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We are pleased to announce the Bridging Voices in Our Community Bullying Project ™ will host its annual bullying conference on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. This year’s theme is “Beyond Awareness: Strategies to Eliminate Bullying,” in which we are asking administrators, teachers, coaches and school personnel from across the state to join us in becoming the “human bridge” as we come together and serve as voices against bullying.

* This free conference fulfills PDR and CPDU requirements rooted in the Common Core social and emotional learning standards and serves as a time for learning communities and our campus community to unite and promote bullying prevention through the sharing of scholarly research, creative resources, and strategies going beyond simple awareness of bullying. We will offer a face-to-face conference as well as an opportunity for schools and registrants to participate through Skype.

This free conference's guest speakers include:

• Dr. Dorothy Espelage, professor of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois, who will be speaking on the social-emotional learning approach to bullying and sexual harassment.
• Mr. Tyrone Rivers, who will be speaking on ritual insults among African-American students and its link to bullying.
• Dr. Justin Patchin, co-director of Cyber Research Center, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, who will speak on issues of preventing and responding to cyberbullying.

Several EIU faculty and students also serve as a voice against bullying through topics such as:

• Early Warning Signs for Early Educators (Dr. Sham Yunus)
• Building Bridges to Belong (Dr. Charles Eberly)
• Bullying Prevention and Intervention: The Need to Address Homophobic Bullying (Dr. Dorothy Espelage)
• The Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication (Dr. Melanie Mills)
• Creating a Climate of Safety and Social Responsibility by Promoting a Community of Upstanders (Roxanne Cornebise)
• Diffusing Bullying through Literature (Melania Lane, Jena Borah, and Kyle Davis)
• Equipping Teachers: Strategies for Parent/Teacher Interactions (Dr. Angela Jacobs)
• Stuck in the Middle: A Realistic, Preventive Approach to Bullying Behaviors (Monica Genta)
• Confronting Bullying Through Girls on the Run (Beth Gillespie)
• Can You Hear Me? Giving a Voice to Students with Disabilities in Bully Prevention (Dr. Jennifer Stringfellow)

We hope you will partner with us for this year’s conference and help us move beyond bullying awareness. For more information about the conference and registration, please visit our website at www.BVCBullyingProject.org.