Apr 16, 2024
Diversity and Inclusion as Cornerstones
In the latest episode of NASPA's SA Voices From the Field, Dr. Jill Creighton emphasizes a critical component of student affairs - the unwavering commitment to justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (JEDIB). Our seasoned panelists, hailing from various colleges and universities, underscore the weight these principles carry in their day-to-day operations, extending to job searches, mentorship, and general support within their respective institutions.
Intentional Hiring and Representation
Several panelists, such as Aquanetta Pinkert and Dr. Adrienne White, spotlight the importance of creating an environment where everyone feels they belong. They stress intentional hiring practices that not only look at qualifications but also give weight to lived experiences, ensuring teams mirror the diversity of the student body they serve.
Challenges and Alignment with Values
The current landscape, fraught with challenges in states like Louisiana and Florida, demands an active demonstration of DEI values. Taylor Kane and Shatera Davis explain the necessity of aligning personal values with those of their employers to effectuate genuine change and advocate for marginalized communities.
Growth and Empathy in Leadership
Evolving as empathetic leaders is key. Panelists discuss the need to incorporate DEI into everyday work, language, and team collaborations, recognizing that personal growth stems from understanding and championing diverse perspectives. Leaders like Dilna Cama and Sabina Kapoor emphasize the dynamic nature of DEI and its role in shaping mentorship and advocacy within higher education.
Support Systems and Professional Development
Rachael Amaro and Stephanie Cochrane highlight support systems' centrality in fostering an inclusive environment for staff and students. Professional development tailored to understanding and serving diverse student populations is not just an additive; it is the foundation upon which equitable student support is built.
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:00:01]:
Welcome to student affairs voices from the field, the podcast where
we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to
seasoned experts. This is season 10, continuing our season 9 theme
of on transitions in student affairs. This podcast is brought to
you by NASPA, and I'm doctor Jill Creighton. She, her, hers, your
SA Voices from the field host. Hello, SA Voices. This is our final
bonus episode from the annual conference in which you shared with
us your thoughts on the 3 conference foci areas. If you haven't
listened to the other 2, go ahead and check back for the previous 2
weeks to listen to your responses there. For today's focus area,
we're looking at justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and
belonging. And the question we asked all of you was how do
considerations of JED IB influence your approach to job searching,
mentorship, and or support in the profession of student affairs?
You all had some incredible responses to this one. Please enjoy
this part of the conversation, and again, thank you so much for
sharing your voice with us.
Acquanetta
Pinkard [00:01:04]:
I'm Acquanetta Pinkard. I am from Montgomery, Alabama. I work for
Alabama State University and I am a trio professional for 23 years.
It influences greatly because I believe everybody matters.
Everybody matters, everybody in their respective place should have
an opportunity to feel free, have a sense of belonging and be
comfortable for whatever time that you you're in that space. So
it's huge for me.
Taylor Cain
[00:01:33]:
I'm Taylor Cain. I work at the University of Georgia and serve as
the director of engagement leadership and service there. I think
when it comes to DEI efforts, you know, trying to keep those things
always at the front of your mind, recognizing my own privilege that
I have and the identities that I hold, the experiences that I've
been fortunate enough to have, recognizing they might extend it to
everybody, whether because of identities they might hold or because
they don't have the financial backing right to attend a conference
as great as NASPA. But trying to keep those things in mind and make
opportunities for folks to to experience what they can where they
are, within the local locality of where they're at and what they're
able to to do. I think when it comes to the work that we do in
supporting students is recognizing how I show up, how I take the
time to spend with folks to better understand their lived
experience, let that inform how I approach my work. And always I
think recognizing and and trying to approach it with a little bit
of humility. I've always got more to learn. I mean, I certainly
don't know at all.
Taylor Cain
[00:02:31]:
So, I mean, I think that's that's certainly gonna be important.
And, you know, I think at the end of the day, trying to find an
employer or a place of employment that matches your values, where
you feel like you can be yourself, that you can show up
authentically and do good work, and to know that that you are
salient to the purpose and mission of that institution. I think for
me, I've I feel really lucky to be in a place where where those
values align, but I've always encouraged folks that that whatever
institution you're at may not always be it. And so trying to find
opportunities where you at the end of the day can go home and feel
good about what you're doing. Because that buy in, it's tough to
sometimes achieve, but it's so important I think to your happiness
and being feeling empowered in the role that you have. And so
trying to find where you can have value alignment.
Adrienne White
[00:03:16]:
I'm doctor Adrienne White. I'm the director of student success
coaching at George Mason University, and I use sheher pronouns. So
as a black woman in higher education, I think mentorship is
extremely important. Personally, did not have a mentor that helped
me, and guide me through these processes. I kinda had to figure it
out on myself, on my own. And so, you know, that's part of the
drive for me to run the success coaching program at George Mason
University because I wanna be able to make sure that all students
have the resources and the support that they need to succeed. I
also am very intentional with who I hire on my team. I have one of
the most diverse teams at George Mason University because I knew it
was important that my team needed to represent the student
body.
Adrienne White [00:04:02]:
We're one of the most diverse institutions in the country.
Therefore, my team needed to reflect that as well. And so I
prioritize who I hire and making sure that it's not just, you know,
on look, it's on experiences, it's on background. It's it's
encompassing everything to give everybody the opportunity, to work
in student affairs because it's a field of belonging and inclusion,
and it really starts at the top and making sure that we're
intentional in our hiring decisions.
