Virginia Conference on Race kicks off third year at Roanoke College

The Virginia Conference on Race will return to Roanoke College on April 4-5, kicking off with a keynote address from award-winning AI ethicist Renée Cummings. 

Cummings is a professor with the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science, where she was named its first data activist in residence. Her research puts her at the intersection of technology, power and society. Emerging issues she examines include the ethical implications of data on society, long-term impacts of AI and generative AI, and how to build ethically resilient, rights-based technology that is responsible, sustainable and justice-oriented for the benefit of all. 

In addition to her role at UVA, Cummings is co-director of the AI Equity Lab at the Brookings Institute and an Inaugural Senior Fellow in AI, Data and Policy for a leading international think tank, All Tech Is Human. 

Her keynote address is free and open to the public. It will begin at 6 p.m. April 4 in Roanoke College’s Wortmann Ballroom. 

The two-day Virginia Conference on Race will continue April 5 with a lineup of panels and student research presentations. The panels are a new addition to the format this year introduced to bring community leaders and faculty together to share ideas and insights. 

The focus of the panels will be “Race & Health” and “Community Building.” More information about the events and panelists is available here. These events are free and open to the public.  

The Virginia Conference on Race is an annual gathering created in 2022 by Roanoke College Assistant Professor Carrie Murawski and the Center for Studying Structures of Race (CSSR), where she is a faculty affiliate. 

The conference’s goal is to amplify voices in race studies and engage our community in thoughtful conversations about race. This year’s theme is “FOREWORD,” a guidepost chosen to encourage people to reflect on the tension between the events of the past and the events yet to emerge in the future. 

“I am excited to have more of a connection to the Roanoke Valley community this year,” Murawski said. “These conversations on race and anti-racism activism are bigger than Roanoke College and higher education. Community leaders are going to be able to offer new perspectives and invite us to think deeper about how structural issues are rooted in the places we learn, work, and live.” 

Photo: Assistant Professor Carrie Murawski pictured at the 2023 Virginia Conference on Race.