News

Office of Equity and Inclusion Seeking Hosts and Participants for Learning Community Book Groups

The Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI) will be continuing the Learning Communities initiative for a fourth consecutive semester this spring. Learning Communities are based on two books carefully chosen to foster constructive conversations around the topics of inclusion, bias, empathy, understanding and respect. Those interested in participating or hosting a group may express their interest on the OEI website.

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UMass ADVANCE Program Accepting Applications for Mutual Mentoring Grants

The ADVANCE Program is seeking faculty proposals for the ADVANCE Mutual Mentoring Team Grant Program for projects to begin in the 2020-21 academic year. Priority mentoring areas include projects aimed at helping faculty build inclusive communities, engage in research collaboration and participate in shared decision-making. Team grants are faculty-driven, context-sensitive mentoring projects, orchestrated by teams that conceive and carry out their own project plans. ADVANCE provides support...

Avy Skolnik

Study Pinpoints Barriers to Preventive Care for People at High Risk for HIV

AMHERST, Mass. – Many high-risk people eligible for medication to prevent HIV infection face barriers to obtaining a prescription, according to research by University of Massachusetts Amherst psychologist Avy Skolnik.

Those barriers include knowledge gaps and attitudinal roadblocks among providers and systems, and the placement of responsibility on the patient to request the service – even though it’s typically the role of health care providers to educate patients about preventive...

Nilanjana Dasgupta

Scientists’ Panel Urges More, and More Vigorous Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Bias in Labs

AMHERST, Mass. – Today a diverse group of scientists including Nilanjana Dasgupta, professor of social psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the campus’s director of faculty equity and inclusion, report their findings and recommendations on how institutions and funding agencies can address and prevent sexual harassment and gender bias in the STEM workforce. Details of their suggested “specific, potentially high-impact policy changes” appear in the current issue of...

‘I Am Somebody’ Film Screening to Address Labor and Civil Rights

A screening and discussion of the 1970 Madeline Anderson Film “I Am Somebody” will be held at noon on Thursday, Nov. 7 at Old Chapel in the Great Hall. Lunch will be provided for attendees and RSVP is requested.

Newly preserved by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, “I Am Somebody” documents the story of black female hospital workers in Charleston, South Carolina who went on...

Campus Community Invited to Attend “Combating Polarization: A Symposium on Obstacles to Community”

The campus community is invited to participate in “Combating Polarization: A Symposium on Obstacles to Community” on Thursday, Oct. 31 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium. A kickoff “People’s Supper” event for undergraduates will be held the previous day, Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 6 p.m. in Old Chapel. 

This is the second year the campus is hosting a symposium on polarization and the People’s Supper. Both events are presented by the Office of Equity and Inclusion....

ADVANCE Team Announces Collaborative Research Seed Grant Recipients

The ADVANCE program has announced that two research teams are recipients of ADVANCE’s first Collaborative Research Seed Grants. The competitive grants aim to foster the development of innovative and equitable collaborative research projects among faculty. 

Recognizing longstanding gender gaps in the academy, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funds universities to build institutional transformation programs in order to advance gender equity for faculty in science and engineering....

Karen Suyemoto

Diversity Lunch and Learn Series to Host Karen Suyemoto

The Center for Teaching and Learning is hosting Karen Suyemoto, professor of psychology and Asian American studies at UMass Boston, on Monday, Nov. 4 as part of its Diversity Lunch and Learn series.

In the interactive workshop, she will discuss how resistance is enacted, reframe resistance as part of an educational change process and discuss proactive and reactive strategies that you can implement for addressing resistance and engaging students in your classes.

The workshop,...

Mari Castañeda

Castañeda to Give Talk About Civic Engagement in Diverse Latinx Communities

Mari Castañeda, professor of communication and associate dean for equity and inclusion in the School of Social and Behavioral Science, will give a talk titled “Civic Engagement in Diverse Latinx Communities: Learning from Social Justice Partnerships in Action” at the University of New Mexico on Friday, Oct. 18 at 10:30 a.m.

Castañeda’s work focuses on community-based learning and civic engagement, Latinx/ethnic media studies and global communications.

For more information...

“What if I Say the Wrong Thing?” supports the goal of the learning community, which is to create spaces to develop skills and unpack challenges to building respectful community.

Learning Community Book Groups on Inclusive and Respectful Communication Now Seeking Participants

The Office of Equity and Inclusion is continuing the Learning Communities Book Group  initiative with nine new groups, which will begin meeting this month. Groups are now open for anyone in the campus community to join. These small informal discussion groups will center around Verna Myers’s book “What if I Say the Wrong Thing?”

“What if I Say the Wrong Thing?” supports the goal of the learning community, which is...

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