Susan Hua
[00:04:33]:
Hi. My name is Susan Hua. I use sheher pronouns, and I'm the
director of diversity, equity, inclusion at the Community College
of Aurora, which is an MSI HSI just outside of Denver, Colorado.
Diversity, equity, inclusion plays a really, really big role for me
when I job search or when I think about mentorship relationships or
support. I think it's the foundation of everything that we do, and
I know that with the current landscape of DEI being under attack in
different states, it's ever more important for us to think about
ways that we're centering DEI work for employees and for students,
and to really think about how we're centering equity at the heart
of the work that we're doing to embrace change for students in the
future and to really ensure that higher education is open access
for folks.
Aileen Hentz
[00:05:12]:
My name is Aileen Hentz. I'm at the University of Maryland as the
program director of academic and student services. This is
something that has been important to me since essentially day one,
even long before I started my journey within higher education. I
think for me, I'm looking for different opportunities and ways to
better myself professionally by constantly expanding my network of
support, places and people that I can, work and collaborate with to
help better help students. I think also I've now, at this point,
pushed harder. I don't just accept answers to questions that I
don't think are fair or just. I try to see what I can do to help
push an issue further, to really try to inspire broader and bigger
change. To me, it's not just enough these days to just refer a
student who's struggling with something to somewhere else, like our
counseling center or our multicultural advocacy group. I still do
that, but I also think to myself, well, what more can I do? And so
I'll try to bring things to our department level and change policy
within our department. And even within our diversity council at the
college level, I'll bring different issues that I see or hear from
my students to them to try and really push for change on a broader
scale.
Stephen Rice
[00:06:27]:
Stephen Rice, director of the Office of Community Expectations at
the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.
It's important to really that people are seen in your positions,
and so really thinking about diversity, equity, inclusion should be
a foundation and framework in all the work that we do, especially
with those we hire because our students are diverse populations,
and so they should see the people that they often meet with may
look like them too. And so if everyone looks the same, they're not
able to really provide a different unique experience and
opportunity for students. Often times, there's a trust that
students may have, and when they see someone that looks like them,
they're able to go to those individuals and create more tools and
other opportunities for them to really grow and reach and be
mentored so they'd be successful students and work forward. And
then it's also with the staff that we have. When you're the only
one, it's tough. And so when you're able to bring a very diverse,
unique experience, people feel supported, they feel seen, and they
provide the same for the students that they serve.
Amy Adam
[00:07:19]:
Hi. This is Amy Adam and I am from the University of Missouri in
Columbia. I have been a student services support manager for 20
years, serving graduate students with diversity, equity, and
inclusion that does very much influence my approach to mentorship
and support in my profession. We have a lot of international
students that we make sure that they feel supported and connected
to campus. And I know they face a lot of adversity coming from
another country, especially in the Midwest, so we really strive to
make sure that they feel supported. And I'm also doing some work
with students with disabilities as I finish up my master's in
higher ed. So that's been really, really just enjoyable and
satisfying to help that population of students make sure that they
feel connected to campus, that they feel that sense of belonging,
and show them that they can advocate for themselves and have a
voice because their voice matters. So, really, we just kinda try to
keep that in our mindset in our daily work just to make sure that
those students are supported.
Stephanie
Cochrane [00:08:27]:
Hi. I'm Stephanie Cochrane. I'm the director of student services at
Northeastern University in Toronto. I'm here for NASPA for just the
Sunday pre conference around graduate students. Well, one of my
passion projects since I started in the role was a mentorship
program, a peer mentorship program. And so thinking about our
international students, they really are looking for mentorship,
guidance, support, any advice from their peers, and they're more
likely to listen to their peers than to us sometimes. So thinking
about the DEI piece, they feel that sense of belonging when there's
somebody who's been through a similar experience to them. So having
them connected with a mentor from their very first semester before
they even arrive in Canada is super helpful for them with not just
understanding navigating the Canadian landscape, the Toronto city,
the cost of living, and then, of course, their academic journey. So
having that is a really helpful way to think about DEI because it's
from that peer to peer support, which is sometimes missing in
higher education.
Shatera Davis
[00:09:28]:
Hi. My name is Shatera Davis. I use sheher pronouns. I'm the
director of student affairs at Northeastern in Seattle. I mean,
it's embedded in my identity as a black person, as a queer person.
I can't work in a space that doesn't have that as core values. And
if I choose a place that's like that, then I can find really
quickly that it doesn't align with my values. And so it's probably
the one it's the most important thing because it's who I am
visibly.
Shatera Davis
[00:09:50]:
And so as I move and as I navigate to different higher ed
institutions, I'm very direct in my questions, like, what have they
done for historically marginalized students? What do they do for
staff? What did they do during the pandemic? How were they kind to
their staff in this new remote era and hybrid era? Like, how are
they giving their staff benefits? And, like, those kinds of things,
I'm asking those intentional questions because I wanna make sure
that I'm in alignment with the values. It doesn't mean the higher
education institution is bad, it just means it's not right for me.
And so I just make sure that it's always in alignment for me
because it's personal. I mean, it's embedded in my identity as a
black person, as a queer person. I can't work in a space that
doesn't have that as core values. And if I choose a place that's
like that, then I can find really quickly that it doesn't align
with my values and so it's probably the one it's the most important
thing because it's who I am visibly and so as I move and as I
navigate to different higher ed institutions, I'm very direct. My
question is, like, what have they done for historically
marginalized students? What do they do for staff? What did they do
during the pandemic? How were they kind to their staff in this new
remote era and hybrid era? Like, how are they giving their staff
benefits? And, like, those kinds of things, I'm asking those
intentional questions because I wanna make sure that I'm in
alignment with the values. It doesn't mean the higher education
institution is bad, it just means it's not right for me, and so I
just make sure that it's always in alignment for me because it's
personal.
