Birmingham-Southern has received a diversity and inclusion grant from the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) that will fund innovative cultural-competency training for faculty and staff.

The Conversation-Rich Education for Anti-Racist Teaching/Learning Environments (CREATE) grant will sponsor virtual trainings on March 16 and April 17 as well as other workshops in the fall. With this grant, BSC has developed the curriculum collaboratively with other four other ACS schools – Furman University, Rhodes College, Rollins College, and the University of the South.

Dr. Kristie Williams, director of student diversity and inclusion.

“The main goals of the trainings are to increase our awareness of key issues and theories related to equity and inclusion, cultivating the ability to recognize and respond to microaggressions, implicit bias, and institutional racism in higher education,” says Dr. Kristie Williams, director of student diversity and inclusion at BSC. “The trainings will also help faculty and staff recognize our position in antiracist work and expand our ability to identify inclusion gaps in our campus communities.”

As an ACS Diversity Officer, Williams serves as BSC’s representative for the CREATE grant. The officers first learned about the grant opportunity in June 2020 and worked together from there on the trainings for faculty and staff across the five colleges.

“Recognizing the timing and importance of the grant – based on the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor – a few of us volunteered our efforts and determined that we would pursue the grant collaboratively,” Williams says. “As a result, seven members representing five campuses convened to put together a proposal of what we hoped to accomplish.”

The trainings at BSC will begin by examining the history of the College itself. Then, facilitators will lead groups through dialogues, workshops, and department-specific meetings focused on how to address inequity with actionable steps.

The team of facilitators is made up of nine BSC faculty and staff members who have completed training by two notable names in diversity and inclusion training: Dr. Noelle Chaddock, vice president for equity and inclusion at Bates College, and Dr. Kevin Gannon, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and professor at Grand View University. Chaddock has held multiple roles promoting diversity and inclusion in higher education, and Gannon has written widely on critical and inclusive pedagogy as well as race and justice.

As the CREATE grant is introduced, it will build upon other trainings, workshops, and discussions BSC has implemented to address and disrupt structural racism for the entire campus community.

“The grant will expand on BSC’s current training efforts and help to establish an ongoing diversity and inclusion training curriculum for faculty and staff,” says Dr. Jessica Hines, assistant professor of English and a member of BSC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. “Because it’s designed to be a curriculum in which the trainings build on each other, they speak to BSC’s long-term interests in cultivating an inclusive, equitable, and diverse community.”

Both Hines and Williams are looking forward to having a space for specifically faculty and staff to continue having conversations about diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice. In the Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion, Williams has been involved in multiple “Seat at the Table” panel discussions as well as student and alumni book clubs that allow members of the BSC community to talk about these topics and listen to one another.

“Still, I believe these discussions need to occur over time in an effort to build relationships and create safe spaces,” Williams says. “It is my hope that these trainings will do just that.”

Birmingham-Southern CREATE Facilitator Team
Dr. Stephanie Hansard, assistant professor of sociology
Dr. Katie McIntyre, assistant professor of sociology (lead trainer)
Dr. Desireé Melonas, assistant professor of political science (lead trainer)
Dr. Jessica Pincham King, director of rise3
Dr. Shane Pitts, Jack G. Paden Professor of Psychology
Dr. Mark Schantz, professor of history
Dr. Ream Shoreibah, assistant professor of marketing
Dr. Greta Valenti, associate professor of psychology
Dr. Kristie Williams, director of student diversity and inclusion

ACS CREATE Representatives
Dr. Diane Boyd, associate dean of faculty development and executive director of the Faculty Development Center at Furman University
Dr. Amy Jasperson, professor of political science and dean for faculty development at Rhodes College
Michael Jennings, chief diversity officer at Furman University
Dr. Justin Rose, dean for faculty recruitment, retention, and diversity at Rhodes College
Dr. Betsy A. Sandlin, associate dean of the College for Inclusion and Faculty Development at the University of the South
Dr. Claire Strom, Rapetti-Trunzo History Chair at Rollins College
Dr. Kristie Williams, director of student diversity and inclusion at Birmingham-Southern College