PRISM Conference

PRISM (Pride, Research, Intersectionality, Support, Movement) Conference

SAVE THE DATE

October 24 – 25, 2025

This Year’s Theme: Existence as Resistance

You’re invited to attend our annual SUNY Oneonta PRISM Conference!

The planning committee for the SUNY Oneonta PRISM Conference cordially invites students, community members, resource professionals, junior and senior faculty, and administrators to attend our upcoming conference.

In 2025, the political and cultural landscape has sent the message, both at the institutional and interpersonal level, that LGBTQIA+ people should not be afforded the same rights as our heterosexual and cisgender peers. Our stories are being banned from public schools and government websites, our youth are being denied life-saving medical care, and legislation targeting our communities seems to continue without end. It is during times like this that we are faced with the difficult challenge of balancing reality and optimism. Hope comes from within us and within our communities as we remind ourselves that people like us always have and always will exist despite attempts to erase us. In ways both big and small, our community members and allies maintain this truism as both a means of survival and a call to action. This year, we bring to you the 12th Annual PRISM Conference theme: Existence as Resistance; a conference to discuss the myriad ways that individuals and communities can and do continue to nurture and affirm LGBTQIA+ identities and experiences in the face of adversity.

Zanele Muholi, a South African activist and artist, in talking about their experiences as a queer Black nonbinary person, stated that: "If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself." During this conference, we hope to bring together bright minds to celebrate, collaborate, and imbue hope through a shared commitment to our continued existence in 2025 and beyond.

We are happy to share that the conference will continue to be hybrid this year with a virtual option via Microsoft Teams.

More details will be shared closer to the event dates.

This conference is meant to highlight and celebrate LGBTQIA+ experiences through fostered dialogue across academic and/or practical experiences, disciplinary foci, and institutional perspectives, as well as provide support and resources to those that attend. Today’s students entering college come with new attitudes and understandings around gender, sexuality, and wellness.

In the past few years, we have all witnessed a large Civil Rights Movement for the United States, which has had an effect on all of us, and largely impacted people within our LGBTQIA+ community. Despite the progress made in different areas of policy, education, and pop culture, there’s still a lot of work to be done in order to give the best support and education to students in a nation and world full of uncertainty. To this effect, this conference serves to provide an avenue for different voices to be heard and allow for greater representation of individuals who are so often silenced.

PRISM Conference Learning Outcomes

Conference participants will be able to:

Identify multiple aspects of diversity, including the ongoing development of identity and creating an inclusive community (Pride).
Explore and analyze current trends and issues that LGBTQIA+ college students face through historical and/or future-oriented lenses (Research).
Create an understanding around the experiences of intersecting identities within the LGBTQIA+ community (Intersectionality).
Facilitate opportunities for mentorship to strengthen leadership development in preparation for life beyond college (Support).
Develop impactful approaches to promoting diversity, inclusion, and wellness through advocacy (Movement).

How to Submit a Presentation Proposal

We encourage student presenters to seek guidance from a faculty or staff member at their home institution. The faculty or staff member(s) should mentor the students through the process of writing the conference proposal, organizing a presentation on a specific theme, and presenting their scholarship to an audience.

All presentations should:

Explore the PRISM Conference theme through the analysis of research, best practices, lived experience, and activism.
Promote audience engagement, personal and collective reflection, and robust discussion.
Include a strongly articulated purpose, conceptual foundation, contextual background, and contributions to intersectional LGBTQIA+ scholarship and advocacy.

To submit a proposal, please complete the provided form. Submissions are due by Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Jasmine Buenviaje at jasmine.buenviaje@oneonta.edu.