Andy Wiegert
[00:11:12]:
I am Andy Wiegert, director of graduate student affairs, Arts and
Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis. Yes, this has to
actually, in my opinion, start from the moment we are interviewing
candidates for positions and bringing people to our campus is that
everything should be looked at through the lens of equity and the
lens of inclusion. And so from the start, my stance, our stance is
to be asking those questions upfront. So how do you define anti
racism? How do you define things like this? Will you be a fit to be
an actual mentor who recognizes this need for diversity? So we're
doing that at the very, very early stages. That then translates to
training, development, things like that, but if we're not doing it
out of the gates, then we're gonna run into problems down the
road.
Scott Peska
[00:12:01]:
Hi. Scott Peska, Waubonsee Community College, Assistant Provost of
Student Services. I think in all three of these areas, job
searching, mentorship, and support for the profession of student
affairs, there's probably nothing more important than equity and
injustice and looking at place that you're looking at to the the
values of the institution reflect what your values are and you know
and so as a student affairs professionals something that has come
to my heart is just making sure that we can care for all of our
students and that we can try to help them succeed no matter what
their background and making sure that we can put the necessary
supports there. And so if the institution doesn't have those same
values, we gotta be able to look at that. And so I've always looked
at it when job searching. I think when mentoring, talking to
individuals, making sure that I'm reaching out to be able to
provide those kind of supports all across the way.
Dilna Cama
[00:12:48]:
Dilna Cama. I am a director within student life at the Ohio State
University, and I am part of the off campus and commuter knowledge
community. I think that is part of our everyday life. It has to be
something that we have ingrained not in just the work that we do,
but the language we use, how we work with our teams, making sure
that they not only understand where their perspective is coming
from, but how that impacts other individuals on a team, in a
community, whatever that might look like.
Sabina Kapoor
[00:13:21]:
My name is Sabina Kapoor, and I'm currently a full time doctoral
student with Capella University. I spent over 20 years in higher
education as a staff within student affairs, student success, and
academic affairs. So as I've progressed in my career, I've focused
more on staff so that they can better serve students. And I wanna
go in deep with that, so that's why I'm pursuing the doctorate
relationship between the organization and the employee. I'm gonna
reference Pamela Hayes' model. If you've ever the acronym is
ADDRESSING, and so it's looking at different different categories
from age to disability to religion to sexual orientation, sexual
gender identification, etcetera. And so all these different
categories, a person could potentially be, what Pamela Hayes says
is oppressed in some categories and privileged in others. So, for
example, as a minority woman who's heterosexual, I'm privileged in
the sexual orientation, but I'm repressed in the gender category
and also in the ethnic and cultural category.
Sabina Kapoor
[00:14:32]:
So it's interesting because idea of minoritized is not all one
side, you are minoritized or you're not. It's kind of looking at
different facets of that. So I say that because I use that as a
premise with anything. So when I'm looking for a job, when I'm
mentoring others, I try to remember inclusivity and look at things
from the other's perspective. And I'll be honest, my oppressed
areas have been like traditional ones. So with emerging ones, and
I'm in a privileged position, it's really interesting. It's I had
to see things from a privileged lens, and that was an interesting
learning experience because I'd never been in that situation. So I
say that because it's all shapes and influences all of this, how I
mentor, how I support others and advocate. My last position, I
was a dean for student success at a dual designated HBU and HSI.
And I think advocacy was probably the top thing that I was doing
while I was there. So so all that to say, DEI, it's not just my
premise, it's who I am. So it really influences everything that
what I do in my career.
Carlie Weaver
[00:15:44]:
Hello. I am Carlie Weaver with Rose Hulman Institute of Technology.
I'm a programs coordinator for the student activities in Union
office. I did one of my assistantships with University of South
Alabama during my grad school career, and so I did that with the
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office, and it's something that I
like to think about a lot when I'm making decisions, especially
with such a student facing role. I like to think of diversity,
equity, inclusion, belonging before I make pretty much any choice
because I know that it is so influential in students' lives. So,
even when I'm thinking about, like, what kind of programming to
bring to campus, I'm thinking about the different populations that
we have and what is of interest to those populations.
Roxanne Wright
Watson [00:16:33]:
Hi. My name is Roxanne Wright Watson. I'm from Lehigh Carbon
Community College in Pennsylvania, and I'm happy to be here. I
think it is not a matter of influencing because the bills of that
will be paid. So so we need to make sure that it's for me, 1st and
foremost, it is I think I just need to go to work, do what I gotta
do, and go home. But having equity, diversity, and all of that
within the institution is an added thing that now gives me help me
to broaden my scope, help me to blossom, to bloom where I'm at. So
it is an institution that support these values and goals, then I am
more open. I give more of my self than it would be if I am just at
an institution that is just not supportive of these values.
