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President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

Trent leads new White House Initiative on HBCUs

Colleen Rich — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 18:39:33 +0000

Trent leads new White House Initiative on HBCUs Colleen Rich Wed, 03/09/2022 - 13:39

Dietra Trent. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

Dietra Trent, special advisor to George Mason University President Gregory Washington, has been named executive director of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). She started Feb. 28.

Trent, who also served as chief of staff for Interim President Anne Holton during the 2019-20 academic year and was a key driver of Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Task Force, was previously Virginia Secretary of Education.

“I’m truly honored to have been selected to work in this capacity in the Biden-Harris Administration and for Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona,” said Trent, a graduate of Hampton University, a Virginia HBCU. “I look forward to promoting HBCUs across the country and sharing the history and excellence that come from these colleges and universities. It’s a great opportunity.”

Trent also served as Mason’s interim vice president for Compliance, Diversity and Ethics, and was pivotal in establishing ARIE, one of Washington’s signature initiatives. ARIE, with a university-wide task force of more than 100 members, harnessed and expanded Mason’s existing equity and inclusion efforts to root out systemic discrimination and racism at the largest and most diverse public university in Virginia and establish Mason as a national exemplar in anti-racism and inclusion.

“Dietra was given a number of challenging initiatives to successfully launch and manage, and she did a tremendous job,” Washington said. “In a relatively short time as a Patriot, she made a profound positive impact at Mason with work that is now embedded in the fabric of our university.”

Trent’s new role likely will intersect with Mason on occasion. Under Washington, Mason launched the Hire-Excellence and Diversity Institute (Hire-ED), a partnership with Virginia HBCUs Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, and Virginia Union University. Hire-ED connects graduates to career opportunities in high-demand industries.

Trent served as Virginia secretary of education under Gov. Terry McAuliffe, deputy secretary of education under Gov. Tim Kaine, and director of constituent services under Gov. Mark Warner. Her charge now is to work with the Executive Office of the President and Secretary Cardona to eliminate barriers faced by HBCUs. She will lead priorities focusing on government policies, projects, and programs that serve HBCUs.

“The one thing HBCUs do better than any other university in the world is teach leadership,” Trent said. “Not only do they have incredible leadership programs, but they embed leadership, excellence, and service in every course. I often say that I earned my master’s and PhD from VCU. But I got my education from Hampton University.”

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President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

Mason Lighting the Way: Christopher A. Carr

Colleen Rich — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 19:47:11 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Christopher A. Carr Colleen Rich Mon, 08/02/2021 - 15:47

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

More than 130 faculty, staff and students are working on George Mason University’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force, which is taking a hard look at the current state of diversity and inclusivity efforts at the university and making recommendations for the future.

These individuals come from across our campuses and bring their different skill sets and expertise to this work. In this series, we will spotlight members of the task force and find out what drives them.

Christopher A. Carr
Chief Diversity Officer, College of Engineering and Computing
Committee: Co-chair, Training and Development Committee

Christopher A. Carr

In January, Christopher A. Carr was recognized with the 2020 Rising Star in Diversity Award from the Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (CoNECD). This award recognizes an individual in their profession for less than 10 years who has actively worked to enhance diversity and inclusion by mentoring, supporting and/or advocating for the success of historically underserved individuals.

This tells you a lot about Carr and the work he has been doing. Since he joined George Mason University in 2019 as one of the first school-based diversity officers, he has developed a strategic plan for the college and championed a number of new policies for recruiting, retaining, and advancing diverse faculty. It was no surprise when the leaders of Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force asked him to co-chair the Training and Development Committee.

Carr said his interest in diversity and inclusion in higher education comes from his experiences growing up in Missouri. Although his father is an engineer, and his mother works in radiology, he said it never crossed his mind to go into engineering himself. But he found he was passionate about access.

“I was exceptionally privileged,” Carr said of his childhood. “I had access to resources and opportunities that others didn’t, but often I was the only one who looked like me in those rooms.”

Ultimately Carr found those situations isolating, which propelled him to make a difference.

“There is no point in having a spot at the table if we don’t get to talk,” he said. “I wanted to advocate for people who look like me.”

And that’s what he’s done. Before joining Mason, Carr was a senior staff member at the National Society of Black Engineers, where he played a key role in obtaining access to scholarships and creating outreach programming for thousands of Black college and K-12 students.

Even before the task force was established, Carr was working on trainings to help people recognize and deal with unconscious bias and microaggression. A campus-wide version of this training was also one of the recommendations coming out the Training and Development Committee.

Carr said working on the task force “has been an adventure.”

