We held our 5th Annual Ethnic and Pluralism Studies Graduate Research Conference on January 26 and 27, 2012, in Room 108N, Munk School of Global Affairs. This event attracts proposal submissions from various universities, not only from Canada but internationally. We welcomed presenters who are part of graduate programs in the the United States, Belgium and China..

Once again we were fortunate to have an excellent group of  faculty discussants. to chair  the sessions. This year's lineup included Professors Anil Verma (Rotman School of Management and Dir. of Industrial Relations, U.Toronto), Harold Troper (TPS, OISE, U.Toronto), Ronit Dinovitzer (Sociology, U. Toronto), Meyer Siemiatycki (Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson U.), Monica Boyd (Sociology, U.Toronto), and Paul Olson (SESE, OISE, U.Toronto). 

The main purpose of our conference is to provide graduate students with an opportunity to present their work in a professional yet convivial atmosphere in preparation for more formal settings. The discussants prepare thorough comments based on the papers submitted, and give valuable feedback to the presenters. The audience is composed of fellow graduate students as well as participants from the general public, and the Q&A sessions are quite animated.

We are also very proud to feature eminent scholars in the field of ethnic studies as our keynote speakers. This year we were honored to have Professor Richard Alba (City University of New York) give a talk at the Campbell Conference Facilty, a state-of-the-art venue in the Munk School of Global Affairs.. 

Professor Alba's lecture "The Looming Transition to Divesity in Wealthy Countries: Challenge and Opportunity" drew a large crowd, and the following discussion period saw a flurry of questions from the audience.to which the speaker gave informative answers.

With 8 sessions and 30 presentations over two days, the conference explored various topics ranging from "Gender", "International Migration", "Identity", "Education", "Law and Policy", "Politics and Civic Engagement", "Economic and Social Integration". and "Aboriginal Issues" (see the full program for more details).

Every year,  the program for the Ethnic and Pluralism Studies Graduate Research Conference is organized by a committee of students. We would like to thank Margaret Cappa, Fritz Pino, Shine Chung, Naomi Lightman, Jennifer Ma, Yi Sui, Alison Wood and Annike Flornen for their contribution. We would also like to express our appreciation to "repeat" presenters (such as Filiz Tutku Aydin, Raluca Bejan, Soma Chatterjee, Barbara Lee, Lisa Seto Neilson and Ciann Wilson) who have chosen to make our conference an integral part of their graduate studies.
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The R.F.Harney Program in Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies (Director Jeffrey Reitz, Administrators Momo Kano Podolsky and Loretta Ho) would like to thank all of the presenters, discussants, and participants for a successful conference. See you next year at our 6th Annual Ethnic and Pluralism Studies Graduate Research Conference!

                                                                            Written by Momo Kano Podolsky