Carla Ortega
Santori [00:17:34]:
My name is Carla Ortega Santore. I work at Rice University. I am
the strategic initiatives manager at the Doerr Institute For New
Leaders at Rice University. And my job is really about helping
students elevate their leadership capacity and to also elevate the
capacity of all campuses to do really great leader developments in
education. I'm actually from Puerto Rico, so whenever I'm looking
for a job or when I'm looking for a mentor, I'm looking to see
other familiar faces in the room, like, I'm seeing where I'm
represented, seeing the kinds of students we work with. So that
that's one thing I I usually look for. I also look for concrete
ways, examples. I guess another way that influences my day to day
professional life is when I also see I'm a IO psychologist by
education, so I also look for research that's represented in
that. So any evidence of impact, measurable outcomes that we
see that are related to people of color and other underrepresented
minorities is really important when I and I'm looking for any
evidence based practices to apply, to implement with students, or
for any support in the profession.
Rachael Amaro
[00:18:55]:
I'm Rachael Amaro. I'm the admissions and academic advisor for the
Department of Educational Leadership within the College of
Education at Cal State Fullerton. I think that, I mean, for sure
with the mentorship piece, it's I have had a hard time finding
people that I could rely on when I first started, but I think
that's made me a little more active in trying to be a mentor to
others. And I really appreciate the the trust that I can build with
the team that I work with. You know, I have I have one immediate
colleague in my department, but then all of us in in our college
are on the same floor of the building we're in, and so it's been
really great to get to know everybody and to make the time and the
space for each other, and then because I've been there, for sure
I've been on campus a lot longer than a lot of them, and so trying
to let them know, you know, sort of what's what's going on, how to
navigate things, especially because a lot of them, it's their first
time working at a university, and I think it's really so important
because most of us happen to be Latinx that a lot of the new hires
have been, and so it's been really important to me to let them know
things even about making sure sure they're putting money in their
retirement, making sure they're doing these things that we just
didn't necessarily always get taught. And even things as simple as,
hey, when you're taking a vacation day, like, really take a
vacation day. Use your time because you need to. Because we're so
used to not being told how to navigate that from people in a
supervisory positions who aren't used to the diversity that's
coming up into the field. And so I think that's a really important
part. Again, we talk about the hidden curriculum a lot for the
students, but there's a hidden side for staff as well. And so when
we come from families and parents who worked in factories and had a
very different way of living and working, we also have to learn how
to navigate these systems that we're now working in. And I think
it's important to be able to share that with them so that they
don't feel isolated or alienated and they feel like we're in this
together.
Christine
Wilson [00:21:00]:
I'm Christine Wilson. I am in student affairs at UCLA. I have two
roles. 1 is as the executive director for academic partnerships and
the other is the program director for our masters in student
affairs program. I think that justice, equity, diversity, and
inclusion are at the forefront of everything that I do. It's a
principle of our organization. It's part of the mission of our
school of education where I'm program director and I teach. Our
campus is incredibly diverse and if we don't consider that, then we
are not serving our students. So if that's not something
people are on board with, then they should not come to UCLA.
Olivia
Ruggieri [00:21:42]:
Hi there. My name is Olivia Ruggieri. I'm the associate director of
administration operations for Northeastern University Seattle
campus. I grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college in Florida, and
came out here in 2013, but I've been working for the university
since 2018. Well, my area, while we are definitely not HR, we do
support searches on our campus. So one of my staff members, he will
assist hiring managers in doing an inch initial evaluation of
candidates and then help them design their searches. But
recognizing that while we've made improvements in this area, we're
not doing it as well as we could be. This summer, we're gonna be
establishing a group that will ultimately create a set of DEI
hiring standards, and we wanna make sure that there's strong
representation from all types of folks on our campus, faculty,
staff, and hopefully students, to ensure that we're hiring in the
most equitable way. And I have to say that, like, since this has
become a focus of mine, I look at job descriptions differently and
just what I've learned about how to hire equitably and certain
phrases raise flags for me because I realized that they may not
represent welcomeness to all. So it's just become part of my
practice and how I evaluate different opportunities.
Christle
Foster [00:23:04]:
Hi. My name is Christle Foster and I'm from Chesapeake College
located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Y Mills. When it comes
to my staff, because of the work that we do, so student focused,
definitely diversity, equity, and inclusion is a part of that,
especially with the populations we serve in Trio. That's definitely
what we do as part of our mission. So when it comes to choosing
staff and helping staff go through professional development, that's
some of the things that we always look at. Whether it's in terms of
ethnicity, accessibility, or ability, or unabilities in regards to
education. We recently did, training with the University of
Delaware who has a special program that's focused on students who
are new or divergent, and it was exemplary. What they are doing
there with a grant is just amazing. So we were able to get some
information from them on how to help our students who are
neurodivergent, or some of them are on spectrum, so to speak.
Nathalie Waite
Brown [00:24:03]:
My name is Nathalie Waite Brown. I am the assistant dean of
students and director for graduate student life at Stevens
Institute of Technology located in Hoboken, New Jersey. I think I
approach those areas first and foremost from a personal
perspective, notwithstanding all of the visible identities that I
carry, I'm a 1st generation student, parents who migrated to the US
in the early seventies. So I work with a large international
student population, and I take those identities very much in
leading how I work with them and being able to understand the
potential need that's in front of them. And that runs the gamut.
It's not limited to who I am, but also having a level of empathy
and support in guiding the work and the resources that students
need.
Dae'lyn Do
[00:24:50]:
My name is Dae'Lyn Do. I use sheher pronouns, and I am the
associate director for the women in science and engineering
residence program at the University of Michigan. And I am coming
into the position of the WISA KC co chair. I think specifically
when it comes to mentorship, something I always take into
consideration that I do try to do myself, but I also encourage my
students to do is to seek out a variety of different mentors who
have different lived experiences. And so not just, I think we
oftentimes talk about finding mentors who look like us or who share
similar identities with us, which is really important, but I also
think it's important to seek out folks who maybe don't because we
learn different perspectives and different ways of looking at
things that we might not if we just rely on the people who have the
same lived experiences as us. And so, I think when it comes to
thinking through our own efforts of justice and equity, our mentors
are the people that we learn from and so trying to diversify our
own support network is the best way to kind of get those different
experiences and support.
