History of the Conference

History of the Conference

The Phyllis M. Yager Diversity Conference was established to honor Phyllis Yager as a friend, colleague and graduate of the College of Education.  Mrs. Yager devoted her career to advocating multicultural opportunities and gender-affirming activities in education through her work as a consultant at the Grant Wood Area Education Agency and in the Iowa City schools.  When Mrs. Yager died in 1991, her family and friends established the Phyllis M. Yager Education Fund through the University of Iowa Foundation to encourage the continuation of her diversity initiatives. 

The fund has supported conferences which honor Iowa teachers and their students for contributions to increasing diversity awareness within the school or community environment.  The honorees have been recognized at ceremonies and have been presented with $1000 to be used in furthering diversity initiatives or in professional development.  The recipients have been asked to make presentations to the College community discussing their initiatives and successes in increasing diversity awareness and to play a role in selecting future award recipients.

School administrators and other community leaders are asked to nominate K-12 teachers who have planned and carried out projects with their students each year in the fall.  Past recipients are asked to share stories of their continuing efforts to promote the value of diversity in schools and within communities.  A newsletter is distributed twice a year to school leaders and past recipients.  Past recipients are invited as special guests to the annual spring conference.

The conference is a time to hear from national leaders who provide added insights and ideas for the faculty, conference honorees, and UI students.  At times the conference has become a university-wide effort to promote diversity initiatives and to share campus wide projects and programs.

Phyllis Yager began exciting programs in the Iowa City Schools which began as a required family living effort which she and a faculty colleague planned and headed to involve every middle school student in the district.  Many diversity efforts continue since the inception of the program 40 years ago.  Phyllis became the first Diversity Coordinator in the Iowa City Community School district and which was continued even after her employment in Grant Wood Area Education Agency to continue the pioneer efforts in all the 199 schools served by the Grant Wood Agency.  Now the program has become statewide through the conferences and an important part of the College of Education diversity efforts.  The Conference and many other activities are coordinated and managed by the COE Diversity Committee.