November 3-4  2022 
Virtual Conference Keynote  Speakers
Dr. Karl Reid, Chief Ladybug, & Two Feathers
​All On The Zoom Platform

Innovation, Inspiration, & Action
DEI: What Is Our Future In An Upside World

The Systems Of DEI
***
Thursday, November 3, 2022
10 am - 12 am Eastern

Karl Reid, Ed.D.
Dr. Karl W. Reid was appointed Senior Vice Provost and Chief Inclusion Officer at Northeastern University on April 1, 2021. He also holds the title of Professor of Practice in the Graduate School of Education in the College of Professional Studies. Before joining Northeastern, Dr. Reid served for seven years as the Executive Director of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), marking his return to the organization that gave him his first significant leadership experience 32 years earlier. A certified diversity professional, Dr. Reid has been a leading national advocate for diversity and inclusion and for increasing college access, opportunity, and success for low-income and minority youth.
​

Dr. Reid came to NSBE from the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), where he oversaw new program development, research, and capacity building for the organization's 37 historically black colleges and universities. He also held the title of Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Member College Engagement. 


Before his service at UNCF, he worked in positions of progressive responsibility to increase diversity at his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which he left as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Director of the Office of Minority Education. While working at MIT as Director of Engineering Outreach Programs, Dr. Reid earned his Doctor of Education degree at Harvard University. His dissertation explored the interrelationship of race, identity, and academic achievement for African American males in college. He is the author of "Working Smarter, Not Just Harder: Three Sensible Strategies for Succeeding in College…and Life." Dr. Reid is also a founding member of the 50K Coalition, a national effort to produce 50,000 diverse engineering graduates annually by 2025.


Dr. Reid was born in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Roosevelt, New York, a predominantly working-class, African-American community on Long Island. The high value his parents placed on education, and his admission to a well-resourced magnet high school near Roosevelt, put him on a track to follow his older brother to MIT, where he earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in Materials Science and Engineering and was a Tau Beta Pi Scholar.


After graduating from MIT, Dr. Reid worked in the computer industry for 12 years in product management, marketing, sales, and consulting. In 1991, five years into a successful career in sales and marketing with IBM Corporation, Dr. Reid read Jonathan Kozol's "Savage Inequalities," a seminal book about educational disparities in the U.S., which sparked his passion for bringing about positive change through the education of African Americans and other underserved populations.


Dr. Reid sits on the National Council for Expanding American Innovation at the US Patent and Trademark Office; the Committee on Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women of Color in Technology at the National Academy of Engineering; the American Society for Civil Engineers Industrial Leaders Council and the Dean's advisory cabinets for the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the University of Michigan College of Engineering. He holds memberships in the American Society for Engineering Education and the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives.


He is a frequent contributor to the national diversity engineering dialogue and the author of several commentary pieces. Dr. Reid has been quoted in numerous articles in publications such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hechinger Report.

A Salute To Native American Heritage Month

An Evening Of Indigenous Culture
***
Friday, November 4, 2022
7 pm - 8:30 pm Eastern

Chief Ladybug

Denise Pruitt (aka Chief Ladybug) was born seven of nine children to Ginger Evans (Croatan Tribe) and Edward Brown (Ponkapoag Tribe). She grew up and was educated in Dorchester, Massachusetts. After receiving her BS degree from Salem State College and her Masters in Education from Cambridge College (Massachusetts), Denise received her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Denise started her private practice in Brookline, Massachusetts. When the medical practice closed, she began working at Brigham and Women in Norwood, Massachusetts, a community medical practice. While working there, Denise started teaching at Fisher College in Boston and knew that was her true passion.  

She has served as an educational leader in several colleges in greater Boston. Denise currently serves as Professor and Program Chair at MassBay Community College. 

Denise is married and has five (adult) children and eight of the cutest grandkids on the planet. An active Indigenous leader in her community, Denise resides in Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
Two Feathers

Carlen Carter Morgan, whose Nipmuc name is Nisa Mikwanûsh (Two Feathers), is a clan mother among the Amiskanoagwiak Band of Nipmuc Indians. Historically, clan mothers were decision-makers in the community. They represented the will of the people in selecting Sachems and other important decisions. As a clan mother, Carlena works to revitalize the Nipmuc language, culture, and community.


Nipmuc culture, to Carlena, means trying to live the way of the seven teachings, with respect being the number one value. The others are honesty, love, bravery, humility, truth, and wisdom. Carlena is focusing on wisdom because she believes this is something she can offer the younger members of her community. She wants to teach them the good things in life and help them to make healthy and wise choices in their own lives. Carlena sees her role as a clan mother as an important part of her identity and daily routine. Whenever she has the chance, she greets, hugs, and prays with the youth in her community. This simple gesture, Carlena believes, will help her community heal. In this way, she makes sure to hug or speak with any young person she encounters. Carlena has also encouraged many young people in the Northeastern tribal communities to understand their traditional practices and dances associated with the Northeastern native culture. 


Amongst many other contributions to the Northeastern region of Indian country, Carlena has also participated in High Level Political Forums during the General Assembly Sessions at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to help combat many ongoing conflicts amongst member states and Indigenous Nations. 


Carlena plans to open a program called NALA (Native American Literacy Alliance). She plans to combine this formal education with Native teachings to work as an advocate to counsel young Native people. She will use the Historical Trauma Experiences, which holds that Native people are still deeply wounded by what happened to their 
ancestors in the past and insidiously, particularly the Indian boarding school experience of the elders. In the case of the Nipmuc people, the trauma started in the early 1600’s. Their community is in the present-day New England area now called Grafton, Massachusetts. European contact caused immense changes to their way of life, including dependence on trade goods and alcohol. Loss of land, language, and traditional ways were often accompanied by the loss of many people to diseases and wars. The Indian boarding schools finished the job by taking away traditional parenting skills and Native life ways.


The Amiskanoagwiak band of the Nipmuc Indian Tribe is a sovereign tribal community with a reservation in present-day Grafton, Massachusetts.