Day of Dialogue & Action

Coffee, tea, and water will be provided to in-person participants.

Dean of University College, Dr. Sean Armstrong, will kick off the day’s programming and offer a call to action.

Presenter

Dean Armstrong, EdD, was appointed as dean of University College at Washington University in 2021. Armstrong will complete the transformation of University College, the university’s professional and continuing education division, as a new school for continuing education with a greater focus on accessible pathways for economic mobility and career advancement for residents of the St. Louis region. This repositioning of University College is also designed to expand opportunities for partnerships and collaboration across all schools and
units.

Armstrong began his deanship at a crucial time for University College, as it pivoted toward a community-oriented, career-focused education approach that will provide reimagined programs for career advancement and enrichment, including divisions in data, health and health care, and management and administration. It will also have new opportunities for students to complete programs within the liberal arts. Undergraduate and graduate students will continue to be served.

This panel discussion convenes five leaders of Here and Next strategic initiatives to grapple with what the guiding principle of EDI means in practice. Leaders will share how they are operationalizing guiding principles, including the challenges and opportunities they have experienced, and offer wisdom about what has worked so far.

Presenters

Kia Caldwell is the vice provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, a professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies and the Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar in Arts & Sciences. Caldwell’s administrative duties include consulting and collaborating with the school deans and other WashU school leaders to strengthen policies, procedures and processes that enable faculty success throughout their careers across the university. She advises the provost and other WashU leaders on faculty matters regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. As a faculty member, Caldwell’s research focuses on race, gender, Black feminism, health policy and HIV/AIDS in Brazil and the U.S. Her current research focuses on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Black communities in the U.S. and Brazil and how Black women have re-envisioned democracy and human rights through activism and office holding across the Americas.

Bradley Evanoff, MD, MPH is chief of the Division of General Medical Sciences in the Department of Internal Medicine at Washington University, where he holds the Richard A. and Elizabeth Henby Sutter Chair in Occupational, Industrial, and Environmental Medicine.

Evanoff’s research centers around the epidemiology and prevention of work-related injuries and musculoskeletal disorders, and efforts to improve health and decrease disability among working populations.

Evanoff received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, and his medical degree from Washington University. Following a residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital, he completed a Fogarty post-doctoral fellowship at the Swedish National Institute of Occupational Health. He was then a fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he also received his Master’s Degree in Public Health.

Evanoff’s areas of expertise include occupational and environmental medicine, epidemiology, and the design and analysis of intervention studies.

Anna Gonzalez, PhD, (she/her/hers), or “Dr. G” as she is known to students, is a nationally recognized student affairs leader with over 30 years of experience in higher education. As the vice chancellor for Student Affairs at WashU, Gonzalez’s primary focus is to provide leadership to the university’s renowned Division of Student Affairs, engage with students to recognize their needs and enhance their experiences, spearhead transformative giving opportunities with University Advancement, and implement innovative strategies to ensure WashU is a leader in providing a 21st century higher education experience. Within her diverse portfolio, Gonzalez oversees WashU’s unified career center, health and well-being, Residential Life, the Center for Diversity & Inclusion, Athletics & Recreation, Campus Life, and Bear Beginnings—WashU’s orientation program for first-year students.

Mary McKay, PhD, is the vice provost of Interdisciplinary Initiatives. Her academic experience connects deeply to both social work and public health. She has received substantial federal funding for research focused on meeting the mental health and health prevention needs of youth and families impacted by poverty. She also has significant expertise in child mental health services and implementation research methods, as well as over 20 years of experience conducting HIV prevention and care-oriented studies, supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Vetta Sanders-Thompson, PhD, currently leads the School’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, as well as co-directs the Center for Community Health Partnership and Research at the Institute for Public Health at Washington University. She is also is an associate member of the Siteman Cancer Center and a faculty affiliate of the Department of African and African-American Studies. She teaches courses in human diversity, disparities and mental health.

