Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

5-2023

Abstract

The IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Awareness) Book Club was established during the Fall 2019 semester by former Director of Diversity Education Moryah Jackson and Interlibrary Loan Librarian Renna Redd as a continuing education initiative for employees to create a shared syntax and expand collective awareness of the complexities within higher education in South Carolina and the United States through reading and discussing a common text. One of the goals of the initiative was to provide free copies of the selected book to participants so that they could participate without financial commitment, not increase screen time unnecessarily, and share the book the others if they so chose. TIGERS ADVANCE and the Office of Inclusion and Equity partnered with the University Libraries to purchase multiple copies of books over the course of six semesters and through this partnership, 158 participants (93 unique), representing 54 unique areas (departments, colleges, divisions, institutes, and offices) of Clemson University were represented; 49.4% were staff and 47% were faculty. With minimal cost and time, this program enabled employees to learn about the things that shape their worldview and the higher education ecosystem without them necessarily realizing it, such as unconscious bias, the algorithms that "predict" who qualifies for a mortgage or who is more likely to be incarcerated, histories (those commonly known and those less known), and systems (both acknowledged and unacknowledged).

Comments

This presentation was given at Clemson University Faculty ADVANCEment Office Open House on May 15, 2023.

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