On Oct. 21, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s College of Education and Human Services (COEHS) will host a discussion about social justice and human differences. Kent Koppelman, a champion of diversity and the author of “Understanding Human Differences,” is the keynote speaker.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. in Reeve Memorial Union Theater (Room 307), 748 Algoma Blvd. This multicultural education presentation is open to all faculty, staff, students and the community.  It is sponsored by COEHS and the Multicultural Education Coalition.

Koppelman authored a textbook that continues to be read by COEHS students and in multicultural education classes throughout the nation. He also wrote “Values in the Key of Life: Making Harmony in the Human Community,” another human relations resource, and co-founded a number of organizations, including the Wisconsin State Human Relations Association, which promote educational programs to help students recognize and value human diversity.

Koppelman has been recognized as a superb educator and a model mentor with awards such as the Outstanding Educator of the Year from Phi Delta Kappa and Wisconsin Teacher Educator of the Year.  He recently retired as a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he led the educational policy and practice department as chair from 1990 until 2000 and the education studies department from 2003 until 2006.