Championing Diversity
for Campus and Beyond
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A UW-Madison Diversity Update | Edition 22 | May 25, 2021
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"Empower yourselves with a good education, then get out there and use that education to build a country worthy of your boundless promise." - Michelle Obama
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Spring Commencement 2021 is an especially sweet victory. The term 'commencement' has a broad and deep meaning within our society and shared history. The world has changed so much in the past year, but it feels as if we’re emerging from a chrysalis.
More than 350 amazing and resilient scholars from our Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement programs became Badger alumni on May 8. We congratulate our graduates on achieving one of life’s major milestones on their way to greater and higher goals. They met this goal by diligent progression; class by class, exam by exam to earn an undergraduate degree. This month we celebrated as a DDEEA family and as a campus emerging from isolation with Badger alumni and Broadway star André De Shields, a 1970 graduate of UW and a Tony, Grammy, Emmy and Obie award winner.
Both graduation and commencement represent the manifestation of key life lessons for us all. The pattern of planning, doing the work, and growth is a lifelong process toward realizing our goals and purpose. Graduation is symbolic of an end, but commencement can be viewed as a new beginning.
Commencement also applies to the way forward for our society and our work in diversity, equity and inclusion.
The work will begin with solidifying partnerships with those who are inevitably invested in UW-Madison – students and young alumni – including a record-setting incoming freshman class for the PEOPLE scholarship program. Seventy-five percent of the rising 2021 cohort precollege pipeline members have been admitted to the university; an all-time high of 109 new PEOPLE College Scholars.
Our sister precollege program, the Information Technology Academy (ITA), is also celebrating a banner fall 2021 admission year. Overall, 38 of 48 ITA high school seniors from Madison, Lac du Flambeau and Oneida were admitted and 30 are now coming to UW-Madison as ITA college scholars.
Helping us to improve our campus and the experience of learning and living at UW-Madison, the newly established Diversity and Inclusion Student Advisory Board will advise the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer on the impact of UW–Madison initiatives, efforts, and programs relevant to the underrepresented/minority (URM) student experience at UW–Madison.
Congratulations goes out to PEOPLE Alum and former Black Student Union leader Marquise Mays for his short film aptly named “The Heartland,” which is playing as part of the Milwaukee Film Festival. The 24-minute documentary on friendships rooted in childhood experiences forge solidarity and a deep love for Milwaukee, while examining the contradiction of growing up black in one the America’s most segregated cities.
UW-Madison Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning John Zumbrunnen was praised for helping UW-Madison activate its intentions toward respecting diversity, in this case for Muslim students, by addressing the convergence of Ramadan fasting and final exams by the Wisconsin Muslim Journal. Being inclusive is as simple as a reminder that UW’s 300-400 Muslim students may be abstaining from food and drink from dawn to sunset each day at the most stressful time of the semester.
Inclusion often works to address the exclusion of historically marginalized groups, but is part of a much broader approach to advancing equity. Thus, it is important to recognize the endless array of advocates who are pivotal to keeping our DEI focus.
The University of Wisconsin System is preparing to honor nominees from all UW System campuses for the 2021 UW System P.B. Poorman Award for Outstanding Achievement on Behalf of LGBTQ+ People this fall. Among other accomplishments, Dr. P.B. Poorman carried out the research and laid the groundwork to bring in a nationally known climate assessment expert to conduct a system-wide evaluation of the experiences of diverse people throughout the UW System. This achievement epitomizes Dr. Poorman’s rich contributions to creating a welcoming university climate for all individuals.
Continuing to fully embrace the Wisconsin Idea, the UW–Madison Odyssey Project received a $300,000 grant from the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation to continue teaching college courses to incarcerated people in Wisconsin through the Odyssey Beyond Bars program. The funding of $100,000 over the next three years will fund a pilot project to offer introductory college courses in English to incarcerated students who are interested in post-secondary education and explore offering similar courses in math.
Lori Lopez, a UW-Madison Professor of Communication Arts and Director of the Asian American Studies Program, has been studying racism against Asian Americans for her entire career. Lopez, along with Lisa Ho, a faculty associate in the Asian American Studies Program, and Erica Kanesaka Kalnay, a doctoral candidate in English, is getting national attention for reclaiming the narrative surrounding the March mass-shooting in Atlanta. The #AtlantaSyllabus: An Asian American Studies Perspective on Anti-Asian Violence in 2021 raises awareness of racism and violence toward Asian Americans and is designed to get us talking about how to stop it. Arranged in a 12-week structure, it’s not a class; it’s a framework for the public, a map to help interested individuals begin to grapple with these thorny issues.
