College of Education Wins Chancellor’s Creating Community Award

RALEIGH, North Carolina — The College of Education has won the NC State University Chancellor’s Creating Community Award for Outstanding College or Division in recognition of its exceptional efforts and contributions in the areas of equity, diversity and inclusion.

“This is a tremendous honor and a testament to the efforts and commitment that our faculty and staff have made to foster an inclusive environment within the College of Education and to promote social justice and equity across NC State, North Carolina and beyond,” College of Education Dean Mary Ann Danowitz said.

Associate Vice Provost for Equal Opportunity Robinette Kelley and Women’s Center Director Lisa LaBarbera-Mascote presented the Creating Community Award on behalf of the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity to College of Education staff during a ceremony Monday, April 17. The College of Education received $1,000 in discretionary funds.

One of eight colleges or divisions at NC State nominated for the award, the College of Education won for taking “great efforts to create everyday environments that are grounded in strategies, dialogue and opportunities that aim to promote and support equity and social justice.”

The events and initiatives the college has hosted, organized and implemented over the past year include holding Racial Climate Town Halls for undergraduate and graduate students, providing Inclusivity and Anti-Oppression training for all faculty and staff, organizing faculty/staff-led small group discussions that challenged students to explore the impact of institutional and structural racism, and offering numerous professional development sessions to help prepare culturally-competent educators:

• Empowering and Advocating for Hispanic/Latino Families in K-12 Education
• K-12 Educators Understanding Native American Culture
• Seeing the Student Behind the Stereotype
• Addressing Bias as Future Educators
• Educators As Youth Advocates For Young Women and Girls of Color
• Supporting and Advocating for Children Who Have Parents Who Are Incarcerated

The college’s other activities and initiatives that support inclusivity include:

• BUILD (Brothers United Leadership Development) Summit where over 100 local high school male students of color discussed the diverse role of leaders in a growing global society and developed skills to enhance their college and career readiness.
• Education Action Summit for campus and community partners that focused on disrupting poverty through education and demonstrate the college’s commitment to rural education awareness and engagement.
• Vision Newsletter, a bi-monthly student publication that is a resource for the multicultural student community and highlights student success stories, upcoming events, and articles of interest to future educators and related to diversity issues.
• COMID (Council on Multicultural Initiatives & Diversity), a group comprised of faculty, administrators, deans and student representatives formed in 2007 to support, build and maintain a diverse community and to implement strategies that prepare future educators to be citizens of the world. Last year, COMID introduced a class evaluation question for all College of Education courses to assess if diversity and equity were woven into the curriculum. COMID also created an equity checklist for faculty hires and developed a scholarship for a student involved in the African American community.

In addition to winning the Creating Community Award in the Outstanding College/Division category, the College of Education had several faculty, staff and organizations nominated in other categories:

Outstanding Faculty Nominees

• Lance Fusarelli, Interim Head of the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development
• Ann Harrington, Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences

Outstanding Staff Nominee

• Nathan Stevens, Assistant Director of METRC

Outstanding Student Organization Nominee

• Multicultural Young Educators Network (MYEN)