For Your Information | September 3, 2020

Volume 1, Issue 13

  • by Thomas O'Donnell

Quick Summary

  • Chancellor’s Colloquium: ‘Race, Racism, Rebellion in a Pandemic’
  • Diversity in Graduate Medical Education Virtual Residency Open House
  • Theanne Griffith Reads from Her "The Magnificent Makers"

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Download a printable version of this week's newsletter

Dear Friends,

It’s hard to believe that September is already here, and that Fall courses will soon begin again. As we transition into a period where we are preparing for students’ return to coursework, it’s important to note that the campus continues to serve students, and gives attention to both academics and basic needs. As an example, we want our students to have food security, so Student Affairs has had a grocery bag pick-up program available on Thursday mornings throughout the summer. That program had a pick-up cycle this morning, but will resume service on Thursday, Oct. 1. In the meanwhile, we ask faculty, program directors, and leaders across campus to let your students know that food resources are still available for them through the Aggie Compass program’s link to food opportunities. The Aggie Compass program is a phone call away … I talked with them myself this morning to learn more about available services: Call 530-752-9254, or email: compass@ucdavis.edu. Aggie Compass also has housing/legal services available for students. During the spring and summer, we have also been concerned about our students’ mental health. Please note that the DEI office has confirmed that counselors with the Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) do have appointment times available for students. Further SHCS has Community Action Network (CAN) counselors, “a diverse group of professional staff who understand student issues and are here to help.” Both undergraduate and graduate students can schedule an appointment with a counselor. In recognition of a summer that has been traumatic for many, the SHCS has worked to be sure that services are readily available. We ask students to please utilize these resources. They are for YOU. You don’t have to be part of a special group or club to access the services. You are an Aggie. The services are for YOU. If you are a parent, guardian, faculty member, program director, or staff member, please share resources with your students and encourage use. We are dedicated to eliminating stigmas! 

Last week, more than 800 people “zoomed in” for our program on “Restoring Justice. Transforming Education at UC Davis” with Dr. Maisha Winn and Dr. Lawrence “Torry” Winn, Co-Founders of the UC Davis Transformative Justice in Education Center. This talk, more recently referred to as “The Winn Talk,” was recorded, and can now be viewed online. More information and the link for viewing can be found beneath my message. We thank you for tuning in, and for regularly engaging with DEI as we work together to have a stronger campus. Below, you’ll see information about an upcoming UC Davis presentation on the Police Accountability Board to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, courses on understanding microaggressions, mitigating bias, unpacking oppression, and more. In the coming weeks, you’ll see information about investments that UC Davis has made to support DEI, an “Anti-racism Syllabus” to highlight readings and activities, and invitations to join additional community events. 

Thank you for continuing to work with us, and thank you for your trust and support. We look forward to continuing to serve!

Kind Regards,

Renetta G. Tull, Vice Chancellor

“Restoring Justice: Transforming Education at UC Davis” | Recording Now Available
If you missed our powerful presentation last week, you can watch the entire webinar on our website. This webinar provided the UC Davis community with an opportunity to continue our on-going dialogues that recognize and address issues of bias and structural inequality. Dr. Maisha T. Winn, Chancellor's Leadership Professor, School of Education, Faculty Director and co-founder, Transformative Justice in Education (TJE) Center, and Dr. Lawrence Winn, Assistant Professor of Teaching, and co-founder of the Transformative Justice in Education Center, and will assist with a baseline and common framing around examining histories and futures with attention to race, justice, and language. Watch Here.

Chancellor’s Colloquium: ‘Race, Racism, Rebellion in a Pandemic’
A recording of the Chancellor’s Colloquium featuring Gary Younge, journalist, author, and professor of sociology, can now be viewed here. Younge wrote last year’s Campus Community Book Project, Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives.

Action Planning Update
We were thrilled by number of ally statements we received from units across campus over the last few months. We want to continue to build on the momentum of the amazing work that is being done to address racial inequality and social injustice across campus and in the community. Let’s continue to demonstrate how committed we are to positive change by putting our words into action (plans). If your unit has not done so already, consider showcasing your commitment to DEI by sending us your unit’s action plan, which outlines the changes your unit is and will be making, and we will post them to our DEI website.

UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Office of Campus Community Relations | AEVC Rahim Reed

Police Accountability Board Presentation
Members of the Police Accountability Board (PAB) Administrative Advisory Group will present a session at the annual conference—held virtually this year—of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE). The session, entitled “Partnership in Civilian Oversight of University Police,” will take place on Tuesday, September 8, 2020, 12:00 – 1:30 pm PDT. More information on the NACOLE virtual annual conference, including links for the conference schedule and for registration, can be found here. The PAB’s workshop is Session 26. Please note that each conference session costs $15 plus a $2.12 service fee.

Diversity Education Fall 2020 Lineup
We are pleased to announce our fall lineup of our virtual professional development seminars! Register today as seats are filling quickly. 

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

Diversity in Graduate Medical Education Virtual Residency Open House
On Saturday, August 29, UC Davis held its first Diversity in Graduate Medical Education Virtual Residency Open House, in collaboration between the Office of Student and Resident Diversity (OSRD), the Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME), and the Center for a Diverse Healthcare Workforce (CDHW). The event showcased UC Davis-affiliated residency programs to applicants (4th-year medical students and medical school graduates), with an eye toward UC Davis’ commitments to serving the underserved, pursuing health equity, and diversifying the healthcare workforce. Nearly two dozen residency programs were represented including 17 from UC Davis and 9 community-affiliated residency programs, including Kaiser Permanente (Sacramento and Santa Rosa Family Medicine), Dignity Health (Mercy Medical Center and Aviva Roseburg Family Medicine), Oregon Health and Science University (Emergency Medicine, Hillsboro Internal Medicine). More than 650 applicants signed up from all 6 UC medical schools, medical schools from 32 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, 4 Historically Black medical schools (Charles Drew, Howard, Meharry, Morehouse), and several international programs in Antigua, China, Colombia, and India.

Partnership encourages Native Americans to pursue health care careers
The UC Davis School of Medicine has joined with two other universities and a regional health board in a collaborative effort to increase the number of Native Americans practicing health care. The joint project, called Reimagine Indians into Medicine, or RISE, stands to substantially increase the total number of Native medical and health science students nationwide, which in turn can decrease health disparities and improve public health. “The UC Davis School of Medicine is firmly committed to reducing health disparities, and one of the most successful ways to achieve that is to matriculate more students from diverse backgrounds,” said Allison Brashear, dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. “Studies show that students who belong to underrepresented minority groups are drawn to careers in medicine where they can care for underserved populations – which also happen to have the greatest health disparities.” Read the full article here.

2020-2021 MIND Institute Diversity Awards
The UC Davis MIND Institute will fund several small grants (up to $1000 each) to UC Davis postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, medical students and undergraduates for research projects that address issues of race, ethnicity, and culture in the development, identification, care, and support of individuals with neurodevelopmental challenges and their families. The intent is to be quite broad and support all types of research that focus on the intersection of neurodevelopmental disabilities and issues specific to any group of individuals that is underrepresented, marginalized, discriminated against, or denied access to equal participation in our society. 

The applicant’s supervisor must be a MIND Institute Faculty member. Applicants who do not currently work with a MIND Institute Faculty member may wish to approach faculty to discuss their ideas and request supervision. Following completion of the project, the applicant is required to write a brief layperson summary of their findings for publication on the MIND Institute website to facilitate dissemination to the community.

For fiscal year 2020-2021, we will accept applications on a quarterly basis with the next submission dates on December 1, 2020, March 1, 2021 and June 1, 2021. Award notices will be sent by the following month. An applicant may only receive one award per fiscal year. Submit applications here. 

Office of Academic Diversity | Interim AVC Lorena Oropeza

Theanne Griffith Reads from Her "The Magnificent Makers"
New CAMPOS Faculty Scholar Theanne Griffith (Physiology and Membrane Biology, School of Medicine) is not only a neuroscientist whose current work combines electrophysiology, transgenic mouse models, and behavioral studies to investigate how cold sensation is encoded in peripheral sensory neurons, she is also a passionate storyteller and children’s book author. Recently she read from her newest book in her The Magnificent Makers series introducing children to the magic and power of science. You can watch a recording of her book event and learn more about her “modern day Magic School Bus” books here.

