Courtesy of Grambling State University Communications
Grambling State University is set to host the 2023 Louisiana Call Me MiSTER conference from 1:15 p.m. – 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, and from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at the Bettye Smith Nursing auditorium. There will also be a banquet held in conjunction with the event starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, in the atrium of the Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
Speakers on Thursday will include U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow from Monroe, Louisiana, who will present a national perspective. The keynote speaker for the Call Me MiSTER Banquet set to start at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center is Dr. Roy Jones, executive director of the national Call Me MiSTER program.
Once again using the theme DETERMINED, the event is the only conference of its kind in the state of Louisiana following last year’s conference also hosted by GSU.
The Call Me MiSTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role models) program was founded originally at Clemson University in 2000. The program strives to increase the pool of available teachers from a more diverse background, particularly among the lowest-performing elementary schools.
Because less than 2% of the teachers in the U.S. are African American males, Grambling State’s Black Male Teacher Initiative joined with Clemson’s program to help develop and recruit more Black men into the teaching profession.
The keynote speaker for Friday, August 4 will be Mrs. Leona Tate, an American activist, Civil Rights pioneer, and community advocate from New Orleans. Tate was one of the first Black children in the United States to desegregate a public school.
The full schedule can be found at www.gram.edu/
EVENT INFORMATION
WHO: Grambling State University
WHAT: Louisiana Call Me MiSTER Conference
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, 1:15 – 4:p.m. (Banquet at 6 p.m.at the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center); Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
WHERE: Bettye Smith Nursing Auditorium, Grambling, LA
PARKING: Enter on Cole Street