“Where we are [as a university] is not where we want to be,” said Carr, emphasizing that it is going to take some work and cooperation to make change happen. And he is OK with that.

“I’m in it for the long game,” he said. “This work will plant the seeds for a garden that someone else will walk in.”

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President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

Mason Lighting the Way: Na’ama Gold

Colleen Rich — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 12:36:56 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Na’ama Gold Colleen Rich Thu, 04/15/2021 - 08:36

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

Na’ama Gold
Executive Director, Mason Hillel

Na'ama Gold

Na’ama Gold is from Arad, Israel, and has been working in the United States for the past six years. She has led George Mason University’s Hillel for four of those years.

Hillel is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world with representation at more than 550 universities and colleges around the globe. While the name and branding are internationally connected, Gold said each campus Hillel is its own standalone nonprofit.

The mission of Mason Hillel is to serve the educational, religious, cultural, social and emotional needs of Jewish students attending Mason and to support the Jewish campus community, which Gold has been doing from a small office in the Johnson Center. The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t made her job easy.

“What we tried to do this academic year was copy what we did in person to a virtual mode,” said Gold. “It took us about two to three months to understand it doesn't translate well, and we’ve had to adjust everything we do.”

What she has found is that the students who have been involved with Mason Hillel continue to attend activities, but it has been difficult to connect with new students.

“I think that’s the most painful part [of this pandemic],” said Gold. “If you're new, you're not going to hop into a Zoom. It's not the space.”

Gold sees providing resources as one of the most important parts of her job.

“The majority of my community comes from an interfaith household and often their first step into Judaism would be with us,” said Gold. “They know they're Jewish, but never had the experience or time or support…. And then you go to college, Mason, and you try to find your identity, right?”

For many students, this transition involves exploring their religious and spiritual identities.

Gold was very excited to be part of the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force because, well, it’s complicated.

"I come from a Jewish state where religion plays a significant part in shaping the culture, politics, and administration. From my experience in the United States though, it seems like you're American outside, and religion is something you do at home," she said. "But for many, especially in Judaism, faith is a lot more than where and what you pray. It's a combination of ethnicity, culture, food, history, values, and for some, even nationality."

She added that, according to FBI reports, Jews are the most targeted religious minority group in the United States. And the politics surrounding Israel makes it even more challenging. As an example, Gold talks about someone defacing a Star of David.

“Is that anti-Semitism or an anti-Israeli political activity?”

Gold also feels it is important to also keep anti-Semitism in mind when examining the naming of campus buildings and programs, a process that is already underway based on one of the recommendations coming from the task force.

Gold also cites microaggressions as one of the biggest problems facing Jewish people, including many offensive jokes and comments based on stereotypes.

Mason Hillel, which is part of the Campus Ministry Association in University Life, has a five-year strategic plan, and Gold is working on a number of initiatives, including having more kosher foods available on campus.

She has been in conversation with Provost Mark Ginsberg, Vice President Rose Pascarell, the Faculty Senate and others on improving awareness of Jewish high holidays and bringing anti-Semitism on campus to light. And she would like to have more interfaith conversations on campus.

While Gold feels like there has been huge progress in her four years here, she believes Mason can still do more to be welcoming to Jewish students. From kosher food to a place to pray, Gold is striving to provide Jewish students, faculty, and staff with the resources they need to practice their faith.

“I have to say, too, a huge respect to Mason, whenever we’ve knocked on doors, people opened them.”

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President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

Mason Hillel

Mason Lighting the Way: Creston Lynch

Colleen Rich — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 21:01:44 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Creston Lynch Colleen Rich Wed, 03/10/2021 - 16:01

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

Creston Lynch
Assistant Vice President, University Life

Committee: Co-Chair, Campus and Community Engagement

Creston Lynch. Photo provided

Creston Lynch tells people he started his career in multicultural affairs as a freshman at the University of Memphis when he walked into the then-named office of minority affairs and got a job as a student worker.

“In a way I've never left,” Lynch said. “There hasn't been a day in my career where I haven't been centering my work around diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Lynch is an assistant vice president in George Mason University’s University Life, where he leads the Center for Culture, Equity and Empowerment and is responsible for helping launch Mason’s new Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT), one of 23 such centers in the United States. He is also an adjunct in the Higher Education Program and is teaching a course on cultural pluralism in higher education this semester.

Before joining Mason in July 2018, he directed diversity programs at a number of universities including Southern Methodist University, where he was director of multicultural student affairs. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Memphis, Lynch continued on to get a PhD in higher education administration from University of North Texas.

“I come from a family of educators, so it's literally in my DNA,” said Lynch, who is the son of a retired high school guidance counselor and retired high school principal.

