The women’s studies minor program will sponsor a panel of experts who will speak on the definition of diversity at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Charleston/Mattoon Room at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“We have all been using the word since the 60s, thought we knew what we wanted to achieve in the 80s and 90s, yet are still grappling with ever wider concerns related to the concept of diversity,” said Janet Marquardt, women’s studies minor program coordinator, in a press release.

The discussions will explore various aspects of diversity. Featured panelists include Daiva Markelis, professor of English; Mehdi Semati, professor of speech communication; Johnetta Jones, assistant professor of minority student affairs; Edith Hedges, retired professor of family and consumer sciences and Nida Elmuti, professor of biological sciences.

Each panelist will present a brief introduction to his or her own experiences, and an open discussion between panel participants and audience members will take place, the press release stated.

Topics such as gender, race, class, age, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, religion, intellectual level, politics and profession may be discussed in order to bring greater awareness, tolerance and experience to the campus community, Marquardt said.

The panel discussion is free and open to the public, and Marquardt believes this event will lead to the development of “a number of directions from which we can draw future topics and presentations for our series.”

This is the first in a series of open discussions on diversity.