Opening Keynote

Sammy Ramsey
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
5:30-7:00 pm PT

Biodiversity and Diversity in Bio: What’s the Point?

Is there such a thing as "diversity for diversity's sake" or is diversity a metric worth pursuing? It turns out that the answer is the same regardless of whether you're discussing biology or biologists. In this presentation, you'll get a better understanding of why ecosystems thrive with diversity, why human systems follow the same pattern, and what the major barriers are to achieving diversity in natural and man-made contexts.

Sammy Ramsey received his BS in entomology from Cornell University and his PhD in entomology from the University of Maryland College Park. He now serves as Endowed Professor of Entomology at the University of Colorado Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Featured on Hulu’s docuseries Your Attention Please, in The Washington Post, on NPR, and in multiple other outlets, Ramsey is celebrated as an engaging science communicator. His nonprofit, The Ramsey Research Foundation, works to remove barriers that slow the progress of and decrease access to science by developing novel pathways for scientific funding and by removing paywalls that keep the public from engaging with published scientific work.

Presidential Panel

Wednesday, 22 March 2023
8:00-9:00 am PT

Inspiring the Future of Research in ELT

Research in English language teaching shapes all facets of our profession, but results can be difficult to implement. In this Presidential Panel, researchers representing AAAL, TESOL, and TIRF reflect on current research trends and findings in our field, look forward to possible areas of interest, and inspire connections for practice.

Following this keynote, join the panelists for a follow-up discussion at 10 a.m. in room E145, titled "Where to Next? Inspiring the Future of Research in ELT."

Moderators:

Panelists:

Thursday Keynote

Rachel Elizabeth Weissler
Thursday, 23 March 2023
8:00-9:00 am PT

Language, Power, and The Brain: Linguistics for Social Justice

Negative linguistic ideologies influence our perceptions of people. As linguists and psychologists become more attuned to talking about social justice, the need to discuss linguistic behaviors through a sociocognitive lens becomes crucial. Sociolinguistic and psychological methodologies help us investigate how people use their linguistic knowledge to make judgements about others.

Rachel Elizabeth Weissler is an incoming assistant professor of linguistics with a Black Studies affiliation at the University of Oregon. She is an emotion perception researcher and African American English scholar, using experimental methods from sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics to understand how Black people are viewed linguistically.

James E. Alatis Plenary

Asmaa AbuMezied
Friday, 24 March 2023
8:00-9:00 am PT

Demanding Economic Justice for Care Work

The pandemic has brought forward the conversation about the care economy and the fundamental role played by paid and unpaid carers. AbuMezied presents the care economy from a women’s economic justice lens by discussing the undervaluation of work done by carers, including teachers. Drawing from cases in Palestine and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the presenter shares the root causes of this undervaluing and its global linkages. Additionally, she covers how climate change exacerbates carers’ time poverty before concluding with recommendations on ways forward.

Asmaa AbuMezied is an economic development and gender justice expert working to address issues of gender, development, and climate change. Her main areas of focus are women's economic justice through gendered economic policies, women's rights in economic sectors, unpaid care and domestic work campaigning, inclusive markets, and feminist economics in fragile and conflict areas. Her work is published in various spaces, such as Oxfam Policy & Practice, Development and Gender Journal, Al Shabaka, and the World Economic Forum.