April 2023 Newsletter
Dear Friends & Colleagues,
Spring is here! Daffodils are blooming, marathon runners have completed their annual Hopkinton-to-Boston trek, and the DEI Steering Committee has several exciting things to announce. In the coming weeks, the committee is looking forward to hosting more ask-me-anything Salon events, rolling out a new office hours program, and welcoming interested members of our community to join some of our subcommittees.
More is in the works—but we’ll have to save that for our next newsletter! In the meantime, here is what we’ve been working on:
Welcome to the Salon
Aligning with one of the University’s strategic priorities—Community, Big Yet Small—the DEI Committee has been exploring ways to connect with our colleagues in creative, meaningful ways. That’s why we introduced the Salon, an ask-me-anything event series, to our workplace.
Since late March, we’ve organized two sessions of the Salon. The first session was hosted by Gemma Acheampong, the co-lead of the DEI Committee, on Tuesday, March 21. If you missed our first gathering, be sure to check out this post for a quick event recap. The second session was hosted by Steve Burgay, the senior vice president for External Affairs, on Wednesday, April 12.
Stay tuned for an announcement of the next Salon in the days to come. And if you’re interested in hosting the Salon in the future, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page, and we’ll be in touch to schedule the event. If you have any suggestions or questions about this event series, please feel free to contact us at eadei@bu.edu.
Subcommittees
Several groups have begun working on DEI Committee priorities—and two of these subcommittees would like to ask for your help. If you are interested in any of the following topics and would be interested in joining a subcommittee to help with this work, you can sign up here:
Community Building: The subcommittee responsible for the new Salon series is focused on creating programs and activities that will foster a positive workplace culture, help to welcome new employees to External Affairs, and build relationships despite hybrid work schedules. If you’re interested in learning how you can help, reach out to Gemma Acheampong (gemmaa@bu.edu) or Carol Duan (duanr@bu.edu).
Accessibility: This subcommittee will work with faculty, staff, students, and the larger community to improve accessibility and usability of BU’s digital and physical spaces. Goals include identifying tools and technology that improve accessibility, outlining high-impact remediation needs, training, and collaborating with BU Disability & Access Services. Contact Tim King (timking@bu.edu) for more information.
Manager Office Hours
Inspired by our coworker Dave McDonald, who holds office hours to provide consulting support to social media communicators across campus, the DEI Committee is rolling out a pilot program to help managers within External Affairs. Anyone who is in a managerial role can book a 30-minute online meeting with our co-leads Gemma Acheampong or Carol Duan on Monday, Tuesday, or Friday to give and receive advice on:
- Implementing a buddy system at work
- Promoting self-awareness and addressing unconscious bias
- Taking actionable steps to create a more inclusive work culture
We hope these office hours foster candid conversations about the challenges we face in promoting DEI and lead to further collaboration in the future. Whether you have specific questions or just want to brainstorm ideas, we’re here to support you.
Website Updates
Since last month’s launch of the EA DEI website, we’ve made several additions:
Check out a blog post about the new Salon series to see how we’re trying to highlight members of our community.
We’ve added an anonymous feedback and suggestion form for anyone with thoughts they would like to share with us.
And we’ve added a sign-up form for people interested in joining a subcommittee.
Resources
We want to keep you in the loop about DEI efforts and learning opportunities across BU and beyond. We encourage you to check out some of the events and resources below:
On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, Boston University’s Office of Human Resources and the Office of the Senior Diversity Officer hosted their second Workplace Culture: Innovation to Action Speaker Series. This session was devoted to managing mental health at work and highlighted workplace culture practices and concepts from significant thought leaders and subject matter experts. As we enter May, National Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to share the recorded session to help raise awareness about the importance of mental wellbeing.
BU Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) and the LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff are offering a Learning & Action workshop on how to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ parents. The event is scheduled on Wednesday, May 3. We encourage you to join Patience “Polly” Crozier, director of family advocacy for GLAD and Jordan Budd, executive director of COLAGE for a conversation on the challenges and joys of building LGBTQIA+ families in 2023. You can register for the session here.
Cultivating a culture that fosters open communication and diverse perspectives starts with self-awareness. In this Medium post, Robin DiAngelo, renowned scholar and author of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism, talked about the challenges she faced as a facilitator of DEI trainings, explained why white fragility functions as a form of bullying, and shared her insights on how to uncover and address implicit biases, unintentional racism, and microaggressions at the workplace.
Member Spotlight
Marc Chalufour
When did you start at BU?
Summer 2018
Why did you join the DEI Committee?
I wanted to become more engaged with our office community and this is a great way to, at the same time, help to make sure that we are accurately and equitably representing the BU community to the outside world.
What item would you hoard if you learned it was being discontinued?
LEGO. Or maybe peanut M&Ms.
You can reach Marc at mchalu4@bu.edu
Meredith Mann
When did you start at BU?
I started February 2020 (a month before the pandemic!).
Why did you join the DEI Committee?
I joined the committee to feel like I can make a concrete difference in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in a space where I can feel and see the change happening. I’m particularly passionate about LGBTQIA+ rights but also have an interest in race-based and disability-based equity, among other topics. Queer people and people of color (and other underrepresented groups) have always been under threat and disadvantaged in this country and the Western world in general. With the rise of moral conservatism and fascism in some spaces, it’s important to counter outdated, reductionist thinking that doesn’t empathize with and include all types of people. I want to understand others better, support them where I can, and be a better-informed person who genuinely cares for others and their well-being. It starts with recognizing inequity and moves towards fixing it and creating a better environment for everyone.
What item would you hoard if you learned it was being discontinued?
Candles from HausWitch in Salem, Mass. I really like No. 13 Coven.
You can reach Meredith at mgmann@bu.edu
Until next time, be well,
Members of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee at External Affairs