CDAC to host diversity panel
National Park College Cultural Diversity Awareness Club will continue the “We Belong” guest speaker series with a panel discussion “Challenges and Opportunities Facing Diverse Populations Today” Wednesday at noon in the Frederick M. Dierks Center for Nursing and Health Sciences.
The event will be moderated by Jay Bell, sports editor for The Sentinel-Record. Lunch will be served for attendees, and the event is free and open to the public.
Panelists will include Kai Coggin, local poet, author, and teaching artist; Lorena Fitzpatrick, NPC student; Eric Higgins, retired assistant chief of the Little Rock Police Department; and Veronikha Salazar, associate dean of students at Henderson State University.
Coggin, of Hot Springs, is a former Houston Teacher of the Year turned poet and author. She received her bachelor of arts in English, poetry, and creative writing from Texas A&M University. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Sinister Wisdom, Assaracus, Calamus Journal, Lavender Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, Luna Luna, Blue Heron Review, and Yellow Chair Review. She is the author of two full-length collections, PERISCOPE HEART (Swimming with Elephants, 2014) and WINGSPAN (Golden Dragonfly Press, 2016), as well as a spoken word album called SILHOUETTE (2017). Her poetry has been nominated twice for The Pushcart Prize, as well as Bettering American Poetry 2015, and Best of the Net 2016.
Fitzpatrick is one of NPC’s student leaders. She is a reporter and historian of the Cultural Diversity Awareness Club and attends and helps with various student activities on campus. She immigrated to the United States as a teenager. After graduation from NPC, she plans to transfer to the University of Central Arkansas to study K-12 World Languages and English as a Second Language. She said her dream of becoming an educator was born out of the positive influence of her first-grade teacher in a small town in Southern Mexico. “I am living proof of the American dream. Success can be achieved if one works hard, never gives up, and treats all with dignity and respect. I want to give back not only to the community where I live but to America. This great country gave me an opportunity to provide for my family.” Fitzpatrick said she has shared with others the difficulty she had over the years and how challenging it is for immigrants who are not aware of the educational resources available. “I believe in myself now,” she said. “I actually think I can do this and I didn’t before. Having people tell you that makes a huge difference.”
Higgins is a 30-year veteran of the Little Rock Police Department. He retired after 10 years as assistant chief of police in 2015. Higgins has been an instructor at Arkansas Baptist College since 2013 and starting January 2016 became director of the Derek Oliver Research Institute for the Prevention of Black on Black Violence at Arkansas Baptist College. He is the director of outcomes assessment with the National a OK Program and a managing member of SOF Solutions LLC consulting. He is a volunteer instructor with the re-entry program, The Exodus Project — Out for Life. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Studies: Government and Business and Master of Arts in Human Services: Executive Leadership and Counseling from Liberty University. He is a member of Volunteers in Public Schools Executive Board, Institute for Law Enforcement Administration Alumni, and Leadership Greater Little Rock Alumni, and also serves as president of the Governing Board of Lisa Academy Public School.
Salazar was the director of Hispanic outreach and retention at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga. She was also the associate director for leadership, education and development at the University of Arkansas’s Multicultural Center from 2008-11 and the program coordinator for international students and scholars at the University of Arkansas from 2001-07. Salazar is originally from Chiclayo, Peru. She obtained her master’s and doctoral degrees in Adult Education with an emphasis in Multicultural Education from the University of Arkansas. Salazar has served on numerous boards and committees in the states of Arkansas and Georgia. Her awards and recognition ranging from “Outstanding Faculty,” “Presenter of the Year” to “Arkansas Traveler” by Governors Mike Huckabee and Mike Beebe.