SEATTLE – Humanities faculty discussed practical techniques for boosting academic diversity alongside broader national conversations about race and White supremacy as the four-day Modern Language Association (MLA) Convention drew to a close.
On Thursday evening, a group of faculty met for an interactive workshop on how to spot and tackle holes in their departments’ diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, led by Dr. GerShun Avilez, associate professor of English at the University of Maryland, and Dr. Heidi Kim, associate professor of English and comparative literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
While institutions vary, talking about these issues through a department lens “cuts across difference,” Kim said.
University professors and department chairs were asked to list and categorize some of their department initiatives by posting sticky notes under signs on the wall that read: “diversity initiative?” and “equity and inclusion initiative?” Workshop facilitators pointed out that the 13 to eight post-it ratio was representative of a problem: there tends to be more focus on representation – recruiting diverse faculty and students – than fostering inclusive environments to retain them.
Participants had the opportunity to share about diversity, equity and inclusion challenges within their own departments and brainstorm potential solutions with the group. Problems ranged from worse offices for contingent faculty versus full-time faculty to a lack of space for Muslim students to pray.
Kim and Avilez encouraged faculty to think long-term about the structure of how diversity work happens in their departments.
While larger campus efforts matter, “the actual work that gets done is at a department level,” Avilez said.
