The Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion will host a free screening of Gather, a new, feature-length film on the Indigenous food sovereignty movement.

The film outlines the revitalization and re-creation of Indigenous food systems in North America.

Following the film there will be a panel presentation and discussion with:

• Paisley Sierra, a Lakota tribe member and a student at the University of Minnesota, whose concern for environmental justice grew out of her Oglala Lakota culture's view of the Earth as family and her knowledge of social issues in today's world. One event that helped clarify those views was an Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in November 2019.

• Katie Chustak, Director of Food Sovereignty at Red Cloud School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, whose work is directly connected with restoring the indigenous crops and methods of cultivation passed down by the tribe.

• Sr. Priscilla Solomon, CSJ, Sister of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie and member of the Ojibway nation. She is the coordinator of the Faith and Justice ministry in her congregation and was among the delegation that went to Rome to give support as the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon heard pleas to defend the rights of the region's indigenous people and of the land they hold sacred.

This event is free and open to the public. Participants can register to attend either in-person on campus. or virtually via Zoom.

The Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion will host spoken word artist "TOO BLACK" for a virtual program in honor of Black History Month.

CSDI's Wayfinders program is offering a program on February 1 in conjunction with Career Services, entitled Navigating Career Fairs. See the flyer for details, or click here to register.

There are also new Micro-internships available now through Wayfinders! Learn more at this link.

We are very proud to announce FOUR new DEI Champion badges among our JCU staff this week!

Leveling up to a GOLD badge this week:

Earning BLUE badges this week:

Are you a member of the DEI Champions program? Have you updated your participation points lately? Log on to the Canvas page and let us know what initiatives and programs you've been part of lately, so we can recognize you publicly for your efforts!

Our DEI Champion Badges recognize our faculty and staff members for their participation in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts here at JCU (and beyond). All members of the JCU faculty and staff, including part-time and temporary staff and graduate assistants, are eligible to become DEI Champions.

The Graduate School, along with Career Services and the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, invites undergraduate students in their junior or senior year, along with first-year graduate students, to participate in our discussion group "Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum of Graduate School."

Topics include:

Discussion sessions will be held on the following dates:

All sessions will take place from 5PM – 6PM with the option to attend in-person or via Zoom. Our discussion will be based on topics from A Field Guide to Graduate School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum by Jessica McCrory Calarco. Your complimentary copy of the book can be picked up from the Graduate School office in Suite AD 126 between the hours of 8:30AM and 5PM Monday – Friday.

In addition to the discussion group sessions, the Graduate School will be partnering with various departments here at JCU, providing workshops that will benefit you as you navigate the graduate school process.

For any questions, please reach out to Natia McKnight, Graduate Student Experience Advisor, via email, nmcknight@jcu.edu or by phone, 216-397-4204.

As part of our University celebration of the Ignatian Year, we draw the theme for Mission Week 2022 from the fourth Universal Apostolic Preference, "Caring for Our Common Home". This preference is strongly linked to Pope Francis' Encyclical on the Environment and the Economy, Laudato si'.

The University Committee on Administrative Policies approved a Name Usage Policy last May. In accordance with that policy, all students and employees now have the option to identify a preferred name and specify their pronouns using the self-service menu on their student/employee dashboard in Banner.

Canvas is now set to display a person’s preferred name and specified pronouns in class rosters and elsewhere in the system (if that person has chosen to add these in Banner). Other university systems will be updated over the course of time to include pronouns/preferred names.

Faculty and staff should make note of this information on course rosters and any other databases they manage, so as to be sure to use the names and pronouns students and colleagues have specified for themselves.

For more information, follow the link below.