representatives in conversations around the theme "El Movimiento 2.0: Youth, Identity, Empowerment."

The event will feature a keynote address by Andreana Clay, associate professor of sociology and sexuality studies at San Francisco State University and author of The Hip Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism and Post-Civil Rights Politics. Featured authors and scholars include Rubén O. Martínez, director of the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University; Lolita Hernández, reading from her new book of short fiction, Making Callaloo in Detroit (WSU Press, 2014); and Clayton Eshleman, reading from The Complete Poetry of César Vallejo (University of California Press, 2009), his book of translations of the great Peruvian poet.

Research from poster and panel presentations will span the areas of immigration rights, Black-Brown coalition building, Latino/a educational attainment, and cultural retention and gentrification.  They will address themes such as the "Attack on Ethnic Studies in Texas," "Institutionalized Racism and Youth Empowerment," and "Recasting Youth in Environmental Justice."  

The conference kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday, April 25 with a screening of the film From Hip Hop to Mambo: A South Bronx Tale in El Salón de Nuestra Cultura (150 General Lectures), followed by a community panel discussion led by WSU alumnus Ozzie Rivera, artist Dez Hernandez, and representatives from 5e Gallery and The Raiz Up Hip Hop Collective. 

"This year, La Academia del Pueblo has really taken on a life of its own," said Tamara Serrano Chandler, College to Career (C2C) program coordinator and conference organizer. "Our efforts to establish important connections between the center and the community are reflected in the number of youth and community members presenting alongside faculty and students from WSU and across the nation. This is demonstrative of WSU's urban research mission." 

The C2C program  addresses the Latino/a educational attainment gap by increasing graduation rates for WSU students using a multifaceted approach that combines career mentorship, community-based research and service learning, participation in the annual La Academia del Pueblo conference, as well as professional development and graduate school preparedness, which helps bridge the gap between the academic and professional worlds.

For more information about the La Academia del Pueblo conference or to RSVP, visit www.events.wayne.edu/rsvp/5thacademiadelpueblo or call Tamara Serrano Chandler at 313-577-4378. 

Wayne State University is a premier urban research university offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students.