For Your Information | March 24, 2022

Volume 3, Issue 14

by Thomas O'Donnell
March 24, 2022

Quick Summary

Finding Common Ground at the Student Farm
Campus Community Book Project Author's Visit
Student-run health clinics seek donations to provide free care to underserved communities

March 24, 2022 | Volume 3, Issue 14

Download a printable version of this week's newsletter

Ukrainian Students, Professionals and Human Rights Defenders: Use UC Davis Backpack

UC Davis Global Affairs and UC Davis Human Rights Studies is encouraging Ukrainian students, professionals, and human rights advocates to use the UC Davis Backpack to safeguard academic documents, diplomas, transcripts, professional certificates and credentials, and other sensitive materials from loss. Backpack is a tool developed at UC Davis that has been used by nearly 2000 young people in at-risk and unstable situations around the world, including, most recently in Afghanistan and Lebanon. Learn more.

2022 Seed Grants for International Activities Support Innovative Research and Engagement Projects

The 7th annual International Connections Reception, hosted by Global Affairs, celebrated the 2022 recipients of Global Affairs Seed Grants for International Activities. These grants are offered in partnership with colleges and schools as well as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Office of Research to faculty taking on innovative research and engagement projects around the world. Seed Grant projects foster long-term international research collaborations, create innovations in internationalizing the curriculum in support of the Global Education for All initiative and grow or build global partnerships. Learn more about the scholars and their projects.

A MESSAGE FROM VICE CHANCELLOR TULL

Dear Friends,

I have been having a busy and wonderful week, and am happy to share some thoughts with you. Today, I am in Anaheim, at the 48th Convention for the National Society of Black Engineers, with PhD students from Davis, Berkeley, Irvine, UCLA, and UMBC who are participating in an “in-person” segment of our PROMISE Engineering Institute. Some of the students are sharing their intros here! Their work crosses electrical engineering, computer science, and mechanical engineering. They are inspiring!

I also give kudos to ADMAN, the Administrative Management Group. ADMAN hosted a conference on Tuesday, “It Starts with Us,” that featured the Founder of the Anti-Racism Fight Club, Doyin Richards. During my opening remarks at ADMAN, I mentioned that several hours earlier (4 AM), I had been prepping in the virtual green room

for a talk as an invited speaker for a United Nations program on women in STEM and climate change. This was part of a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Commission on the Status of Women Side Event (CSW66). Representing the United States, I was able to feature some of our UC Davis faculty, Dawn Sumner, Sabbie Miller, Rebecca Hernandez, Estella Atekwana, and Jonna Mazet. A very short clip of the opening can be found here.

Reflecting on last week, I am excited to share that we had ~50 colleagues from UC Davis in San Diego at the annual conference for the National Association for Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE). You can be extremely proud of your colleagues! The UC Davis delegation shared their work and expertise, both formally as invited presenters (based on competitive submissions), and informally during small group discussions. UC Davis was recognized as a leader, and there was a lot of discussion about UC Davis’ commitment and investment in diversity and professional development. Here are the presentations led by UC Davis --- they were tremendous!

The I-DARE Initiative: Advancing Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity at UC Davis Health

Presenters: Hendry Ton, M.D., M.S., Clinical Professor and Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, UC Davis Health; Ceasor Dennis, Senior Director, Office for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion UC Davis Health. Read more about I-DARE.

Reimagining Campus Safety and the Next Generation of College Policing

Presenters: Megan Macklin, Program Manager, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, UC Davis; Joe Martinez, MA, Student Expression and Campus Activities Coordinator, Center for Student Involvement, UC Davis; Kelly Ratliff, Vice Chancellor – Finance, Operations and Administration, UC Davis; Maleah N. Vidal, J.D., Assistant Campus Counsel, Office of the Campus Counsel, UC Davis. Read more about the PAB; Read more about Health 34.

Cultural Humility Meets Anti-Racism at UC Davis Health: An Interactive Case Study of Building Institutional Capacity for Health Equity

Presenters: Jann Murray-García, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Health Sciences Clinical Professor, Director for Social Justice and Immersive Learning, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at University of California, Davis; Victoria Ngo, Ph.D., Health Systems and Community Leadership Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Davis School of Nursing. Read more about ARC.

