Saturday, January 27, 2024
10:30 AM MST UNM SUB Ballrooms
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
6:00 - 7:00 PM MST
Register Here
The purpose of the event is to bring together community members to learn about notable African-American/Black identified individuals and their contributions to health care and society. The workshop will be fashion in a trivia-based approach to ensure on-going engagement and fun! Prizes will be distributed!
Objectives:
Sponsored by Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and UNM Health Sciences Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Thursday, February 22, 2024
3:00 - 5:00 PM MST
Register Here
Featured Topics:
Friday, February 23, 2024
6:00 PM MST
UNM Domenici Center Auditorium
Register Here
Inaugural Speaker: Valarie Kaur
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM MST
This event will honor individuals/groups/teams/organizations who have exhibited clinical, research, educational, community engaged, and/or DEI related excellence in support of the Black and African American community.
Optum New Mexico
UNM School of Medicine
Dr. al Rashida is an internal medicine physician at Optum New Mexico (formerly DaVita Medical Group/ABQ Health Partners). She completed her medical degree at the University of Missouri- Kansas City 6-year BA/MD program and attended internal medicine residency at the University of New Mexico. She completed her Master of Public Health degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago with a concentration in Health Policy and Administration with a certificate in Health Disparities Research. She held and currently holds leadership roles in multiple organizations in New Mexico including the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association, New Mexico Medical Society, and the New Mexico Social Work Board of Examiners. She is involved in educating medical students as part of the community faculty at the University of New Mexico. She is engaged in the community by organizing multiple community events that contain services such as health and dental screenings, health education, and access to health resources. Her focus includes motivating patients to be their best selves and live their best lives, eliminating health disparities, and promoting health policies that promote accessibility and affordability to the health care system. Additionally, she loves the fine arts, hot-air ballooning, bowling, playing volleyball, horseback riding, and trying her hand at new things.
Community Engagement Liaison
UNM Hospital, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Department
Nicole Bedford is the Community Engagement Liaison with the University of New Mexico Hospital Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department. She has been working with the hospital for one year. Nicole is a native New Mexican, born in Albuquerque, NM, where she attended Eastern New Mexico University, where she received her degree in Sociology with an emphasis on Criminal Justice.
Before working with the University of New Mexico Hospital, she worked with the State of New Mexico for eight years as the Deputy Director of the Office of African American Affairs.
Nicole has served in many organizations. She serves on the Southern Christian Leadership Council board, Worthy Matron for Vision Chapter #17 Prince Hall Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Stars New Mexico Jurisdiction, National Alliance on Mental Illness NM (NAMI NM) as a Board Member, and Albuquerque Public Schools African American Advisory Council. Nicole has been on boards such as My Brother’s Keeper with the City of Albuquerque, Families United for Education, ABC Community Schools, and the Greater Albuquerque African American Chamber of Commerce.
Nicole loves to serve the New Mexico community. Nicole is responsible for the passing of the Black Education Act. She was the co-writer and the spearhead in passing the bill in April 2021. Throughout her career, Nicole has worked with many families and children. She has been an advocate for our youth and Black community.
Senior Medical Practice Specialist
UNM School of Medicine, Department of Pathology
Ruth Kief joined the University of New Mexico in 2015 as an Operations Manager in the Department of Pathology. She earned her Master of Science degree from the University of South Florida. In addition to her role as the Senior Medical Practice Specialist, Ruth serves as the Co-Director of the Department of Pathology’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee.
Ruth moved to Albuquerque in the late 1990s, after living abroad for six years. She comes to UNM after managing multiple DOD and DOJ contracts for her former employer where she also served as the inaugural Director of the Project Management Office. In that role she competed for, was awarded, and managed a contract to collaborate with the Sandia National Laboratories’ Medical Clinics to provide clinical, medical emergency services, and treatment of work-related injuries for the Sandia employees.
Since joining UNM, Ruth has enjoyed the opportunities presented that allow her to stretch beyond the role she has in Pathology participating in process improvement projects, serving on various committees, and informally mentoring others.
Ruth is fortunate to have her immediate family close and cherishes the time spent with each of them. This frequently involves travel, camping, hiking, and when possible, scuba diving.