Lorena Oropeza and Kimberly Nettles-Barcelón Contribute to Recent Articles
CAMPSSAH Faculty Director and Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Kimberly Nettles-Barcelón, spoke with a Washington Post reporter about the intersection of presidential politics, female candidates, race, and gender expectations. Read the article here.

This past Saturday (August 29) marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium march in East Los Angeles. Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity and History Professor, Lorena Oropeza who wrote a book about Chicano protest and patriotism during the Viet Nam era spoke with journalists about the event and its significance, then and now. Read the LA Times article here; listen to the podcast here.

EVENTS

September 3, Thursday

Alumni Career Mentorship Webinar Series – Chicanx/Latinx - Careers in Medicine/Health II | 4:00PM
Undergraduate Admissions (UA) and the African and African American Alumni Association, Chicanx/Latinx Alumni Association, and Native American Alumni Association congratulate our incoming students on their admission to UC Davis. During the upcoming summer weeks, UA will be hosting the inaugural Alumni Career Mentorship Webinar Series for our incoming Freshmen and Transfer students. Register Now

September 28, Monday

Effective Governance Practices with an Equity Lens sponsored by the Yolo County School Boards  Association | 5:30pm
This interactive virtual session focuses on how governance teams can serve students through an equity lens.  During this session, participants will reflect on the history of public education, develop a deeper understanding of the concept of educational equity, and reflect on their role in interrupting equity gaps that exist in the data.  You will review the possibility of developing or evolving equity driven policies and understand ways to measure their impact in addressing equity gaps.  The session will support the strategic development of an equity impact plan for cohesive and sustainable equity leadership in the district. Register here.

RECOMMENDED READING

Scott Jaschik, "How to Get Grant Money in the Humanities and Social Sciences," Inside Higher Ed, January 31, 2019.
Raphael B. Folsom, associate professor of history at the University of Oklahoma discusses his new book about finding the funds to do your project and advance your career. Read article here.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Graduate Students: Apply to the Asking Different Questions Scholars Program The UC Davis Feminist Research Institute (FRI) is accepting applications for the Fall 2020 “Asking Different Questions Scholars” program. Graduate students can apply now to participate in a quarter-long workshop on how conduct research grounded in a commitment to justice. Participants will earn one unit of graduate course credit, get a certificate of completion, and be eligible for research funds. This program is for UC Davis graduate students and postdocs with a commitment to justice, equity, and diversity. This program will teach you how to integrate these values more deeply into your scientific practices.  

Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center We are a student community space where you can find fresh fruits and vegetables during Fruit & Veggie Up!, get CalFresh enrollment assistance and find resources to help you find stable housing and financial assistance. 

Food Resources for UC Davis Students and Community Members Food is one of the most basic and important human needs, yet an increasing number of college students are going hungry as food insecurity gets worse. Food insecurity can not only lead to poor health, but can also have detrimental effects on a student's academic, professional, and social life. Food insecurity can be brought on by various factors, including limited food access and financial difficulties. Here in Davis, there is a variety of fresh and health foods in grocery stores, restaurants, and farmer’s markets.

Campus Ready With the anticipation that our on-campus community will increase gradually over the next several months, we are introducing a robust COVID-19 plan to ensure that UC Davis is “campus ready” for you. What does campus ready mean? It means phases of return to campus. New policies, guidelines and protocols to minimize exposure. And a campus wide approach that follows prevention best practices including wearing face coverings, physical distancing, frequent sanitization and symptom monitoring.

Keep Teaching Instructional Resilience at UC Davis. To support UC Davis faculty during a time of COVID-19-related illness, quarantine, or campus closure, this site provides concise, practical resources and strategies for moving part or all of a course online to help you keep teaching.  

UC Davis Office for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion COVID resources page In English and Spanish to reach our communities and we are actively updating with new 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

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