Our memo brings together information that reflects the current thinking on how to progress Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace. Each month it is bursting with highlights for reflection and inspiration. Let us continue to work together to help influence social change, to achieve a safer and fairer society.
*Please note that this memo reflects the feelings and thoughts of your Diversity Committee. It is not meant to capture all of the feelings within our Department. We openly recognize all may not agree. We do hope these memos help educate all of us about diversity issues and in addition invoke thoughtful and courteous discussion and debate*
~ The Pediatrics Diversity Committee
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Welcome to Autumn and November, a rich month for Diversity. November is Native American Heritage Month – the month to celebrate the amazing histories, diverse cultures, traditions, languages, and contributions of our Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Island communities. This awareness is especially important in North Carolina which has the sixth largest population of Native Americans in the country.
The International Day of Tolerance, created by the UN, is on November 16th. This day is to promote respect for and honor various religions, languages, ethnicities, and cultures. November 16th, since 1991, has also been Dutch Heritage Day.
The 20th of November is Transgender Day of Remembrance – a day to honor all our transgender friends who have committed suicide and those who were killed because of transphobia. The week leading up to the Day of Remembrance is Transgender Awareness Week.
Of course, November 24th is Thanksgiving – which we often think of as an “American” holiday, but this day truly spans many cultures and continents, and its origins can be traced back to Greek, Roman, and Egyptian cultures. It is a day of thanks and gratitude – a day to recognize and be thankful for how diversity enriches all of our lives.
- Le Jour de l’Action de Grace in Canada.
- Chuseok in South Korea.
- Tet Trung Thu in Vietnam. Erntedankfest in Germany.
- Asogil Te Za in Ghana.
- Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan.
While we are being thankful, we want to thank everyone who has helped the Department of Pediatrics on our journey to equity and inclusion by participating in the climate surveys and town halls. We have been talking to different stakeholders and below are some action items you will see us all working on together, in our diverse departments so that everyone has a voice. This will cause us to achieve equity in all facets of our work.
Here are some action items we will be working on for staff, learners, clinical faculty and our PhD faculty – we need help, so please consider joining one of our subcommittees or send along suggestions.
Staff Action Items
- Provide a structure for the hiring process regarding diversity, equity and inclusion
- Develop promotion ladder
- DEI Training for the people involved in hiring process
- Community building – quarterly events
- Clear salary guidelines
- Exit interviews to establish if there is a DEI role in departure
Learners Action Items
- Additional DEI training across the department including nursing
- Safe areas for religious or other needs and identifying these needs regularly
- Scheduling around religious holidays
- SAFE reporting
- Consider compliance system
- Consider SAFE reporting system
- Consider residency program liaison for filing reports
- Integrate Cone and Wake
- Education once mechanisms are in place
Clinician Action Items
- Publicize DEI certificate in Diversity Memo
- Exit interviews to help establish if diversity reasons involved in departure
- Assure salary equity
- Assure equity in promotion and tenure
- Microaggression training
- Training for Divisions
- Make people aware of UNC wide trainings
- Make these trainings required
PhD Faculty Action Items
- Visibility and Integration in the Department:
- Establish a Research/PhD website
- Opportunities for exposure and presentations at seminars and events including Grand Rounds
- Opportunities for acquiring leadership positions within the department and SOM
- Training, Education, and Mentoring:
- Provide funds for travel to conferences
- Workshop attendance
- Training, etc.
- Provide a structure/plan for peer mentoring
- Community Building and Networking:
- Regular events/meetings and opportunities for networking (interacting over lunch).
- The pediatrics PhD webpage will provide information on other PhDs in the department.
- Equity of Resources and Incentives:
- Availability of a clear incentives and compensation plan for PhD faculty that is tailored toward research faculty.
- Provide or advertise PhD-specific funding opportunities.
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UPCOMING DIVERSITY TOWN HALL |
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Date: Thursday, December 1, 2022
Topic: “Incorporating LGBTQ+ DEI in the Workplace"
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00p
Zoom Info:
Meeting ID: 980 2055 2152
Passcode: 076660
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With few rights as a woman and as an Indian, the pioneering doctor provided valuable health care and resources to her Omaha community. Carson Vaughan - March 1, 2017
When 21-year-old Susan La Flesche first stepped off the train in Philadelphia in early October 1886, nearly 1,300 miles from her Missouri River homeland, she’d already far surpassed the country’s wildest expectations for a member of the so-called “vanishing race.” Born during the Omaha’s summer buffalo hunt in June 1865 in the northeast corner of the remote Nebraska Territory, La Flesche graduated second in her class from the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, now Hampton University. She was fluent in English and her native tongue, could speak French and Otoe, too. She quoted scripture and Shakespeare, spent her free time learning to paint and play the piano. She was driven by her father’s warning to his young daughters: “Do you always want to be simply called those Indians or do you want to go to school and be somebody in the world?”
The wind-whipped plains of her homeland behind her once again, she arrived in Philadelphia exhausted from the journey, months of financial worry, logistical concerns, and of course, by the looming shadow of the mountain now before her: medical school. Within days, she would attend her first classes at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, a world apart from the powwows, buffalo hunts and tipis of her childhood.
Standing at the vanguard of medical education, the WMCP was the first medical school in the country established for women. If she graduated, La Flesche would become the country’s first Native American doctor. But first, she would need to break into a scientific community heavily skewed by sexist Victorian ideals, through a zeitgeist determined to undercut the ambitions of the minority.
“We who are educated have to be pioneers of Indian civilization,” she told the East Coast crowd during her Hampton graduation speech. “The white people have reached a high standard of civilization, but how many years has it taken them? We are only beginning; so do not try to put us down, but help us to climb higher. Give us a chance.” Read the full article.
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During National Native American Heritage Month, we will explore the heritage, culture, and experience of Indigenous peoples both historically and in American life today, while also sharing the various ways the National Park Service collaborates with Indigenous communities.
America is a vast land of many cultures dating back thousands of years to the original inhabitants of the land. Today, programs, partnerships, and parks preserve and share the stories and heritage of Indigenous people. National Native American Heritage Month is celebrated each year in November. It is a time to celebrate the traditions, languages, and stories of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Island communities and ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive with each passing generation. It is also a time to evaluate our pledge to maintain the meaningful partnerships we have with Tribal Nations and renew our commitment to our nation-to-nation relationships as we seek to ensure every community has a future they deserve.
- Share the connections your site has to American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian heritage, history, and their way of life.
- Explore the culture and experiences of AI/AN/NH in your community today.
- Invite American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, or a local indigenous group to present about their culture, ancestral homeland, and contemporary way of life.
- There are 573 federally recognized Indian Nations plus other tribes located throughout the United States who are recognized by their respective state governments.
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Consider connecting this theme with other events in November, including Veterans Day.
- Use objects or artifacts in your museum collection or achievements by indigenous individuals to share history and heritage of native people past and present.
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Encourage local teacher to use the Honoring Tribal Legacies teachings in their classrooms.
Words Matter
It’s important to use language correctly in our messaging. Native nations were separated from their home lands due to battles, genocide, and western expansion. There are distinctions among various tribes resulting from geographic location, language, and cultural practices. For example, within the Lakota Nation (aka Sioux), there are seven bands and within one band there are three: Hidasta, Arikara, and Mandan. Within the Cheyenne, there are two: Northern and Southern. It’s similar for the Arapaho, River Crow, Mountain Crow, and others. In addition, there are various regional identities, such as the Northern Plains, Southern Plains, Wetlands, etc. The Harpers Ferry Center Editorial Style Guide provides guidance for NPS staff and partners. We are also grateful for assistance from CIRCLE, the Council for Indigenous Relevancy, Communication, Leadership, and Excellence employee resource group, in developing this guidance. Here are some specific items that might be helpful:
- Create, develop, and share educational activities and youth programs related to AI/AN/NH both past and present. AI/AN/NH are contemporary and ‘living’ cultures and that should be conveyed to the staff and to the public.
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Alaska Native This term refers to the indigneous people of the area. Native Alaskan is anyone from Alaska (including non-indigenous).
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American Indian Some tribes (and their associated parks) prefer Native American. Use specific tribal name(s) whenever possible, accurate, and appropriate. See also First Nations, tribal names.
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First Nation, First Nations Refers to aboriginal people in Canada who are neither Inuit (people of the Canadian Arctic) nor Métis (descendants of First Nation people who married Europeans). Often used in the plural in the collective sense, as in a program for First Nations youth. The term is widely used in Canada but is not used in the US, except in connection with Métis whose homelands include northwest Minnesota, North Dakota, or other northern states. See also American Indian.