Natalie DeRosa
[00:25:55]:
So my name is Natalie DeRosa, and I'm from Lehigh Carbon Community
College in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. I would say that those two
terms, justice and equity, are central when I am doing job
searching. Not only how the organization embraces those concepts,
but also the person who is my direct support, that they are equity
minded and justed justice minded themselves makes or breaks whether
or not I feel like that organization is the right organization for
me.
Dan Volchek
[00:26:25]:
Dan Volchek, assistant dean of student success at Harvard Griffin
Grad School of Arts and Sciences. I look at DEI as a very important
piece of dealing with my job search, mentorship, and support. I try
to look at what we're doing with both our faculty, our staff, and
our students in the DEI world and making sure we're addressing all
of those issues and challenges that others may be facing that I may
not have faced to make sure that I'm dealing with DEI in a positive
manner.
Vaughn Calhoun
[00:27:00]:
Vaughn Calhoun, Seton Hall University, hehim. Yeah. I think looking
for places and people with high social emotional intelligence,
knowing that any place that I would think about or people I wanna
engage with, that there's a high sense of empathy to help build
those lasting relationships. Because I think without the empathy,
it's it's hard to really move to higher levels of conversation. So
if you could find that in organization and people, you found
something really good.
Darlene
Robinson [00:27:37]:
My name is Darlene Robinson. I'm the RISE gen 1 director for Seton
Hall University. I think it influences the career in the sense that
I want to be on a level playing field. I wanna be considered as a
person that is capable of certain things rather than just basing it
off of filling a quota. I think it is fair enough to accept people
for who they are and get to know them for them them as a person
first before not even before, but without passing judgment based on
certain discriminatory practices. Because in doing that, you get to
know the person first and understand that we're all connected in
some way.
Miguel Angel
Hernandez [00:28:20]:
Hello. My name is Miguel Angel Hernandez. I am the associate vice
president and dean of students at San Francisco State University.
What attracted me to student affairs to begin with is my curiosity
about humans and human beings. And what has sustained me 24 years
in this profession at this point in my life has been the curiosity
that continues about the people I get to interact with, the
students that continue to change and evolve and allow me to grow,
and in many ways, stay young because we have to keep up, not keep
up in a bad way, but just it is never a dull moment learning from
our students, learning from our colleagues. And so when I think
about DEI work, I think about my curiosity about life and how we
evolve as people. I think about my own journey, how different I am
today than when I first moved into my residence hall. I think about
the beautiful places I've been able to visit and serve and work and
the stories of those people, those places, those moments in
time.
Miguel Angel
Hernandez [00:29:17]:
And so for me, DEI work is not about difference. It is about the
stories of people, the stories of places that we get to visit and
explore and learn. And so for me, I really think about that when I
am mentoring, coaching, supervising, engaging with students. I
think about it in my own search. As I consider opportunities, I
think about what do I bring into spaces, what can I gain from
spaces, And I use those thoughts to formulate questions for either
the individuals that are asking me to consider a position and or
while I am engaging in the search process? And so those types of
aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion, I think, keep that
work very centered, very front, and create opportunities for us to
continue again learning and growing in our profession.
David Chao
[00:30:07]:
Hello. My name is David Chao. My pronouns are hehim. I serve as the
director of IT for student affairs at the University of Pittsburgh,
and I'm also the chair of the technology knowledge community. As a
first generation Asian American, you know, it's really important
for me. I think coming to higher education from the corporate
world, I think I've seen and been exposed to a very healthy
environment where we're trying to be more open to all ideas and
diversity is really, really important. It's strange because being
an Asian American, as a minority, you think I'd be more sensitive
to that, but I guess I didn't really always see that. And so I feel
like my eyes are much more open to it, and my ability to help
others and mentor and foster a collaborative and diverse
environment, which is a challenge in our society today.
Melinda Stoops
[00:30:47]:
Hi. I am Melinda Stoops. I serve as the associate vice president
for student health and wellness at Boston College. I think even
though I've been in student affairs for a long time, I feel like
this is one area that I consider a growth area. I am a middle aged
white woman, and my background and my experiences certainly are
related to my identity in in many ways. And I feel like the longer
I'm in higher ed, the more I'm interacting with increasingly a more
diverse student body, the more I have to learn. And so I just feel
like as I do my work, whether it's being supervised or supervising,
whether it's mentoring or being mentored, I feel like increasingly
I really focus on being open to not making assumptions either about
the other person, but also not making assumptions that even if I'm
in a mentoring role that I have all the answers. That really, I
have a lot to learn as well and taking time to really understand
the person I'm working with and where they're coming from and their
perspectives and sort of maximizing the impact we can both have on
each other.
Derek Grubb
[00:31:54]:
Derek Grubb, Dean of Enrollment Management for Red Rocks Community
College in Colorado. In terms of justice and equity, one of the
biggest things I've been trying to do lately is really recognize to
avoid agendas. And not so much agendas and meetings, but agendas in
terms of having a predetermined outcome and really accepting people
where they are and being able to really just sort of embrace those
opportunities for challenging conversations and looking for new
perspectives. So up on my wall right now is the, no agendas
policy.
