IRT Associate Director and Manager of Programs Catherine Wong attended the 36th Annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE®) held on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i. The IRT has attended NCORE® over the last few years, engaging in the five-day conference focusing on community engagement, exchanging knowledge and ideas as it relates to race and ethnicity on campus, and meeting up with IRT alumni and colleagues.
Do you have a conference whereby you feel that you can show up as your full scholar activist self without being second guessed, silenced or stereotyped? Do you have an annual conference or national forum that allows you to embrace your growing edges with other fellow changemakers?
NCORE® has been that conference for me since my entry into higher education more than 2 decades ago. I feel fortunate to have found a conference where critical dialogues are the norm, not the exception, where friendships grow from collegial relationships, and where creativity is a collective effort. Therefore having NCORE® select my home state of Hawai’i for its conference site for the first time in its 36 year history and during API month was wonderfully affirming and exciting.
The planning committee met with those on the ground in Hawai’i as well with those of us from the NCORE® community who were raised in Hawai’i to co construct a conference that honored the Pono Pledge (act justly) and distinguished what it meant to be a traveler with intentions to give back to the people of Hawai’i. NCORE® working with Hawai’i to create the infrastructure to center and honor the indigeneity of its people and place was not limited to being a one time experience, but rather its intent was to develop a sustainable model that they and attendees could utilize for future conferences. NCORE 2025 will be held in New York City, May 27-31, 2025. I look forward to you joining the IRT team and fellow alums next year!
Catherine had three invited presentations at NCORE® Hawai’i. Her presentation summaries are below.
(L-R) Pat Lowrie, Dr.Jacquelyn Reza, Kaluna Wong and Catherine Wong
Pre Conference Institute
Title: The Legacy of Our Power When the World is Imploding: Unleashing Stealth Leadership for Women of Color & Women in Higher Education
This all day Pre Conference Institute centered on Women of Color and Women in higher education who have had their power and authority questioned or who have been “reorganized” or pushed out or have had their budget stripped? Women were asked if they have experienced the threat of being silenced and or has their environmental scan observed this happening to colleagues and allies. This highly interactive institute engaged participants in stealth leadership frameworks centered on movement building, courageous action and dreaming decolonized.
(L-R) Dr. Gerry Ebalaroza-Tunnell, Kaluna Wong and Catherine Wong
Concurrent Conference Presentation
Title: Decolonizing Our Education: Reclaiming O.L.A. For Our Keiki
This interactive session delved deep into the impacts of colonization on indigenous cultures utilizing Pōkā Laenui’s D.I.E and O.L.A concepts. Participants mapped how these contrasting principles manifest in our education settings? We explored how adopting a D.I.E (Dominance, Individualism, Exclusion) mindset leads to a domination-focused approach in our teaching & leading while incorporating O.L.A (Oluolu, Lokahi, Aloha) strategies promotes more Pono and collaborative interventions.
Ti Leaf Making
In each of Catherine’s presentations, Kaluna Wong, a well respected Hawaiian culture Kumu (teacher), and her hula sisters came to teach the participants the unique art of Ti Leaf lei making. For the purpose of NCORE®, the Ti Leaf lei making allowed participants to weave their new learnings in community, as they strategized how best to bring their intentions and activate their ideas back at their respective institutions. This lei also represented an expression of aloha and served as a keepsake.
Concurrent Conference Presentation
Title: Using an Equity Lens to Develop Innovative Strategies to Address Incessant Anti-Education Policies
In this interactive workshop, we used an equity lens to take back our stories, to be in community & to engage our educational power. Together we utilized innovative theories that align with our values and practices versus those that undermine our identities and power. We reimagined versus retooled strategies to center ‘kokua’ (support), a sense of ‘kuleana’ (responsibility) and the capacity ‘be pono’ (righteous & balance). By intersecting how our indigenous practices inform our theoretical context shifts the narrative from one of imposition to one of inclusion.
(L-R) Juju Wong, IRT ’15 and Catherine Wong
Catherine was thrilled to see that Juju Wong, IRT’15 was presenting at NCORE® for the first time with her advisor, Dr. Roderick Labrador and colleagues, Miya Sommers and Kirin Agustin Rajagopalan. Their session was entitled; The Impact of the UCLA and UH Mānoa Hawai’i Program on the Next Generation of Social Justice Educators. Read more on Juju’s presentation in her blog post.
Also, Sophie Lilinoe Grewell, IRT ’22 served on a panel with Daniel Hernandez, Marissa Beckstrom. Lana Lopesi and ‘Inoke Hafoka entitled; Pacific Coalitions in the Undercurrents.
“This past June, I participated in a panel titled “Pacific Coalitions in the Undercurrents” at NCORE® Hawai’i, alongside my PhD advisor Lana Lopesi, as well as ‘Inoke Hafoka and Daniel Hernandez. We discussed Pacific relational, intersectional, and coalition praxis, and I spoke about my experience in my first year as a PhD student at the University of Oregon. NCORE® was the first conference I attended as a grad student, and being in Hawai’i where much of my family and ancestors are from felt like a meeting of my personal and academic worlds.” – Sophie Lilinoe Grewell, IRT ’22
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Previous posts on NCORE®
NCORE 2023 – May 30 – June 3 (New Orleans, LA)
NCORE 2022 – May 31-June 4 (Portland Oregon)
Institute for Recruitment of Teachers 