As we prepare to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day, let us remember and honor Cesar Chavez and “ La Causa.” Finally, as tickets for the 7:30 Kendi talk are selling out, I’ll look forward to seeing many of you next week at the free 4:00 Forum@MC session for Dr. Ibram X. Kendi which was developed to accommodate even more people (this particular session will also be live-streamed for all with a UC-email address.) Thank you, and congratulations to all of our colleagues throughout the campus who are doing the work of excellence and equity! Your work matters, and it is making a difference!

Warm Regards,

Renetta Tull

LGBTQIA+ Resource Center’s New Director - Tristan 'TK' Morton

Tristan ‘TK’ Morton (Ze/Zir/Zirs) will take the lead, manage, supervise, oversee and implement services and programs that support the academic success and retention of the lgbtqia+ community via the center's resources. TK is a Black Trans Queer educator, advocate, and joy creater relocating from Dakota Land (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Tristan has a bachelor’s in Women’s and Gender Studies from Eastern Michigan University and is completing their master’s in Higher Education Administration from Stony Brook University. Ze focuses on centering Queer and Trans BIPOC joy, laughter, and advocacy making sure that all spaces are accessible and centering the love and care of community. Ze has worked at several institutions across the country bringing a variety of experience support LGBTQIA+ folks such as Macalester College, and the University of Kansas.

SEXcess Week 2022: Call for Proposals

This year's Sexcess Week will take place during Week 8 of Spring Quarter (May 16-20), and Health Education and Promotion want as many campus departments and RSOs to participate as possible -- student sexual health is important! Sexcess Week is a week dedicated to raising awareness of sexual health resources and information on campus. Topics include (but are not limited to): affirmative consent and sexual communication, birth control, safer sex products, STI/HIV prevention and testing, pleasure, stigma reduction, health equity, etc. To submit a proposal on behalf of your unit, department or student org, please complete this form no later than April 15. Once you submit, the Sexual Well-Being Team will reach out to discuss and coordinate.

UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Office of Academic Diversity | AVC Lorena Oropeza

Finding Common Ground at the Student Farm

student farmer walking through field holding tool

As part of last year’s HSI Implementation Task Force Filmaker Hector Amezcua (videographer, communications, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences), along with staff and students of the Student Farm helped produce a bilingual video about the Farm that honors its history and the experiential learning opportunities it provides students today.

The video is designed to foster a sense of belonging for our Latinx/Chicanx students by recognizing their cultural roots and the land-based knowledge shared by many. Emerging from the retention and persistence subcommittee, this project brought together UC Davis’ land-grant mission, and its agricultural history with the desire to make the campus a more welcoming place for Latinx students.

The Student Farm honors both UC Davis’s origins in 1908 as the University Farm of UC Berkeley, and its land-grant mission, to serve the state of California through teaching and research. Today, it provides multifaceted experiential learning for undergraduates. Please watch the video here.

P.L.A.C.E. with CAMPSSAH Summer Writing Symposium - Application deadline: April 15, 2022

P.L.A.C.E. will host a small group (5-6 faculty) to engage in a weeklong, structured and facilitated writing symposium that will take place in summer 2022. This opportunity is geared toward faculty working to complete a big task (e.g. writing an introduction, a book proposal, or a chapter in a book project) and who would benefit from uninterrupted, concentrated writing time, and structured feedback by peers and a professional writing instructor within a setting where their meals and lodging are provided. Please visit our webpage for more details and award requirements.

Office of Campus Community Relations | Interim AVC Mikael Villalobos

Campus Community Book Project Author's Visit

How to Be an Antiracist by Boston University history professor Ibram X. Kendi is UC Davis’ Campus Community Book Project for 2021-22. The book project turns 20 this year, having begun in the aftermath of 9/11 as a means of promoting conversation around a common subject, sharing and discussing all perspectives respectfully, in accordance with the Principles of Community. Please join us for several of the culminating events of this year’s selection:

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Forum@MC feat. Ibram X. Kendi
4:00pm, Mondavi Center Jackson Hall
Free and open to the public

Livestream access available for current UC students, faculty, staff and employees
More information and livestream registration here

Author's Talk: Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
7:30pm, Mondavi Center Jackson Hall
More information and tickets here
Presented by the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and Downey Brand

Visit the book project events page and subscribe to our online calendar for up-to-date event information and registration links. We also invite you to follow the book project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Office of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion | AVC Hendry Ton

Student-run health clinics seek donations to provide free care to underserved communities

Students are running an online giving campaign to support the free medical care they provide to community members. Proceeds from the fundraiser benefit the 13 UC Davis School of Medicine-affiliated student-run clinics. This year, organizers hope to raise $50,000. The crucial funding would go toward maintaining services and purchasing supplies and equipment to provide quality care to vulnerable local patient populations. More information.

