On Thursday, April 6, at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, OMED recognized more than 2,200 eligible students from traditionally underrepresented groups for their academic achievements. Over 1,000 viewers watched the ceremony online.

“A different way of saying being underrepresented is that you are unique. Your uniqueness is your superpower that will make you successful in whichever area you decide to go after [when you leave] Georgia Tech,” said President Cabrera.

This year’s ceremony sought to highlight pillars of both the OMED community and their undeniable historical significance in fostering student excellence at Georgia Tech.  The inaugural Tower Legacy Award was presented to Dr. Gavin Samms.

First-year student, Jasmine D. Walker was awarded the Dorothy Yancy Scholarship: a scholarship named/endowed by Georgia Tech’s first Black faculty member promoted to tenure, Dr. Dorothy Yancy.

Kelley Collier IV was presented the GTBAO Unsung Hero Award named in remembrance of distinguished alumnae Valerie Dial Thomas.

Students received Tower awards for their stellar performance in several categories, including Sustained Awards, Yearly Awards, Transfer/Dual-Degree Awards, First-Year Awards, Graduating Senior Awards, Master’s Awards, and Ph.D. Awards.

In addition, the following students were presented with special awards:

First-Year Impact Award – Julian Dudley
OMED Impact Awards – Nia Bellamy, Julia R. Francois, Lauren M. Hester, Assata I. Quinichet, Maripaz Rodriguez Pacheco, Kemuel Y. Russell, Miyang E. Tamanji
OMED Champion Award – Morgan Wright

“Each of you has your own narrative infused with obstacles that you have overcome that many don’t even have to consider or see. So, your presence here tonight is a testament to your intellectual fortitude and aptitude,” said Dr. Sybrina Atwaters, director of OMED.

Over 25 corporate partners and sponsors provided giveaways that were raffled off throughout the night.

For more information about the Tower Awards, visit omed.gatech.edu/events/tower-awards.

To watch a recording of the ceremony, visit the OMED YouTube Channel.

"Talking about issues of race and racism is hard," said Vice President for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Archie Ervin during the conversation. "Over the past year, in the wake of last summer’s national racial turmoil, marked by the sensless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others, and more recently, the events in our nation's Capitol earlier this month, have made these converrsations even more difficult as concerns about racism and its impact have intensified and continues to bubble to the surface of our national discourse.”

Vivian heads Basic Diversity Inc., a national full-service cultural diversity training and consulting firm best known for its Race Awareness Workshop. His father, a confidant of Martin Luther King Jr., founded the organization more than 45 years ago. The firm has worked with a diverse range of clients and organizations including corporations, nonprofits and, government agencies.

“I’ll start off with a statement that is just outright true: racism in America is nothing new; it’s our original sin. It’s been with us from the beginning,” Vivian said, beginning his presentation. “If you don’t understand race, your future success will be limited.”

This year’s program brought together over 300 registered participants in a multidimensional interactive virtual platform, where 60% of participants were current and former Focus Scholars.

The typically three-day program was shortened to two days. However, the program still offered participants the same host of opportunities to learn about graduate school at the Institute as its in-person weekend programs have provided.

“Despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, we made the decision to continue the great Focus tradition by utilizing a virtual format which allows us to continue our commitment to making Georgia Tech the most diverse and inclusive technology-focused university in our nation,” said Vice President for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Archie Ervin to participants on the opening evening of the program.

“Even with our virtual format this year, our commitments and programmatic opportunities provided for this year’s Focus Program remain the same as in past years. Georgia Tech’s president, members of our executive leadership team, our academic deans, faculty, and staff are fully engaged to ensure that your 2021 Focus experience will allow you to do what previous Focus participants have done the past 28 years: that is to learn more about the Georgia Tech graduate experience, to explore academic opportunities that align with your educational goals and aspirations, and to meet with faculty and staff who are eager to help you gain the insights and information you need to determine if the Tech graduate experience meets the expectations you have for your career goals.”

President Ángel Cabrera, who earned two graduate degrees from Georgia Tech before becoming the Institute’s 12th president 24 years later, spoke to participants about the program.

