Previous Digest Stories Archive
The Celebrate Diversity Digest began in the spring of 2021.
Thanks to our contributors and readers, the Digest has grown from an idea by a subcommittee to a comprehensive newsletter that seeks to educate and represent the people who make Stockton University the mosaic of multiculutral identities that it is today. Catch up on previous issues below.
Spring 2024
EOF Students Travel to Yale University’s Bouchet Conference
By Valerie Hayes
This month, four Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program students traveled to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, to attend the 20th Annual Yale Bouchet Conference on Diversity and Graduate Education.
The four second-year students are all budding scientists – Deena Kahn, who is majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Sheden Trezil, Winsley Dorce and Manuel Tapia, all majoring in Applied Physics with a dual degree in Engineering.
In the opening session on April 5, attendees learned about conducting research and, specifically, about Yale’s research of primary documents telling a story of 1831. In that year, Yale came to grips with its own history of suppressing what would have been a college known today as a historically black college. Such a college would have changed the lives and trajectory of Black residents in New Haven and other Black people who sought a college education. The 1831 story is chronicled in an exhibition, Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, and Slavery.
Throughout the day on April 6, students attended poster sessions and presentations by doctoral candidates enrolled in Research I institutions and toured campus. At the closing banquet that evening, they learned more about the life and times of Dr. Edward A. Bouchet (1852-1918), an American physicist, educator and the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Physics at Yale University.
Post-Pandemic Burnout and Inequities Among Black Women Administrators in Higher Education
By Esther Lawrence
As we begin to navigate the world after COVID-19, inequities among Black women remain disproportional. Acknowledging this, Dr. Esther Lawrence has penned an open letter to higher education adminstrators to promote the benefits of rest and leisure – concepts that are rarely encouraged for this specific population or in these spaces.
There has been a heaviness in the air lately among Black women in higher education.
The recent news of Black women leaders either dying while at work, dying suddenly, resigning from high profile positions in higher education and feeling so hopeless about their roles that they commit suicide has sent shockwaves throughout higher education in the fall of 2023 and the early part of 2024.
I speak specifically about Dr. JoAnne A. Epps, Temple University’s former acting president; Dr. Orinthia T. Montague, Volunteer State Community College’s former president; the resignation of Dr. Claudine Gay, former president from Harvard University; and most recently, the apparent suicide of Dr. Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey, former vice president of student affairs at Lincoln University.
As I wrote this, I thought it was particularly important to say their names as they were Black women in the academy who had achieved many firsts in their careers. These troubling events have created an opportunity for dialogue relating to mental health and burnout among Black women leaders. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many instances of inequities were exposed. One in particular that comes to mind is overwork/overwhelm.
On Dec. 14, 2023, an air of excitement filled the F-100 hallway as a gathering of staff and students eagerly awaited the unveiling of the Stockton Faces mural.
The newly transformed space, adorned in the vibrant hues of Osprey blue and black with a stunning collage of intentionally selected photos, set the stage for an extraordinary moment.
Dr. Ana Edmondson, the visionary behind the project, articulated her initial aspiration, "When I envisioned the project, my goal was to capture the diverse and beautiful faces at Stockton University."
Edmondson, assistant vice president of Student Transitions, Access, and Retention, gathered with attendees in front of the mural and marked the joyous celebration with photos and selfies and called for more spaces like the Stockton Faces hallway across the campus.
"Through my dissertation research, the findings suggested a strong correlation between the lack of representation and feelings of invisibility. Although we have widened access to ethnically diverse students, efforts must continue to foster a more positive cultural campus climate to help ease the transition from home to an unfamiliar environment for students. This artistic display is one example for diversifying a space to increase feelings of affirmation and visibility for our students."
After the unveiling, the hallway was a lively scene as students, faculty and staff immersed themselves in the celebration, enjoying music, refreshments, winter activities, networking, exploring the F-100 hallway offices and discovering the resources they offered.
Dr. Kimoni Yaw Ajani, a tenure track assistant professor of the Africana Studies program, has published his first book, "The Afrikan Revolution in Ayiti: Libète Ou Lanmò, Freedom or Death."
About "The Afrikan Revolution in Ayiti: Libète ou Lanmò, Freedom or Death"
Kimoni Yaw Ajani’s book is an Afrocentric re-examination and interpretation around the historiography of the Revolution in Ayiti (Haiti) and provides an in-depth study that highlights several significant Afrikan epistemological and cosmological aspects that led to freedom. These aspects include but are not limited to: the persistence of Afrikan complementary forces in Ayiti, Vodou/Vodun and Afrikan cosmology, Afrikan combat traditions such as Tire Machèt, and the numerous Afrikan languages, personalities, and roles that emerged from the growing numbers of Afrikans brought to Ayiti as a result of the European slave trade. Ajani calls for building communities on the best of Afrikan epistemological foundations and reclaiming Afrikan history.
Africana Studies faculty members Dr. Donnetrice Allison, Dr. Olutoyosi Aboderin, Dr. Kimoni Yaw Ajani and Dr. Beverly Vaughn recently took students to Ghana for a Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program (FLP), an academic course that combines traditional classroom learning with short-term studying abroad.
