Office for Institutional Diversity Awards 8 Inclusive Excellence Program Grants

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 22, 2017) — The Office for Institutional Diversity at the University of Kentucky has selected grant recipients for the first round of Inclusive Excellence Program Grants. The office sought innovative inclusive excellence programs that focused on students and fostered collaboration and partnerships among groups, centers, programs and registered student organizations.

The Office for Institutional Diversity selected eight proposals to award grant funding totaling more than $85,000. The grant recipients are as follows:

"Serving Those Who Served Us: Understanding Military Culture and Your Community"  

The purpose of this program is to actively engage student veterans, faculty and staff by hosting a two-hour educational symposium to increase awareness of culture, and developing sustainable resources for colleges, departments, students, faculty, staff and campus partners on how to effectively engage student veterans enrolled in higher education. The anticipated outcomes include increased awareness of military culture, enhanced ability to the facilitating factors and significant barriers for student veterans in transition to college life, and development of informational resources available for faculty, staff and students on campus. (Veterans Resource Center; Disability Resource Center; College of Education, Human Development Institute)

"Mass Incarceration: Righting the American Tragedy"

The United States incarcerates more of its population than any other country in the world. Although it is home to only 5 percent of the world’s population, it has 25 percent of its prisoners. The increase in the United States jail and prison population grew from less than 200,000 in 1972 to 2.2 million today. Lurking in the shadow of these statistics is a disturbing narrative about the history of racial injustice in America. The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) is organizing a one-day symposium to address the most pressing issues driving mass incarceration in America. With a multidisciplinary approach, BLSA will compose a roster of four inspired experts to discuss how education, excessive punishment, prison conditions, and community re-entry all exacerbate mass incarceration. The objective is to increase awareness on campus and in the local community, and to provide a platform for students and local community members to exchange ideas about forming solutions. (Black Law Students Association; College of Law)

"Student Perspectives on LGBTQ Inclusive Health Care in a University Setting"

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) identifying persons face a higher risk for poor health outcomes than do the general population. To address these risks, the University of Kentucky has developed a team of health care professionals who have the goal of meeting many of the unique medical needs of LGBTQ people in Kentucky through a newly-formed clinic called Transform Health. Transform Health exists at multiple sites, including University Health Service (UHS), where every full-time student on campus is eligible to receive services. This study plans to use mixed methods in order to analyze the demographics of students utilizing/not utilizing the UHS Transform Health clinic, the types of care patients are seeking, the perceived inclusivity of the patient’s experience, the effects of inclusivity on patient’s willingness to continue care, the barriers for students not utilizing Transform Health, and the perceived necessity of tailored health care for other health disparity populations on campus that do not yet have these services. (College of Medicine; UK HealthCare; University Health Services; Office of LGBTQ* Resources)

"Inclusive Conversation on Decolonizing the Academy"

This proposal is to enable the Department of Anthropology with collaborative partners, to invite to campus Professor Faye V. Harrison and Professor Kimberly Simmons as speakers in the Anthropology Colloquium series and to engage in conversations toward decolonizing the academy with students, staff and faculty members of the University of Kentucky during their visits. Harrison is professor of African American studies and anthropology and a faculty affiliate of the Women amd Gender in Global Perspectives Program and the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Simmons is associate dean of the South Carolina Honors College and associate professor of anthropology and African American studies at the University of South Carolina, where she has also served as director of the Latin American Studies Program. (12 collaborative partners – groups, centers and student organizations)

"Social Justice Scholarship Series"

