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CORVALLIS - "Sojourners, Settlers, & New Immigrants: Mexicanos in Oregon Ayer y Hoy" (Yesterday and Today), a one-day conference at Oregon State University, will explore the Latino experience in the region.

Free and open to the public, the Friday, May 13, conference opens at 8:30 a.m. in OSU's Memorial Union Journey Room. The event is sponsored by the OSU Department of Ethnic Studies, Casa Educacional, Meso American Student Association, and MEChA - Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan - the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan.

More than a dozen sessions are scheduled, exploring topics ranging from "Latinos and Labor in Oregon," to "La Educacion de Nuestros Hijos: Educating our Children." For information contact the Department of Ethnic Studies at 541-737-0709.

Presenters include Erlinda Gonzales-Berry, chair of OSU's Department of Ethnic Studies; Carmen Urbina, executive director of El Centro Latino in Eugene; Damaris Silva, president of Oregon's Labor Council for Latin American Advancement; and Ramon Ramirez, president of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United).

Ramirez, and Jose Padin, director of Chicano Studies at Portland State University, will present "Latinos and Labor in Oregon" at 9 a.m. in MU Room 213, as one of three concurrent opening sessions.

Andrew Valls, an OSU assistant professor of political science, will present " The Many Faces of Discrimination: Ayer y Hoy," at 10:30 a.m. The 75-minute presentation includes Guadalupe Quinn, Lane County regional director of the Oregon Statewide Immigrants' Rights Coalition, and William Brown, associate professor of criminal justice at Western Oregon State University.

The day-long schedule includes:

9 a.m.: "Settlers and New Immigrants: Our Stories, Our Lives," Memorial Union Journey Room.
"From Poverty Programs to Community Empowerment, 1960-1975," MU Room 206.
"Latinos and Labor in Oregon," MU Room 213.

10:30 a.m.: "The Many Faces of Discrimination: Ayer y Hoy," MU Journey Room.
"A College of Our Own: El Colegio Cesar Chavez," MU Room 213.
"Gender Issues in Latino Communities," MU Room 206.

1:15 p.m.: "Delivering Health Care to New Immigrants," MU Journey Room.
"La Educacion de Nuestros Hijos: Educating Our Children," MU Room 213.
"Mexican Indigenous Communities in Oregon," MU Room 206.

2:45 p.m.: "Reproducing Communities in Transnational Spaces," MU Journey Room.
"The 1.5 and 2nd Generations: Our Stories, Our Lives," MU Room 213.
"New Immigrants: The Challenges They Face," MU Room 206.

4:15 p.m.: "La Immigracion Mexicana en Oregon: Perspectiva del Consulado Mexicano de Oregon" (Mexican Immigration in Oregon: Perspective of the Mexican Consulate of Oregon), MU Journey Room.

5 p.m.: Reception and social hour, MU Lounge.