Not Token Gestures: Practical Dei Strategies in 21st-Century Higher Education

Contributors from various backgrounds offer insights for practices that move DEI efforts from the superficial and into the very fabric of how academia functions. This volume offers practical strategies to support inclusive campus development in 21st century US higher education. Administrators, artists, and faculty from across the country provide tips for constructing curriculum, how to intervene in administrative procedures, and ways of enacting preliminary shifts to encourage a rich understanding of “academic excellence” for higher education. This collection emphasizes the human costs of decision making in higher education, and the need to draw from knowledges created by different communities to support learning spaces conducive to student growth. Born in a moment when DEI is under attack, contributors consider the immediacy that many members of US higher education find themselves in right now to construct tactical practices that can be taken up with expediency and rigor. Yet, contributors do not sacrifice quality for stealth. Indeed, contributors show that foundational to this era is an opportunity to move “DEI” from a side-project and into the fabric of academia.

Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Foreword: The State of Things, Ritu Radhakrishnan Introduction: It's Not a Death Knell. It's a Call to Arms, Roberta Hurtado Section I: Responding to the Attacks Preface, Roberta Hurtado It Is Time to Dissent, Claudia Hernández Almanac of Our Struggle, Ricardo Nazario y Colón ¡Mi Hija es una Mujer Profesional!: Latinas in Higher Education Administration, Doris Diaz-Kelly Letter from an Ally, Laura Donnelly Section II: Strategic Curriculum Preface, Roberta Hurtado A Day at the Races, Ricardo Nazario y Colón 1. Whose Strategies Are We Teaching?: Reconceptualizing Curriculum Towards Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice, Ritu Radhakrishnan 2. Using Self “In Relationship” to Understand Another: Towards Cultural Humility and Empathy through Storytelling in Counselor Training Curriculum, Fred Millán 3. ¿Y Tú Abuela? Oculta Está: Challenging Anti-Blackness and Anti-AfroLatino Trends in Higher Education Curriculum, Stefan Carretero 4. You Can't Heal Us If You Don't Even Know Us: Music Medicine and Rethinking Pre-Med Curriculum Adaption to Community Needs, Christophe Jackson and Roberta Hurtado 5. Fighting Intellectual Disarmament: Reframing Understandings of Criminal Justice through a Social Empowerment Lens, Celinet Duran Jiménez 6. Past, Present, and Futurity: Everything You Wanted to Know About Introduction to Native American Studies But Were Too Afraid To Ask, Michael Chaness 7. Critically Teaching Asian American Studies and an Asian American Studies-less University, Michelle Choi Ausman and Nina Ha Section III: Strategic Infrastructural Change Preface, Roberta Hurtado Crumbs at the Table, Ricardo Nazario y Colón 8. This is Why We Don't Have Nice Things: Rethinking Higher Education and Equity to Achieve Educational Excellence, Rodman King and Roberta Hurtado 9. Intimate Retrofits: Strategic Decolonial Practices in the Recruitment and Hiring Process for Domestic Faculty of Color in the Academy, Roberta Hurtado 10. APIDA Leadership in Higher Education: Tokenism, Challenges, and Recommendations, Vincent M. Wang, Alexander Liên Thomas, Teresa Wilson, and Nina Ha 11. Hija de Mi Madre: Latina Leaders and Increasing Diversity Representation in Higher Education Administration, Zulaika Rodriguez 12. La Familia: Strategically Intervening in Medical School Recruitment and Retention Efforts to Increase Representation Among Future Practitioners and Educators, Christina Guillén 13. Bridging the Gap: Connecting Services to Historically Excluded Students in Higher Education, Edward Martinez 14. Learning Tongues: Strategic Recruitment, Acceptance, and Retention Efforts to increase English Language Learners Enrollment and Success in Higher Education, Pathy Leiva Conclusion: Words for the Future, Roberta Hurtado

About the Author :
Roberta Hurtado is Associate Professor of Latina/e/o/x Literature and Culture, and Inaugural Director of the Latino and Latin American Studies program at SUNY Oswego, USA.