Moderator
Elaine Eschenbacher has more than twenty years of experience as a civic leadership educator. She currently directs the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg University which integrates rich histories of civic engagement, experiential education, and democracy building in a vibrant center with local, regional, national, and international reach. Prior to joining Augsburg University in 2009, Eschenbacher served as associate director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, at the University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Eschenbacher designs programs and delivers workshops on themes of civic agency, democratic and experiential education, community organizing, and public work locally and nationally so that people continually expand their capacity to shape their communities, futures, and worlds. She is a facilitator and trainer for the National Issues Forum model of deliberative dialogues, and a regular facilitator of democratic processes aimed at developing civic agency. Eschenbacher earned her Master of Arts in Leadership from Augsburg University. She teaches in the Leadership Studies program at Augsburg University.
Speakers
Andrew Williams, Executive Director of HECUA (Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs) has over 25 years of experience in higher education as a teacher, mentor, academic advisor, and administrative leader. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana and raised within a working-class African American family, Williams was a first-generation college student. His upbringing and academic experiences sparked his intellectual curiosity in social difference, political resistance, and human inequality. Throughout his career, Williams has worked to balance and link research, teaching, and political engagement on issues of interculturality, educational equity, international development, human rights, learning abroad, placed-based learning, and social justice. More recently, Williams has served as Director of Multicultural Affairs at Carleton College, Director of Development and Communication for Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence at the University of Minnesota, and Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion within the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts.
Additional Speakers: Russel Balenger, Jenn Hamrick, MPD 150