It is his grandmother’s story of becoming an educator that inspires him each day. She earned her master's degree from Indiana University in the mid 1950s, but to do so, she had to leave her family, including his mother, in Mississippi each summer to go and do her studies.

“There were no places for Black people to get advanced degrees in Mississippi,” said Lynch. “Her sacrifice is a part of my legacy. And it's a reminder as to why it's important for me to do what I do, in honor of the sacrifices she made in order to be a trailblazer for our family.”

Lynch serves as co-chair of the Campus and Community Engagement Committee of Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force. Among the committee’s recommendations is building the community connections, including K-12 partnerships, for the new Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation.

“Here at Mason we're intentionally building an infrastructure that supports long-term, tangible and sustainable change,” he said of the work. “There is a level of of investment on the part of our students. Our students are motivated and are looking for ways to raise and use their voices for positive change, which is a great thing.”

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President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

Mason community invited to review, discuss task force recommendations

Colleen Rich — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 19:41:39 +0000

Mason community invited to review, discuss task force recommendations Colleen Rich Thu, 02/18/2021 - 14:41

Editor's note: The link for the draft recommendations has been updated. We apologize for the inconvenience.

George Mason University President Gregory Washington and members of Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force invite the university community to the first of two virtual town hall meetings, which will be held 2-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Registrations to participate in the town hall via Zoom have reached capacity, and the university community is encouraged to tune in to the event live through GMU-TV at gmutv.gmu.edu/live.

The task force’s six committees—University Policies and Practices, Training and Development, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Student Voice, Research, and Campus and Community Engagement—have worked hard over the past five months and are ready to share their initial recommendations for the Mason community's feedback and consideration. The draft recommendations are available for review, and there is a form for you to provide feedback.

More information about the task force is available at arie.gmu.edu, including additional information about the committees.

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ARIE

Mason Lighting the Way: Josh Kinchen

Colleen Rich — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 21:07:11 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Josh Kinchen Colleen Rich Thu, 02/11/2021 - 16:07

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

More than 100 faculty, staff and students are working on George Mason University’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force, which is taking a hard look at the current state of diversity and inclusivity efforts at the university and making recommendations for the future.

Josh Kinchen
Associate Director, LGBTQ+ Resources

Task Force Committee: University Policies and Practices

Josh Kinchen

Josh Kinchen uses the pronouns he/him, and he wants you to know that. He was co-chair of the team that revamped George Mason University’s Chosen Name and Pronouns Policy and worked to add “gender expression” to the nondiscrimination policy.

As associate director of the LGBTQ+ Resources in the Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment (CCEE), formerly ODIME, Kinchen advises student groups, sits on many committees and does a lot of consulting and training with schools, colleges, and departments across the university that want to learn more about working with LGBTQ+ students.

“Some of that work looks like training; some looks like conversation,” said Kinchen who serves in leadership roles in the national association ACPA-College Student Educators International. “It's more helping people connect the dots.”

It is work that Kinchen feels called to do.

Kinchen enlisted in U.S. Marine Corps after high school and was at boot camp when 9/11 happened. After his service, he worked some hospitality jobs before ending up at a community college in North Carolina where he was working while taking classes. He found he really loved higher education.

“I had an advisor who said, ‘You should think about working with students for a living.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that!’” he said.

In the years between that “aha” moment and Mason, he earned a BA in communication studies and an MEd in higher education administration from University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where he also held a graduate assistant position working with LGBTQ+ students. Before coming to Mason in February 2018, he was working at Florida State as the program coordinator for student governance and advocacy.

Kinchen said he was excited to be working on the Policies and Practices committee because this work directly impacts the students and communities he and his CCEE colleagues interact with on a daily basis.

“This is the ecosystem that I work in,” he said. “There are some places that you when say ‘diversity and inclusion,’ the only aspect that comes out is race and ethnicity, which of course is incredibly important. [LGBTQ+ work] is intersectional with every other identity. So having someone who brings LGBTQ+ work into that conversation elevates the whole process.”

For Kinchen, the task force is about coalition building and helping his colleagues understand the nuances of identity and how things might affect people in different ways.

“I think the folks that do diversity inclusion work, none of us would consider ourselves experts because there's always more to know,” he said. “Having more people at the table with different perspectives and understandings makes the work richer, more dynamic and just better in general.”

“It behooves all of us to understand who our students are, to know what they need. We have to understand the complexity of the world for us to be able to do our work. Every social movement in the past 50 years has started on a college campus. Students can lead the way because they are intuitively understanding what the next thing is—and we get to be a part of that process.”

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President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence