Conference Theme:

This year’s theme for the MCPA conference is:
​ Access in Higher Education: Navigating the Barriers, centering around one of our core values, access. We define access as “... quality, affordable, statewide programming with a focus on intentional design.”  This year's conference intends to allow participants to explore how to advance access (both physical and systemic barriers) for students, faculty, staff, and community members while striving towards eliminating them.  ​

​Schedule viewed here

Registration Rate - Late Registration

Any registrations after Oct 27th, please note that you might not received a printed name tag. 

MCPA Member Rate

Faculty & Staff - Two Day: $195 
Faculty & Staff - One Day: $145
​Graduate Student/Undergrad/Transition: $85 
 Non-Member Rate

Faculty & Staff - Two Day: $235 
Faculty & Staff - One Day: $185
​Graduate Student/Undergrad/Transition: $100

Radisson Blu - Mall of America

2100 Killebrew Drive 
Bloomington, Minnesota ​55425 
​
Hotel Block: Hotel rooms are blocked at a rate of $159 per night.

To receive this rate, attendees should call the hotel at (952) 881-5258 and mention the MCPA Fall Conference. ​

For more information about the hotel, visit the Radisson Blu - MOA website. 
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Keynote Speakers

Dr. Buffy Smith

​Buffy Smith, Ph.D. is a sociologist, educator, and consultant. She is the founding associate dean of Dougherty Family College and professor of Sociology at the University of St. Thomas. She earned her B.A. in Sociology at Marquette University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The courses she teach include Social Problems, Race & Ethnicity, Social Stratification, and the Sociology Senior Seminar. She was an Association for the Study of Higher Education /Lumina Fellow in 2003. Dr. Smith’s primary research interests include examining racial and class disparities within the higher education system. She also writes on policy issues dealing with mentoring, access, retention, equity, and diversity in higher education.
Dr. Michael Dando

​Dr. Michael B. Dando is an Assistant Professor of Secondary English Education at Saint Cloud State University. An award-winning author, artist, educator, and scholar with nearly two decades of classroom experience, his work explores how urban youth negotiate various cultural forms including hip-hop and comics to generate social, cultural, and political identities that create new and sustaining avenues for critical engagement regarding educational and intersectional social justice.
He has shared his passion for hip-hop and education with national and international audiences at various academic conferences, has been published by various academic journals, and has had his work featured by multiple media outlets and publications including ESPN’s Undefeated, Vibe, BLAVITY, CNN, PBS, The Today Show, and the South by Southwest Education Festival (SXSWEdu). ​
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