ISU students and professors will meet to discuss issues of race and ethnicity at the fourth annual Iowa State Conference On Race and Ethnicity, or ISCORE.

The daylong conference will be at 8 a.m. March 7 in the Memorial Union. The deadline for participation applications is Friday.

“ISCORE is an ongoing program to increase awareness on issues related to race and ethnicity in higher education,” said Dr. Eugenio Matibag, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures.

“It gives a forum in which students, as well as faculty and staff, can dissimulate new ideas about race and ethnicity, and provides a valuable contribution to our university culture,” he said.

Matibag will be giving one of the two opening addresses at the conference.

President Gregory Geoffroy will give the program welcome via satellite from the University of California at Riverside.

Matibag said the idea for ISCORE came from the National Conference On Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), which is held annually every May. In the past, ISU students have traveled to NCORE conferences in Santa Fe, Seattle and New Orleans.

Matibag said Iowa State is a front-runner in establishing a standard for university involvement with the NCORE.

“In 2001, Iowa State sent 32 people to the NCORE, which was the largest number of people sent by any university,” Matibag said.

Students who participated in past NCOREs saw presentations on Asian, Native American and African issues, and learned ways to bring more diversity to campus activities, he said.

“Four years ago, a delegation attended the NCORE and brought back the concept to Iowa State,” said Dr. Teresa Branch, associate vice president for Student Affairs. “That same year [the delegation] designed a conference [for Iowa State] that would highlight the importance of race and diversity and provide information within the context of the national conference.”

Branch said students who attend the national conference make a yearlong commitment by taking a course in the fall that “deepens their understanding of race and ethnicity.” In addition, students agree to propose and design presentations for the ISCORE and promote awareness to various groups and individuals on campus about the ISCORE.

Vicky Lio will give one of the two opening addresses at the ISCORE. Lio, who is a vice-presidential candidate for the Government of the Student Body, said she encourages students to get involved with the ISCORE and NCORE programs.

“It’s an amazing experience,” said Lio, who is a senior in journalism and mass communication and a Daily staff writer. “You’ll come away with more than you could ever imagine.”

Sheena Green will be doing two presentations at this year’s ISCORE. Green, sophomore in graphic design, attended last year’s NCORE. Green said the material she has learned in both the class and at the NCORE have been applied in her everyday life.

“The national conference was great for me,” she said. “It was a self-enlightening experience. The university paid our way to NCORE, and our way of repaying the university is to be agents of change at Iowa State.”

Applications to attend the ISCORE can be downloaded at www.admissions.iastate.edu/ISCORE.