Weekly Three 11/01/22
We invite Miamians to continue to participate in Heritage Month Programming, which features Native American Heritage Month and Trans Awareness Week in November. Please also plan to join the Miami community at Celebrating Miami: Tribe and University Week events and the QT-Con Conference, and other exciting events.
As part of our climate study efforts, we invite students to learn about and participate in new climate interviews. Faculty and staff are invited to learn more about and participate in an Employee Stay Interview as part of our climate study. Please see below for more detailed information, and to participate. Information from these interviews will assist us in developing needed initiatives and programs.
Starting in November, Weekly Threes will be replaced by a quarterly newsletter to allow us to more fully communicate about and examine these efforts in a more robust, comprehensive format.
Commemorating 50 years of our University’s relationship with the Miami Tribe
Fall Celebration Week, November 6-13.
Join us for The Two Miamis: 50th Anniversary Celebration event!
Wednesday, November 9 | 11 a.m. | Millett Hall
This interactive experience is open to the entire campus as well as the public and it will highlight the meaning of a 50-year relationship between the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University. For the rest of the schedule of events visit Celebrating Miami: Tribe and University Week.
Tending the fire together
Our unique partnership is expressed through a shared commitment to neepwaantiinki, ‘learning from each other,’ which has played a key role in the Miami Tribe’s language revitalization efforts and has led to the first generation in nearly 100 years to learn to speak the Myaamia language. We have celebrated fifty years of a meaningful relationship throughout 2022 and we will culminate our 50-year celebration during the Fall Celebration Week.
Freedom Summer of ‘64 Award Ceremony and Panel Discussion
Miami University co-hosted with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center this year’s “Race: A Necessary Dialogue in America” Symposium & Award Presentation. Recently the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center has posted a video of the panel discussion and individuals are encouraged to engage with the discussion as they are able. The recording can be found on the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s Video Library.One: DEI Implementation
Campus Climate Project - We want to hear from YOU
As part of Miami’s holistic climate study approach, OIDI is conducting stay interviews with racially minoritized faculty and staff this semester. We are still accepting sign ups from employees for the Employee Stay Interview.
We are now also launching the climate interviews with racially minoritized undergraduate and graduate students. Information from this interview initiative will be essential as we develop a DEI Strategic Plan. Complete the sign up form for the Student Climate Interview. Thank you in advance to those who participate.
We invite you to visit the new Bias Reporting web page, which contains information on how to report bias incidents. The new Bias Incident reporting form includes an accessible, new format.
Now Accepting Submissions for History Month events and programming for Spring semester. Working in close collaboration with faculty, staff, and student partners, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion provides opportunities for the Miami community to continue our learning and engage in meaningful programming that recognizes, examines, and values historical legacies of a diverse array of identities. Heritage Month programming supports Miami’s inclusive excellence and DEI mission and connects to, among other areas, DEI Task Force Pillar 2: Cultural Consciousness, which encourages the Miami University community to enhance our awareness, knowledge, and skills to enrich and renew our intercultural competence. Submit your proposal considering priority deadlines for each proposed history and heritage month celebrations
Focus Theme for 2022-2023: Tribal Sovereignty
Focus is a university-wide initiative to coordinate activities of many groups, centers, institutes, and departments to create a year-long exploration of an important, and timely topic from multiple disciplinary perspectives. For the 2022-2023 year, the theme will be focused on Tribal Sovereignty. To learn more about this, visit the Miami Focus Theme website.
Two: Community Updates
Anti-Racism Workshop (Online Format Added)
Anti-racism work requires sustained, proactive education and engagement as well as systemic, intentional efforts at micro-and macro-levels. The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion is excited to continue providing this workshop for the new school year. New dates and an online option have been added to the sign up form, so check it out. If you are interested in OIDI providing this workshop specifically for your department, complete the Department Sign-up Form and we will follow up with you.
Freedom Summer '64 Award - Call for Nomination
he Freedom Summer of ’64 Award was created to honor champions of civil rights and social justice. It is given in remembrance and recognition of the site at the Western College for Women (now part of Miami University), where 800 young Americans trained to register Black voters in the south.
This award honors the legacy of the civil rights movement, but is also a new call for students, faculty, staff and citizens to reconnect with civic service and civil rights at a time when participation, and standing for one's belief in their fellow humans is more important than ever," said Gregory Crawford, president of Miami University.
We invite all faculty, staff, and students to nominate individuals or organizations with exceptional trajectories as champions of civil rights and social justice.
Deadline: Friday, Nov. 18 by 5 pm
First Generation College Student Week
National First-Generation College Student day is observed at colleges and universities across the nation each year on November 8. First-generation college students are among the first in their family to pursue a bachelor’s degree. Miami University values the rich contributions, diversity, grit and resilience of the Miami Firsts community. The university will celebrate and honor the Miami Firsts community with a full week of programming during the week of November 7. The Miami Firsts community boasts more than 3,000 students and a large staff and faculty ally community. In previous years, programming included a reception hosted by the President’s Office, fun games, parent workshops, opportunities to connect with first-generation alumni, career networking events, and social activities hosted by the Miami Firsts student organization. For all departments, offices, organizations, etc. who plan to host events, please fill out the Call for Proposals no later than October 28th.
