News

Campus Climate Improvement Grant Proposals Sought

The Office of Equity and Inclusion is accepting applications for the 2019-20 Campus Climate Improvement Grants until March 15. Undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff are encouraged to submit their creative ideas for fostering connection on campus in the upcoming academic year.

These grants, ranging from $250 to $2,500, are intended to support projects that help build community and create a more inclusive campus. The funded projects include film series, book clubs,...

UMass Symposium Panelists Discuss “The Structures of Polarization”

The Panel Discussion coined “The Structures of Polarization”, featured Associate Professor Amel Ahmed, Professor Anthony Paik, Professor Ray La Raja, and Associate Professor Cedric de Leon. Political Science Professor Ahmed presented “Playing It Safe: Redistricting and the Political Geography of Ideological Polarization”, which covered as to how political geography acts as a force of polarization in the United States; Ahmed focused on the distinct differences between disagreement and...

Director of Southern Poverty Law Center addresses hate crimes in the United States as part of the Symposium on Polarization at UMass Amherst

--by Isha Mahajan

On 5th February 2019, a diverse audience from the UMass community gathered at the Campus Center Auditorium to hear Lecia Brooks, Outreach Director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, address hate and extremism in the United States.

She started her talk by calling hate as a “constant act” that has been prevalent in the United States for a long time. Throughout her talk, however, she focussed issues that...

Walker Promoted to Newly Created Position, Associate Dean for an Inclusive Organization in Isenberg

The Isenberg School of Management has appointed Nefertiti Walker, professor of sport managerment, to the newly created position of associate dean for an Inclusive Organization.

In 2017, Walker was appointed the school’s director of diversity and inclusion. Since beginning her new role in January, Walker oversees the school’s human resources department and strategic vision for diversity.

“At Isenberg, we are committed to pursuing inclusion with a capital ‘I,’ involving every...

VIDEO: “Hate in the U.S. Today,” Lecia Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center

On Feb. 5, hundreds of students, faculty and staff attended “Understanding the Forces that Drive Us Apart: A Symposium on Polarization,” organized by the Office of Equity and Inclusion as part of the Dignity and Respect in Action campus initiative.

The event included Lecia Brooks, outreach director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, who discussed the state of hate today in America. As part of the university’s effort to make resources from the day available to the campus community,...

University to Launch Search for Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life

The university will launch a search for a new vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life following Enku Gelaye’s announcement that she will be leaving the position in June 2019.

Gelaye has been appointed vice president and dean of campus life at Emory University in Atlanta. Gelaye joined UMass Amherst in 2011 as dean of students and was subsequently appointed vice chancellor in 2014. She provided leadership in the areas of residential life; multicultural advancement;...

"Pass It On" Faculty and Staff Book Circle Forming

The Pass It On Book Circle invites faculty and staff to participate in its third session of reading and discussing “Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People” by Mahzari R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald. This book circle, which will have six sessions in all, is supported by a Campus Climate Improvement Grant awarded to the Office of Research and Engagement.

In the book, Banaji and Greenwald...

Lecia Brooks, outreach director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, speaks at “Understanding the Forces that Drive Us Apart: A Symposium on Polarization.”

Strong Campus Turnout at Symposium to Address Polarization

The Campus Center auditorium was abuzz Feb. 5 with an all-day community event, “Understanding the Forces that Drive Us Apart: A Symposium on Polarization.” The symposium was well-attended, with hundreds of students, faculty and staff stopping by throughout the day to participate in debate and meaningful discussion.

For Twitter highlights of the day, see this Twitter Moments story. Video highlights of the day will be made...

Book Discussion Groups to Consider ‘25 Habits for Culturally Effective People’

The Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI) is continuing the Learning Communities initiative, which encourages the campus community to participate in small informal discussion groups based on the book, “What if I Say the Wrong Thing?: 25 Habits for Culturally Effective People” by Vernā Myers.

The initiative was piloted last semester with students, staff and faculty across campus.

Fourteen book discussion groups will begin across campus this spring, with most holding their initial...

UMass Amherst Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies to Host Symposium Honoring James Young

The Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies will host a daylong symposium honoring the work of James Young, Distinguished Professor emeritus of English and Judaic and Near Eastern studies and founding director of the institute, on Tuesday, Feb. 5 from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., at the institute, 758 North Pleasant St.

The symposium, “Edges, Textures, Stages: James Young and the Field of Memory Studies,” will be followed by a reception until 6:30 p.m. The symposium and reception...

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity Matters