Cultural Competency Conference 2012
5th Biennial Cultural Competency Conference
Hosted by: The GSU Counseling & Testing Center, a service department of the Division of Student Affairs
The 5
th Biennial Cultural Competency Conference will be held on GSU’s campus on April 12 & 13, 2012. The theme for this year’s conference is: "We are all connected: Claiming our identity as global citizens, healers, and educators”. For more information about the conference or for registration information, please visit the Conference website at
www.gsu.edu/cultural.
The Georgia State University Counseling & Testing Center (CTC) is most known for providing a wide range of services to meet the emotional and educational needs of students. However, in addition to providing services to students, the CTC also strives to offer continued education and training to the wider Georgia State University community and the community-at-large through hosting a biennial Cultural Competency Conference. The first conference was held in 2004 and the 5th Biennial Cultural Competency Conference will be held on GSU’s campus on April 12 & 13, 2012.
The Cultural Competency Conference was created with the primary goal of providing mental health professionals with an opportunity to further develop their knowledge, skills and awareness as it relates to cultural issues and working with diverse populations. The target audience of the conference has always included students and mental health professionals, but over the years has expanded to include medical professionals as well as educators.
One of the highlights of each Cultural Competency Conference is the featured evening keynote speaker. This event provides an opportunity for the conference attendees to hear from a noted individual in a particular field and a time for the GSU community, including students, faculty, and staff to come together with conference attendees to participate in an engaging dialogue. This dialogue is designed to serve as a catalyst for growth in the area of cultural competence. The process for selecting the keynote speaker is a thoughtful one in which the entire Counseling & Testing Center staff works to identify an individual who embodies the conference theme for that particular year. Past keynote speakers have included Derald Wing Sue, Maya Angelou, Elie Wiesel, and Alice Walker. For the 2012 conference, the CTC staff is excited to have Deepak Chopra, a world-renowned leader in the field of mind-body healing, as the featured guest keynote.
Another great aspect of the evening keynote is that this event is FREE for GSU students. During the weeks prior to the actual event, students interested in attending can obtain tickets by showing their student ID’s at the information desk located on the first floor of the Student Center.