Welcoming Our Migrant Farmworkers

Help Esmeralda Garza raise funds to welcome our migrant farmworkers arriving at Yolo County's 3 migrant centers. Year after year, families from Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and southern California travel to Yolo County to harvest our crops through October. Last year we raised over $8000 to welcome our farmworkers in the Davis and Madison migrant centers with $50 cash and a box of essential household items to help them settle in. Help show them how much we appreciate their hard work and their commitment to come back year after year! Contribute to the fundraiser.

EVENTS

March 30, Wednesday

Heal the Healer | 12:00pm
A weekly lunch hour self-care and mindfulness session for community members supporting refugees. Facilitators: Iffat Hussain MSW-LCSW is a Program Director at the Turning Point Mental Health Urgent Care which is an innovative service in Sacramento County. Dr. PC How is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UC Davis where she serves as the Associate Medical Director of the Sacramento County Mental Health Treatment Center and the Associate Program Director for the psychiatry residency program. Khoban Kochai serves as the Assistant Director for Anchor Institution and Culture/Climate. Registration will only allow you to choose one date but once you have the Zoom link, you are welcome to attend as many sessions as you like. Register here.

Race and Immigration: A series exploring race, intersectionality and allyship | 2:00pm
A continued conversation about intersectionality and the third session in the “Race and…” series focuses on immigration, “perspective taking” and reflecting on our own intersectional identities. By understanding how race intersects with other identities people hold, we’re growing a UC Davis community where everyone belongs and can succeed. Learn do's and don’ts related to navigating immigration status for staff, students, and patients. Learn about misconceptions we have related to immigration law and the legal, as well as practical, implications of being undocumented. Be an ally to "undocumented" individuals, who often face considerable stress and challenges in belonging. Meet our guests speakers and learn how their work helps shape the experience of immigrant students and employees at UC Davis: Amagda Perez, Co-director, UC Davis School of Law Immigration Law Clinic and Rachel Ray, Managing Attorney, University of California Immigrant Legal Services Center. Register Today

Virtual Community Healing Circles | 6:00pm
This session serves as an opportunity for people to connect and offer supportive group spaces in processing the ongoing violence across our globe. We invite you to join us in sharing a space for people to offer compassion and experience unity. Join the UC Davis Health Office for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for our virtual healing circle, facilitated by: Mercedes Piedra, MS: Director of Healing Centered Education for UCDH Office for Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion; Rangineh Azimzadeh Tosang, MA, CPF: Founder of Solh Resolutions International. Welcome to Virtual Healing Circles! Register here.

March 31, Thursday

Staff/Faculty Womxn of Color Support Group | 12:00pm
This group was brought together in 2019 by Dr. Satinder Gill and Cecily Nelson-Alford to support womxn of color employed at UC Davis. The intention is to offer a safe and encouraging space to support healing, growth and development in the personal and professional lives of womxn of color. Hosts: Dr. Satinder Gill, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Academic and Staff Assistance Program Cecily Nelson-Alford, Director, Women’s Resources and Research Center. Consent for participation is necessary, please contact drgill@ucdavis.edu for more information. The groups meets bi-weekly year round on Thursday (next meeting 4/14).

April 3, Sunday

Heather McGhee, The Sum of Us | 7:30pm
Use Promo Code 20MCGHEE for $20 tickets. A renowned expert on the American economy, Heather McGhee is one of the most brilliant and influential thinkers exploring inequality today. Both her viral TED talk and her instant New York Times bestseller The Sum of Us reveal the devastating true cost of racism—not just for people of color, but for everyone. McGhee explains that racism doesn’t just hurt us on a personal level. It divides and alienates companies and their employees, employees and their clients, clients, and brands. The trickledown, explains McGhee, is far-reaching. Her talks address this with clear takeaways, like how to make the process mission-critical, how to get buy-in from your teams, and how to do it all with joy. Deeply stirring, intelligent, and compassionate, McGhee’s talks offer us an actionable roadmap during one of the most critical—and most troubled—periods in history. Purchase tickets here. 

