On September 19, Nicole O'Connell, PhD candidate in composition and rhetoric, presented at the UMass Amherst Office of Equity and Inclusion's Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Conference.
O'Connell, a Graduate Assistant Career Advisor in HFA Career Services, presented "Incorporating Equitable Career Education Into Teaching" with Jessica Keene, lecturer in the History Department and Undergraduate Career Advisor in HFA.
The workshop encouraged incorporating career education into classes to promote equity and inclusion, recognizing that students struggle with economic hardships (including loan debt), unequal networking access, and a discriminatory job market, with these pressures being even higher for marginalized students. O'Connell and Keene explained that instructors cannot separate classrooms from the world outside academia and its pressures on students; career education is a social justice concern, and it is not in opposition to academia. Through a presentation and interactive activities, attendees learned how career education can promote equity and inclusion. Attendees also brainstormed, shared, and gained strategies for incorporating career education into their own classes across disciplines.
The JEDI Conference was a two-day event which featured an exciting lineup of workshops, talks, panels, and networking sessions, all dedicated to fostering a sense of belonging, navigating challenging conversations, and advancing the core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion that are central to the UMass Amherst campus mission.