Moderator

Aurora Kamimura is the assistant provost for Inclusive Excellence. Kamimura contributes professional expertise and leadership recommendations to the provost and the provost’s leadership team on efforts regarding inclusive policies and practices. As a mixed methodologist, she conducts evaluations and assessments to provide evidence-based recommendations for programs housed in the Office of the Provost. Although, Kamimura also provides expert consultation on program assessment, and related areas of inclusive excellence, outside the office, as needed. Recommendations are consistently provided through an inclusive excellence lens, to ensure the success of our faculty and students. In her role, Kamimura serves as a senior author and investigator on grants originating out of the Office of the Provost. In an effort to highlight excellent work conducted at WashU, she works to disseminate advancements made in the Office of the Provost through the appropriate national higher education outlets and publications.

Chancellor Martin will offer a 2023 update related to his In St. Louis, For St. Louis, With St. Louis initiative.

Presenter

At his inauguration in 2019, Chancellor Martin cast a vision for elevating WashU’s academic distinction, providing broader access to WashU’s world-class educational experience, and deepening the university’s partnerships and impact in the St. Louis region. That vision was translated into “Here and Next,” a bold strategic plan for WashU’s next era of impact, launched in October 2022.

Chancellor Martin’s first major initiative from Here and Next is “Make Way: Our Student Initiative,” a fundraising effort that will remove obstacles to success, provide transformational scholarships and fellowships, and allow all WashU students the personalized support they need to thrive. Make Way builds on the momentum of the university’s WashU Pledge—a commitment to cover the costs of a WashU education for outstanding lower-income students from Missouri and Southern Illinois—and of “Gateway to Success,” a $1 billion investment in student support that allowed WashU to shift to need-blind admissions in 2021.

Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in a facilitated dialogue about the morning sessions. Dialogues are proven ways to work towards more inclusive environments and focus on empathy, building trust, and strengthening relationships between groups. Participants will be asked to practice their listening skills and commit to understanding others perspectives.

FACILITATOR

Jacob Chacko, PhD serves as the Inaugural Director of Dialogue across Difference for Washington University in St. Louis. His prior student affairs experience includes serving as the Director for the Asian American Cultural Center at Rutgers University New Brunswick, inaugural Associate Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the Santos Manuel Student Union at California State University, San Bernardino, interim coordinator for the Titan Dreamers Resource Center, and inaugural coordinator for the Asian Pacific American Resource Center at California State University, Fullerton. He holds a PhD in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership with a focus on Global Studies in Education from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, an M.S. in Teaching & Learning from Illinois State University, and a B.A. in Secondary Education & Spanish from Northeastern Illinois University. After undergraduate studies, he lived in South Korea for several years teaching English and traveling South/Southeast Asia. He speaks Malayalam, English, Spanish, and a bit of Korean. Jacob was born in Kerala, India and raised in Skokie, Illinois; he is a 1.5 generation Queer Indian American. He is also a member of Alpha Psi Lambda, ΑΨΛ, a Latino interest fraternity. During his doctoral studies, he worked as the graduate assistant of the Asian American Cultural Center and was immersed into the field of student affairs.

Lunch will be provided to in-person participants.

This 2-hour program will feature individual presentations from members of WashU faculty and staff who focus on specific histories: WashU & Slavery, the 1904 World’s Fair Filipino Exhibition, and private school desegregation in the 20^th century. Each presenter will connect elements of WashU’s history to the present, then discuss together how these histories can impact decision making for a more equitable future at WashU. Discussion will be moderated by vice provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity Kia Caldwell.

Presenters

Geoff Ward, PhD, is the director for the WashU & Slavery project; professor of African and African American Studies and faculty affiliate in Sociology and American Culture Studies. Ward is an historical sociologist whose scholarship examines the racial politics of social control and pursuit of racial justice, historically and today, with a focus on racial violence, youth justice, and representative legal authority. In addition to research articles and essays, he is the author of The Black Child-Savers: Racial Democracy and Juvenile Justice (University of Chicago Press, 2012), an award-winning book on the rise, fall, and lasting remnants of Jim Crow juvenile justice. Current projects examine broader histories of racial violence, their legacies, and implications for redress. Committed to a public-facing academic practice, Ward combines scholarly research and writing with creative and digital projects to support research and teaching, engage broader audiences, and facilitate the visibility, use and impact of this work. These include the Racial Violence Archive and Monumental Anti-Racism, which gather and share information about legacies of racial violence and anti-racist commemorative interventions, and the exhibition Truths & Reckonings: The Art of Transformative Racial Justice. Ward is also a member of the Reparative Justice Coalition of St. Louis, a community-based organization working to commemorate and address legacies of racist violence in our region.

