Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Graduate Student Advisory Board

MiamiOH

Student Resources

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Graduate Student Advisory Board is a group of graduate students from across the university who help shape the Graduate School’s collaborative efforts to cultivate an equitable, affirming, and inclusive graduate education experience in which graduate students across all aspects of diversity including race, ethnicity, gender identity, citizenship status, language, religion, socioeconomic status, nationality, sexual orientation, and ability-difference can successfully learn and grow. Advisory Board membership reflects students who have consistently demonstrated a commitment to enhancing diversity, inclusion, access, and equity in higher education.

A major goal of the committee is to advise fostering a climate of inclusion that celebrates diversity across graduate programs at Miami. To this end, the advisory board will:

Help design and/or carry out special events for graduate students.
Make recommendations on processes and approaches for regularly soliciting student feedback on the state of graduate education at Miami.
Advise the Graduate School in the development of a strategic plan focused on fostering a climate of inclusion, including the development of objectives into specific actionable steps.
Recommend new additions to revisions to the strategic plan.
Hold the Graduate School accountable for implementing the strategic plan and maintaining an ongoing commitment to fostering a climate of inclusion.

Possible Activities

Producing a proposed set of graduate student survey and/or focus group questions that the Graduate School may administer.
Identifying campus and/or community partners to consult with regarding specific components of the strategic plan.
Participating in opportunities to disseminate our accomplishments.
Drafting proposals for how the Graduate School can implement the strategic plan (e.g., specific projects, action steps, or interventions) and assessing the effectiveness of activities.

Advisory Board Meetings

Advisory Board service is expected to last two semesters, with appointments beginning in October 2022. Advisory Board members will have opportunities to renew their membership for a second year. We estimate that the Advisory Board will meet monthly for 1 to 1.5 hours during the Fall and Spring semesters with some asynchronous communication/work between meetings. The Advisory Board will meet via Zoom to ensure meetings are accessible to students regardless of program modality (i.e., on-campus, off-campus, remote, online). Advisory Board meetings will include an Associate Dean for the Graduate School and possibly other Graduate School staff members who will facilitate meetings and provide relevant information as requested by the Advisory Board. The committee may meet on its own without a Graduate School facilitator present.

2023 - 2024 DEI Advisory Board Members

Emmanuel Acheampong (Educational Leadership) he/his - Research/Practice Interests: Navigating the spectrum of education access, retention, and completion for economically disadvantaged students. as well as combating racism through the lens of equity and social justice.

Wren Burks (English: Composition and Rhetoric) they/them - Research/Practice Interests: feminist, trans, and queer rhetorics, as well as archival studies, and digital circulation practices.

Runcie C.W. Chidebe (Social Gerontology) he/him - Research/Practice Interests: Aging and Cancer Control, Global Health.

Noemí (Mimi) Lucero (Biology) she/her - Research/Practice Interests: To support my family’s indigenous agricultural work by focusing on seed restoration and seed-sharing patterns within indigenous communities, which in many ways encompass territorial biodiversity protection and, therefore, cultural and logistic preservation. Mimi organizes her research objectives in a way that is responsible for my community’s needs and our stories.

Amanda Meyer (Clinical Psychology) she/her - Research/Practice Interests: Implementation and evaluation in school and community settings. Amanda’s current research centers around social-emotional learning, school climate, and perceptions of school racial climate.

Viviana Moreno (Project Dragonfly) she/her - Research/Practice Interests: STEM, particularly in the biological sciences. Vivianna also hopes to include creative writing and her voice as Latina as part of her projects and research.

Allison Sears (Master of Social Work) she/her - Research/practice interests: Immigrants/refugees/asylees, the legal system, and policy reform at a macro level. At a micro level, Allison is interested in exploring therapeutic treatments and interventions that incorporate the mind-brain-body connection as a whole.

Dormetria Robinson Thompson (Educational Leadership) she/her- Research/Practice Interests: Critical race feminism, the intersections of race, gender, religion, and the arts, as well as education policy.

Samuel Van Vleet (Social Gerontology) he/his - Research/Practice Interests: Equity within later life. To study how historic housing discriminatory practices impact older adults from marginalized backgrounds. To examine research through a critical lens that incorporates cumulative inequalities that impact individuals throughout their lifespan.

2022 - 2023 DEI Advisory Board Members

Runcie C.W. Chidebe (Social Gerontology) he/him - Research/Practice Interests: Aging & Cancer Control, Global Health.

Sandamini Ranwalage (English) she/her - Research/Practice Interests: Postcolonial Studies, Theatre and Performance Studies, Diasporic and Transnational Studies, Asian American Studies, South Asia and South Asian Diaspora, Feminist and Gender Studies, and New Media and Popular Culture.

Savannah Wheller (Project Dragonfly) she/her - Research/Practice Interests: Social behaviors tied to global sustainability. Some of Savannah’s research topics include: environmental attitudes and behaviors, biophilia, biophobia, anthropogenic impact, and environmental justice.

Student Privacy

The Graduate School staff will take meeting notes and may share those with other Graduate School staff members. The Graduate School staff and administrators will synthesize recommendations, specific objectives, and proposed plans for broader distribution. These synthesized reports will be general in nature and will not include personal information that students may share in meetings or be linked to specific Advisory Board members without the express consent of the individual.

Application

All Miami graduate students, including online/remote students (e.g., Project Dragonfly), are invited to apply. As part of the online application form, applicants will be asked to include a CV and a brief personal statement explaining why they would like to serve on the Advisory Board.

We are aiming for a committee of about 10-15 students across academic areas.

Applications are due Sept. 23, 2022 and will be reviewed by the Graduate School staff. We will communicate decisions to all applicants by approximately Oct. 3, 2022. Any applicant who is not selected to serve on the 2022 - 2023 Advisory Board is invited to apply again in subsequent application cycles and participate in other Graduate School activities and events.

Please send any questions to gradschool@miamioh.edu.

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The Graduate School

The Graduate School is committed to advocating and supporting graduate programs dedicated to the pursuit of new knowledge and best teaching practices that promote diverse, globally aware graduate students and faculty.