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Published on : June 9, 2026
Cantú, Cordano to Deliver Plenary Speeches at CSWE’s 2026 Annual Conference
CSWE announced today that best-selling author Francisco Cantú will deliver the Opening Plenary at the organization’s 72nd Annual Conference in Atlanta this October. Dr. Roberta “Bobbi” Cordano, President of Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, will deliver the conference’s Futures of Social Work Plenary.
The Opening Plenary serves as the official kickoff to CSWE’s Annual Conference, preparing and engaging attendees ahead of the upcoming educational sessions. The Futures of Social Work Plenary, sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and delivered on the conference’s final day, explores forward-looking perspectives on issues and challenges facing the social work profession in years to come.
Opening Plenary: Francisco Cantú
Cantú is a writer of essay, memoir, and literary criticism as well as a translator of Spanish to English prose. His first book, The Line Becomes a River, was the winner of the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction. A former Fulbright fellow, Cantú has received the Pushcart Prize, the Whiting Award, an Art for Justice fellowship, and the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano Literature. His writing and translations have been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and many other publications, as well as on the popular radio program and podcast “This American Life.” He is currently an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Futures of Social Work Plenary: Dr. Bobbi Cordano
Dr. Roberta “Bobbi” Cordano serves as the 11th president of Gallaudet University, the world’s only bilingual ASL-English university for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Cordano is the first deaf woman and openly LGBTQ person to serve in that role at Gallaudet. She champions sign language equity, economic opportunity, innovation, and inclusion. Cordano’s wide-ranging experience includes roles as a Minnesota assistant attorney general, vice president of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, educational administrator at the University of Minnesota, and a founder of two charter schools. She received her JD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a Bachelor of Arts and an Honorary Doctorate from Beloit College. Her work has been featured in The Washington Business Journal, Women in Higher Education, ABC News Live, USA TODAY, Forbes, and the Harvard Business Review.
CSWE’s 72nd Annual Conference
Registration is officially open for CSWE's 72nd Annual Conference, the premier annual event for social work educators and students. This year, the conference returns to Atlanta from October 22 to 25. The 2026 theme, Rooted in Resilience: Honoring the Past, Grounding the Present, invites the social work education community to reflect on the strength and adaptability of the profession while celebrating the legacies of justice, advocacy, and care that continue to shape our work. Learn more and register here.