World-renowned indigenous language experts to speak at International Year of Indigenous Languages Conference at PFW

FORT WAYNE, Ind.—The International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019: Perspectives Conference begins this week at Purdue University Fort Wayne and will feature more than three dozen distinguished speakers from around the globe during keynotes, presentations, and panel discussions.

The conference is celebrating UNESCO’s Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL) from a number of different perspectives including policy, education, linguistic, and community, to name just a few. A primary goal of the three-and-a-half-day event is to “bring indigenous language speakers together with heritage language speakers, academic scholars, educators, and policy makers to explore and share perspectives.”

You can view the list and learn about the invited speakers on the conference’s website.

A day of pre-conference workshops will take place on Wednesday, October 30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Walb Union. The conference officially begins on Thursday, October 31, with panel presentations from 9 a.m. to noon.

There will be a brief news conference on Thursday, at noon, in the Office of International Education in Walb Union, Room 145, where Purdue Fort Wayne Chancellor Ron Elsenbaumer and three of the scheduled speakers will speak.

Chancellor Elsenbaumer will also give opening remarks during the luncheon, at 12:30 p.m. in the International Ballroom in Walb Union.

The first keynote panel of the conference will follow at 1:15 p.m. The members of this panel are all members of the UNESCO IYIL Steering Committee.

All of the sessions are free to attend and are open to the public. Organizers would like anyone who wishes to attend to register, either at the conference or online.

For a complete list of events and speakers, please refer to the conference website.

For additional information, contact Susan Alderman at 260-481-6165 (office), 260-489-5349 (cell), or [email protected].

###