The Memorial Union was abuzz with faculty and students attending the 28 events that took place throughout the day Friday for the 16^th annual Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity.

Among those who spoke was Kathleen Wong (Lau), director of the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity. Wong (Lau) was the keynote speaker at ISCORE and her event focused on intercultural communication.

“We often hear the message ‘we are the same in spite of our differences,’ but I want to focus on ‘we are different in spite of our sameness,’” Wong (Lau) said at her keynote event.

She talked about techniques for cross-cultural communication, with an emphasis on recognizing and respecting other people’s racial and ethnic differences, instead of treating everyone exactly the same.

Brian D. Behnken, author and associate professor of history and U.S. Latino/a Studies at Iowa State, was the speaker at the conference’s opening event. During the session, Behnken discussed his experience with race and ethnicity growing up in Texas. Behnken also spoke about how and why scholars study the subjects they study in relation to race and ethnicity.

“Its importance is that it is one of the handful of things that Iowa State does that recognizes and celebrates diversity,” Behnken said.

Behnken praised Iowa State for truly appreciating its students’ diversity.

“I think of ISCORE as a real feather in the university’s hat,” Behnken said.

Other events throughout the day covered a wide arrange of subjects and their ties to race and ethnicity.

“Beyond Our Screens: Race and Social Media” was a discussion led by Ashley Maitland, ISU School of Education’s Equity and Social Justice coordinator and graduate assistant, and Department of Residence graduate assistant Tenzin Kunor. The use of social media sites like Yik Yak and SnapChat to perpetuate racial and ethnic stereotypes was discussed. 

Another ISCORE event was “Is It Safe to Say This Here?: Building Safety in Diversity Dialogues, Student Counseling Service.” Sarah Anthoney, Erin Pederson and Taylor Locker, who are all staff psychologists for the Student Counseling Service, led the discussion. The discussion was about respect and the use of diversity dialogues.

Other events at the conference discussed the Latino/a experience, the Native American experience and graduate school in relation to race and ethnicity.

“It [ISCORE] shows how diversity is more than just skin color. It gives other people’s views on diversity,” said Erika Meierotto, senior in mechanical engineering.

Wendy Vargas, freshman in psychology, said ISCORE serves to raise awareness on diversity’s importance.

ISCORE is a conference that works with the larger, National Conference on Race and Ethnicity. NCORE has an annual meeting in various cities in the U.S. This year, the event will take place May 30 in Washington, D.C., according to the NCORE website.

Iowa State has hosted ISCORE since 1999, and hundreds of students and faculty get involved with the conference every year.