April 7, Thursday

Aoki Center and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion HSI Speaker Series Presents Enrique Sepulveda III | 12:00pm
“Chicanx Education Activists: A Story of Mexican Farmworker Children Ascending to Institutional Liberal Power in a Northern California City.” Enrique Sepúlveda is an Assistant Professor of Chicanx/Latinx Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at University of Colorado-Boulder. He is an anthropologist of education who has centered his research in Latinx communities and schools heavily impacted by global migration in northern California, San Salvador, El Salvador and Madrid, Spain. His research examines how Latinx peoples, youth and their families negotiate from the bottom-up global migration, citizenship, belonging and complex identity formation processes in the context of severe inequality and socio-structural constraints. He is the son of Mexican migrant workers from the Texas/Mexican border and in his early career worked as a bilingual teacher and school principal in Woodland, CA. Register here.

April 14, Thursday

April 28, Thursday

Las Cafeteras | 7:30pm
Remixing roots music and telling modern day stories, Las Cafeteras create a vibrant musical fusion with a unique East LA sound and a positive message. Their Afro-Mexican beats, rhythms, and rhymes deliver inspiring lyrics that document stories of a community seeking love and justice in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles. Using traditional Son Jarocho instruments like the  jarana, requinto, quijada (donkey jawbone) and tarima (a wooden platform), Las Cafeteras sing in English, Spanish, and Spanglish and add a remix of sounds, from rock to hip-hop to rancheras. Las Cafeteras use music as a vehicle to build bridges among different cultures and communities, and create “a world where many worlds fit.” Learn more and purchase tickets here.

May 12-13, Thursday-Friday

SAVE the DATE - Graduate Anti-Racism Symposium, “Let’s Talk about Racism in the Classroom”
Graduate Studies, in partnership with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion invite you to save the date for the second annual Graduate Anti-Racism Symposium. We invite graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from all departments to join us for an in-person workshop about dealing with racism in the classroom. The workshop will provide a platform to candidly converse about experiencing, dealing, and managing racism in the classroom whether it is directed towards instructors, TAs, undergraduate students of color, or members of marginalized groups. The goal is to work in community and provide tangible tools for teaching under hostile circumstances.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Resources for Trans and Non-Binary Employees
UC Davis is committed to supporting trans and non-binary employees in the workplace. Resources for employees; resources for supervisors; policies and laws; health benefits; reporting options; community and individual support. Find the resources here.

11 Suggested Actions toward Anti-Racism in the Office and on Your Own
Written by the UC Davis Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and based on the Office of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’s Anti-Racism and DEI Action Plan, the “Being an Ally Requires being Anti-Racist: 11 Suggested Actions toward Anti-Racism in the Office and on Your Own” provides practical suggestions for everyone.

Reporting Concerns of Harassment and Discrimination
The Harassment & Discrimination Assistance and Prevention Program (HDAPP) supports the University's commitment to a harassment and discrimination-free work and learning environment for all members of the UC Davis, UC Davis Health, and University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR).

If you are interested in reporting concerns of Harassment and Discrimination, please contact HDAPP to file a report and/or speak with a representative to better understand your options. Learn more about HDAPP here or go to HDAPP's website for more information.

Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center
The mission of Aggie Compass is to help mitigate the effects of food and housing insecurity on students, while working to change policy, systems and environment that will affect long term change. The Aggie Compass is a comfortable space for students to build community and learn about basic needs resources, pick up fresh fruits and vegetables, receive CalFresh enrollment assistance and help finding stable housing.

If you need help with food or housing insecurity concerns, financial or mental wellness, please visit their website for more information.

Counseling Services Mental Health Resources Webinar [requires Kerberos log-in] One of the things we hear frequently from instructors about teaching in Spring 2020 is the extent to which they encountered students in their courses experiencing significant stress or crisis, yet they felt unequipped to help or direct students to resources. To help, Student Health and Counseling Services provided a Mental Health Resources Webinar. If supporting students in crisis is a concern for you, please watch this previously-recorded webinar. Webinar topics include an overview of mental health services on campus, how to make referrals, signs of distress and how to respond, and how faculty can support students in the classroom (remote or on-campus). Student Affairs has also provided this folder of faculty resources.

Content Submission Form
Do you have a DEI-oriented event, announcement, or article that you would like us to help promote through our DEI communication channels? Did your unit/department or a member of your unit/department receive recognition that demonstrates your commitment to DEI? If so, please send us your information through this online form.

We invite you to share and submit your thoughts and items for our newsletter (either current or future news and events) at diversityinclusion@ucdavis.edu

Thank you for your dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion!

#ThinkBigDiversity
https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/