Presenters accepting on behalf of the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee:
Rogério Meireles Pinto, MPhil, MSW, PhD, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, and Addie Weaver, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and co-director on the Treatment Innovation and Dissemination Research Group – accepting on behalf of the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee, CEW+ 2020 Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity & Social Change Award Winner 

The objective of this workshop is to help participants – faculty, students, administration, staff, and community members – to develop a personal connection with the plight of racial-ethnic and sexual minorities in institutions of higher education. This will be achieved by participants identifying structural prejudice and bigotry and individual-level macroaggressions that may hamper the career of underrepresented faculty, students, administration, and staff. Participants will become aware of instances that they can help dismantle structural prejudice and bigotry and/or address macroaggressions.

* Please note, this program will not be recorded.

Format

This hands-on workshop contains three modules:

A. Introduction of facilitators and of the workshop content. Personal experiences and examples of the dynamics listed above. We will use Theater of the Oppressed (Port: Teatro dos Oprimidos) techniques to highlight issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity.

B. Small group work (about 3-5 participants) where participants will discuss a cluster of questions about diversity and how the concept of diversity is often used to obfuscate more important issues of equity and inclusion.

C. Following small group discussions, participants will reconvene to discuss strategies for welcoming underrepresented minorities into their social networks. This portion of the workshop will help participants to understand how social capital – emotional, concrete, and informational support – may help underrepresented minorities succeed in academia and elsewhere.

Rogério Pinto accepting on behalf of the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee: Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Rogério M. Pinto is a professor and associate dean for research at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. He is the co-chair of the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee. In his work, Pinto focuses on finding academic, sociopolitical, and cultural venues for broadcasting voices of oppressed individuals and groups. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, his community-engaged research focuses on the impact of interprofessional collaboration on the delivery of evidence-based services to marginalized racial/ethnic and sexual minority individuals. Funded by the University of Michigan Office of Research, as a new scholarly pursuit, he is building an art installation, The Realm of the Dead, to investigate his own personal marginalization as a gender non-conforming, mixed-race, and Latinx immigrant. This installation will serve as the stage set for Pinto’s award-winning theatrical performance, Marília, a one-person play, in which Pinto further explores the tragic death of his 3-year old sister, Marília, and how such loss haunts and inspires the lives of the family members she left behind. Marília won the 2015 United Solo Festival Best Documentary Script and it will be performed again at the University of Michigan as part of the centennial celebration of the School of Social Work.

Addie Weaver accepting on behalf of the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee: Addie Weaver is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work and co-director on the Treatment Innovation and Dissemination Research Group (TIDR) housed within the School of Social Work. Dr. Weaver is the co-chair of the Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee with Dr. Rogério M. Pinto. Weaver grew up in a small, low-income community in rural Pennsylvania and her lived experiences shaped her commitment to conducting community-engaged research to increase access to mental health treatment in underserved rural areas. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, her work focuses on partnering with rural communities to identify and address unmet mental health needs. Weaver and her community partners aim to build capacity within under-resourced rural areas and their current projects are developing and testing tailored evidence-based depression treatments for virtual delivery with support from local providers, such as clergy and program staff serving rural Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinics.