The leadership of the SPHHS is determined to support its call for anti-racism with action. It is why we created the Center for Community Health Equity Research; why we support the Western Massachusetts Health Equity Network with whom we sponsor a bi-annual Health Equity Summit; and why our outreach and engagement office has launched the SPHHS Health Equity Summer Fellowship Program in partnership with the Upward Bound program. But we must do more. We are currently examining the policies and procedures in the school to remove systemic processes and/or criteria that perpetuate racism and discrimination due to sexual orientation, religion, or social class.
Additional events will include: virtual discussions on how structural racism affects health; anti-racist and social justice-oriented pedagogy; public policy advocacy; and curricular revisions to build our students’ capacity to understand and dismantle structural racism. We hope that our valued partners, including alumni and community members, will join us in these efforts. This historical moment calls us to act; no one can afford to be a bystander to ongoing injustice. By protecting and supporting Black lives, we will improve the lives of all people of color.
The SPHHS invites you to submit your pledge to highlight our shared commitment to anti-racism and a healthier, more just society.
Anti-Racism Taskforce Upcoming Events:
- Building on the Cultural Wealth of Students of Color with Anti-racist Community-Engaged Programming, Pedagogies, and Practices (December 16, 2021, 11:00 am - 12:15 pm), featuring speaker Deborah Keish, UMass Civic Engagement and Service Learning.
- SPHHS Student Listening Sessions (Ongoing, report back Feb. 2022). Facilitated by Deborah Keish, Civic Engagement and Service Learning Mentoring Group.
- Bystander Intervention Prevention & Workshop (Return engagement Spring 2022). Presented by FIU's Advance Women, Equity, and Diversity (AWED) Theater.
Previous Events:
- Advocacy Workshop for Faculty and Staff (November 8, 2021, 12:00-1:00 pm, via Zoom). Presented by Scholar Strategy Network. Co-sponsored with the Public Engagement Project and Center for Community Health Equity Research.
- Bystander Intervention Prevention & Workshop (September 13, 2021, 1:00-3:00 pm), featuring FIU's Advance Women, Equity, and Diversity (AWED) Theater
- Health Equity Webinar Series: Calling In Not Calling Out (September 23, 2020, 12:00-1:00 pm), featuring speaker Loretta Ross, Visiting Associate Professor, Program for the Study of Women and Gender, at Smith College.
- For Faculty and Staff: Historic Roots of Structural Racism (October 5, 2020, 2:30-4:00 pm), featuring speaker Mo Barbosa, Director of Community Engagement at Health Resources in Action.
- Health Equity Webinar Series: Closing the Digital Divide and Achieving Digital Equity (October 21, 2020, 12:00-1:00 pm) featuring speakers Frank Robinson ‘94PhD, Vice President of Public Health & Community Relations at Baystate Health Systems, Paul Foster, Chief Information and Accountability Officer for the Springfield Public Schools, and Paul Murphy, incoming Board Chair of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.
- Health Equity Webinar Series: Is It Time to Consider Using Human Rights Standards to Look at Health? (October 28, 2020, 12:00-1:00 pm), featuring speaker Loretta Ross.
- For Faculty and Staff: Introduction to Cultural Humility (November 13, 2020, 12:00-1:30 pm), featuring the Women of Color Health Equity Collective.
- Health Equity Webinar Series: What Can Public Health Practice Learn About Reproductive Justice? (November 18,2020, 12:00-1:00 pm), featuring speaker Loretta Ross.
- White Fragility Discussion Group (multiple dates, 2021): Facilitator-led faculty and staff discussions on White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin J. DiAngelo.
- For Faculty and Staff: Inclusive Pedagogy and Classroom Transformation (April 15, 2021, 3:00-4:30pm), featuring speaker Korina Jocson, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst)
- For SPHHS Program Directors and the Dean's Joint Council: Race-Conscious Leadership in Higher Education (May 5, 2021, 1:00-2:30 pm), featuring Amel Ahmed, UMass Amherst Associate Provost of Equity and Inclusion
Announcements:
- A Message from Dean Siega-Riz: On the Guilty Verdict in the Murder of George Floyd
- Memorandum from Dean Siega-Riz to Members of the School and Department Personnel Committees: Reducing Gender and Racial Bias in Promotion and Tenure Decisions (September 9, 2020)
- SPHHS and WMHEN Announce Health Equity Webinar Series
- SPHHS Hosts Anti-Racism Webinar
- A Message from the Dean – June 2020
SPHHS Resources:
UMass Resources:
- Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Anti-Racism Resources
- Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources
- Office of the Provost Resources
Additional Resources:
- CDC: Media Statement from CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, on Racism and Health
- CDC: Racism Is a Serious Threat to the Public’s Health
- ASPPH Statement: Racism is a Public Health Crisis
- APHA: Racism and Health
- Toward a Racially Just Workplace (Harvard Business Review article – first of five in The Big Idea Series/Advancing Black Leaders)
- The Conscripted Curriculum and the Reproduction of Racial Inequalities in Contemporary U.S. Medical Education (creating inclusive classrooms/journal article)
- Scaffolding anti-racism resources
- Camara Jones, APHA Past-President, on “Allegories on race and racism” (video)
- Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, on “Debunking the most common myths white people tell about race” (video)
- Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping Professions (Counseling Diverse Populations) (book)
- If you want more women in your workforce, here’s how to recruit (Nature.com article)
- Ibram X. Kendi: The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist (video)
- Baratunde Thurston: How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time (video)
