ODEI June Newsletter

Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

June 2021 Newsletter

Felicia's Thought Bubble

Welcome to the June issue of our newsletter! We're taking July off and will come back in August with reflections on the past year and fresh, informative content for the new school year. We hope you've enjoyed this labor of love and continue to share your feedback.

It is now my pleasure to introduce our latest installment of Good Trouble, our video series. This month Dr. Wong(Lau) chats with three of our outstanding administrative staff about their lives and career paths: Dr. Patience Bryant, Emerald Green and Jahmal Williams. There's so much diversity in the Black community and all three of these leaders come from different places and experiences, but they have similar goals for San Jose State and our Black Spartan community. Listen in and hear what motivates them and what they hope to accomplish. They also discuss , a holiday for many in the Black community that is now being promoted mainstream.

And just a quick personal reflection: Juneteenth has always for me been a celebration with lots of food, fun and festivals. Growing up in East Palo Alto, CA I would always go with my cousins, parents and friends to the Juneteenth Festival to celebrate the actual freeing of the slaves, two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Both of my parents are from the South so I鈥檝e always known about and celebrated, and as I鈥檝e gotten older and moved away from my small city, attending Juneteenth also meant reconnecting with old friends and neighbors. The Bay Area is so rich in culture and there have always been several different celebrations, so I never really thought about people not knowing about it. Now that it's going mainstream I have mixed feelings. I love that others will learn the true history of this nation and think about our holidays and people in a new way. The 4th of July rings different when you think about it from another perspective. But I don't want it to become commercial like many of our holidays have where it just means sales at Target or a day off to sit around and do nothing. I hope it keeps its meaning. You'll see below we've included the link to the San Jose Juneteenth celebration. If you don't know about it, I invite you to learn more. Please join in the celebration. Also, Happy Pride! Learn about that too. It's about more than parades. It's about lives that are important and matter. And freedom! Although classes are out, school is always in session. Happy learning!

So You Want to Talk About Celebrating Pride

Click on images for enlarged view.

Listen to craig's and/or check out this video!

Flyer for Employee Connections on Wednesday June 16

Join Us!

Employee Connections is a monthly meeting created by ODEI for staff, faculty, and administrators where they can share a virtual lunch or coffee break with their colleagues and talk about anything and everything that may be of interest to them and/or the group. This initiative was born last year as a result of the feedback received during the pre and post election sessions that ODEI held in partnership with University Personnel, Center for Faculty Development and LifeMatters EAP by Empathia where attendees suggested the creation of a space where people could meet over zoom and connect with each other since the pandemic had limited our interpersonal interactions. The intention of the Employee Connections sessions is to help facilitate meeting new people, learning from each other, and creating community. These sessions are for all 91猎奇 employees, including those who work for our auxiliaries. Join us!

The readings and resources in this section are designed to help our campus learn about theories, frameworks, research and resources that are helpful in addressing our key goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion by building our intellectual muscle to help us see our world, analyze our world, and apply this learning from where we are to increase equity. The readings are chosen because they are able to overview or introduce complex concepts in ways that promote understanding among a wide variety of readers, occupational foci, and time constraints. This month we include more offerings, including a book, for your summer reading.

by Kimberle Crenshaw

APA website:

Book: by Sarah Schulman

The podcasts provided will address issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and are also designed to help us learn about theories, frameworks, research and resources. These podcasts will help us see our world, analyze our world, and apply this learning from where we are to increase equity. We are also looking to be more inclusive and share a wide variety of learning resources that can be consumed while we are doing other things, like walking the dog, driving, exercising, making dinner, or washing the dishes. We hope you enjoy this regular posting.

Not a podcast but a MUST SEE VIDEO!

(Language Warning)

Antiracism Action Summer Institute flyer

Attention Faculty!

Please join us for the Antiracist Action Summer Institute. The Summer Institute provides the opportunity for deeper engagement for health and human sciences faculty, and empowers and intellectually equips faculty to integrate systemic racial equity into their everyday work of teaching, research, scholarship, and service. Just as importantly, it creates thought partners with other faculty within and across disciplines and institutions as we analyze, strategize, and work to transform our work through a systemic racial equity lens.

The summer institute will consist of 2 synchronous sessions (60 minutes each to begin and end the 4 week session) and 10 content modules from which to choose according to your interests and needs for development. The modules will be self-paced and asynchronous and include the following content areas: antiracist pedagogy, understanding health disparities, allyship, inclusive language, application of race in research methodology, application of mindfulness as a tool for social justice, and holistic admissions. Participants will be guided in reflection and engagement regarding issues of race, racism, and antiracism in their personal and professional lives.