The Office for Equity and Diversity (OED) is pleased to announce an estimated 1,959 self-identified students of color applied to graduate from the University of Utah this May. We wish to congratulate and commend each graduate for the hard work, perseverance and academic excellence they have demonstrated in order to fulfill their graduation requirements.
Student Equity and Diversity (SED) held its fourth annual graduation ceremony for all 1,959 students of color graduates, April 27 in the Union Ballroom. Ceremony highlighted achievements and created a more intimate commencement for students and their families. Each student was gifted with graduation cords.
With resounding applause from 8,000 convocation attendees, Ethnic Studies awards its first diploma to graduates Kehau Folau (left) and Amber Lund (middle).
The Ethnic Studies major is managed by the Ethnic Studies Program, which is overseen by the Office for Equity and Diversity. The major prepares students from a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds interested in employment with private and public organizations that work with historically underserved populations. The degree also serves as a strong foundation for students who plan on pursuing graduate work in areas such as sociology, law, social work, education, psychology, and the health sciences, including medicine.
Office for Equity and Diversity held its 29th annual celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with week-long activities from Jan. 19-26. Highlights included a day of service, film and panel discussion, theatre production and a keynote address by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. His address marked a day to remember as the largest MLK event in 29 years with an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 attendees at the U’s Huntsman Center. Attendees included students from universities, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and community members at large.
Current associate vice president for Equity and Diversity, Octavio Villalpando, will be on research leave during summer and fall 2013 in order to complete a book project on racial diversity in higher education. During his absence, Ed Buendia will serve as acting associate vice president for Equity and Diversity.
Buendia currently serves as chair for Education Culture and Society and formerly served as the director for Ethnic Studies in 2007-2011. Please join us in welcoming him back to the Office for Equity and Diversity leadership team!
We are pleased to announce Ed A. Muñoz as the new director for Ethnic Studies and associate professor of sociology. He was formerly an associate professor with the Criminal Justice Department and director of Chicano Studies at the University of Wyoming. Muñoz is what he refers to as a Nebrasqueño, a Chicano born and raised in Nebraska. He received an Associate of Arts in Sociology from Western Nebraska Community College. He then received his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy in sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he was Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Minority Fellow.
In general, Muñoz teaches courses in race/ethnicity, criminology/deviance, social science research methods, and U.S. Latino Studies. He has been recognized for his teaching ability both at the departmental and university levels. His research expertise deals with the Latina/o experience in the Inter-Rocky Mountain and Midwestern United States. He examines how racialization processes impact criminal justice outcomes for minority populations, publishes in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and most recently, has studied issues of transnationalism and globalization. Please join us in welcoming Munoz to the U.
Carlson Hall building is scheduled for demolition this summer to make way for the new S.J. Quinney College of Law building. Ethnic Studies has moved to the Business Classroom Building on 1614 East Campus Drive, adjacent to the north of the C Roland Christensen Center (CRCC) and directly east of the Architecture building. Please stop by and visit the new location.
The Point Foundation, a national organization dedicated to empowering promising LGBTQ students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential, recently recognized Kim Hackford-Peer as Utah Alumna Regent.
Hackford-Peer joined the Gender Studies Program at the University of Utah as the associate director/assistant professor (lecturer) in June 2011. In this capacity, she works with her colleagues to manage the interdisciplinary program, advise students and teach. She is a co-founder of Go YoU, a pathway program collaboration between the Women’s Resource Center, the Gender Studies Program, and Bryant Middle School’s Afterschool Program. She is involved in multiple educational and political action efforts in the state of Utah, including work to reform current adoption legislation. Kim also partners with the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah to develop and deliver “Safe at Schools” trainings for educators.
Point promotes change through education, mentorship, leadership development and community service training and provides its scholars with the financial ability to attend the nation’s foremost higher educational institutions.
(Click Here to learn more)
Elise Boxer, associate instructor for the U’s Ethnic Studies program, is accepted to participate in the visiting scholar program at the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University from this June till September.
Boxer grew up on the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Reservation in Poplar, Montana and is Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota. Her research examines the relationship between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Indigenous peoples. More specifically, she explores Mormon colonialism and racial formations as manifested by Mormon whiteness and “Lamanite” identity. Her work seeks to complicate the discourse of colonialism in the United States. Boxer also serves as the faculty advisor to the Society of Native American Graduate Students (SNAGS) at the U.
BYU’s visiting scholar program is designed to improve student and faculty knowledge and provide an off campus faculty and student mentor. Boxer will have full access to the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library as she works to turn her dissertation into a manuscript. Through this award, the Center will provide her with a housing stipend, an office space and part time research assistant.
Since its inception in 2011, the Diversity Scholar Transfer Initiative at the University of Utah has sought to support the transition of transfer students from Salt Lake Community College into life at the U. The Office for Equity and Diversity is delighted to announce that it has received a second ImPACT grant from the College Access Network of Utah to further develop and enhance the statewide educational infrastructure in Utah through collaborative professional development, outreach and programming. All combined the grant totals to $50,000.
Diverse students face additional challenges and barriers in their transfer process, such as “transfer shock” and the lack of rigorous academic preparation. These factors, among others, contribute to transfer students not identifying with their new surroundings and failing to find the proper support channels for academic support. This all results in a higher attrition rate for transfer students of color.
The ImPACT grant will support OED’s transfer student programs in the following ways:
