Diversity Statement
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
– Nelson Mandela
Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
-MLK
Grounded in equity and inclusion, our vision of educational excellence is focused on the learning all students need for success in an uncertain future and for addressing the compelling issues we face as a democracy and as a global community—regardless of where they study, what they major in, or what their career goals may be.
– The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
Diversity is constantly on my mind, and my beliefs about it have only become stronger as my life and career progress. As such, I strive to promote and encourage inclusion of people from a wide range of backgrounds and identities in all of my endeavors, personally and professionally. My inclusive agenda includes but is not limited to: race, ethnicity, color, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, socioeconomic class, religion, disability, age, military status, political ideology, visa status, economic status, geographic location, and language/linguistic ability. It is imperative that we all recognize that members of non-dominant groups, through a history of oppression and continued biases, face disadvantages. I gladly take on the burden of eradicating and correcting these disadvantages any time that I have the power to do so in terms of opportunities and outcomes. Promoting diversity and inclusion is not only the right thing to; it is also beneficial to the productivity and goals of any organization.
My diversity, equity, and inclusion awakening did not fully formalize in my consciousness until high school. My freshman class, over 450 students, was comprised of a white minority with Latine and African American students making up the majority. Four years later, less than 250 students graduated. Among the graduates, diversity plummeted from what used to be a beautiful collage of races, ethnicities, creeds, and socioeconomic classes to what became a mostly upper-middle class, White student body. Many of those who departed were my classmates, friends, teammates, and even considered family. Of the many I kept in touch with, the result was often poverty, disenfranchisement, addiction, poor health, and correctional facilities. Thus, my journey began to understand how this could happen and how to change it.
Reckoning with these questions and my experience, I decided to study criminal justice and sociology as an undergrad to better understand race and society. While I didn't find a definitive answer, I was certainly enlightened, finding multiple intersecting social, historical, cultural, and systemic causes to racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequities in the US. Equipped with a bachelor's degree, I set out on my first real job working for a county prosecutor in Indiana to right the wrongs in society. Unfortunately, the job was short lived. Instead of righting the wrongs, I found myself in a system difficult to change, contributing to ongoing inequities. I voted with my feet and departed.
To continue the good fight, I turned to education. After having the privilege of traveling abroad, I deeply desired to find a way to live and work in a far off land. As it turned out, teaching English was a promising avenue to do so. An intensive certification process opened the door to teaching English in four different countries. In terms of equity, teaching English was never easy. On the one hand, learning English can have major impacts on individuals' livelihoods, their cultural and linguistic capital, and their number of opportunities at home and around the world. On the other hand, it was evident that teaching and learning English played, and continues to play, an integral role in linguistic colonialism. As such, I always focused on aspects of empowerment and overcoming oppression. No one owns English. When we learn it, it is ours to do what we wish with it. It doesn't give students a voice, it strengthens it, offering a louder megaphone and wider audience to their message - whatever it may be.
As an English teacher and later an English program administrator, I have continued my critical pedagogy as well as professional practices that support diversity, equity, and inclusion. I'm proud to say that I have taught thousands of students from hundreds of countries with numerous identities and from a vast array of backgrounds - focusing on elevating their voice, their representation, and equity. I have not only treated them fairly and compassionately, but I have also constantly striven to support and encourage them to overcome and overturn the systemic inequities they face, advocating for them every step of the way with hundreds of letters of recommendation to prove it. I'm also proud to say that the majority of the faculty and staff that I have hired over the years as a program administrator have been from non-dominant groups in terms of race, gender, and gender identity. It has always been my belief that students should be able to see themselves as well as diverse world views in their teachers. I aim to continue my diversity agenda as well as develop it further as an education professional.