Conference announcement: Symposium on Spanish language communities in DC area -- 5 April 2006, University of Maryland

[Scott G. McGINNIS]

2006 SYMPOSIUM ON SPANISH LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES
IN THE GREATER WASHINGTON, D.C. METROPOLITAN AREA

For the third consecutive year, the Department of Spanish 
and Portuguese; the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education 
(OMSE); the Latino Student Union; and the Latin American 
Studies Center, University of Maryland, are collaborating to 
offer a one-day Symposium on Wednesday, April 5 2006.  This 
event will take place in the Multi-purpose Room of St. 
Mary’s Hall, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on campus.

At present, Latinos comprise the largest minority in the 
United States. The Symposium will address key issues 
regarding the socio-cultural, political and educational 
realities of Latino communities within the Greater 
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. For a number of years, 
several faculty members at the University of Maryland have 
established research projects as well as community based 
service programs. Thanks to this collective expertise, we 
can offer today this array of knowledge and experience, in 
particular with the nearby, Latino immigrant communities. 
Through their work, faculty, administrative staff, and 
undergraduate and graduate students at Maryland have also 
began a liaison with other universities and service centers 
in the area, some of which will also be represented in the 
Symposium.

While previous meetings have focused on immigration, 
education, and local politics, the panels for the 2006 
Symposium aim to address questions related to the role of 
the Spanish-speaking media in the area. The morning portion 
of the program will consist of a panel that will discuss the 
significance of writing and broadcasting news in Spanish. 
After a short break, the keynote speaker will address a 
topic pertaining to an area of interest.  Lunch will be 
provided for the speakers and other registered participants 
in the Symposium. In the afternoon portion, we will 
concentrate on sources of information about cultural news 
and entertainment for the Spanish-speaking community in the 
area:

9:30 – 10:00 am		Coffee
10:00 – 11:45 am	Morning panel: Alberto Avendaño 
(Editor-in-Chief, El Tiempo Latino), Rafael Roncal (Editor, 
El Pregonero), Mitzi Macías (Editor and reporter, Washington 
Hispanic), and Eusebio Val, Washington correspondent, La 
Vanguardia (Barcelona, Spain).
11:45 – 1:00 pm	Lunch
1:00 – 3:00 pm	Afternoon panel: Estuardo Rodríguez (Latin 
VIP.com), Diego Vásquez (Metro DC), Patricia Omaña (Radio 
Viva 900), Andrea Sarralde (Telemundo/Radio Viva 900).

The program will begin with a welcome and introduction by a 
representative from the Organizing Committee. Each panelist 
will speak for approximately 15-20 minutes. At the end of 
the presentations, the facilitator for each panel will 
moderate questions and comments from the audience regarding 
the content of each presentation for approx. 20-30 minutes. 
The audience will mostly consist of undergraduate students 
from our program, faculty from the School of Languages, and 
administrators and other members of the campus community 
with interest in Latino issues.

This event is free and open to the public, but organizers 
request confirmation of your attendance to either the 
morning coffee (9:30 to 10:00 am) and/or luncheon (11:45 am 
to 1:00 pm)

contact: crbahr at umd.edu  (301) 405-8817  and  
mlacorte at umd.edu  (301) 405 8233  

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE PROGRAM SCHEDULE SEE THE 
FOLLOWING WEBSITES: 

-	www.languages.umd.edu/SpanishPortuguese
-	 www.omse.umd.edu 
-	 www.inform.umd.edu/LAS