One of the biggest problems faced by diversity professionals is that of isolation. There are few pre-existing spaces for them to gather and meet each other, especially across different industries. To help combat this, every month I will profile a different diversity professional. In the course of the interview, you’ll not only get to hear about the kind of work this person is doing, you’ll also be able to benefit from the resources, strategies, and tips they share with you.

By Carmen Van Kerckhove

Name:
Natalie Gross

Title:
Director of Diversity and Campus Engagement

Organization:
Sarah Lawrence College

1. Can you give us a broad overview of your organization and what it does?

Sarah Lawrence College is a small Liberal Arts college in Westchester County, New York, predominantly female. Rather than having majors, students have concentrations. A student may take dance, photography and math one year and writing and an effects studies course the next. Basically, they take whatever their hearts desire; we’re all about individualized education, in essence. There are no prerequisites. We’re also a writing-intensive school. In most cases, students prepare research papers pertaining to whatever they’re studying, so they basically create their own education curriculum based on what they want to study and within whatever guidelines they create.

It’s also a school that promotes the idea that students should challenge and question everything they hear, read and learn. They’re expected to participate fully in every class and not just regurgitate the texts they’ve read or the information they’ve been told. They’re expected to bring something to the table, to contribute. We have small classrooms with a 6:1 student-to-teacher ratio so that each student is fully engaged in what’s out there and is becoming an independent thinker and activist within their communities to bring about change and to require it. » Continue reading “Natalie Gross from Sarah Lawrence College”

One of the biggest problems faced by diversity professionals is that of isolation. There are few pre-existing spaces for them to gather and meet each other, especially across different industries. To help combat this, every month I will profile a different diversity professional. In the course of the interview, you’ll not only get to hear about the kind of work this person is doing, you’ll also be able to benefit from the resources, strategies, and tips they share with you.

By Carmen Van Kerckhove

Name:
Mana Tahaie

Title:
Director of Racial Justice.

Organization:
YWCA Tulsa Oklahoma

1. Can you give us a broad overview of your organization and what it does?

YWCA Tulsa is part of the Young Women’s Christian Association, USA. Its mission is eliminating racism and empowering women. Depending on the association and community, doing this can look very different at different YWCA’s. A lot of YWCA’s provide domestic violence intervention and have shelters for at-risk women. Tulsa already has another organization providing domestic violence and sheltering services, so at the YWCA here, we work to meet the social services needs of the community.

The YWCA has always been a women’s organization. It has advocated for equal rights for women starting with suffrage. Over 60 years ago, they adopted an Interracial Charter, stating “Wherever there is injustice on the basis of race, whether in the community, the nation, or the world, our protest must be clear and our labor for its removal vigorous and steady.” In 1970, they added to their mission the One Imperative: “To thrust our collective power towards the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary”. In recent years, from national and regional levels, there has been a strong push to renew our emphasis on racial justice.

The YWCA Tulsa has always provided social service work for at-risk communities, but it hadn’t focused on advocacy and social change issues in the area of racial justice until more recently. And, again, each effort looks different depending on where it is and the community it’s in. » Continue reading “Mana Tahaie from YWCA Tulsa Oklahoma”

One of the biggest problems faced by diversity professionals is that of isolation. There are few pre-existing spaces for them to gather and meet each other, especially across different industries. To help combat this, every month I will profile a different diversity professional. In the course of the interview, you’ll not only get to hear about the kind of work this person is doing, you’ll also be able to benefit from the resources, strategies, and tips they share with you.

By Carmen Van Kerckhove

Name:
Liza Talusan

Title:
Director of Intercultural Affairs

Organization:
Stonehill College

1. Can you give us a broad overview of your organization and what it does?

I work at a mid-sized suburban liberal arts Catholic College about 20 miles south of Boston. It’s predominately white in both its student population and its employee population. We have about 8% students of colors, so there are about 2,000 white students on campus and about 200 students of color. Our white population is made up of students who attended predominantly-white high schools and lived in predominantly-white neighborhoods. Our students of color tend to come from ethnically diverse neighborhoods. So, we have populations that are very different from each other going to college here together. Our campus is located in a middle-to-upper-middle class suburb of mostly white people, and it’s on the border of one of the largest cities in Massachusetts which is largely composed of people of color and immigrants. » Continue reading “Liza Talusan from Stonehill College”

One of the biggest problems faced by diversity professionals is that of isolation. There are few pre-existing spaces for them to gather and meet each other, especially across different industries. To help combat this, every month I will profile a different diversity professional. In the course of the interview, you’ll not only get to hear about the kind of work this person is doing, you’ll also be able to benefit from the resources, strategies, and tips they share with you.

By Carmen Van Kerckhove

Name:
Saleha Jalil Khan

Title:
Instructor

Organization:
Ontario Police College, part of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Public Safety Division.

1. Can you give us a broad overview of your organization and what it does?

Saleha Jalil Khan:  Ontario Police College is a post-hire basic training and professional development facility.  Every police officer across Ontario is mandated to successfully complete the Basic Constable Training program at the Ontario Police College within six months of their hire date.  Upon completion, they are deemed capable of carrying out their duties as police officers; they return to their police organizations to complete probationary training. The Ontario Police College also provides ongoing and continued learning opportunities for senior and executive officers across Ontario, nationally and internationally.
» Continue reading “Saleha Jalil Khan from Ontario Police College”

One of the biggest problems faced by diversity professionals is that of isolation. There are few pre-existing spaces for them to gather and meet each other, especially across different industries. To help combat this, every month I will profile a different diversity professional. In the course of the interview, you’ll not only get to hear about the kind of work this person is doing, you’ll also be able to benefit from the resources, strategies, and tips they share with you.

By Carmen Van Kerckhove

Name:
Gene Batiste

Title:
Vice President of Leadership Education and Diversity (LEAD)

Organization:
National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)

1. Can you give us a broad overview of your organization and what it does?

NAIS represents 1,400 independent schools in the United States and subscriber schools internationally. It lobbies on Capitol Hill and provides professional and leadership development conferences.

NAIS school students run the gamut: Pre-K thru 12th grade, college prep school, boarding schools, boarding day schools, day schools, middle schools, Jewish and Lutheran schools, and single sex boys and girls schools. But the organization’s main focus is primarily kindergarten through 12th grade schools that aren’t public or parochial.

2. What’s your role at your organization and in what ways does it involve diversity?

My role is actually split between two initiatives. The first is leadership development, which is beyond the scope of this interview, but it segues into the second. I’m a facilitator of all the diversity initiatives that we engage in as an organization and try to model for our schools.

What I do includes a variety of initiatives and conferences, including the one that you were a hit at, the People of Color Conference. We had over 3,200 people in New Orleans at our last conference. » Continue reading “Gene Batiste from National Association of Independent Schools”