From Oct. 1-3, Penn will host Penn Spectrum, the University’s first-ever weekend-long alumni conference focused on diversity and community.

Sponsored by the Office of the President and Penn Alumni Relations, the conference seeks to engage diverse undergraduate and graduate alumni from all walks of life, and provide them with a new opportunity to reconnect with one another and their alma mater in a meaningful way.

All interested alumni are welcome, but the event will focus primarily on programs of interest to members of Asian, black, Latino, Native American and LGBT communities. This will make Penn the first among its peers to bring together LGBT alumni and alumni of color at one conference, affirming not only group affinity and identity, but also cross-cultural collaboration and understanding.

Penn President Amy Gutmann is scheduled to deliver welcoming remarks and the weekend events will include panel discussions, student group performances with alumni, affinity-based social events and a Saturday evening gala.

“Penn’s amazing momentum emanates from our proudly diverse and devoted alumni community,” Gutmann says. “The Penn Spectrum conference will launch a new forum for generations of graduates who have supported the University’s commitment to increasing understanding and building unity with diversity.”

Other guest speakers will include Tukufu Zuberi, chair of the Penn Department of Sociology; Marc H. Morial, CEO of the National Urban League; Grace Kao, a professor of sociology, education, and Asian American Studies at Penn; former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin; and Emilio Parrado, an associate professor of sociology at Penn.

For more information, contact Nicole Maloy, director of multicultural outreach at Alumni Relations, at 215-898-6168 or email at nmaloy@upenn.edu. $85 for alumni; $70 for young alumni (Class of 2001-2010); $70 for alumni age 65 and older.