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Native American Use if requested by specific tribes or parks. See American Indian.
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tribal name Use specific tribal name(s) whenever possible, accurate, and appropriate. Also the preference is to use the singular noun: Navajo, Lakota, Tlingit. See also American Indian. Examples: The Navajo entered Canyon de Chelly about 300 years ago. The Anishinaabek fished in Lake Superior. Read the full article.
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By Lisa Bird-Wilson
This is the story of a woman in search of herself, in every sense. When we first meet Ruby, a Métis woman in her thirties, her life is spinning out of control. She’s angling to sleep with her counselor while also rekindling an old relationship she knows will only bring more heartache. But as we soon learn, Ruby’s story is far more complex than even she can imagine.
Given up for adoption as an infant, Ruby is raised by a white couple who understand little of her Indigenous heritage. This is the great mystery that hovers over Ruby’s life—who her people are and how to reconcile what is missing. As the novel spans time and multiple points of view, we meet the people connected to Ruby: her birth parents and grandparents; her adoptive parents; the men and women Ruby has been romantically involved with; a beloved uncle; and Ruby’s children. Taken together, these characters form a kaleidoscope of stories, giving Ruby’s life dignity and meaning.
Probably Ruby is a dazzling novel about a bold, unapologetic woman taking control of her life and story, and marks the debut of a major new voice in Indigenous fiction.
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Our subcommittees are up and running! Thank you to each person that has signed up but there is still space for you to join us! If you have not signed up and are interested, please let us know which committee you would like to join
The sub-committees are set to further our DEI work, expedite our cause, and make it possible for more people to be involved. If you have an area of interest that is not listed, please make that known. Your beliefs do not need to be the same as that of the current committee. Please send an email to peds_diversity@med.unc.edu.
Our sub-committees to date will include:
- Staff
- Clinical Care
- Wellness
- Research and PhD Faculty
Education
- Pediatric Student Curriculum
- Pediatric Resident Curriculum
- Pediatric Fellow Curriculum
- Grand Rounds/Town Halls
Advocacy
- Advocacy for our Hispanic Population
- Advocacy for our Native American Population
Appointments, Promotions, Tenure and Exit Interviews
- Promotion Diversity Statements
- Mentorship of URiM in Pediatrics
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Wellbeing Coaching and Resources as Part of Mentorship
With the help of a pilot grant from the UNC School of Medicine’s Office of Faculty Affairs and the Center for Health Innovation, a team led by Suzanne Kennedy, PhD is carrying out a project to integrate wellbeing coaching into faculty mentoring in Pediatrics. As part of that, a short video/slide presentation was developed for mentors to orient them to resources available, and it can be viewed here [link]. A big thank you to Drs. Hernandez, Mills and Kihlstrom for their starring roles!
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November 14 @ 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
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Underrepresented in Medicine Community List
The purpose of the Underrepresented in Medicine Community List is to allow students, staff, residents, and faculty of underrepresented identities that are affiliated with the UNC School of Medicine to find community, mentorship, and representation. Such identities include those belonging to non-dominant religions, races or ethnicities, and sexualities or gender identities.
This community is open and accessible to anyone with a UNC Onyen and password, including current staff, faculty, students, residents, and fellows.
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November Dates to Note
Other important dates can be found on the
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Native American Heritage Month |
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November 11 - Veterans’ Day |
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November 20 - Transgender Day of Remembrance |
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November 24 - Thanksgiving Day |
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November 25 - Native American Heritage Day |
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Dates to Note is a compilation intended to include, but is not all-inclusive, notable information from the internet, Diversity Best Practices, 2022 Diversity Holiday Calendar, and other sources. |
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Stuart Gold, MD - Committee Chair
Christian Lawrence, MD -Committee Vice Chair
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Alessandra Angelino, MD
Christel Wekon-Kemeni, MD
Denita Moore, Coordinator
Jen Fuchs, MD
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Jennifer Gutierrez-Wu, MD
Jennifer McElroy, MSN
Martina Gentzsch, PhD
Nikki Ferrin, MD
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Nina Jain, MD
Robin Howard, Coordinator
Rohit Jaswaney, MD
Steven Weinberg, MD
Zachary Pettigrew, MD
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Advisory Team
Benny Joyner, MD
Martha Perry, MD
Kenya McNeal-Trice, MD
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