Six Diversity Leadership Awards Announced; recognition will be at Black History Month Gala Feb. 9

The Office of Institutional Diversity will recognize campus initiatives and efforts that promote inclusion at the second Annual Black History Month Heritage Gala on Saturday, Feb. 9.

The Diversity Leadership Awards were designed to recognize personal efforts, unique contributions and initiatives that go above-and-beyond expectations. It is important for us as an institution to visibly acknowledge people who enhance and promote diversity on the St. Thomas campuses and in the community.

Awards will be presented in three areas: (1) diversity leadership teaching/research award, (2) diversity leadership staff award, and (3) diversity leadership academic or service unit award. A call for nominations went out in November. Applications were screened and evaluated by an appointed review team. A brief description for each award can be found under the “Programs” tab on our Web site.

Following are the award winners who will receive the first-ever Diversity Leadership Awards presented by the Office of Institutional Diversity:

Diversity Leadership Teaching/Research Award
Dr. Stephen Brookfield, Professor Nekima Levy-Pounds, and Dr. Buffy Smith

The efforts of professors Brookfield, Levy-Pounds and Smith to advance diversity in their faculty roles are apparent in their teaching, research and mentoring activities. Their contributions to make the classroom experience conducive for diverse learning styles, conducting research with an impact on diversity, and mentoring the academic growth of underrepresented students is recognized by university administrators, faculty and students.

Stephen Brookfield
Brookfield is a distinguished university professor. For the past 10 years Brookfield has tried to challenge the dominance of Eurocentrism in adult and higher education, to promote scholarship on African American leaders the field’s scholarship has ignored, and to model participation in Black-White racial dialogue. In the Adult Education Quarterly and the Harvard Educational Review Brookfield published articles on how the concept of critical thinking in adult education, and the field of adult education in general, might be racialized, drawing on the work particularly of African American scholars such as Lucius Outlaw, Maulana Karenga and Cornel West.

Stephen Brookfield

Brookfield has sought to use various annual Adult Education Research Conference Proceedings to present and publish papers. Some of this work is solo-authored, some written with African American colleagues. For example, three of these publications deal with the dynamics of race talk – problematizing Whites’ engagement in racial talk, the pitfalls facing Whites who seek to engage with work of colleagues of color, and the dynamics of dialogues on race and racism (the last co-written with Elizabeth Peterson). Three more explore the practices of adult educators of color such as Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois (co-written with Talmadge Guy) and Nelson Mandela. Two of the articles will be published in the forthcoming Handbook of Black Adult Education (T. Guy, L. Merrieweather-Hunn, & E. Peterson Eds.). In addition to publishing on race and racism, he conducts a regular faculty development workshop on “Teaching About Racism: Common Mistakes of White Professors” at the University of St. Thomas.

Nekima Levy-Pounds
Levy-Pounds is an associate professor of law and the director of the Community Justice Project (CJP) at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Levy-Pounds has dedicated her life to advocate on behalf of the poor, people of color, and those impacted by the criminal justice system. In her capacity as director of the CJP, Levy-Pounds teaches and trains law students to become "not just lawyers" but engineers of social change who "think outside of the box."

Nekima Levy-Pounds

The goal of the CJP is to educate students about myriad issues that impact poor communities of color in the Twin Cities and nationwide and to arm students to take a problem-solving approach to addressing the needs of the community. As part of the curriculum, CJP students are expected to read the local community newspaper, engage in dialogue and discussions surrounding issues of race, poverty and disparate treatment, and to work directly with people of color from the community. Some of the systemic issues that Levy-Pounds and her students address in the CJP include civil rights violations, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, police misconduct, re-entry of former prisoners within society, and racial disparities within the public education and juvenile justice systems.

Levy-Pounds has chosen to focus on the plight of women and children in her scholarship. She has presented at numerous conferences around the country, and in England and South Africa on civil rights issues, slavery, and racial disparities in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.

Buffy Smith
Smith’s teaching philosophy is based on three principles: (1) cultural competency, (2) compassion, and (3) social action. The first principle, cultural competency requires both instructors and students to work vigilantly to overcome personal and social biases in order to understand and appreciate the diversity of one another. Smith says that the second principle, compassion, should be a prerequisite for teaching social problems and race and ethnicity classes. “Compassion refers to instructors and students practicing gratitude, humility, patience and forgiveness toward each other in the pursuit of truth and academic excellence. In order to provide compassion for my students I have to respect them as fellow sojourners on the journey toward social justice. I model respect for my students by acknowledging that I am not perfect and that I do not always “say the right thing” or “do the right thing” on social issues such as environmental justice or sexual harassment.”

