For Your Information | February 18, 2021

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Dear Friends, 

This week, I am doing something a little bit different. As we continue to condemn xenophobia in the Asian community, I bring your attention to last week's tweet and the letter from the UC Davis Asian Pacific American Systemwide Alliance. Further, this week, I hold space for more awareness and ask you to read the letter below from Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion's Associate Vice Chancellor Hendry Ton:

February 12, 2021

Dear friends and colleagues, 

Today marks an important holiday for many Asian and Asian Americans: Lunar New Year. It is a time of family and community gathering; and a time to take stock of the year that has passed and place hope in the year to come.  The COVID-19 pandemic calls for creative ways to preserve and foster community, and the promise of the vaccines and demand for policies to make their distribution equitable offers hope for the new year. Yet we are seeing a disturbing rise in anti-Asian hate and violence this week as the lunar new year approaches. My heart breaks for the 91-year-old man who was violently shoved to the ground as he walking past Asian Resources in Oakland. My heart breaks for 84-year-old Vicha Ratabapakdee’s family who was killed in an unprovoked attack in San Francisco. My heart breaks for 61-year-old Noel Quintana, who was slashed in the face while riding the subway. These attacks are particularly painful for many Asians and Asian Americans, as the love and reverence we have for elders is at the core of our identity. It saddens me to say that the hate is not new, but stoked by inflammatory rhetoric, there has been 20-fold increase in hate crimes and violence against Asians and Asian Americans in the past year. 

But let us be clear--hate of does not have the power to break our collective communities.  We must respond with support for those who are harmed by it, solidarity for communities threatened by it, and we  must remember that injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere.

In this context, I would like to share this powerful letter from APASA calling for solidarity in allyship and advocacy.

Wishing you a safe, love-filled, and healthy Lunar New Year. 

Hendry Ton MD MS 
Associate Vice Chancellor for  Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
UC Davis Health

Thank you for spending time to read Dr. Ton's letter, and for your resolve to be active upstanders. 

Next week, we enter into a celebration of our Principles of Community and we invite you to choose your “four words” that best describe the principles – the survey ends tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 19. You can probably complete it in 4 seconds! Pick your 4 words here.

We also invite you to join and share in the events. As you do so, please be aware that all of us have a part to play in understanding, addressing, and remedying situations that threaten the well-being and lives of others. There are issues such as anti-Semitism and caste-based discrimination  that many may have thought were part of the past, but these and other discriminatory behaviors threaten inclusion and access --- in short, we reject them! By “we,” we don’t just mean the DEI office; remembering that “…each of us has an obligation to the UC Davis community of which we have chosen to be a part.” We engage our entire campus community, and encourage you to uphold our values and ideals that “affirm the dignity inherent in all of us, and we strive to maintain a climate of equity and justice demonstrated by respect for one another.”

Warmest Regards,
Renetta

UC Davis School of Law Tribal Justice Seminar Series 

The Tribal Justice Seminar Series strives to unite law students, graduate students, faculty, and practitioners with leaders and scholars who specialize in the area of tribal courts. Over the course of the Spring 2021 semester, the series will explore some of the current challenges facing tribal courts and the creative, groundbreaking ways that thought leaders and practitioners are addressing them. View a schedule with registration information here.

Doing It All When Your Children Are Small: A Support Group for Faculty Parents 

Attention, faculty parents! The demands of parenthood can be overwhelming and the COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified these challenges. Faculty parents are not only teaching courses, trying to write and conduct research, but also caring for and schooling their children. Do you sometimes feel as though you’ll never sleep again, let alone have a clear intellectual thought? Does publishing seem like a pipe dream? You are not alone. Academic Affairs will host two more drop-in Zoom support group meetings at various days to accommodate faculty parent schedules. Join for as long as you would like, whether it’s 5 or 50 minutes. Meet and connect with others as we share ideas and strategies for engaging in research and writing while parenting, especially under these new physical distancing conditions. Learn More.

Applications for the 2020-21 UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellowship for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

As the UC Davis student body becomes increasingly diverse and reflective of the population demographics of California, more is needed from faculty to foster a learning environment where all students can develop the skills to be successful. Some faculty members have made exceptional contributions in supporting, tutoring, mentoring, and advising underrepresented students and/or students from underserved communities. To recognize these outstanding efforts, the Chancellor is offering the Chancellor’s Fellowship for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Learn more and submit an application here. Deadline: March 12, 2021.

UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Office of Academic Diversity | Interim AVC Lorena Oropeza

CAMPSSAH Faculty Scholar Branwen Okpako Selected as 2020-21 Chancellor Fellow

Twelve early-career faculty members, including Branwen Okpako (cinema and digital media) are adding a new title after their names: Chancellor’s Fellow, in recognition of their outstanding work in academia. Each keeps the title for five years and receives $25,000 in philanthropic support for research or other scholarly work. Read the full story.

CAMPSSAH Faculty Scholar Emily Vazquez Receives Junior Faculty Manuscript Workshop Grant

The University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) has selected Emily Vázquez (Spanish and Portuguese ) for one of its junior faculty manuscript workshop grants for her project Border Biomes: Coexistence and Interference on American Migration Trails. The UCHRI facilitates experimental, interdisciplinary humanities scholarship through partnerships, research initiatives, and competitive grants. This grant’s cycle is focused on “Living Through Upheaval,” an 18-month research and public programming initiative developed by UCHRI and the UC Humanities Collaborative to foster the systemwide engagement of humanities faculty and students around important and transformative issues related to moments of upheaval–past, present, and future. It supports innovative grantmaking, public events, and a publication series. 

Award and Grant Opportunities from P.L.A.C.E. with CAMPSSAH

The Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Social Science, Arts, and Humanities (CAMPSSAH) is pleased to announce four new opportunities as part of the P.L.A.C.E. with CAMPSSAH Advancing Faculty Diversity (AFD) grant:

1. MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP will aid selected faculty in getting a project from rough draft to published manuscript by providing financial resources to secure critical feedback. P.L.A.C.E. will offer up to $2,500 each for four UC Davis faculty to allow the recipients to convene a one- to two-day workshop that brings together chosen experts in the scholar’s field to help prepare a manuscript for submission to a publisher. Application deadline: February 22, 2021.
2. POST-TENURE START-UP AWARD will offer two newly-tenured faculty a “start-up” package of $4,000 as an Academic Enrichment Fund to assist them in the development of a new project or allow them to refocus their energies in ways more attuned with their desired career path within the university. Application deadline: February 22, 2021. 

Please visit our webpage for more details and application requirements.

Office of Campus Community Relations | AEVC Rahim Reed

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Soaring to New Heights Awards 2021 

The Office of the Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Office of Campus Community Relations (OCCR) and the Staff Diversity Administrative Advisory Committee (SDAAC), is pleased to invite nominations for the Calvin E. Handy Leadership Award and Soaring to New Heights Diversity & Principles of Community Achievement Award for 2021. 

The Calvin E. Handy Leadership Award
This award is a crime prevention and public safety award that recognizes individuals based on community oriented engagement and activities that are collaborative, cooperative, and proactive. This award highlights the importance of maintaining an environment where safety is essential to the successful mission of UC Davis, UC Davis Health System and its surrounding communities. 

Soaring to New Heights Award
This award recognizes campus employees who demonstrate diversity and Principles of Community efforts that exceed the expectations of their position. 

Please submit nominations by 11:59pm on March 14, 2021. Please direct any questions to occr@ucdavis.edu. 

Please click here to submit a nomination for the Calvin E. Handy Leadership Award and Soaring to New Heights Diversity & Principles of Community Achievement Award. 

We would also like to invite you to participate in the Four Words Campaign by completing the survey here. The survey closes on Friday, February 19 so please vote now!

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

Partnership with Opening Doors, Inc. One Example of Anchor Institution Mission in Action

Anchor Institution Mission (AIM) for Community Health seeks to harness the advantages of being Sacramento County’s second-largest employer to increase community wealth-building and strengthen the social infrastructure for the communities in our vicinity. The areas surrounding the Sacramento campus have been underserved for decades; AIM is just one way UC Davis Health is working to reverse systemic/structural racism and discrimination, in close allyship with impacted communities.

To learn more, join us on Friday, Feb. 25 at the UC Davis Health Virtual Small and Diverse Supplier Expo. This event aims to promote awareness of small and diverse suppliers in the Davis and Sacramento areas and build understanding of how UC Davis departments can do business with them.