Matt Imboden
[00:32:28]:
My name is Matt Imboden. I use the he, him pronouns. I serve as the
chief student services officer in the School of Business at Wake
Forest University in North Carolina. And, for the past few years,
I've also been chairing the administrators and graduate and
professional student services knowledge community for NASPA. All
those things I want. The funny thing about diversity, equity,
inclusion, and justice work is it's one in the same with overall
student success, sense of belonging, it's a 100% connected to
student well-being. And so, sometimes I think we create these
bifurcations and divisions and we create this little bucket and
label it, you know, diversity programming. But especially as I
think there's a lot of renewed pressures on those roles and leaders
with the people that are exponents of those values that are
institutions. It's even more important to just talk about the ways
in which, no, our ability to recruit and retain students is one in
the same with being good at that work. And for some reason, I think
it takes on a life of its own or becomes a bit of a specter when
people try to apply those labels in only certain places. But if we
wanna win as institutions in the 21st century in the marketplaces
we work in, you gotta figure out how all the things you just
mentioned apply to your day in day out work.
Evette
Castillo Clark [00:33:36]:
Evette Castillo Clark, vice president for student life and dean of
students at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon. So this is
super important and critical because with job searching, with
mentoring, and our profession, it is really important for us to
have diverse professionals, diverse thinking, embracing different
perspectives because it makes us rich, and it makes the whole
organization stronger. So in our recruitment procedures, one of my
things is that I want to make sure that whoever is, for example,
sharing a search, that you've worked every angle to make sure that
you have racial diversity, gender diversity, regional diversity,
just a broad spectrum of backgrounds to get to the semifinalist
pool and then also to try to get to the finalist pool. You make
every effort to do that, and I employ that same model with student
leadership. So in elections or looking at who do we want on our
student employment to employ as student workers, orientation
leaders, RAs. You want that to be a cross section because if you're
doing community building work, you have to have leadership that
looks like the people that you serve.
Madeline Frisk
[00:34:48]:
Hello. My name is Madeline Frisk. I work at Portland State
University. I'm the coordinator of student government relations and
advisor to Greek life. So I work with our student
government, all of the committees and groups within that, as well
as 4 strong and mighty small Greek life groups as well. I would say
I especially think of diversity, equity, and inclusion in terms of
how I support students and show up. At PSU, we have a lot of non
traditional students. We're also becoming an emerging HSI and
Anapisa institution. So I think about how I'm showing up and my
identities, how I can better serve students, and I try to stay well
informed, read, do a lot of research and background work so that
I'm showing up for them and also try to provide them all the
training that I can. It also helps to have other coworkers and
people you can rely on to kind of fill in any gaps too. So I think
that's really helped as well having people and allies in your life
that you can rely on as well as, good coworkers and team as well as
kind of with the support in the profession of student affairs. I
recently started a book club at our institution within our LGBT
affinity employee resource group and that's really helped me to
kind of also build even more support for myself in this work and
also people who I know I can rely on that can be additional
supports for my students. So that's been really great.
Gene Zdziarski
[00:36:15]:
This is Gene Zdziarski. I'm vice president for student affairs at
DePaul University. I think it's been one of the things that I find
in my career trying to find a place where that sense of diversity
and inclusion really is embraced and a part of things. I work at a
Catholic university, and a lot of people have different opinions
about the Catholic faith and everything else, but what I have to
say is when I interviewed for the job there, one of the things I
wanted to make sure was that, again, there was a sense of
diversity, appreciation, and openness. We had an LGBTQA center. We
had, LGBTQ studies. We have embraced other faiths and people, and
that was extremely important to me. And I think something that
perhaps people don't always look at when they look at a faith based
institution, but I think you'll find that, again, that's an
important piece of higher education, an important piece of our work
in my career in student affairs.
Lyza Liriano
[00:37:10]:
Hello. My name is Lyza Liriano. I currently serve as an area
coordinator at DePaul University in Housing and Residence Life.
Originally, I am from Brooklyn, New York. It influences it a it a
lot. I'm a queer woman of color, and so I want to make sure that
the spaces that I walk into are going to be spaces where I feel
safe and where there are students that look like me so that they
know that they can come to me. My identity is very intersectional,
and I think that that's one of my favorite parts of my identity,
and there's been spaces that I've stepped into where I've had to
choose, okay, am I going to focus on being a black woman today? Am
I going to focus on being a queer woman today? And so creating
those spaces of you can be all of that at once. And when I'm job
searching, that is something that I'm very intentional about asking
is what work do you do apart from sending students to the Black
Student Center or the LGBTQ Student Center? What is your department
actually doing to help these students? And so I also want it to be
just someone that students can come to because I've been in spaces
where I'm sometimes the only woman of color, and so I wanna make
sure my students know, like, I'm creating space for myself so that
in, you know, years to come when my students are out in the field,
hopefully in student affairs, they also are going to have multiple
seats at the table not just the one.
Jackie Cetera
[00:38:28]:
Jackie Cetera. I use sheher pronouns, and I serve as the director
of residential education at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. I
find it's all in how people show up in their day to day and what
they're doing to not only support students on our campus, but also
employees, both faculty and staff. When we talk about the sense of
belonging, I believe that it's really important for us as leaders,
as our institutions to make sure that our faculty and staff have a
sense of belonging so they can show up and do good work and provide
opportunities and spaces for our students to also find that sense
of belonging.