Buffy Smith

The final principle, social action, is a call for utilizing faith and reason to create a more humane and just world. Smith teaches her students that learning about the different facets of a social problem is just the first step toward social justice; they must take the next step and act. One recommender wrote, “She reminds them that earning a college degree is a privilege and they should use their knowledge and resources to create a better society for those who are less privileged.”

In sum, Smith’s mission is to produce a large body of research that examines the conditions that are necessary for students of color and first-generation students to acclimate successfully academically and socially on predominantly white college campuses. She has received grants to help advance her research and has presented preliminary results at a number of national conferences. Smith is interested in helping students survive the rigors of college, but more importantly, she wants to help them excel and thrive in academe. Smith is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice.

Diversity Leadership Staff Award
Michael Glirbas and Victoria Svoboda

The unselfish leadership and commitment of Glirbas and Svoboda has created a synergy among faculty, staff and students to come together to create a climate of acceptance and understanding for many diverse constituents across campus.

Michael Glirbas
Glirbas, who works in the Registrar’s office, has been a health education intern with the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) during his time at St. Thomas. He majored in Justice and Peace Studies, which inspired him to be a servant to others. Glirbas has assisted MAP staff with numerous projects. His work with creating a hospitable campus climate for Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender (GLBT) students and staff has not gone unnoticed. Glirbas joined a group of Allies on two occasions – one hosted by St. Thomas and one by Hamline – whereby the ACTC Networking Conferences brought together the five GLBT student-lead organizations, and their faculty and staff allies.

Michael Glirbas

He has been an active participant of the UST SafeZone Project for the past six years and has actively participated in a number of diversity work-groups responsible for the implementation of the 2007 campus climate survey. Glirbas has served as co-chair for the CommUNITY Week Celebrations at UST in 2006 and 2007 as well as co-chair for Tommie Pride: Day of Caring and Sharing. He continues to assist the campus with identifying speakers and organizations to help make St. Thomas a more inclusive campus. In fall 2007, Glirbas was one of three staff members who assisted in creating a campus climate discussion group.

Victoria “Tori” Svoboda
As associate dean of students, Svoboda has been working to build a climate of acceptance and understanding. At St. Thomas she has been involved with many working groups, such as the CommUNITY Week Planning Committee, a University Diversity Advisory Committee working group, and the Luann Dummer Center for Women Advisory Board.

Victoria Svoboda

Svoboda co-facilitated, with Glirbas, Sherrie Maze and others, the Conversations on Climate ad hoc group of faculty, staff and students. She organized a visit for Dr. Keith Edwards to facilitate a workshop for faculty and staff on Aspiring Social Justice Ally Development and a workshop for students on social justice issues. This visit was co-sponsored by several departments, including Campus and Residence Life, Campus Ministry, the Dean of Students Office, the Tutor/Mentor Program and the Luann Dummer Center for Women, and demonstrates Tori’s ability to bring important diversity stakeholders together.

Recently, she served on a “Racism on College Campuses” panel organized by the Black Empowerment Student Alliance (BESA), coordinated meetings with students and alumni who drafted a letter to administrators with suggestions for how to improve campus climate and has worked with faculty, specifically Dr. Kanishka Chowdhury, to develop a workshop on “Responding Appropriately to Hostile Incidents/Gestures in the Classroom.”

Diversity Leadership Academic or Service Unit Award
Multicultural Student Services

The Office of Multicultural Student Services will be recognized for its consistent implementation of exceptional diversity programs that foster and atmosphere of inclusion and aids in the retention of students from underrepresented groups.

Denise Dieffenbach

Multicultural Student Services is concerned with providing a comprehensive system of advocacy and support for students of color and immigrants. Overall, the goal is to improve retention and the quality of life for these students and for the university in general.

This year, Multicultural Student Services launched a series of important programs that resonate with the vision of the Office of Institutional Diversity. Some of their programs and initiatives include: Linkages Mentor Program, Mind-Body-Soul, J-Term Book Club, and UST Community Challenge Day. Multicultural Student Services staff members are Denise Dieffenbach (director), Tara LaFerla (assistant director), Tonia Jones (program manager) and Peggy Jerabek (coordinator).

Please join me in congratulating and recognizing each of these individuals and office for the many personal efforts, unique contributions and initiatives they are involved with to support diversity and inclusion at the University of St. Thomas.