IHSI Diversity Committee Monthly Resources
Each month, the IHSI Diversity Committee shares resources and learning opportunities with the rest of IHSI staff. Curating and sharing these resources allow us to educate ourselves on various topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. As an institute devoted to promoting all forms of health, we want to share these resources more broadly with our campus and community stakeholders. We hope that you will find them as useful as we have.
Leadership and equity
The focus of this month's resources is on leadership, especially the kind that are intentional about equity and inclusion. Max Wallace, IHSI Visiting Research Project Coordinator, shared the following inspiration:
"I recently attended a breakout session at the 84th Illinois Public Health Association conference called “Authentic Leadership: Charting Your Own Path.” The speakers, Angela Ellison from UIC’s Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Partnerships and Mile Square Health Center, and Lisa Phillipson, Community Relations and Education Director at Hospice of Southern Illinois, were phenomenal. They reminded us that leadership isn’t always a title or a position. More often, we step into leadership through the roles we play every day as neighbors, parents, and colleagues. Their message resonated with me: we are in a time of great need for community leadership."
For a short read (5 mins), check out this interview with Felecia Commodore, a professor of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership at Illinois: How Do Community, Culture and Context Impact Leadership in Higher Education? Prof. Commodore focuses extensively on educational equity, served on the committee to select the new Chancellor, and describes how her leadership experience informs institutional choices in the context of culture and community.
If you have 15 minutes, check out the article, Rethinking Leadership Roles in a Future with DEI, which combines business and scholarly perspectives on staff training, provides a model for leadership roles, and tips for effective leadership all in the context of embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
If you have another 15 minutes, this TEDx talk by Dr. Marisol Capellan, Leadership is a Responsibility, Privilege is Access, gives a powerful, personal talk about privilege and leadership in the workplace - she speaks about types of leaders that don't value or practice DEI and the effects that has on employees. I share this to encourage you to think about when you've seen these types of leaders, and the types of leaders that DO practice DEI values.