Recast | IESS Spring/Summer News & Events
From: “Saliba, Therese” <SalibaT@evergreen.edu>
Date: Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 3:58 PM
| Inclusive Excellence & Student Success Spring/Summer News & Events 05/27/2021 Dear Community, Stories of Resilience is the theme of our upcoming Juneteenth commemoration. It captures the ongoing, inspiring movement for Black liberation, and the resilience of our communities in the face of multiple crises— from the pandemic to racial and economic injustice. As this challenging year draws to a close, we reflect on how our community has shown resilience and seized the opportunity for action, change, and vision based upon the values of collective love, access to education and resources, security, and dignity. As Audre Lorde says, “without community, there is no liberation.” Spring Fest is underway, Evergreen’s commemoration of Juneteenth, which becomes a state holiday in 2022, is Friday, June 4, and the celebration of our graduates is around the corner. Please read on to learn more about end of year events in Inclusive Excellence & Student Success. We are grateful to all our partners in collaboration — students, staff, faculty — who have contributed to visionary and empowering work in support of equity, social justice, and student success. In community, Therese Saliba, Interim Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Student Success End of Year Events Springfest : A Music, Art, and Poetry Celebration Hosted by First Peoples Multicultural, Trans and Queer Support Services May 26 – 28 Register for Zoom Link Springfest continues today and tomorrow! An (almost) end of quarter celebration of spring, of getting through winter and welcoming the summer season, Springfest is a three-day program of music, art, and poetry. Register for the zoom link to be emailed to you Thursday May 27, 6-8:30pm: EVERGREEN’S GOT TALENT Inspired by the amazing students, faculty, and staff that performed at Equity Symposium’s Reflections: Open Mic, we are featuring the talent that’s here in our campus community at EGT (aka Evergreen’s Got Talent), followed by Zoom Karaoke! Friday May 28, 12-6pm: FRIYAY J Mase III, followed by Intersectional Multimedia Student Showcase Juneteenth: Stories of Resilience Friday June 4, 12-1pm Zoom Link: https://evergreen.zoom.us/my/lyceum Evergreen’s third annual Juneteenth event highlights the resilience of our Black students, staff, and faculty. Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. The celebration dates from June 19, 1865, when word of the end of the Civil War reached Galveston, Texas, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. This year, the Washington Legislature voted to make Juneteenth a paid state holiday beginning in 2022. Multicultural and Lavender Graduation Celebrations It’s that time of the year – First Peoples Multicultural, Trans & Queer Support Services is hosting its annual graduation Multicultural Graduation and Lavender Graduation ceremonies on Zoom! These ceremonies are an opportunity for us to celebrate the academic achievements of our amazing students and their families, friends, and mentors. Faculty and staff will receive a Zoom link on the day of each event. Students should RSVP using the links below: Multicultural Graduation Tuesday, June 8, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm. Multicultural Graduation Ceremony honors graduates in a culturally relevant way. Any Evergreen student (undergraduate or graduate) who actively identifies with ethnically minority identities, and who is graduating in 20-21 academic year, may sign up to participate. Student RSVP: https://evergreensc.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1yKKxDYrfDhavH0 Lavender Graduation Wednesday, June 9, 3:00 pm-4:30 pm Evergreen’s 4th Annual Lavender Graduation Ceremony at Evergreen is a time to celebrate the academic achievements of graduating LGBTQQIAA+ students. Any graduating LGBTQQIAA+ Evergreen student, undergraduate or graduate, in the 2020-2021 academic year may participate. Student RSVP: https://evergreensc.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9YtBoMs2bTzdPzo 2021 Equity Symposium (with links to selected programs) Thank you so much to everyone who took part in the Evergreen Equity Symposium April 13-15. Nearly 800 community members joined together for over 18 hours of programming across those three days. The Equity Symposium Planning Committee pulled together an incredibly inspiring program that nourished our community. The lessons were many and they carried a powerful message: we’re still here, we’re interconnected, and this is how we rise together with a vision for our collective liberation. We were empowered to action through the words of our keynote guests Matika Wilbur (Swinomish, Tulalip), Justin Michael Williams, Janaya Khan, James Pakootas & Tony Louie (Colville) & Maura Garcia (non-enrolled Cherokee/Mattamuskeet). Thanks to all the students, staff, and faculty who led workshops on indigenous representation and sovereignty, the Movement for Black Lives, disability justice, criminal justice reform, Latinx experiences, and more, while inspiring resilience, hope, and commitment to a praxis of love and action, guiding us through deep reflections, creativity, and inspiring connections for social transformation. Special thanks also to our Media Services team for their dedicated technical skills that keep us connected. Here are the links to some of the program sessions, which you can access with your Evergreen login credentials: Removing Barriers: “Conceptualizing Place” Publication on Tribal Alliances to Restore Salmon Habitat Justin Michael Williams “The Collective,” feat. James “Just Jamez” Pakootas, Tony Louie, and Maura Garcia People with Disabilities Are Needed in the Fight Against Climate Disruption Mass Incarceration by the Numbers, Numbers to Names IESS Staff Spotlight Jess Tourtellotte, TRiO Academic Specialist for Disability Support TRiO Student Success is proud to welcome Jess Tourtellotte, an alum of Evergreen and its TRiO program. Jess is joining TRiO Student Success as their first ever Academic Specialist for Disability Support. Jess says she is excited to be in a position to “support students so their voices and ideas aren’t just heard but are utilized. To advocate for continued inclusion across campus and the greater Olympia community for students who identify as persons with disabilities.” Jess graduated from Evergreen in 2009 and earned a Master of Science in Disability and Human Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She credits