Fall 2023
Reaffirming Presidential Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
President Joe Bertolino and Executive Vice President Terricita Sass sat down with the full Campus Committee on Diversity & Inclusion Excellence to discuss the future of diversity and inclusion at Stockton University. Below is a summary of the October conversation.
Around 30 committee members – some new, some returning – gathered in the Constantelos Hellenic Reading Room in the Richard Bjork Library to discuss the committee and its purpose on campus with the new president and vice president.
The meeting was two-fold: it served as an introduction to the initiatives that have come out of the committee’s various subcommittees and a chance for both President Joe and Dr. Sass to explore the past, present and future of diversity on campus.
Spring 2023
Fall 2022
Spring 2022
Unity Day a 'Spiritual' Experience
Galloway, N.J. – The 2022 Unity Day Conference took center stage March 31 in the Campus Center with an event that included a world-famous Indian Hoop Dancer, and speakers who discussed the importance of fostering a better understanding of the world through listening, learning and talking with people of different cultures, genders and points of view.
The theme of the Unity Day celebration was “Unity of Religions & Spirituality.”
The Unity Day conference is organized by the Social Justice and Education subcommittee of the Committee on Campus Diversity and Inclusive Excellence (CCDIE) and co-chaired by Guia Calicdan-Apostle, associate professor of Social Work, and Valerie Hayes, Stockton University Chief Officer for Diversity and Inclusion. The focus of the event was to promote civic learning and foster an environment that values civil debate and critical thinking from multiple points of view.
Fall 2021
Stockton Receives its Fourth Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award
Yes, Stockton did it again, but this time in a much bigger way than before. Stockton received the 2021 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, a national diversity award offered by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine in Washington, D.C.
Stockton previously received the HEED Award from 2016 through 2018 but we spent the last few years reflecting on our diversity and inclusion efforts and making improvements or enhancements before submitting another application. We have you to thank as a member of the Stockton community and for your contributions to diversity, inclusion and social justice for this year’s successful submission.
Employee Resource Groups Enhance University’s Diversity & Inclusion Efforts
Employee resource groups are important elements of an institution’s diversity and inclusion strategy. Employee resource groups (ERG) are comprised of employees who volunteer their time and energy to assist the university in creating and sustaining a welcoming environment to live, learn and work. At Stockton, ERGs also play a critical role in raising money for student scholarships, along with other scholarship fundraisers at the University.
Depending upon the structure of an institution of higher education, ERGs may be connected to diversity and inclusion offices (e.g., University of Cincinnati ERGs) or human resource offices (e.g., Kent State University ERGs). They may be jointly launched together by diversity and inclusion offices and human resource offices (e.g., UMass at Amherst ERG and Babson College ERGs) or launched as apparent stand-alone campus resources (e.g., Colgate University).
Spring 2021
Proposal to Add Courses on Race, Racism to Graduation Requirements
By Donnetrice Allison
Director of Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Provost
Professor of Africana Studies and Communication Studies
In June of 2020, a group of Stockton University faculty and staff penned a document called, The Other Stockton. In it, faculty and staff of colored shared personal accounts of discrimination, micro-aggressions and other exclusionary behavior experienced in meetings, at social events, in hallways and in classrooms at Stockton.
We shared it with the entire campus community to a variety of responses. Some were “shocked and saddened,” some were apologetic, some were offended, some were in denial, and most were simply silent. Nevertheless, there were many who wanted to take action.
About Celebrate Diversity
The Committee on Campus Diversity and Inclusive Excellence (CCDIE) welcomes new and returning readers to the latest issue of Celebrate Diversity Digest. We invite you to learn more about issues of campus diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice covered in this newsletter.
The CCDIE includes faculty, staff, students and alumni who contribute to the University’s efforts to support and further these four areas on our campus, as well as the University’s mission to develop engaged and effective citizens with the capacity to adapt to change in a multicultural, interdependent world.
About the Communications Subcommittee
This subcommittee explores best practices of marketing and raising awareness of Stockton’s diversity and inclusion programs and efforts and then implements those practices, where appropriate, in collaboration with University Relations and Marketing.
Communications Subcommittee Members
- Valerie Hayes, Chief Officer for Diversity & Inclusion and convener for all subcommittees
- Stacey Clapp, Director of Strategic Communications, University Relations & Marketing
- Loukaia Taylor, '22, Multicultural Communications Specialist, University Relations & Marketing
- Kameika Murphy, Associate Professor of Atlantic History, School of Arts & Humanities
- Esther Lawrence, Assistant Dean of Business, School of Business
- Seth Richards, Associate Director for the Office of Student Conduct, Student Affairs
- Jestina Drysdale, Assistant Director for the Office of Student Conduct, Student Affairs
- Yesenia Pacheco, '22/'23, Coordinator of Student Transition, Access and Retention, Student Affairs
- Van Nhi Ho, Coordinator of LGBTQ+ Initiatives, Women's Gender & Sexuality Center
- Ashley Dalisay, '23, Student, Accelerated Bachelor's of Nursing
- Amira Walker, '23, Student, Business Dual Degree