Deans' Awards for Excellence Annual Call for Nominations

Nominations are now being accepted for the Deans' Team Award for Inclusion Excellence and Deans’ Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Nomination deadline for all awards is Sunday, February 28, 2021. Visit our Deans' Awards pages for more details.

Principles of Community Week, February 22-26, 2021

The annual Principles of Community at UC Davis Health is a week-long diversity celebration for internal and external community members. New for 2021, the Principles of Community is being celebrated with virtual "Pop Ups" throughout the week. Hosted by various constituent groups within the UC Davis Health community, these events will showcase the diversity and inclusive community we strive toward and value here at UC Davis Health.

EVENTS

February 18, Thursday

Chancellor’s Colloquium: María Teresa Kumar | 4:00PM
Alumna María Teresa Kumar, founding president and CEO of Voto Latino, which has registered more than a million voters since 2012, and who is an Emmy-nominated MSNBC contributor, is the next guest in the Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speaker Series. Her chat with Chancellor Gary S. May will be presented via Zoom. Learn more and register here.

February 19, Friday

Race, Museums, Art History: Templeton Colloquium in Art History | 4:00PM
Can the museum be a space of anti-racism, and can the discipline of art history help to achieve that? The 2021 Templeton Colloquium focuses on these questions to better understand the relationship between the display of art and racial privilege. Speakers will include Professor Bridget Cooks of UC Irvine, author of Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum (2011), and Dr. Susan Mullin Vogel, a curator, filmmaker and expert on African art whose most recent book is El Anatsui: Art and Life (2020). Following their brief presentations there will be a conversation moderated by Michael Yonan, professor of art history and Alan Templeton Endowed Chair in European Art, 1600–1830. Register here.

February 20, Saturday

Book Project: Holistic Healing: Finding Harmony Between the Mind, Body, and Spirit | 11:00AM
Facilitated by Angie Franklin, Owner, Afro Yoga & Nicole Carter, LCSW, Psychotherapist, Nicole Carter Consulting and Counseling. Co-sponsored by the UC Davis Health African American Faculty and Staff Association. Register here—all are welcome.

Mondavi Center HomeStage presents: Heartbeat Opera, Breathing Free | 7:30PM
Breathing Free builds on Heartbeat Opera’s 2018 collaboration with 100 incarcerated singers in six prison choirs, part of a contemporary Fidelio told through the lens of Black Lives Matter. Now, in the turbulent wake of George Floyd’s murder and in the grip of a pandemic which is ravaging our prison population, Heartbeat curates a song cycle brought to life by three singers, three dancers, eight instrumentalists and the use of vivid music videos, mingling excerpts from Beethoven’s Fidelio with songs by Black composers and lyricists, which together manifest a dream of justice and equity. Purchase tickets here (students free)

February 23, Tuesday

Breathing Free: Anti-Racism and Activism in the Arts | 7:00PM
Black Artists Fund & Heartbeat Opera present in association with the Mondavi Center BREATHING FREE Anti-Racism and Activism in the Arts - a live panel discussion. Join arts leaders and activists from Heartbeat Opera and the Sacramento community in a free panel discussion about how our arts community can join the fight for racial justice. View here.

February 24, Wednesday

Road Blocks to STEM Graduate Student Retention | 8:00AM
Presentations by Kenneth Gibbs, Chief, Undergraduate and Predoctoral Cross-Disciplinary Training Branch Division of Training, Workforce Development and Diversity, National Institutes of Health; Renetta Garrison Tull, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Suzanne Ortega, Preseident, Council of Graduate Schools; Celina Gray (Blackfeet/Métis), Wildlife Biology M.S. Program, University of Montana. View here.

Histories of Racial Capitalism: A Conversation with Destin Jenkins and Justin Leroy | 11:00AM
UC Davis history professor Justin Leroy will join his co-editor Destin Jenkins (history, University of Chicago) to discuss their edited volume Histories of Racial Capitalism. Register here.

Book Project: Mental Health in the Black Community: Experiences, Perspectives, and Healing | 6:00PM
Facilitated by Tiffany R. Mimms, PhD, President and Clinical Psychologist, Rosetta Center for Counseling and Wellness, Inc. Co-sponsored by the UC Davis Health African American Faculty and Staff Association & Office for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Register here—all are welcome.