Associate Professor
UNM School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Lindsay Smart, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist in the UNM Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is also the Training Director for the American Psychological Association (APA) Accredited Clinical Psychology Internship Training Program. Dr. Smart received her B.A. degree in Psychology at the University of Portland and her M.A and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver. During her time as a graduate student at the University of Denver, Dr. Smart was an American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program Fellow and participated in a Leadership Academy to Address Disparities in Mental Health Care. Dr. Smart completed her Pre-Doctoral Clinical Psychology internship here in New Mexico at the Children’s Psychiatric Center and her post-doctoral training was completed with the UNM Division of Community Behavioral Health. She is also a graduate of the UNM School of Medicine Medical Education Scholars Program.
Come and celebrate Black History Month by visiting the Early Albuquerque Black History display in the BBRP lobby presented by the African American Museum and Cultural Center of NM and UNMH Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Department. The exhibit will be displayed throughout the month of February.
The 38th Annual Black History Month Kick-Off Brunch.
A multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes’ kaleidoscopic Jazz poem ‘Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz’. The poem – set during the Harlem Renaissance - deals with the struggle for freedom and dignity for African American people. The show connects the historical dots between the Civil Rights Movement, the colonization of African countries and today’s often troubling political landscape. The Langston Hughes Project (LHP) has been performed in 40 states and Mexico City, on many college campuses (including our own), and in venues ranging from a 20-person capacity to Carnegie Hall. In support of scholarships for African American Student Services, the Ron McCurdy Trio has volunteered to perform two additional fundraising concerts. They will be joined by award-winning jazz vocalist Nicole Henry.
Moderator: Deion Ellis, MD, MMS (he, him)
Senior Special Assistant to the President and CEO for External Affairs, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science
Daughter of Dr. Charles R. Drew, Blood Plasma Pioneer And "Father Of The Blood Bank”
Learning Objectives:
Please join us for a special performance by Hollingsworth-Marley on Friday, Feb. 17 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Zoom! Brenda Hollingsworth-Marley also known as “The Story Songbird Woman” and “Lady B” to name a few. As a young girl, Brenda Marley loved performing for small community audiences as she told stories, danced, and sang. This song stylist has had influences from such greats as the late: Ms. Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Nancy Wilson, Etta James, Al Jarreau, Joe Williams, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Harry Belafonte, Miriam Makeba, and many other singers from Africa to America!
Brenda Marley has been performing in the State of New Mexico for 30 years through the “New Mexico Humanities Council” where she presented the lives of the late greats: Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, Marian Anderson, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott-King. Ms. Marley has also acted as a local actress in such productions as Walk Like a Queen, Once on This Island, 70 Girls 70, For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow was Enuf, The Colored Museum, Ragtime, and other stage productions.
On Feb. 17, Brenda will be performing stories that outline the Journey of African Americans in America. To include facts and details on the African and African American Experience. Negro Spirituals, Drumming, and Poetry.
On Monday, Feb. 20 at 12 p.m., stop by the BBRP Lobby and enjoy your lunch while listening to some great sounds of music from the Baty Family Group and Kingdom Remix State Youth Choir.
Lead:
Student National Medical Association (SNMA), Deion Ellis, MD, MMS
Moderator:
Deion Ellis MD, MMS
Co-Chair, Black History Month Planning Committee
The purpose of the event is to bring together community members to learn about notable African-American/Black identified individuals and their contributions to health care and society. The workshop will be fashion in a trivia-based approach to ensure on-going engagement and fun! Prizes will be distributed!
Objectives:
Hosted by HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Moderator:
John Paul Sánchez MD, MPH (He, Him, El)
Executive Associate Vice Chancellor
Health Sciences Center, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), UNM
Professor with Tenure & Vice Chair DEI, Emergency Medicine
University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNM SOM)
Speaker(s):
Anita Fernander, PhD
Executive Diversity Officer/Professor
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
Learning Objectives:
Workshop Description:
Critical Race Theory (CRT) has recently become a target of national attention due to recent Presidential Executive Orders and state and local governmental bodies banning its use in public school settings. However, such attention has only led to critical race theory being misconstrued by the media and misunderstood by the common lay person. Critical Race Theory is a specific pedagogical and theoretical approach to understand how racialized historical contexts influence contemporary society. Clarifying and positioning CRT in a manner within which to understand health inequities experienced by racialized groups in the United States is paramount in order to address the social mission of health professions education, faculty development, and clinical practice. A critical examination of the historical and contemporary issues of race and racism in America provides the necessary context within which to understand the long-standing and persistent existence of health disparities experienced among racial/ethnic populations in the United States. The session will rely on the presenter’s two decades of teaching in academic medicine on the history of medicine among African Americans and provide a primer within which to understand the historical and contemporary political and social influences of race and racism on health. Health professions training institutions have a professional and ethical responsibility to educate its trainees and health professionals on the history of medicine – including its ugly side – and to critically examine how historical and contemporary political and social factors have created racial/ethnic health disparities. Until such reckoning occurs the field of medicine’s ability to achieve health equity for all will continue to be futile.
Biography
The Pan-African flag is a symbol of Black liberation and every year African American Student Services kicks off Black History Month at UNM with raising the flag at Scholes Hall. This year, the tradition will continue and we invite you to join virtually. Additionally, here at UNM Hospital we will display our banner on the Lomas bridge to show our support.
Hosted by African American Student Services.
Panelists:
Dr. Margie Montanez, Dr. Teresa Y. Neely, Dr Eric Castillo, Nkhat Ghouse & Brandi Wells-Stone
Moderator:
Dr. Assata Zerai
Hosted by UNM Division for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Speaker:
Kameron Leigh Matthews, MD, JD, FAAFP
Founder and Co-Director, Tour for Diversity in Medicine
Moderator:
Deion Ellis,
MS IV, University of New Mexico School of Medicine,
SNMA Chapter President, UNMSOM,
Co-Chair, Black History Month Planning Committee
Dr. Kameron Leigh Matthews is the Chief Health Officer of Cityblock Health, a transformative, value-based healthcare provider integrating medical, behavioral, and social services for Medicaid and dually eligible and low-income Medicare beneficiaries. A board-certified Family Physician, Dr. Matthews has focused her career on underserved and vulnerable communities, having held multiple leadership roles in correctional medicine, federally qualified health centers, and managed care. Most recently at the Veterans Health Administration, she led transformational efforts focused on integrated, Veteran-centered models of care including the implementation of the MISSION Act of 2018 and the EHR modernization effort. In addition to other non-profit and advisory board positions, she serves as the Vice-Chair of the board of directors of the National Quality Forum. As a passion outside of work, she founded and co-directs the Tour for Diversity in Medicine, an initiative seeking to bring premedical enrichment activities to underrepresented minority high school and undergraduate students across the country.
Hosted by HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Speaker:
Kirsten Pai Buick, Ph.D.
Professor of Art History, UNM
About Kirsten Pai Buick, Ph.D.
Kirsten Pai Buick is a professor of art history at the University of New Mexico since 2001. Her teaching and scholarship focus on the material and visual culture of the first British Empire, art of the U.S., African American art, landscape representation, histories of medicine and science as they impact visual culture, and pro- and anti-abolitionist images in the Atlantic world. She received the David C. Driskell Prize for Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History's Black and Indian Subject (Duke Univ. Press, 2010). Her second book, In Authenticity: "Kara Walker" and the Eidetics of Racism, is in progress.
Science and medicine aren't merely practices. Like art, they also represent the body and create standards and criteria that police the boundaries between the healthy and the sick; the sacred and profane; the beautiful and the ugly; the normal and abnormal, etc. This talk will explore what art historian Kirk Savage so eloquently noted: that there is a scientific dimension to aesthetics, and an aesthetic dimension to science [and medicine].
Hosted by UNM Hospitals.
Moderator:
Destinie Marquez,
MSIV, SNMA Outreach Coordinator, UNMSOM,
Co-Chair, Black History Month Planning Committee
The purpose of the event is to bring together community members to learn about notable African-American/Black identified individuals and their contributions to health care and society. The workshop will be fashion in a trivia-based approach to ensure on-going engagement and fun! Prizes will be distributed!
Objectives:
Hosted by HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Speaker:
Lindsay Smart, Ph.D.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Leadership and Faculty Equity & Inclusion
UNM HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
About Lindsay Smart , Ph.D.
Lindsay Smart , Ph.D. is an Associate Vice Chancellor for Leadership and Facult y Equit y & Inclusion in the UNM HSC Office for Diversity Equity, and Inclusion, and also an Associate Professor and Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the UNM School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is also the Training Director for the American Psychological Association (APA) Accredited Clinical Psychology Internship Training Program at UNM. Dr. Smart received her B.A. degree in Psychology at the University of Portland and her M.A and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver. Dr. Smart completed her Clinical Psychology Internship in New Mexico at the Children's Psychiatric Center and her post-doctoral training was completed with the UNM Division of Community Behavioral Health. Currently, she is involved in initiatives that contribute to the promotion of diversity among faculty, students, and staff within the UNM Health Sciences Center.
Experiencing microaggressions can lead to serious feelings of doubt when it comes to self-worth, productivity, and security. What are microaggressions and how do they impact the person who experiences them? Dr. Lindsay Smart will define what a microaggression is and will leave us with some tools on how to create an inclusive environment. The session will also provide time to share additional experiences and a Q&A. UNMH Employee Well-Being will also be present to remind us about all the resources available through their department.
Hosted by UNM Hospitals.
Moderator:
Destinie Marquez,
MSIV, SNMA Outreach Coordinator, UNMSOM,
Co-Chair, Black History Month Planning Committee
The purpose of the event is to bring together community members to learn about notable African-American/Black identified individuals and their contributions to health care and society. The workshop will be fashion in a trivia-based approach to ensure on-going engagement and fun! Prizes will be distributed!
Objectives:
Hosted by HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Speaker:
Charles E. Becknell, Sr., PhD
Dr. Becknell, Sr., Ph.D. will speak about his experience growing up Black in the Southwestern area of the United States, namely New Mexico, in an atmosphere of racism and segregation. He will share his experiences and research in education, racial tensions in the Black communities, the criminal justice system and Southwest politics.
Bio:
Charles E. Becknell, Sr., Ph.D. is an author, speaker, experienced manager, poet, and an ordained minister. He earned a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Education, and a Doctorate Degree in American Studies. He has taught in public schools at the college and university levels.
Dr. Becknell Sr. grew up in Hobbs, a part of rural southeastern New Mexico. He obtained a basketball scholarship to the University of Albuquerque. After receiving his B.S. in Education and his M.A. in Secondary Education, Dr. Becknell received an internship at Duke University in Durham, NC, and subsequently began his doctoral studies at Columbia University in New York City. He completed his studies at the University of New Mexico in 1975.
Dr. Becknell founded and directed the Afro-American Studies Program at the University of New Mexico. In 1975, he accepted a position as Cabinet Secretary of Criminal Justice for the State of New Mexico. He was also Director of Personnel Services for the City of Albuquerque.
Dr. Becknell formed his own company, Becknell & Associates, Inc., a training and human development company. He has given numerous workshops, seminars and speeches throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and West Africa.
He is currently the State President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of New Mexico and he serves on the National Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization founded by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He is a member of numerous civic, religious, and community oriented organizations. He is the author of five books: Black Culture in America; Blacks in the Workforce; Expressions: A Collection of Poems by Dr. Charles E. Becknell; No Challenge, No Change; and his latest book, Voices from the African American Village.
Hosted by UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center
Hosted by UNM Africana Studies
The Pan-African flag is a symbol of Black liberation and every year AASS kicks off our Black History Month at UNM with raising the flag at Scholes Hall. This year, we will continue the tradition virtually and include coverage from UNM HSC and their Black history month banner hanging.
Flag Raising video will be featured on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
Hosted by UNM African American Student Services
“Black musicians have resisted limited ideals of beauty and offered us a rich narrative of hair that belongs to Black people all their own.”
- Natelege Whaley
Join us as we unpack the best Black hair in music history featuring journalist Natelege Whaley. Whaley’s work has been featured in NBC News, The Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, Black Entertainment Television (BET) and so many more.
Presented by
Natelege Whaley
Hosted by UNM African American Student Services
Program will be featured on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
The CROWN Act stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. During this townhall, participants will learn about the history of Black hair, the magic of joyful collaboration, and an opportunity to share hair stories across the state.
Hosted by UNM African American Student Services
This Friday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. will kick off the Black History Month festivities. The featured programming for Feb. 5 will be the following:
Hosted by UNM Health
Truman Health Services will be providing safer sex kits and HIV/AIDS testing for our UNM community. Please contact African American Student Services for additional info: afro@unm.edu
Hosted by UNM African American Student Services
New Mexico is rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine to the public and there has been no coordinated effort to educate or engage the Black community around getting vaccinated. There is a history of distrust in the Black community around mass vaccinations and healthcare as a whole. In a recent Healthline article, Titled Why Some Black and Latinx People Are Reluctant to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine it was highlighted that “experts say we need to work directly with community leaders and amplify the voices of people of color to ease fears, build trust, and disseminate proper information about the vaccines.” We are doing just that. Join us on FB or YouTube as we have a REAL conversation about mass vaccinations and the Black community. Thank you to our sponsor NMDOH Equity Office for believing in our vision.
Hosted by Welstand Foundation
Hosted by UNM Health
Psychological resilience is the ability to mentally or emotionally cope and adapt in the face of adversity. While resilience can be developed, we should consider how some may have no choice but to be resilient. For Black communities, generations of trauma, systemic racism, and cultural obstacles have placed this population at risk for psychological distress, yet many African Americans have persevered through these challenges. During this interactive presentation, we will celebrate the strength and resilience of this community and provide strategies to enhance wellness in the future.
Presented by
Dr. Ryan C. Warner
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Founder & CEO of RC Warner Consulting, LLC
Hosted by the HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Did you know Dr. White, a tenured faculty member in the UNM Music Department is the FIRST African American to receive a doctorate in music for Tuba Performance? Join us as we stream R.A.W. Tuba, a documentary on Dr. Richard Antoine White (R.A.W.) and his story of being a Baltimore child who experienced intermittent homelessness but went on to become a world-class symphony musician and professor. Dr. White will join us for the program and speak with participants about his story and perseverance.
Presented by
Dr. White
Associate Professor of Tuba & Euphonium,
Associate Director of Marching Band,
UNM Music
Hosted by UNM African American Student Services
Hakim Bellamy
Deputy Director, Cultural Services Department - City of Albuquerque
Inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Albuquerque (2012-2014)
Creatives and medical professionals alike often call what they do “practice.” Sometimes that is a brick and mortar officespace...other times it is the everpresent but sometimes silent nature of the word “arts” that flanks the banner of our shared professions. Literary Arts. Medical Arts. Implied is the notion that what we do or create is unique to the circumstances of the moment. Unique to the patient. Unique to the diagnosis. Unique to the available medical science and pharmacology. However, when the social determinants of health create unfavorable odds for a patient like myself, born Black in America, poetry becomes practice for the things that ail us. I will spend time in this session sharing my reflections on poetry as interpretation (30 Americans Virtual Tour @ Albuquerque Museum) and instrument. We’ll also Q&A and I’ll share a new poem or two.
About Hakim Bellamy
Before being tapped by Mayor Keller to serve as the Deputy Director of the Cultural Services Department, Hakim Bellamy was the Inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Albuquerque (2012-2014). Bellamy is a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network Fellow, a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow, an Academy for the Love of Learning Leonard Bernstein Fellow, Western States Arts Alliance Launchpad Fellow, Santa Fe Arts Institute Food Justice Fellow, New Mexico Strategic Leadership Institute alum and soon to be Citizen University Civic Seminary Fellow (August 2020). In 2012 he published his first collection of poetry, SWEAR (West End Press/University of New Mexico Press), and it landed him the Working Class Studies Tillie Olsen Award forLiterature in 2012. With an M.A. in Communications from the University of New Mexico (UNM), Bellamy has held adjunctfaculty positions at UNM and the Institute of American Indian Arts. Bellamy has shared his work, in person, in atleast five countries and continues to use his art to change his communities. His latest book is We Are Neighbors (2019),a collaboration with photographer Justin Thor Simenson. www.beyondpoetryink.com
A special thanks to the Albuquerque Museum for providing the 30 Americans virtual tour.
Hosted by UNM Health
Dr. Bonnette-Bailey, faculty member at Georgia State University’s Africana Studies department will walk us through Hip Hop's legacy of political consciousness and its connection with the Black Lives Matter Movement. Send in your favorite woke hip hop song to our IG story to hear Dr. Bonnette discuss the lyrics.
Presented by
Dr. Bonnette-Bailey
Associate Professor, Pre-PhD Faculty Associate
Georgia State University
Hosted by UNM African American Student Services
Cheryl Wisseh, PharmD, MPH
Zone 5 Director, National Pharmaceutical Association
Dr. Cheryl Wisseh is a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California at Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences and an Assistant Professor within the Family Medicine Department of the College of Medicine at Charles R. Drew University (CDU) of Medicine and Science. She is also a Clinical Research Education and Career Development Phase II Scholar at CDU and a primary care clinical pharmacist at a federally qualified health care center in South Central Los Angeles. In her role as a clinical pharmacist, she focuses on comprehensive medication management across chronic diseases commonly seen in primary care/family medicine. Dr. Wisseh is deeply passionate about health equity for minority underserved communities, the social determinants of health and their impact on underserved and minority communities, and community engagement. Her research interests include the previously mentioned areas and the pharmacist’s role in reducing racial/ethnic health disparities. Dr. Wisseh also currently serves on the National Pharmaceutical Association Board of Directors as the Zone 5 Director.
Presentation objectives
Hosted by the HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Moderator: Lindsay Smart, Ph.D. Associate Vice Chancellor for Leadership and Faculty Equity & Inclusion UNM HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Panelists:
Dr. Felina Ortiz, DNP, RN, CNM
Dr. Lisa J. Day, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN
Dr. Elizabeth Dickson, PhD, RN
Dr. Lisa M. Taylor, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, C-DCES, BC-ADM
Dr. Heidi Rogers, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, APHN-BC
Nurses (and providers) need to be prepared to provide culturally humble care to an ever-increasing diverse patient population and the communities where they reside. College of Nursing faculty identified a need to update the content to deliver a comprehensive review of Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) concepts, how systemic racism impacts health outcomes, and how nurses can address and dismantle systems of discrimination/oppression that affect the health of our New Mexico communities. Today, we have an opportunity to share what this work has looked like to date and where we are going moving forward.
Hosted by the HSC Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Assata Zerai, PhD
Vice President for Equity & Inclusion
Professor of Sociology at The University of New Mexico
Dr. Assata Zerai will lead a fascinating discussion that addresses some of the equity and inclusion topics in our community. Please send questions you would like for Dr. Zerai to address to: MTBustamante@salud.unm.edu by 5:00 pm Wednesday, February 24th.
About Dr. Assata Zerai Dr. Assata Zerai serves as the Vice President for Equity & Inclusion (VPEI) and Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico. One year into her appointment at VPEI, Zerai brings a wealth of experience and a strong record of leading, planning for, resourcing, and documenting the impact of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. At the helm of the Division of Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Zerai has expanded diversity programming and strategy at UNM.
Zerai’s research interests include African women’s accessto mobile technology, making the work of marginalized scholars more accessible, and environmental justice/health activism. She has published five books spanning these topics, the latest of which is African Women, ICT and Neoliberal Politics: The Challenge of Gendered Digital Divides to People-Centered Governance (Routledge 2019).
Dr. Zerai hails from the University of Illinois (2002-2019), where she served as full professor of sociology, in addition to a number of administrative roles. Zerai’s work as an Associate Chancellor and Associate Provost at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign included multiple initiatives to diversify and enhance inclusivity of faculty, students, and staff from underrepresented groups there. For example, Zerai served as co-PI on a $1,000,000 award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to increase proportions of graduate students of color underrepresented in STEM. Zerai received the Zenobia Lawrence Hikes Faculty Women of Color in the Academy, National Award for Outstanding Administrative/Professional Faculty of the Year (March 2018).
Hosted by UNM Health