her experience with TRiO at Evergreen for her ability to speak out for herself and the disability community. Student Basic Needs Advocacy #RealCollege Survey Results This year, Evergreen participated in the national #RealCollege Survey of student basic needs. The results show our students’ experience with food, housing, and job insecurity are significantly higher than the national average. Evergreen students told us that 67% experienced at least one form of basic needs insecurity, versus the national average of 58%: – 36% who experienced food insecurity in the prior 30 days, versus the national average of 29%, – 58% who experienced housing insecurity in the previous year, versus the national average of 43%, and – 23% who experienced homelessness in the previous year, versus the national average of 14%. Significantly, 46% of our students experiencing basic needs insecurity did not apply for campus supports because they did not know how, and 73% did not because they believed others were in greater need. However, it takes food, health, shelter and community to stay in school and succeed. Many areas of the college have been working together to build a more equitable and caring community by addressing our students’ basic needs. For more information on how to access resources and how to be involved in this work, see our message to campus from earlier this spring. Pop-Up Food Bank Continues Through Summer Thanks to the continuing support of the Thurston County Food Bank, The Center for Community Based Learning and Action, AmeriCorps VISTA, and Campus Compact Washington, the Evergreen Pop-Up Food Bank will continue operating through the summer. Food distribution will take place in C lot on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month from 2-4pm. We invite students and community members to pick up food, for either yourself or another household, with vegan options available. Clover Park Upward Bound to Host Summer Learning Institute Clover Park Upward Bound will be diving into the 2021 Summer Learning Institute June 23rd. This year’s theme is “Storytelling: Beauty Through Perseverance,” and students will investigate their world and themselves through humanities and botany. We are modeling the Evergreen Tacoma Lyceum programing and welcoming a host of guest speakers to share their stories including, but not limited to: “Through Positive Eyes: Live ‘Artivist’ Storytelling,” The Stolen Ones and How They Were Missed,” by Dr. Marcia Tate Arunga, and “Agency of Language and Multifaceted Narratives,” by Dr. Farhana Loonat. Our end of summer celebration will be July 31, so be on the lookout for more information to celebrate Evergreen’s pre-college students with us. IESS Summer Institutes Inclusive Excellence & Student Success is offering several opportunities to learn and connect with others who are committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and student success at Evergreen. While registration for Summer Institutes has already closed, you may email us before June 10 to be added to a waitlist. Social Justice Center Opening and Trainings Tuesday, July 20 This institute will be led by Hannah Simonetti, Jacob Longaker, and Therese Saliba, and will highlight Evergreen’s new Social Justice Center opening in Fall 2021: what it is, what it is for, and how staff, faculty, and students can utilize the space. Part of the new Social Justice Center and Campus Climate and Belonging work will be a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training Program. We will spend time talking through the program and how it works, how to access it and how to engage with the program. We will then run one or more of our workshops for people to start off utilizing and participating in the training program. Holistic Advising: Supporting the Whole Student through an Equity Lens Thursday, July 22 & Friday, July 23 Holistic Advising is a student-centered initiative to make an Evergreen education more accessible, equitable, and transformative for diverse students. The holistic advising model aligns policies and practices to address the whole student by meeting their basic needs, building resilience and student success strategies, and guiding the student toward curricular and professional interests. We are particularly reaching out to staff and faculty interested in developing more coordinated partnerships and teams to provide holistic support for our students, while learning new coaching/advising skills and equitable practices. This institute will be presented by Karen Gaul, Cholee Gladney, and Therese Saliba, and will include training in best coaching, advising and mentoring practices, as we build a network of faculty, staff, and student peer advisors to provide support and empowerment to students. Liberation Education & Mass Incarceration Monday, July 26 This summer institute is organized by The Evergreen Coalition for Justice Involved Students – a coalition made up of organizations, programs, and key individuals assisting currently or formerly incarcerated youth or adults. The coalition is committed to expanding Evergreen’s prison education work by (re)imagining national and state prison education reform, advancing prison-to-college pathways, providing educational support in correctional facilities, and collaborating on reducing barriers in the transition from prison to college. The institute will be presented by Eirik Steinhoff, James Jackson and Kelli Bush, and will consist of storytelling, dialogue, and workshops designed to unpack and identify current work, challenges, and ideas to reduce barriers for justice-involved students at Evergreen and in our community. Taking Action on Equity Wednesday, August 11 As offices throughout the nation, state, and higher ed engage in assessing their equity barriers and assets, it’s an important time to relaunch and streamline work that began at Evergreen in Fall 2019. This institute will be led by Lori Blewett, Cholee Gladney, and Therese Saliba, and invites faculty and staff across the college to engage in designing Equity Action Plans for their Paths, CATs and staff divisions. The goal is to help our community generate ideas, strategies and practices that will advance inclusive excellence to better serve our diverse students, as well as staff and faculty, particularly those historically underserved and underrepresented in higher education. See the 2021 Evergreen Summer Institute Program for more information. Office of the Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Student Success https://www.evergreen.edu/equity inclusiveexcellence@evergreen.edu      |
