The University is responding to the influx of Latino students in the Southeast by holding its first conference dedicated solely to Latino education.

The “First Triennial Conference on Latino Education and Immigrant Integration,” hosted by the Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education, begins today and runs through Wednesday.

“We will be addressing some of the pivotal questions of how to best educate the changing demographic of schools,” said Paula Mellom, an associate research scientist with CLASE.

Mellom said the conference will focus on how to better educate Latino students throughout Georgia, the Southeast and the country.

“We are addressing the educational needs of Latinos in the Southeast, because of the changing demographic in this region in particular. In some areas in the Southeast, there has been a 300 to 500 percent increase of Latinos,” Mellom said. “The conference is a means by which we could invite K-12 practitioners, grassroots organizers, policymakers and everyone who has a stake in this pressing and timely issue to come together and discuss how to best address this issue.”

Paul Matthews, assistant director and outreach coordinator for CLASE, said the conference has had a “tremendous reception” in the community.

“We originally expected some 150 people to attend the conference, but it keeps growing. We have 320 people registered to attend now,” Matthews said Friday.

“For a first-time conference, this is crazy,” Mellom said.

She said the conference will attract some of the “leading experts and best minds of these fields” nationwide.

“There will be five keynote speakers with 50-something breakout sessions,” Matthews said.

Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist and one of the keynote speakers, will be giving her speech on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Miller Learning Center. Mellom said this will be one of two conference events open to the public. Due to space restrictions, Matthews said there will be no on-site registration for the conference.

The cost to attend the conference was $150 for the public and $90 for students. However, some students at the University will be attending conference events for free.

Alexis Ruiz, president of Students for Latino Empowerment, said volunteers with SLE will be helping out with the conference and attending some of the events.

“As the leading Latino advocacy group on campus, it’s part of our mission to empower and educate Latinos,” she said. “It’s super important to connect with the people working on the same cause. It’s important to have a dialogue between the groups who have the same vision.”

The conference is being co-sponsored by the College of Education, the University’s Graduate School, and the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.