Conference on the Americas to build on success

The University of North Georgia (UNG) will look to build off the success of hosting the Conference on the Americas for the first time last year. It will host the virtual 24th annual Conference on the Americas on Feb. 19-20, a year after welcoming participants to UNG's Gainesville Campus.

Registration is available on the conference webpage, and Zoom links for sessions will be emailed to participants.

While the focus of the multidisciplinary conference is primarily for university and college faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students are also invited to showcase their research on the Americas.

Dr. Nelson Maldonado-Torres, director of the Rutgers Advanced Institute for Critical Caribbean Studies, will serve as the keynote speaker. Maldonado-Torres is also a professor and chair of the comparative literature program in Rutgers University's Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies.

In addition to UNG's College of Arts & Letters and Mike Cottrell College of Business, the Americas Council of the University System of Georgia, Georgia Southern University and Georgia State University Perimeter College are sponsors. The Americas Council provides a venue in which faculty can engage and share their interest and expertise on the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada.

"It's good that the facilities and the technology we have still allow us to meet," said Dr. Donna Danns, UNG professor of economics.

Conference organizers reduced registration fees to attract more attendees. The cost is $25 for faculty and other professionals and $10 for graduate and undergraduate students.

Abstract submissions are due Jan. 30. The call for papers is available on UNG's Conference on the Americas webpage.

For Dr. Donna Danns and Dr. George Danns, UNG professor of sociology, serving as conference organizers is important to them. These scholars derive from Guyana, South America, and each has written several books based on their respective research in the region. Their most recent research is on youth entrepreneurship in Guyana and was funded by a 2018 Presidential Incentive Award. Both are grateful for the support of UNG's administration to host the conference.

"It fits with the mission of UNG by deepening our diversity portfolio, expanding our international footprint and enhancing our linkages with scholars from other USG institutions and elsewhere," George Danns said.

It is expected that more than 15 public and private institutions from Georgia and 12 out-of-state schools will be represented.

Topics and categories will focus on migrants and immigration; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; ecology and the environment; gender, language and literature, politics and economic issues in the region; social problems in relation to Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada; and study abroad programs. More than 60 faculty and students are expected to participate in the two-day conference.

More information is available on the Conference on the Americas webpage.