Lisa Landreman
[00:39:15]:
My name is Lisa Landerman. I'm the vice president for student
affairs at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Similarly, I
stay abreast of current issues. I am doing my own work through
institutes, 1 on 1 consulting and every opportunity I can to talk
with other colleagues around best practices, most effective
strategies. I I also really try to center relationships so that
there's this there's the book learning and research of our trends,
but then there's also every individual's gonna have their own
experience and their multiple identities that are gonna shape their
experience at our particular institution. So, how I handle that and
manage kind of issues of justice and equity, whether it's around
language, practices, programs, initiatives in Oregon is different
than when I was in Rhode Island, is different when I was at the
University of Michigan. And so I think context matters, listening
to our staff, again, creating space, trying to support affinity
relationships for where that matters to people, sure that we are
constantly looking at our policies, practices through an equity
lens. And so every time we're writing a new policy, we look at that
lens.
Lisa Landreman
[00:40:27]:
At least once a year, we take a moment to reflect on new programs,
policies, or practices to ask questions. Who's at this event? Who
does this impact? Who who's included? Whose voice was at the table
when we created it? So all those kinds of checklists that come with
looking at the subtle ways that the work that we do might impact
people that of groups we're not members for some ways. Celebrating
and recognizing heritage month's accomplishments of diverse folks
in in our both in our community. I think in hiring, we do a lot to
look at what biases do we bring, what biases we have that might not
be about race, but that biases we have about the field or the job
that might have an impact on people from different racial groups or
identity groups. Right? And so it isn't always so overt, so I think
doing our work around. Before every search, we do we we really come
to the table and say, so what are our biases about? And we look at
a resume. And, you know, we really scrutinize our job descriptions
to make sure do are all those qualifications really necessary? Is
that many years of experience really necessary? Are we really
waiting what can really be learned on the job, and what really do
people have to have experience coming? So those are those are all
ways that we subtly sort of can bias our searches. Those are just
some I could go on and on, but I I think the important point about
this is that especially in this time, regardless of what's
happening with legislators, we as individuals can shape our own
practice to demonstrate where these values matter regardless of
what offices aren't allowed to be in my campus. That's still a
battle we need to fight. And just because that battle's being
fought, doesn't mean it stops us from doing centering that as an
important value.
Jackie Yun
[00:42:08]:
Hi. I'm Jackie Yun. I take the she series, and I serve as the
executive director of the Harvard Griffin GSAS Student Center. I
think it impacts everything. So I really am somebody who believes
that DEI is not just held with folks that have that in their title,
but it's really the responsibility of everyone at an institution to
be considering that. And I think about this from my own
experiences, whether or not I feel like I'm included in a
community, but also in my management, my hiring, the way that I
scaffold spaces for students, and so I think it's really important
work.
Leanna
Fenneberg [00:42:44]:
Hello. This is Leanna Fenenberg. I'm the incoming chief student
affairs officer at Duquesne University. Oh my gosh. Isn't that a
big question? Right? I mean, I feel like for most of us, for many
of us in student affairs, DEI work is at the core of our values and
what we do and why we do it. So it's to professional searches, to
professional development, to building a community of support for
our students and for our staff. And so it is central to everything
we do.
Jake Murphy
[00:43:16]:
Jake Murphy. I'm the director of prospective students services at
OSU Institute of Technology, and I am over all recruitment and
retention efforts at the university. So for me, it's probably a
really big thing, but it's really tough in the state that I'm at
because there's a whole mess concerning DEI work and justice and
equity and inclusion work. So for me personally, it's a big factor
in where I choose to go to work. I wanna make sure that the
environment that I'm at is focused on making sure that the whole
student is taken care of, but being place bound sometimes it makes
it a little bit difficult. But also creating those environments is
also really key and making sure that students feel supported, that
they have a sense of community, and are able to be able to go
through their out their student journey is extremely important. And
mentorship for us, especially in, like, peer mentorship is very
important to be able to create those spaces.
Larry Pakowski
[00:44:13]:
Larry Pakowski. I'm the vice president for student engagement,
inclusion, and success at Aims Community College in Greeley,
Colorado. I think we've gotta to look at the students we serve and
at the end of the day that's one of the things that we want to be
reflective of who we serve but we also want to embrace the the
variety of different diverse cultures and backgrounds and things
like that. Not only our students have, but our employees should
have as well.
Jillaine
Zenkelberger [00:44:37]:
Hi. I'm doctor Jillaine Zenkelberger. I am the program coordinator
over at Graduate Student Life at the University of Notre Dame. I
think in my approach to all of these things, having the ability to
touch base with a lot of people from different I don't have a
master's in higher ed and things like that. Being able to see the
diversity in our different backgrounds both educationally, but also
racially, ethnically, etcetera, has been super important to me. And
I think we bring all these different things to the table, and it's
really been great to learn from everyone and their backgrounds of
whatever they've done in their past lives, because I know all of us
have many past lives sometimes. They're all bringing something,
like, super important that I think is really invigorating student
affairs because I work with a lot of people who's had past lives
and they're really changing things in a lot of cool ways.
Kristen
Merchant [00:45:48]:
Hi everyone. I'm Kristen Merchant. I am from Rose Hulman Institute
of Technology. I am the associate director of the Union and Student
Activities Office there and also the director of our lead programs.
With job searching, I think about whenever I'm doing my hiring
actually for orientation. We always put an effort into putting a
cohesive team together of a variety of different backgrounds and
interests and majors and all the different ways that diversity can
come into play. So that way, all of our new incoming students can
see a face that they recognize, which is really, really important
in the DEI world and is something that we always consider in any
type of our hiring practices and any type of programming that I do
is making sure that there is someone that they feel like they can
go to.