Diversity, equity and inclusion work can be uncomfortable. But like graduation, it’s the path to accomplishments like the November election of Francesca Hong to represent the 76th Assembly District—becoming the first Asian American to serve in the Wisconsin State Legislature. The daughter of Korean American immigrants, Hong is a mother, community organizer, and restaurateur.
Looking ahead, in addition to joining Madison’s annual celebration of June Pride Month, the UW-Madison campus will join the community in reestablishing the celebration of Juneteenth, a day commemorating when slaves in Texas were informed they were free via the Emancipation Proclamation which had been signed into law six months earlier in January 1865. The late, but sweet, news took months to reach what was the nation’s west edge at the time.
In all, we see progress and possibilities. We have every reason to be poised to look forward and upward. It’s time to commence.
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Cheryl B. Gittens, Ed.D.
Interim Deputy Vice Chancellor for Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer
Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Reflecting on the Anniversary of
George Floyd's Murder
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By Cheryl B. Gittens
Interim Chief Diversity Officer
I often begin my morning in self-reflection and gratitude as part of a mindfulness program using the core tenets: pause, breathe, and love. Folks in contemplative sciences and other mindfulness practices recommend reflection as an act of well-being and self-care. When you arise each morning, do you reflect on the days before?
Well, today, I can do nothing but reflect on being Black in America. A day, one year ago, when yet another Black man’s life was violently ended and viewed through the despicable lens of racism. How and why does this deep-seated hatred, a health crisis of a different kind, consistently stymie a nation seeking peace and progress?
George Floyd should be alive today. As we mark the anniversary of his murder by a Minneapolis police officer, our thoughts are with the Floyd family and the families of the countless other Black victims of racist violence.
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Hundreds of demonstrators from the community gather and speak out against racism and racial injustice as they they walk north on North Park Street towards Library Mall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a Black Lives Matter Solidarity March on June 7, 2020. The group stopped stop every eight minutes and 46 seconds to be reminded of how long a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, before killing Floyd while in police custody on May 25. The protest march, sponsored and organized by the local pastors of the African American Council of Churches, began at the intersection of University Avenue and N. Park Street, progressed through Library Mall up State Street and ended at the City-County Building in downtown Madison, Wis. (Photo by Bryce Richter / UW-Madison)
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All of us need to stop what we’re doing and remember what happened to George Floyd. We remember George Floyd and his last breath, and the countless additional lives lost to violence, illness, or neglect.
The nationwide rallies and cries for social justice taught everyone more about the trauma and pain felt by generations. Together, we challenged ourselves and others; we marched, signed petitions, donated, created art, contacted our elected officials, joined local organizations, educated ourselves, and found ways to use our power to help shape a better world. And while we were heartened to see a court hold Derek Chauvin accountable for his actions, we know that one verdict does not bring back a life that was taken, nor does it bring about the systemic change we need to shut down racism. But perhaps it can be a catalyst for change and begin the process of healing.
Let’s acknowledge that many of us are still hurting and must think about how we use this pain to move forward and make a difference. Let’s continue to work together to keep a focus on ending police violence and assaults on Black lives and vow to engage in meaningful dialogue and reflection on how to create an anti-racist society. That is the best way to honor the lives of George Floyd, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Philando Castile, Tony Robinson, Ma’Khia Bryant, and so many others.
We’ve learned so much about how to bring pressure for change on our systems while advocating for justice. Pause today to remember and acknowledge that we know there is much more work to be done for true justice to prevail. Breathe today to center your humanity and self-care. Love today; let us acknowledge and support one another. As always, I am in community with you to continue doing the work we must do to see our collective change realized here.
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Campus News and Announcements
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Raimey-Noland fund to bolster diversity efforts
UW–Madison, along with the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), has launched the Raimey-Noland Campaign to provide resources for campus diversity sion (DEI) efforts and a new fund allowing the chancellor to support broad DEI initiatives. Read more.
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APIDA Leader Jeung at 2021 Diversity Forum
This year, Dr. Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and co-founder of the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center, will provide the Day 1 keynote address at the 2021 UW–Madison Diversity Forum.
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'Divine Nine’ project to honor Black Greeks
Although Black fraternity and sorority chapters have existed on the UW–Madison campus for many decades — the first were chartered here in 1946 — the organizations are sometimes little known to the larger campus. That’s about to change.
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