The Social Justice Scholarship Series (SJSS) is an initiative of the Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology in the College of Education. This semester-long series occurs in monthly seminars. Past topics have included racism (spring 2015) and race and class (spring 2016). In a collaborative effort, both students and faculty members have led these seminars using texts and other media to spark discussion and scholarly thought among attendees. The spring 2017 SJSS topic is sexuality, gender and race. Sub-topics will include the taxonomy of sexuality and gender, historical perspectives on race, gender and sexuality, and practical applications of sexuality knowledge for psychologists. The spring 2018 SJSS focus will be on disability status and access to resources and their intersection with class and race. This proposal seeks to promote greater involvement by the department’s 126 students and 21 faculty and staff in the monthly scholarship series and to involve the greater campus community each spring in a sponsored guest lectureship relevant to the series theme. A collaborative partnership with the Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) Center and the student-led Social Justice Advocacy Group will foster greater outreach of the series. (Social Justice Advocacy Group; VIP Center; Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology)

"Social Justice Week: Celebrating Unsung Heroes"

The College of Social Work proposes to celebrate our human diversity and the value that it brings as well as recognize Unsung Heroes for Social Justice in a weeklong celebration of social justice at UK. Planned activities include:

• Social Justice Colloquium – presentation by a national level speaker and held during prime class time to encourage faculty across campus and disciplines to support student attendance.
• Unsung Hero award – designed to recognize students, faculty and staff as well as Kentuckians across the Commonwealth who make a difference in creating opportunities and ensuring fairness.
• My Story – students will have the opportunity to provide a brief video testimony to the value of diversity, inclusivity and the work needed to engage in social justice. 
• Reel Justice – a documentary on aspects of social justice followed by a faculty led discussion.
• UK Day of Service – six agencies will be identified that allow students to participate in service. 
• Social Justice Week will culminate in a luncheon reception to recognize the Unsung Heroes and a guest. (College of Social Work faculty, staff and students; College of Agriculture, Food and Environment; VIP Center)

"Perspectives"

The proposed program, titled "Perspectives," envisions a series of events comprising two distinct yet related components. Each of the events would feature a subtopic chosen from the pressing policy issues of the day. A short film produced by students consisting of a range of viewpoints on the subtopic would be the first component of each event. Each film would be shown on the UK Student Network, hosted online and exhibited at a premiere showing on campus, which would serve as the second component of each event. Each premiere would begin with a screening of that month’s film. After the screening, a panel of faculty and/or outside speakers would host a town hall-type event on the film’s topic. The town hall events would actively engage student attendees with the topic and foster discussion among them. To further foster discussion among attendees, each town hall would end with a reception mixer. As a concrete example of how an iteration would work, an individual hypothetical film might be "Perspectives: Diverse Viewpoints on National Anthem Protests and Political Statements by Athletes." The diverse viewpoints on film would be from students from across campus. For such a topic, potential panelists for the premiere town hall would include professors from UK and an outside speaker. Later iterations would then have different topics. (College of Law Diversity Committee; Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Students; Media Arts and Studies Program; Media Depot)

"MLK Center Presents 'The Convo'"

The Martin Luther King Center, during the 2015-2016 academic year, began a program series called "The Convo," which involved bringing influential and diverse public figures to campus to engage in “fishbowl” conversations where students and audience members were able to spend a portion of the program asking questions and directly engaging with these guests, participating in their conversations. Guests have included actors, activists, musicians, historical figures and high level executives. This year attendance has skyrocketed, with the most recent two events at or above capacity (approximately 700 and 300 people in attendance). Previous events have been collaborations with academic units as well as student organizations, but the costs involved in bringing these guests to campus have limited capacity to provide programs at the desired magnitude and frequency. Evaluations constantly reflect overwhelmingly positive results and sense of belonging among those in attendance. Obtaining funding for this sustainable program will serve to increase opportunities for collaborative learning around issues of inclusive excellence and extend the success of this existing program. (Martin Luther King Center; College of Fine Arts; College of Education; College of Arts and Sciences; National Association of Black Journalists; National Pan-Hellenic Council; Black Student Union; Underground Perspectives; Feminist Alliance)

"The funded proposals speak for themselves as simply an effective means of demonstrating the university’s commitment to fostering an environment of inclusion, a sense of belonging. All members of the university community are welcome and strongly encouraged to participate in this initiative," said Terry Allen, interim vice president for institutional diversity.