Ria Unson Sharon is a Filipino American artist and independent researcher. She was born in Manila and emigrated from the Philippines in her teens. Unbeknownst to her, her great-grandfather was assigned to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, during the American occupation of the Philippines. Her art practice is about imperialism and capitalism and their effects on migration and the evolution of identity and culture. Unson’s award-winning work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the St. Louis region and featured in local and national media, including HEC-TV, New American Paintings, and The Santa Clara Review in 2022. She is a frequent guest lecturer and speaker at WashU as well as in the community—for organizations like the Missouri Historical Society and St. Louis County Libraries. Unson gives her talk, “Filipinos at the 1904 World’s Fair: a legacy of race and empire” as part of the 2022-2024 Missouri Speakers Bureau. Her art is in the Missouri History Museum’s permanent collection and in private collections in North America. At WashU, she is the director of Digital Content Strategy in the Office of Marketing & Communications. She currently serves on the Danforth Staff Council and joins the University Libraries National Council in 2023.

Michelle Purdy, PhD, is an associate professor of Education in Arts and Sciences, director of Undergraduate Educational Studies, and director of Academic Planning in the Department of Education. She is also an affiliated faculty member of the Department of African and African-American Studies, the Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Studies, the Center on Urban Research and Public Policy, and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity. With research, teaching, and service commitments to advancing racial justice, cultural understanding, and equitable policies and practices in education, her specialties include the history of U.S. education, the history of African American education, the history of school desegregation, and the history of policy, access, and opportunity. Her book, Transforming the Elite: Black Students and the Desegregation of Private Schools (University of North Carolina Press), has been awarded the 2019 New Scholar’s Book Award from Division F (History and Historiography) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the 2019 Award for Excellence from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC). She is also a recipient of other awards and recognition including the Washington University in St. Louis Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award, Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award from the Graduate Student Senate at Washington University in St. Louis and a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.

Moderator

Kia Caldwell is the vice provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, a professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies and the Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar in Arts & Sciences. Caldwell’s administrative duties include consulting and collaborating with the school deans and other WashU school leaders to strengthen policies, procedures and processes that enable faculty success throughout their careers across the university. She advises the provost and other WashU leaders on faculty matters regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. As a faculty member, Caldwell’s research focuses on race, gender, Black feminism, health policy and HIV/AIDS in Brazil and the U.S. Her current research focuses on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Black communities in the U.S. and Brazil and how Black women have re-envisioned democracy and human rights through activism and office holding across the Americas.

Undergraduate students from Filipino Culture Club (FCC) will perform Tinikling, a traditional Filipino bamboo stick dance. The dance involves rhythmically tapping and clapping the bamboo sticks while dancers jump between the sticks. Choreographed by Noelle Casem and Paula Glaser, this dance is FCC’s first Tinikling performance, and the performers hope to engage the crowd with their exciting dance.

Rev. Johnson-Javois will close out the day’s programming with a call to action, offering inspirational framing about WashU’s opportunity and responsibility, as a St. Louis anchor institution, to invest in equity work.

Presenter

Rev. Bethany Johnson-Javois, MSW, (she/her) is a health and racial justice advocate dedicated to the advancement of child well-being in St. Louis. She is president and CEO of Deaconess Foundation, a board member of Missouri Foundation for Health, a Commissioner, St. Louis Regional Health Commission, former chair of the board of Alive and Well Communities, LLC and former CEO of the St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN).  She holds an advanced degree from the Brown School of Social Work.