February 25, Thursday

UndocuAdvocate Program for Educators | 10:00AM
UndocuAdvocate Program for Educators is an opportunity for educators to engage in shared knowledge and opportunities regarding serving and advocating alongside the undocumented and immigrant student community at UC Davis. Through discussions on laws, policies, mental health, support and access, educators will gain a better understanding of the undergraduate and graduate undocumented and immigrant student experience. This interactive course is intended to be a first step and investment in analyzing the current resources within your unit and creating a more accessible and equitable experience for undocumented and immigrant students at UC Davis. Register here.

March 1, Monday

Campus Community Book Project Author Lecture | 4:00PM
Ellen Forney is an author, artist, teacher, and mental health coach. Her work includes The New York Times bestselling graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, the story of her diagnosis and struggle with bipolar disorder and this year's selection for the UC Davis Campus Community Book Project. Register here.

March 2, Tuesday

Office of Research - Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research and Grant Writing | 12:00PM
Whether you’re looking at NSF's 'Broadening Participation' initiative the NIH's 'Scientific Workforce Diversity' program, or any other federal funding agency's pipeline programs, the evidence abounds: the United States is heavily invested in the recruitment of a diverse scientific America. This focus is reflected in the ongoing requirement for grant seekers to consider how they, too, will engage in educational and outreach efforts for historically excluded and marginalized communities, training a new and more inclusive generation of researchers, scholars, and creative professionals. In this workshop, participants will consider the impacts of DEI on areas of proposal development including, but not limited to:

• Proposal preparation process (how tasks are assigned; strength-based preparation; the "one right way" mindset; calling out "water cooler" culture)
• Project leadership (who is included; 'permissible' leaders; conflict resolution policy)
• Methods and approach (distribution of tasks and responsibilities; distribution of resources)
• Facilities, equipment, and other resources (accounting for institutional wealth; leveraging DEI resources for faculty/staff)
• Data management plan (data privacy; public access policies; archiving plans)
• Dissemination plan (Authorship policies; open-access publishing; public scholarship)

Regsiter here.

March 5, Friday

Anti-Racism: Applications to Higher Ed Pedagogy - Graduate Student Workshop | 1:30PM
From the Center for Educational Effectiveness: Just as racial inequities and disparities permeate society, these inequities also appear on campuses, in curricula, and in classrooms. By infusing our professional practice with actions in support of anti-racist ideals, we can, as educators, contribute to this race and equity work. In this workshop for graduate students, participants will explore how we might take anti-racist actions -- preventatively and responsively -- in the context of our classrooms. We will also discuss actionable steps towards building an anti-racist teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence. Register here.

April 22, Thursday

Manetti Shrem, Art Studio Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Arnold Joseph Kemp in Conversation with Sampada Aranke | 4:30PM
The materials employed in Arnold J. Kemp’s interdisciplinary practice absorb or reflect light while mirroring likeness, becoming haunted and ghostly metaphors for absented and obfuscated black bodies. Kemp will give a poetry reading, then discuss the relationship between language and the aesthetics presented in his paintings, photographs and sculpture with Manetti Shrem Museum scholar- in-residence Sampada Aranke. Kemp’s exhibition Arnold Joseph Kemp: I would survive. I could survive. I should survive, curated by Arnanke, is on view through April 25, 2021. Register here.

RECOMMENDED READING

Mallika A. Nocco, “Mentorship, equity, and research productivity: lessons from a pandemic,” Science Direct(March 2021).
Cooperative Extension Specialist, Land, Air and Water Resources and Conservation Irrigtation Lab PI, Mallika Nocco published an article about inclusive mentorship. The coronavirus pandemic is more fully exposing ubiquitous economic and social inequities that pervade conservation science. In this time of prolonged stress on members of the research community, primary investigators or project leaders (PLs) have a unique opportunity to adapt their programs to jointly create more equitable and productive research environments for their teams. Read the article here.

Corrie Decker and Elisabeth McMahon, “What Americans across the political spectrum got wrong about the attempted insurrection,” Washington Post, January 21, 2021. 
Associate professor of history at UC Davis, Corrie Decker, co-wrote a perspective piece about the global history of anti-Black racism and the idea of American greatness. Read the article.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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.

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.

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/