Approaches to Assessment of International (ELL) Students' Writing
Oxford Campus
Tuesday, Nov. 1 | 11:00 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. | MacMillian Hall, Room 12
Thursday, Nov. 3 | 11:00 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. | Zoom
Join the English Language Learner Writing Center in their upcoming workshop as they explore the factors influencing decisions and approaches to grading English Language Learner (ELL) students’ writing in content-area courses. Participants are asked to bring a writing assignment to assess in light of the discussion. To learn more about this workshop and register for either the in-person or Zoom session, visit the Workshop Registration Form.
Exhibition: A Lens for Freedom: Photographs by Steve Schapiro
Come see this important exhibition open through December 10 at the Miami Univeristy Art Museum, Tues-Sat and late on second Wednesdays.
During the turbulent 1960s, Steve Schapiro was there with his camera capturing some of the most iconic moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Schapiro was also one of the leading photographers to document the activities, training, meetings, and so much more that developed as part of the efforts to help register Black voters in the deep South during the historic 1964 Freedom Summer campaign. The exhibition includes photographs taken on the campus of the Western College for Women campus in Oxford (now part of Miami University) during Freedom Summer '64. This exhibition is supported by Cincinnati FotoFocus and Richard and Susan Momeyer. To learn more about the exhibit visit - A Lens for Freedom: Civil Rights Photography by Steve Schapiro web page.
Approaches to Assessment of International (ELL) Students’ Writing
Oxford Campus
Tuesday, Nov. 1 | 11:00 am-12:20 p.m. | MacMillian Hall, Room 12
Thursday, Nov. 3 | 11:00 am-12:20 p.m. | Zoom
Join the English Language Learner Writing Center in their upcoming workshop as they explore the factors influencing decisions and approaches to grading English Language Learner (ELL) students’ writing in content-area courses. Participants are asked to bring a writing assignment to assess in light of the discussion. To learn more about this workshop and register for either the in-person or Zoom session, visit the Workshop Registration Form.
Interconnected: A Student Response Exhibit Reception and Awards Ceremony
Oxford Campus
Wednesday, Nov. 2 | 5-7 p.m. | MacMillian Hall, Room 12
Join Art Museum supporters and student artists in a celebration of their work on display in this exhibition. Viewers choice cash award winners will be announced during the awards ceremony portion of this event.
Supported by the Art Museum Members and the Art Museum Student Organization (AMSO). As part of the event, a new panel for the Art Museum Foyer will be unveiled, including the Miami University’s Land Acknowledgement.
More information about the exhibition and event can be found on the exhibition webpage.
Exhibition Reception for "Since Time Immemorial...The Place of the Miamis"
Oxford Campus
Wednesday, Nov. 9 | 1:30 p.m. | King Library, Room 320
Members of the Miami Tribe will share the Coming Out Story, the oldest story the Myaamia people have for themselves, giving attendees an opportunity to hear one of the
stories connected to specific places in myaamionki (Myaamia lands) and learn about
the heritage of the Myaamia people.
An exhibition tour and light refreshments will follow the storytelling program.
Curated by the Myaamia Center and co-hosted by the Walter Havighurst Special Collections.
Forensic History: Unearthing National Security Secrets about Human Rights in Latin America
Oxford Campus
Thursday, Nov. 10 | 3 p.m. | Upham Hall 001
This year’s Wilson Lecture will be conducted by Miami alumnus Michael Evans, a Latin American specialist at the National Security Archive at Georgetown University. The NSA’s mission is to promote transparency and public use of the archive of U.S. foreign policy and CIA activity. Many of their documents are acquired through rigorous application of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and then are digitized by NSA staff and contextualized by the professional historians and archivists who work with them. These documents are regularly used for human rights and Truth Commission work, as past injustices are addressed in courts of law with the help of the public restoration of these often-hidden archives.
Evans’ work, and that of his colleagues, represents a fresh approach to the ways that documents from the past can help promote social and political justice. This should be of interest to anybody with a desire to learn more about the archival process, public history, social justice, foreign policy, war crimes tribunals, peace processes, and digital humanities. Students can consult the National Security Archive in advance of the talk to look up their favorite moment in U.S. foreign policy history and get their eyes on some declassified documents.
Annette Gordon-Reed, “On Juneteenth - The Essential Story of ‘Emancipation Day’ and Its Importance to American History.”
Oxford Campus
Thursday, Nov. 10 | 7 p.m. | Shriver Center, John Dolibois Rooms
In June 2021, the United States government formally recognized Juneteenth -- a long-standing celebration of the formal end of slavery in the nation -- for the first time as an official federal holiday. In this talk, acclaimed historian Annette Gordon-Reed -- winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (2008) -- will chronicle the nation's long journey from the Reconstruction era to the present, highlighting how the nation's past encounters with racial injustice help us to understand the nation's ongoing struggles to ensure equal justice under law.
Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard Law School and a past president of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic.Presented by the Menard Family Center for Democracy with support from the Department of Humanities and Creative Arts and the Department of History’s McClellan Fund.
Veterans Day Reflections Dinner
Hamilton Campus
Friday, Nov. 11 | 6 p.m. | Harry T. Wilks Conference Center
Join the Miami University Regionals community as we remember and celebrate the heroism and bravery of those who have served in the U.S. armed forces. This event, which includes dinner, a silent auction, and a raffle, is free and open to the public.
All proceeds directly benefit the Student Veterans Centers of Miami University Regionals, which provides resources for student military veterans, active duty and reserve military students, and military affiliated students. For more information and to RSVP, visit the event’s webpage.
International Education Week
Oxford Campus
Friday, Nov. 11 - Friday, Nov. 18
You are invited to join Global Initiatives to observe International Education Week at Miami, November 11-18. This annual celebration includes a wide range of activities and events in order to celebrate the diverse array of cultures on our campus and provide students, faculty, and staff the opportunity for global engagement. This year marks the return of the Global Friendship Thanksgiving Dinner, an opportunity for international students and scholars to experience a traditional American holiday and engage in meaningful interaction and friendship with community members and Miami faculty and staff. For a full schedule of events, visit theInternational Education Week webpage.
QT-Con: A Queer/Trans Conference
Oxford Campus
Monday, Nov. 14 - Wednesday, Nov. 16 | 6-8 p.m. | Shriver Center, John Dolibois Room ABC
QT-Con is a grassroots conference and convention featuring queer and trans research, creative works, and passion projects. Join us November 14-16 in the John Dolibois Room (Shriver Center) to attend our conference style mini-sessions and late night events! All events are free, and registration is not required - drop in for one or stay for as many as you like. For the full schedule and event highlights, follow us @mu_qtcon!
QTFSA Luncheon
Oxford Campus
Wednesday, Nov. 16 | 12-1 p.m. | Armstrong Student Center, C-Suite (3rd Floor)
Queer & Trans Faculty/Staff Association (QTFSA) invites all faculty and staff to come together and connect. There will be lunch provided and information on how to get involved. You can also sign up for QTFSA's listserv by emailing us atqtfsa@miamioh.edu.
Disability Allyship Workshop
Oxford Campus
Wednesday, Nov. 16 | 12-1 p.m. | Armstrong Student Center, Room 1086
The allyship workshop is a reflective experience where people can examine their role in the Disability Justice movement. The workshop will start by discussing what involvement looks like, questioning how individual identity and experiences help us understand our place in the conversation. Afterward, information will be shared on the Disability Justice movement and resources attendees can use beyond the presentation. Throughout the presentation, organizers will help participants develop a plan to begin or deepen their work as an ally to the disabled community. The overall goal is to give participants the foundation they need to cultivate their own practice of allyship.
Three: Celebrations and Recognition
Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award
For the third time in a row, Miami University has been awarded INSIGHT to Diversity’s Excellence in Diversity award. The HEED Award recognizes colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. It focuses on the recruitment and retention of students and employees, leadership support for diversity, campus culture and climate, supplier diversity, and many other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion.Myaamia and BCRTA Partnership
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of partnership between the Myaamia Tribe of Oklahoma and the university, BCRTA and the Myaamia Center unveiled a bus design. The Oxford bus features artwork highlighting the Myaamia language.
Upcoming Religious Holidays and Holy Days and Inclusive Scheduling
October Spotlight
October 31-November 1: Samhain (Pagan/Wiccan) – Festival honoring endings, beginnings, and the dead.
October 31: Reformation Day (Protestant Christianity) – Celebration in remembrance of the onset of the Reformation.
November Spotlight
November 1: All Saint’s Day (Christianity) - Honors all the saints known and unknown.
November 2: All Soul’s Day (Christiantiy) - Day of prayer for the dead, particularly but not exclusively one’s relatives.
November 8*: Gurpurab (Sikh) - Commemorating the birthday of the Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, the tenth Sikh Guru, known as the Father of Khalsa.
November 9: Birth of Guru Nanak (Sikh) - Celebrates the birth of the founder of Sikhism and the first of the Sikh Gurus.
November 15: Shichi-go-san (Shinto) - Celebrates the growth and well-being of young children.
November 15: Lhabab Duchen (Buddhist) - A festival observing the descent of the Buddha from heaven to Earth.
November 23: Niinamesai (Shinto) - Harvest festival that gives thanks for a good crop yield.
November 26*: Day of the Covenant (Bahá’í) - Celebrates the appointment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the Centre of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.
November 28-29*: Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Bahá’í) - Commemorates the death of Abbas Effendi, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1921.
November 28: First Sunday of Advent (Christian) - Season of expectant waiting and preparation of the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.
“*” denotes holidays that start sundown the day before. Please note that individual practices may vary. Please see the academic affairs calendar and complementing interfaith narrative calendar for policies and for more information, and regarding religious holy days and holidays observed by Miami Community members.
With Love and Honor,
Cristina Alcalde, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)
Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion
Professor, Global and Intercultural Studies
vpDiversity@MiamiOH.edu