Higher Education Power 100: Driving diversity on campus

Conversations about diversity and inclusion have been pushed to the forefront lately, as tutorial establishments react to the Black Lives Matter motion, the rise in hate crimes towards Asian Americans and well being care disparities highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic. A rising variety of establishments have taken concrete actions, together with empowering faculty and college officers to encourage diversity and creating safer and extra inclusive studying environments for all college students. Here are a couple of examples of progressive initiatives and tutorial efforts underway emphasizing diversity, fairness and inclusion in New York.

Angela Antonikowski

Chief Officer of Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Albany Medical Center

Ever because the COVID-19 virus was discovered to have originated from China, Asian Americans have skilled unjust and violent racist assaults within the United States. To perceive how Asian Americans had been affected, NYU professors Doris F. Chang and Sumie Okazaki launched a nationwide examine. The two got down to discover the social local weather in the course of the pandemic and its influence on the bodily and psychological well being of Asian American adults. Bringing consciousness to anti-Asian hate is vital to the 2 professors, as many of those incidents go unreported or unseen. Chang teaches on the NYU Silver School of Social Work, the place she focuses on closing the hole in giant well being disparities that minorities face. Okazaki is a professor of utilized psychology at NYU Steinhardt and an creator of books on the immigrant expertise.

Maria D’Agostino & Nicole Elias

Founding Co-Directors, Initiative for Gender Equity within the Public Sector, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

In 2013, Nicole Elias and Maria D’Agostino co-founded a analysis group referred to as the Women within the Public Sector, which introduced within the likes of then-Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and then-New York City Public Advocate Letitia James as audio system whereas partnering on a examine with the New York City Commission on Gender Equity. Last 12 months, the 2 John Jay College of Criminal Justice professors relaunched the group because the Initiative for Gender Equity within the Public Sector, a transfer meant to broaden its inclusivity. Last 12 months, the pair printed a examine that explored numerous New York City legislative efforts towards gender fairness to assist redirect and enhance coverage efforts.

Brian Harper

Vice President for Equity and Inclusion, New York Institute of Technology

Dr. Brian Harper turned New York Institute of Technology’s first vice chairman for fairness and inclusion in 2020. Since then, he has been selling actions and methods that create a extra inclusive atmosphere. Harper, who can also be a professor and retained his position as the college’s chief medical officer, is knowledgeable by the racial inequalities he has seen firsthand within the medical area as a doctor. “Ultimately, we would like to institute this, such that all departments and all the colleges take on diversity, equity and inclusion as something that they incorporate as a matter of routine into their operations,” Harper advised Diverse: Issues in Higher Education final 12 months.

Christina Vargas

Chief Diversity Officer, Suffolk County Community College

Suffolk County Community College was lately designated by the U.S. Department of Education as an official Hispanic-serving establishment, due to the numerous Hispanic college students who attend the two-year college. “Latinx/Hispanic students serve as important role models and leaders throughout the college, for example, within student government, clubs and organizations, as peer mentors and orientation leaders,” Christina Vargas, the college’s chief diversity officer and Title IX coordinator, mentioned this 12 months when the group faculty was acknowledged by Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine as the highest SUNY college for Hispanic college students.

Amy Stuart Wells

Director of the Reimagining Education Summer Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University 

The Reimagining Education Summer Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University runs a studying program in culturally responsive and related essential considering subjects for educators every summer time for the previous six years. The program has gone from having 130 contributors to nicely over 1,000. Every July, for per week, educators from all ranges collect and purchase new expertise in main and studying about easy methods to promote a racially simply society. “In this year of post-pandemic possibilities we need to reimagine education for a racially just society more than ever,” Amy Stuart Wells, the director of the Reimagining Education Summer Institute, mentioned final 12 months.