Upcoming DEIB Resources & Events | Spring 2024
Resources
KU Community
Get Involved! Join Faculty & Staff Councils
KU offers several self-governing councils for staff and faculty to network, find support, and advocate for their needs at the university. Find out more about each group and how to participate:
- Asian & Asian American FSC
- Black Faculty Staff Council
- Faculty Staff Council for Disability Inclusion
- First-Generation Faculty Staff Council
- International Faculty & Staff Council
- Jewish Faculty Staff Council
- Latinx Faculty Staff Council
- Native Faculty Staff Council
- Sexual & Gender Diversity Faculty Staff Council
- Women of Color Support Network
Apply for DEI Training Funds Through Staff Senate
Would you like to sharpen your professional skills or expand your knowledge, including within the DEI space? Staff Senate offers funding for external conferences, webinars, and other educational opportunities. Most awards range from $250-$500, and you must have been employed by KU for at least six months at the time of application. Learn more!
Request a Career Coach Through KU’s Human Resources Management
KU’s Human Resources Management team now offers free coaching services to help you achieve your career goals. Coaching topics include communication, conflict resolution, decision-making and problem-solving, goal setting and strategic thinking/planning, leadership and team development, organization and time management, and teamwork and relationship building. These one-on-one sessions can be held in person or via Zoom. Note: Some assessments related to coaching needs may charge fees. Contact hrdept@ku.edu or 785-864-4946 for more information.
Heritage Months
Throughout the year, certain identities and backgrounds are amplified and celebrated. The Office of DEIB offers this list to “amplify the KU community's understanding of the intersectional nature of cultures, histories, scholarship, and people.”
Lawrence Community
Sunrise Project
1501 Learnard Ave, Suite E
Sunrise Project serves Douglas County by providing space and opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to build an equitable community through education, good food, and social connection.
Community Meals are on the first and third Wednesday of each month from 5-7 p.m. Stay and dine-in or take your meals to-go. Donations accepted, but never required. Everyone is welcome! Need a delivery? Please email melissa@sunriseprojectks.org or text/call 785-865-1618.
The Porch Pantry is always open and always free. Take what you need, leave what you can. No questions asked.
Ballard Center Pantry
Ballard’s Pantry services are FREE and available to anyone and everyone, providing clothing (including a professional closet), food, and household basics. Call 785-842-0729 to make an appointment to access services, or complete the Volunteer Interest Form to volunteer at the Pantry.
Honor Moon Period Pantry
1312 W. 6th Street (Pantry #1) and 616 Kentucky Street (Pantry #2)
Honor Moon is an inclusive period pantry providing free access to menstrual products. It's accessible for anyone and everyone who menstruates to get the products they need, free of judgment and charge. Both pantries are filled regularly and accessible 24/7. If you are looking to benefit from Honor Moon in donations of larger amounts, reach out to us by email at honormoonlfk@gmail.com.
Perfectly Queer Little Library: Donation Catalog
Welcome to the soft launch of the Perfectly Queer Little Library project! We want to work together to get free, queer books into the hands of queer youth in Lawrence. This project is a direct response to the anti-transgender legislation we are seeing in Kansas and across America, and the ceaseless violence being perpetrated against our trans*, two-spirit, and queer youth. But before we can open the little library to the public, we need to stockpile some books! With this soft launch of the Perfectly Queer project, we ask you to donate copies of titles from this catalog, if it's within your means. If it isn't, we understand—please consider sharing this page with your loved ones, instead!
Trainings from the Office of DEIB
Supervision Through an Inclusive Lens
Wednesday, April 24 | 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Kansas Union Jayhawk Room on Lawrence campus
Tuesday, May 14 | 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. | Zoom
During this session, participants will learn to differentiate practices and barriers to becoming an inclusive supervisor. Through scenario-based examples, we will explore opportunities to incorporate inclusive practices within different work environments.
Leadership Framework for Action on Equity & Inclusion
Wednesday, May 22 | 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. | Kansas Union Jayhawk Room on Lawrence campus
Participants will read “The Inclusive Leader” by Dr. Artika Tyner and come together in a two-hour session to discuss Dr. Tyner’s Leadership Framework for Action. Participants will examine traditional versus inclusive leadership approaches. Small group discussions will give participants the opportunity to share their intrapersonal experiences and identify opportunities for inclusive leadership at the interpersonal level. Participants will leave with strategies for making their organization more inclusive and equitable.
Reducing Bias, Preventing and Responding to Microaggressions
Wednesday, May 29 | 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Burge Union Forum A on Lawrence campus
Participants will learn and define implicit bias and microaggressions, the ways they are formed, and their negative impacts. Through scenario-based practice, participants will learn to be active bystanders to address microaggressions.
Events
“The Apology of Culture: Museum, Violence & State Rituals in Mexico” (Lecture by Dr. Mario Rufer, professor and coordinator of the Ph.D. in humanities, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana at Xochimilco, México)
Friday, April 26, 12-1:30 pm | Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center (attached to the Kansas Union) | Free and open to all graduate students
In February 2017, the Mexican state issues a public apology to three nanu (Otomi) women who had been unjustly imprisoned in 2011. The press covered the apology request extensively, which was highly ritualized as a state “performance”. There was just one detail that very few noticed: The venue chosen for the apology was the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology. This lecture will focus on why it seemed “natural” for the State to make this apology in this museum. A breakfast meeting with Dr. Rufer will be held in the same room from 8 a.m.-9 a.m. CT. Contact spanport@ku.edu with questions.
Haskell Commencement Pow-wow
Friday-Saturday, May 3-4 | HINU Powwow Grounds, 155 Indian Ave | $5/day or $10/weekend
Queer Book Club
Sunday, May 5 | 4-5 pm | Lawrence Public Library
Each month, this book club will discuss books in a variety of genres, from fantasy to contemporary fiction, memoirs to graphic novels, and more! What these stories share in common is that they center authors or characters with queer identities. This club's main goal is to chat about books, but also provide a safe space for anyone in the LGBTQIAP+ community who deserve to see a version of themselves within the pages of a book. We also welcome allies wanting to expand their bookish horizons.
Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley: Let the World See and One History, Two Versions Exhibitions
Runs through May 19 | Spencer Museum of Art | Free and open to the public
“Let the world see what they did to my boy” were the heart-wrenching words spoken by Mamie Till-Mobley, who insisted on an open casket for her 14-year-old son. Emmett Till was brutally tortured and murdered for whistling at a white woman while visiting family in Money, Miss., in 1955. This traveling exhibition tells the story of Emmett and his mother, whose brave actions fueled the Civil Rights Movement. The show covers Emmett’s childhood, kidnapping, murder, funeral and the ongoing legacy of these events. A bullet-ridden historical marker noting the location where Emmett’s body was removed from the Tallahatchie River reminds viewers that while progress has been made since 1955, there is still much work to be done. Learning about ongoing racism and violence can motivate and empower visitors to make a ripple for justice in their own communities. The companion exhibition, One History, Two Versions, shares works by contemporary Black artists that expand on themes from Let the World See, including Black life, Black love, media representation and activism.