The day of recognition we would like to highlight this December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities recognized on the 3rd. We often forget our friends with disabilities when discussing diversity issues. Diversity has such a broad and personal definition. If we truly want to be inclusive and equitable, we need to assure that the rights of persons with disabilities are at the table and that our actions demand accessibility and inclusivity.
It is estimated that there are over 1 billion persons in the world with disabilities. These individuals are often excluded in our society. In addition, they have notable health disparities especially when it comes to COVID. Disparities abound in this population in access to health care, education and employment. This day of observance was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1992 and should be a more prominent remembrance especially when we consider that almost everyone will be permanently or temporarily impaired at some point in their life. We hope in the near future to have a Pediatric Grand Rounds on disabilities.
December is an active month. There is a lot going on, just to name a few special dates:
- Dec 1 – World’s AIDS Day
- Dec 8 – Feast of the Immaculate Conception
- Dec 10 – Chanukah, starting at sundown for 8 days
- Dec 10 – International Human Rights Day
- Dec 12 – Feast of Our Lady Guadalupe
- December 12 – Frank Sinatra’s Birthday, important but not for diversity reasons
- December 21 – Pagan and Wiccan Yule Winter Solstice
- December 25 – Christmas
- December 26 – Kwanzaa
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Diversity Town Hall Meeting
Thursday, December 10th - 12:00 - 1:00p
Meeting ID: 927 6454 2437
Passcode: 199872
Please Mute Your Microphone
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December’s Touchpoint 20 Zoom Gathering
Friday, December 11 - 12:00 - 12:30p
December's Touchpoint 20 Zoom Gathering You won’t want to miss this Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion segment delivered by Dr. Nate Thomas entitled: DEI is You and You are DEI.
Remember, this series is designed to keep us all connected, especially as many of us are physically apart. Please continue to encourage others to participate as well.
Event Details:
Who: SOM staff and faculty are invited to participate. Please forward this invitation to your department’s staff and faculty. This segment features Dr. Nate Thomas, Vice Dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Dr. Thomas’ segment is entitled: ‘DEI is You and You are DEI’.
When: Friday, Dec. 11. The best part about ‘touching point’ every other month, is that we’ll only take about 20 minutes of your time while sharing!
Where: Meet us in the Touchpoint 20 Zoom room. The link and other helpful information will be shared on the SOM Intranet page.
What: This series was created as a way to stay connected during this time of physical separation. Each segment will feature information on one-to-two hot topics to shed light on work force concerns as we continue to move forward together.
Karlina Matthews, Associate Dean for Administration and
Michael Sledge, Chief Financial Officer
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Increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of the health care workforce is essential for the adequate provision of culturally competent care to our nation’s burgeoning minority communities. A diverse health care workforce will help to expand health care access for the underserved, foster research in neglected areas of societal need, and enrich the pool of managers and policymakers to meet the needs of a diverse populace. The long-term solution to achieving adequate diversity in the health professions depends upon fundamental reforms of our country’s precollege education system. Until these reforms occur, affirmative action tools in health professions schools are critical to achieving a diverse health care workforce. Click here to read full article.
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Serena Auñón-Chancellor, MD (1976-): From space to COVID-19 wards
As a NASA astronaut, Serena Auñón-Chancellor had the opportunity to spend days on the bottom of the ocean and hurtle through space high above the Earth. But treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on her as well. Auñón-Chancellor, the first Hispanic physician to travel to space, spent six months in 2018 conducting research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Her work there included conducting experiments related to Parkinson’s disease and cancer. “What people don’t realize is that … 70% of that [research] is to specifically benefit health down here,” she said.
Auñón-Chancellor fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut in 2011. Before that, she completed medical school at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston in 2001 and a master’s degree in public health at the university’s Medical Branch at Galveston in 2007. Since completing her flight mission, Auñón-Chancellor has been treating patients and training internal medicine residents at LSU Health Sciences Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Auñón-Chancellor says her time aboard the ISS taught her many invaluable lessons, including two that have been essential during the COVID-19 pandemic: self-care and teamwork. Caring for coronavirus patients and traveling to space were extreme challenges, but in both, she felt strongly that she was “performing a tremendous service and fulfilling a sense of purpose.”
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EDUCATING MYSELF ABOUT DIVERSITY |
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When asked about her personal life and experience and how she came about to be so involved in racism today Robin responded by saying: “I grew up poor and white. While my class oppression has been relatively visible to me, my race privilege has not. In my efforts to uncover how race has shaped my life, I have gained deeper insight by placing race in the center of my analysis and asking how each of my other group locations have socialized me to collude with racism. In so doing, I have been able to address in greater depth my multiple locations and how they function together to hold racism in place. I now make the distinction that I grew up poor and white, for my experience of poverty would have been different had I not been white” (DiAngelo, 2006). |
Diangelo received her PhD in Multicultural Education from the University of Washington in Seattle in 2004. Robin earned her tenure at Westfield State University in Massachusetts, and is currently an Affiliate Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. In addition, she holds two Honorary Doctoral Degrees. Diangelo’s areas of research is in Whiteness Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis, tracing how whiteness is reproduced in everyday narratives. Robin is also a two-time winner of the Student’s Choice Award for Educator of the Year at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work. Robin has numerous publications and books, including Is Everybody Really Equal?: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Critical Social Justice Education, co-written with Özlem Sensoy, and which received both the American Educational Studies Association Critics Choice Book Award (2012) and the Society of Professors of Education Book Award (2018). In 2011 Robin coined the term White Fragility in an academic article which influenced the international dialogue on race. Her book, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism was released in June of 2018 and debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List where it remained for 85 weeks. It is currently being translated into 5 languages. |
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December Dates to Note
Other important dates can be found on the
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December 1: World AIDS Day |
Also known as United Nations World AIDS Day, this day has been declared by the World Health Organization as a time to increase education and awareness of AIDS. |
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December 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities
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This international observance was established to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to foster awareness of the importance of integrating persons with disabilities into every aspect of life. |
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December 7: National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
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In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, the United States suffered a surprise attack by the Japanese naval and air forces at the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which left 2,403 Americans dead and 1,178 wounded. The following day President Franklin D. Roosevelt made his historic address to a joint session of Congress, calling December 7, 1941 "a date which will live in infamy." The U.S. Congress declared war on Japan, and the United States was drawn into World War II on the Allied side. The United States' participation in the war contributed to the defeat of the Axis powers by 1945. |
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December 10: Chanukah begins at sunset |
This holiday, often misunderstood as the "Jewish Christmas", commemorates the victory of the Jewish people, led by the Maccabee family, over the Syrian Greeks in 165 B.C.E. This victory marked the end of a three-year period of religious persecution, restored Jewish independence, and ensured the survival of monotheism (belief in one God). According to legend, when the Jews returned to cleanse their Temple, which had been defiled by pagan worship, they discovered only enough consecrated oil to keep the holy lamp burning for one day. However, the oil miraculously lasted eight days, the time needed to secure a new supply. Hanukkah is celebrated by lighting a candle on each of the eight days of celebration. On the first night, one candle is lit in a branched candlestick called a menorah, and an additional candle is lit each night until the eighth night. This ceremony has given the holiday the additional name of "Festival of Lights." Hanukkah is joyfully celebrated. Special Hebrew hymns, including "Rock of Ages," are sung, family members exchange gifts, and children play with a dreidel, a four-sided top inscribed with the Hebrew letters for "a great miracle happened there." Potato pancakes, or latkes, are a traditional food treat, with the oil used for cooking recalling the oil in the sacred lamp. The holiday ends at sundown on the eighth day. |
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This is the Sabbat observed on the winter solstice. In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the great horned hunter god, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home, while others do so with their coven or fellowship. Yule or Yuletide originated as a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the pagan Anglo-Saxon MÅdraniht. |
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Most Christians observe Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and it is celebrated as a public holiday in many countries worldwide. Eastern Orthodox Christians who follow the Orthodox New Calendar, such as the Greek and Cypriot Orthodox Churches, observe Christmas on this date. However, other Eastern Orthodox Christians and Coptic Orthodox Christians follow the Orthodox Old Calendar, or Julian calendar, and celebrate Christmas on January 7. The Armenian Apostolic Church observes Christmas on January 6. Christmas is a family-oriented holiday with special foods, colorful decorations, and exchanging of gifts. Families often have their own traditions, especially concerning when gifts are exchanged and what foods are served. Jehovah's Witnesses are among those who do not celebrate this holiday |
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First celebrated on December 26, 1966, Kwanzaa (KWAN-za) is a seven-day festival created in the United States by scholar and cultural activist Dr. Maulana Karenga. Patterned after harvest festivals in Africa, Kwanzaa derives its name from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits." Symbols of Kwanzaa are set upon a low table laden with tropical fruits and vegetables. A seven-branched candelabrum called a kinara, reflecting the Nguzo Saba, or the seven principles of Kwanzaa, is used for lighting one candle for each day of the holiday. Kwanzaa decorations traditionally use a color scheme of red, black, and green: black to represent the faces of Black people and their collective beauty, red to represent the struggle and the blood of ancestors, and green to signify youth and renewed life. The Kwanzaa observance includes storytelling about the seven principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). A Pan-African holiday, Kwanzaa is also celebrated in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and in African communities in the United Kingdom and other European countries.
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Stuart Gold, Committee Chair
Christian Lawrence
Robin Howard
Jennifer McElroy
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Martha Perry
Nina Jain
Hadley Kifner
Zachary Pettigrew
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Kenya McNeal-Trice
Benny Joyner
Jennifer Gutierrez-Wu
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