Joe Lizza
[00:46:35]:
My name is doctor Joe Lizza. I'm the director of the Chamberlain
Student Center and campus activities at Rowan University in New
Jersey. It really is the idea that you want an institution that is
respectful for others, supportive of others because you never know
when you might be on that opposite side of the situation. So you
might be in an institution or in a job role that you feel very
comfortable, supported and you feel like you belong and it's very
easy to kinda based on a different supervisor or a different
university leadership, that could shift. I always look for places
that really are respectful, very forward thinking, and they don't
only just preach what their beliefs are and their values, but they
also put them into action. And that's kinda reassuring to me as a
professional in higher education for both for myself and my
colleagues. I'm realizing that it's a good place to work, a place
that will be supportive of life changes and different
situations.
Joshua Allred
[00:47:32]:
My name's Joshua Allred. I work at Louisiana State University in
the College of Agriculture as their manager of student services.
That's challenging. It's certainly something that is on my mind
constantly. I think living in Louisiana and in the South where
there's lots of legislation recently, sort of very much anti DEI
has been a challenge. So I'm not in a place where I can kind of up
and move, unfortunately. I would in some ways, I kinda wish I
could. So being on a campus and in a state where there's lots of
uncertainty around, like, what does DEI look like in our state has
been a challenge.
Joshua Allred
[00:48:01]:
And so we are very much in a place of kind of waiting to see what's
gonna happen next. And again, I think finding folks where folks and
groups of people where you can hold onto and feel safe and find
little beacons of hope is helpful. It's not always there, but I'm a
supervisor for an LGBTQIA plus organization in the College of
Agriculture and that's been really helpful for me and something
that I really knew and renewed importance in. And so that's kind of
what I look towards is like the people and and the small things
here and there. But certainly a consideration is just tough. It's
tough when you can't move.
Joshua Allred
[00:48:38]:
Well, one of the things that I really enjoy about my job is being
able to support and work with students, and those are all students,
ethnicities, genders. Just being able to support those students in
coming to NASPA and being able to learn from experts on how to best
support students no matter who they are, no matter where they're
from. So at Texas A&M, they give me the opportunity to go to
professional development. They give me the opportunity to
collaborate with my peers around the country. And during those
times, that's what I wanna do. I'm always making sure that I'm
talking to the experts in the field to make sure that I'm doing the
best to support our students.
Judy Traveis
[00:49:28]:
Hi, everyone. I'm Judy Traveis. I'm the associate dean for the
Graduate Student Success Center at the University of Florida.
Again, from Florida, we've had DEI impacted, although we all
believe in the diversity and what it brings to our campus and the
inclusion and and equity piece. I believe institutions that do it
well and thread it through all factors of the university, you can
really see it. It's tangible and that in as I job search or look
for other careers, if I should move institutions, that is something
that's very important and I hold as a value in my heart to make
sure that that it's not just on a website, that you can actually
physically see how it's threaded through by the way the community
and culture is on that campus.
Katie Caponera
[00:50:23]:
I'm Katie Caponera, director of student life at Harvard Divinity
School. A commitment to all of those tenants, particularly justice,
is really important to me personally and professionally. I'm
fortunate to work at an institution where that is a key aspiration
and goal of our community, and it's something that I would continue
to foreground in looking at other types of institutions or future
colleagues or partners. It's making sure all of our students feel
that it's a space where they can thrive and be their full selves is
of paramount importance and continuing to remain dedicated to those
efforts, especially admit so much turmoil, I think, is underlines
their importance more so.
Kathy Dilks
[00:51:11]:
My name is Kathy Dilks, and I am the director of graduate student
and post doctoral affairs at the Icahn to create a team that is not
only diverse, but diverse of thoughts. I think it's our
responsibility to make certain that we are leaning into DEIB, and I
try my hardest to make certain that I am never an impediment in
that future.
Julie Payne
Kirchmeier [00:51:47]:
Julie Payne Kirchmeier, vice president for student success for the
university Indiana University. It's not really a system. It's a
multi campus university, but we can say Indiana University System
if that's easier for folk to kind of place the role. It's
interesting the word considerations. How do considerations of, show
up for me, good and bad, before I can lean into anything else. And
I think that's a step we don't often do, particularly and we just
jump into, oh, oh, well, of course, you know, Jedi work is
important, and of course we're gonna do that. But because we don't
stop and pause pause and think and unlearn a lot of what we know,
we end up rushing to action so quickly, we cause more harm. And so
I think that first step for me, because the question is influence
your, is to pause, think, and remember that I have to be okay with
who I am, good and bad, take the steps to do my own work, and then
bring others into the fold, like, okay.
Julie Payne
Kirchmeier [00:52:54]:
What are the resources we need in meaningful ways so that the work
can move through always a lens of equity. So being an equity minded
organization, human, professional, friend, partner, all the
different components of your life.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:53:10]:
This has been an episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field,
a podcast brought to you by NASPA. This show continues to be
possible because you choose to listen to us. We are so grateful for
your subscriptions and your downloads and your engagement with the
content. If you'd like to reach the show, please email us at
savoices@naspa.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for doctor
Jill L. Creighton. We always welcome your feedback and your topic
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the show's profile within the larger podcasting community.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:53:51]:
This episode was produced and hosted by doctor Jill Creighton,
that's me, produced and audio engineered by Chris Lewis. Special
thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support as we
create this project. Catch you next time.