FARMINGTON — University of Maine at Farmington will take a closer look at social justice and education at its fourth annual Teaching and Working in a Diverse World conference.

This half-day conference is free and open to the public. It will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, at selected venues on the UMF campus.

The forum begins with a keynote address by Stephen Wessler, founder and former executive director of the Center for Preventing Hate, at 11:45 a.m. in Lincoln Auditorium, UMF Roberts Learning Center.

Wessler’s talk, “The Power of Words to Hurt and Heal: Creating Safe and Respectable Schools,” will address the pervasive use of degrading language in schools, its serious impact and skills for responding to and preventing hate in schools.

Following the keynote address, a series of informational sessions, films and discussions will be presented by faculty members and professionals in the field examining topics that show how educators promote equality in the learning environment. Among the topics to be discussed are: “Service Learning: A Method for Including All Students,” “Addressing Social Injustice through Readers Theater,” “Understanding and Preventing Childhood Bullying,” “Speaking Peace in the Classroom” and more.

As an attorney in the Maine Attorney General’s Office from 1992 to 1999, Wessler developed and directed the civil rights enforcement effort, creating the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence in 1999. A member of the faculty at University of Southern Maine, Wessler advocates for the prevention of bias motivated violence and consults on issues affecting school climate across the United States and in Europe.

He has been widely recognized for his work on hate crimes and their prevention and has received numerous awards including: the 2008 Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce, Education/Business Partnership Award; the 2003 Dirigo Alliance, Leader for Change Award; and the 2002 Maine Bar Foundation, Howard Dana Award for services provided to Maine’s vulnerable populations. Wessler is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston University School of Law.

The UMF Diversity Conference is sponsored by the UMF Office of the Associate Provost and Dean of Education and the UMF Diversity Committee.

For a list of the conference session descriptions, presenters, times and locations, visit the conference website at http://teachereducation.umf.maine.edu/diversity-conference/2011-2012/.