Critical Voices in DEIB

Critical Voices in DEIB 2023: Distinguishing Anti-Racism from DEIBJ

The Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) presents the Critical Voices in DEIB series. Critical Voices in DEIB frames key issues around race and equity issues, how they impact our community, and offers resources for how to advance racial equity and promote social justice at UC Berkeley. This year we are hosting Distinguishing Anti-Racism from DEIB: A conversation on applying Social Justice Frameworks to Higher Education, a panel discussion featuring Dr. Kevin Kumashiro, DeEtta Jones, Dr. Michael Benitez, and Dr. Kathleen Wong(Lau).

Critical Voices in DEIB 2023: Distinguishing Anti-Racism from DEIBJ

Event Details

Distinguishing Anti-Racism from DEIB

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

1:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m. PST

Via Zoom Webinar

To attend, Register Online

About the Speakers

This conversation will be moderated by Ché L. Abram, Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging in the Berkeley School of Public Health.

Dr. Kevin Kumashiro

Dr. Kumashiro is the former Dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco (2013-2017). He previously served as Chair of Educational Policy Studies, interim Co-Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, founding Coordinator of Asian American Studies, and Director of the AANAPISI (Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution) Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has taught in early childhood, K-12, and higher education across the United States and abroad (public, private, and religious), and has consulted for school districts, organizations, and agencies. He is an award-winning author and editor of ten books, including Troubling Education (recipient of the 2003 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award), Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning toward Social Justice (now in its Third Edition), Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture, and most recently, Surrendered: Why Progressives are Losing the Biggest Battles in Education. He appears frequently in media interviews.

DeEtta Jones

DeEtta Jones is a go-to strategist on equity, diversity, inclusion, and workplace transformation. She brings 30 years of experience developing practical tools to build managerial effectiveness and making structural and sustainable organizational change.

DeEtta’s career began in college when she became a social justice activist. She worked closely with Indigenous communities to shed light on historical injustices and misrepresentation. In her early 20s, her work as Director of the Human Rights Advocacy and Education Office focused on community education and mediating complaints of discrimination in housing, public accommodation, and employment. Her work was in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard, a man beaten and left to die hanging from a fence. Committed to transformation, her attention and agenda focused on education and policy change that resulted in City ordinances to protect members of the LGBTQ+ communities from hate crimes. Every step thereafter opened doors for people from underrepresented groups and positioned herself as a model of what next-generation should reflect.

Dr. Michael Benitez

Dr. Michael Benitez is a highly sought out speaker at colleges and conferences and nationally-acclaimed scholar-practitioner and educator in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Dr. Benitez is known for his down-to-earth, insightful commentary, and critical perspectives on social and cultural issues, ranging from leadership and identity development, intersectionality, race and ethnicity, postcolonial thought, knowledge production, and critical pedagogy and practice in higher education.

Dr. Benitez has authored book chapters and articles on identity development, hip hop culture, cultural centers, cultural and ethnic studies, institutional research and campus climates, and faculty development.

Dr. Kathleen Wong(Lau)

Kathleen Wong(Lau), Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is San Jose State's chief diversity officer. Wong(Lau) leads the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, providing vision and direction for university-wide efforts to ensure a welcoming, safe climate for every member of our community and serving as a liaison to community partners and constituents on a wide array of diversity initiatives. She was selected by and will report directly to President Papazian, and will serve on the president's cabinet. Wong(Lau) joins San Jose State from the University of Oklahoma where she served since 2014 as director of the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies and the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE). Her noteworthy accomplishments at Oklahoma included launching faculty training institutes on inclusive teaching, and administrator training on management and leadership for diversity and innovation. In addition, she designed and led an inaugural, mandatory, five-hour Freshmen Diversity Experience training for more than 5,000 students. She also consulted with other academic institutions, with an emphasis on helping faculty and staff support underrepresented and first-generation students.