Published: July 15, 2020 • By Emily Adams

As the nation grappled with the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans this spring, many in the College of Engineering and Applied Science community began advocating for resources to better understand and confront systemic racism.    

NCORE logoDirector of Inclusive Culture Amy Moreno immediately thought of the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE), a program of the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

“For me, I was thinking of spaces of learning, validation and support as we are navigating a social movement,” she said. “NCORE provides such an open, accessible and inclusive environment that really recognizes the vastness of diversity while building knowledge, skills, connections and actions.”

With the support of interim Dean Keith Molenaar, the college was able to fund 14 graduate students, faculty and staff to attend the virtual conference in late June.

While Moreno intends to hold action planning sessions with attendees, we asked them to share some reflections on their experience. Here are some of their thoughtful responses.

Visit the College Actions page to learn more about how we're standing in solidarity and pursuing justice together.

Evariste Some, graduate student in Technology, Cybersecurity and Policy

First and foremost, I want to express my gratitude and thankfulness to CU College of Engineering for awarding the fellowship which has allowed me to join the NCORE 2020. CU Engineering must emphasize the importance of diverse voices and experiences to strengthen our teaching, learning and research to broader communities. We must commit to justice and equity to create an environment that welcomes and supports each of us. NCORE learning implementation at CU Engineering will depend on how genuine the college wants to tackle the inclusion and diversity issues. As a black student desiring peace, love, diversity and inclusion, and having been victim of racial treatment many times, I am willing to accompany CU Engineering in its efforts to minimize the level of racial incidents.

Wendy Young, faculty in Chemical and Biological Engineering

I took a lot out of all the sessions I attended and will implement more awareness material in my seminars. For instance, to my first-year Introduction to Chemical Engineering course I will add a class on the history of women and people of color in my field; ideally this would be intertwined with ethics. I would also like to add some of the overall history of slavery/oppression within the country and will have the students watch and discuss Jacqueline Battalora’s TED Talk. … I will stress that students need to educate themselves and will provide resources for this; I will also stress the importance of voting. It would be wonderful to have someone come in to lead exercises on self-awareness and evaluate the words/languages used in our industry.

Andres Schemel, staff in Rady Mechanical Engineering

Since joining CU, I have not seen or been invited to many conversations related to social justice work. It wasn’t until last month when I finally felt we were actually bringing awareness to issues of inequality in our campus and college. With this being said, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to attend NCORE because I could take the knowledge gained from the presentations and bring it to our CEAS community. There is so much work we need to do as a college, because currently, we are not doing enough. Given CEAS is at the early stages of focus on social justice work, I plan on implementing what I learned in my role at CU Engineering by sharing what I learned with various DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) groups, both inside and outside of CEAS. I will share my knowledge primarily during meetings, with the intention of working towards dismantling institutional racism.  

Kelsey Reeves, graduate student in Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering

“Black Healing, Sanctuary, and Identity in Ruptured Space” was the most impactful session I attended. This session included discussions on Black culture, how to support Black students, and the need to build connections between Africans and Black people in the U.S. My key takeaway was how to better support Black students and friends as an ally.   

I am co-hosting a discussion series for global engineering graduate students where we meet once per month to discuss antiracism, activism, privilege and decolonization in the field of global development. I plan to convey what I learned at NCORE to my peers via this discussion series. I intend to also improve our meetings by adopting methods used at NCORE to facilitate constructive discussions on antiracism and related topics.

Alexandra Schultz, staff in the College of Engineering and Applied Science

There is much that can be taken from this conference to my current role. The first is to critically ascertain what I can do versus what I am not allowing myself to do because of personal discouragement or a perception of non-support. Basically, is there really nothing I can do? Or is it a matter of just doing it, with or without the clamoring support of others? There are times when I have let defeat set in before I have really started, times when I’ve given up or felt like the institution, the tradition were too big and my role too small. I realize that there is much I can do, and that starts with encouraging us to practice difficult conversations around systemic racism and how they affect our university and our students. The effort means nothing if we bring it up once a year or when a flare-up occurs. It has to be sustained and thoughtful to matter, to be applied to our policies and actions in a meaningful way.

Desi Beardmore, graduate student in Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering

How I plan to implement what I learned in my role as a graduate student at CU Engineering:

  • I am and will continue to participate both in informal and formal discussions on campus. I have reached out to the leaders of a regular anti-racism discussion group within one of my departments.  We brainstormed discussion topics, agenda items, resources, and measures to help establish a safer space for BIPOC. 
  • I submitted an abstract for a chapter in an upcoming book on intersecting identities in STEM. If accepted, I will write a chapter sharing my experience as an indigenous LGBTQIA+ individual with disabilities in STEM and discuss best practices around building an inclusive classroom environment. I intend to further disseminate inclusive classroom practices, including ideas sparked by NCORE, at upcoming diversity and inclusion summits. 

Matthew Bossart, graduate student in Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

The session that I found most impactful was titled "Speaking Up and Calling In: Skills to Interrupt and Challenge White Supremacy and Racism with Love and Compassion." One of the challenges with this conference was having conversations with individuals given the virtual format and large number of attendees. At this session, the moderators stayed on the call for an hour after the end and we had a great conversation with a group of about 15. Finding common ground with others about how it is OK to feel uncomfortable with challenging White Supremacy was comforting and inspiring.

Debbie Yeh, staff in Rady Mechanical Engineering

In the CEAS advising community, which includes undergraduate and graduate advisors, coaches, and other affiliates, we are working hard to get a working group going to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as it relates to our student population and advising practices. I was only able to attend the first day of NCORE, but I gained valuable insight on expanding perspective, maintaining momentum and implementing actions other institutions have taken on the topic. At this pivotal point in history, it is vital for our college community to take a firm stand against racism and to educate ourselves in order to empower our colleagues and students to do the same.

Alexandra Schultz, staff in the College of Engineering and Applied Science

There is much that can be taken from this conference to my current role. The first is to critically ascertain what I can do versus what I am not allowing myself to do because of personal discouragement or a perception of non-support. Basically, is there really nothing I can do? Or is it a matter of just doing it, with or without the clamoring support of others? There are times when I have let defeat set in before I have really started, times when I’ve given up or felt like the institution, the tradition were too big and my role too small. I realize that there is much I can do, and that starts with encouraging us to practice difficult conversations around systemic racism and how they affect our university and our students. The effort means nothing if we bring it up once a year or when a flare-up occurs. It has to be sustained and thoughtful to matter, to be applied to our policies and actions in a meaningful way.

Ian Peck, faculty in Smead Aerospace

To me the most eye-opening session was the “Whiteness Competency” lecture by Jacqueline Battalora in which she went over the foundation and propagation of the idea of “whiteness” in American culture and how it has historically been an amorphous term used to exclude people of color from the advantages of being “white” Americans. During the lecture, Dr. Battalora went over how, after World War II, the government subsidized housing on a massive scale, but specifically for “white” Americans. I have always wondered how and why so many lower to middle class “white” families own homes and land even when it seems they live in poverty, and it was shocking to learn that the government had essentially sold homes to “white” people for lower prices through subsidized housing plans that specifically excluded people of color and especially Black people from home ownership. I believe we are now seeing the full ramifications of these policies where a lot of wealth and property ownership is concentrated in older and “whiter” populations. … It always shocks me, even though I am a learned person, to see how deep the roots of anti-Black racism go and to see how foundational it is to our society. It makes clear the challenges we have moving forward as a nation to bring equality and prosperity to groups who have been marginalized for the entirety of our history.

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