Pursuing Racial Equity and Anti-Racism in Higher Ed Information Organizations (a Leadership Ecosystem Webinar)

Where: Webinar/Virtual

When: Thursday, February 18, 2021
12:00pm - 1:30pm

Note: Zoom login instructions will be sent the day prior. If you have not received login instructions by 4:00pm the day before the webinar, please check your spam folder, if you still have not received the login details please email nercomp@nercomp.org.

Workshop Organizers: 
Michael Cato, Board Member, Senior Vice President, and Chief Information Officer, Bowdoin College
Tina Pappas,  Board Member, Associate Director of Innovation and Technology, Rutgers University

Registration Fee:
NERCOMP Member: Free
Non-Member: Free

Event Overview
In honor of Black History Month, the February 2021 Leadership Ecosystem session will consider the importance and the broader benefits of pursuing racial equity and anti-racism in information organizations in Higher-Ed. The session will also explore lessons from the Anti-Racism in Academia (ARiA) program, a grassroots effort launched in August 2020, lead predominantly by younger Higher-Ed information professionals.

The visceral responses to the murder of George Floyd in the spring of 2020 created heightened attention to anti-black racism, and many institutions initiated efforts to address these issues, often for the first time. Yet, for too many, the underlying ‘why’ of this work appears to remain elusive. 

Created by a small group of community leaders spanning multiple academic institutions, the ARiA program’s purpose is to promote anti-racism in higher education. The program developed into a 5-part discussion series that ran from August 2020 to January 2021 outlining an action-oriented approach to dismantling racism through conscious decisions and intentional actions. The sessions covered topics from Reach Out, Listen, Learn, Act, and Persist. With facilitators and participants from a wide array of institutions, roles, experiences, and perspectives, the program has developed into a powerful example of how a community can act to address difficult issues.

Learning Objectives:
  -Consider the reasons information professionals and organizations are pursuing the work of anti-racism and DEI more broadly.
 - Identify approaches to act in building more inclusive and anti-racist teams and organizations
 - Outline an action plan to engage with these efforts.

This session will not be recorded.

This session is for individuals employed by higher education institutions only. No vendors, please.