“As one of the nation’s premiere diversity recruitment programs, Focus has brought more than 3,000 students from across the U.S. to Georgia Tech, and we're proud to have six former Focus Scholars among our very own faculty, including the new dean of the College of Engineering, Dr. Raheem Beyah," he said. "It’s quite fitting that Focus hosts its annual program preceding the King holiday because its mission stems directly from Dr. King’s message of diversity, justice, and excellence."

Sybrina Atwaters, Tech alumnus, director of OMED: Educational Services and program director of Focus, announced seven Focus award recipients: Brooke Bosley, Kenneth De Jesus, Julia Harrer, Rachel Harvey, Daniel Okegbu, Kantwon Rogers, and Preety Shakya. Two additional Focus Scholars received 2021 Women of Color Initiative (WOCI) Impact Focus awards: De' Aira Bryant and Nettie Brown. 

“The 2021 cohort was unique in a few ways: the first virtual cohort and the first cohort fully empowered to navigate their own Focus experience,” Atwaters said. “At their fingertips, the participants had the ability to capture breakout sessions, issue one-on-one networking requests, instantly share contact details with faculty and alumni, manage direct access to all speakers and panelists, and have on-demand virtual visits to Atlanta attractions.”

The program concluded with a Gold Table discussion moderated by Tech alumnus and Atlanta City Councilmember Andre Dickens, titled “Women of Color in Tech: Shaping the City of Atlanta and Its Future,” featuring Nisha Botchwey, associate dean of Academic Programs with Georgia Tech Professional Education and an associate professor with the School of City and Regional Planning, and Sheila Isbell, chief of Georgia Tech Research Institute’s Software Engineering & Analytics Division. The group discussed a range of topics including how they chose their graduate school career path, the importance of diversity in graduate programs, and self-advocacy.

“It’s good to have your own advisory board, but they can’t all look like you,” Botchwey said. “You have to have people in spaces that you’re not in yet. You have to be willing to stretch yourself” she continued.

Isbell added, in response to a question regarding women of color in tech, “There is a lot of work to do there. As far as being supported or having our work recognized, we are not seeing that. We have to be willing to advocate for each other. We cannot be afraid to self-advocate. We even have to self-nominate sometimes.”

“I am deeply grateful to the more than 80 members of the Georgia Tech community -– deans, chairs, faculty, staff, alumni, and graduate students who came together to make the many components of Focus 2021 possible. Their efforts exhibit Georgia Tech’s commitment to be a leader in diversity, excellence, equity, and inclusion. It is my honor to continue the Focus legacy and lead these efforts,” Atwaters concluded.

This year’s program was dedicated to Shayla Chavis, a North Carolina Central University student and 2020 Focus participant who died last August.

The 2021 program was supported by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Office of Minority Educational Development, and the Hopper-Dean Foundation.

To learn more about the Focus Program, visit focus.gatech.edu.

“The 1619 Project” delves into the brutal history and lasting legacy of American slavery, for which Hannah-Jones’ powerful introductory essay, “America Wasn’t a Democracy Until Black Americans Made It One,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

The lecture was just one event in Tech’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative event series sponsored by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI) and the Division of Student Life. Many of the events are held in collaboration with Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, a resource center and community institution established in 1968 by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King.

Hannah-Jones covers racial injustice for The New York Times and has spent years chronicling the way official policy has created — and maintains — racial segregation in housing and schools. She has written extensively on the history of racism, school resegregation, and the disarray of hundreds of desegregation orders. She is a 2017 MacArthur fellow and has also won a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards, and is a three-time National Magazine Award winner.

“It's hard for me to ever really say what the true genesis of ‘The 1619 Project’ was,” Hannah-Jones said during the discussion with IDEI’s Vice President Archie Ervin and Executive Director of Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement Pearl Alexander. “I feel like my work, and my career, and my academic trajectory had been working towards the moment where I pitched the project. I talk about being a high school student and my Black studies teacher giving me a book about the Mayflower. All those years of my education no one mentioned the White Lion,” the English ship that brought the first African slaves to Virginia in 1619. “I really spent a lot of my career trying to show that the legacy of slavery and anti-Blackness has shaped so many of the institutions we see in this country and we render it invisible. I wanted to show that nothing about American life has been untouched by the legacy of slavery.”

“The 1619 Project” is an ongoing initiative that began in August 2019, the 400^th anniversary of American slavery. The first edition included 10 essays from Black writers and activists, a photo essay, and a collection of poems and fiction by an additional 16 writers. The project later grew to include live events and a podcast. Essays include “How False Beliefs in Physical Racial Difference Still Live in Medicine Today,” by Linda Villarosa and “What Does a Traffic Jam in Atlanta Have to do With Segregation? Quite A Lot,” by Kevin M. Kruse.

“We didn't go and do our own original historical research. We didn't unearth truths that were not known before,” Hannah-Jones said. “We intentionally said we are going to tell the story of America through the lens of slavery. We are going to shift from the exceptionalism. The role of history in this country has been in service of exceptionality — in service of the idea that we were the most liberatory country ever created. We were a country of those ideals, but we were also a country of the practice of slavery.”

Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera offered closing remarks after Hannah-Jones’ discussion, saying, “As a new American myself, as an American by choice, I am fascinated by the founding narrative of the American republic.

“The leading role that Black Americans have played in this country’s journey has been essential for all of us,” he continued. “I invite every member of our community to go to ‘The 1619 Project’ website. Dig in, read, and challenge your thinking. Come together as a community, and think about how we can make our community at Georgia Tech better — and how we can contribute to making true on the American promise.”

To learn more about the 2021 Georgia Tech Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative event series, visit: https://diversity.gatech.edu/mlk-celebration.

The annual series is sponsored by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI) and the Division of Student Life. Many of the events are in collaboration with Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (“The King Center”), a resource center and community institution established in 1968 by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, shortly after his assassination.

“I am thrilled with our longstanding partnership with Georgia Tech,” said Barbara Harrison, director of The King Center’s External Affairs, Strategic Partnerships, and Programs. “Together, we have established a learning environment at Georgia Tech that is designed to create a better understanding of Dr. King's nonviolence philosophy and methodology for a younger generation of critical thinkers. I look forward to these students making profound advancements as they address social justice concerns and become influential global leaders. This is a testament to our efforts over the years.” 

“As a result of our collaborations with The King Center, we have given the students at Georgia Tech the rare opportunity to witness and experience, in person, the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church’s Annual Commemorative Service honoring Dr. King,” added Archie Ervin, vice president for IDEI and MLK event series planning committee chair. “We are thankful that our students are able to witness this and other events that are part of the series each year.”

Other events include Tech’s annual MLK Day of Service on Jan. 18, the MLK Student Celebration on Jan. 21, and a weekslong exploration of His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, a biography of the late Georgia congressman, civil rights titan, and King advisor and confidant.

“I am honored to serve as co-chair for the MLK celebration planning committee and am pleased that we have organized a stellar lineup of programs and activities for the Institute and beyond, despite Covid-19 restrictions,” said Stephanie Ray, associate dean of students and director of Student Diversity Programs. “Since many of the events are virtual, I encourage members of the Tech community to participate in as many of the opportunities as possible. The 2021 theme, ‘The Fierce Urgency of Building the Beloved Community,’ is a timely topic.”

In addition to Ervin, Harrison, and Ray, 2021 MLK celebration and commemorative planning committee members include: Tamara Ballou, Etienne Batiste, Sirocus Barnes, Jorge Breton, Jeremy Brown, Donald Bullock (The King Center), Christopher Burke, Courtney Hill, Peyton Kliewer, Keona Lewis, Travis Liggins, Tabitha Lowe, Marina Martin, Stephanie Merrick, S. Gordon Moore Jr., Sherry Murray, Sarah Strohmenger, Sara Warner, and Bill Winders.

To learn more about the event series, visit: diversity.gatech.edu/mlk-celebration.

The GTDEIC will continuously monitor and assess the Institute’s progress on achieving its goals for becoming a model campus community for diversity, equity, and inclusion and develop evidenced, informed recommendations, which they will submit periodically to Cabrera and the Institute’s Executive Leadership Team for consideration in developing strategic actions.

“Our Diversity and Inclusion Council is one of several action steps announced this past summer to deliver on our promise of inclusion,” said President Cabrera. “As outlined in our new strategic plan, we are striving to remove barriers to access and success, and to build an inclusive community where people of all backgrounds have the opportunity to learn and contribute to our mission. I am grateful to the individuals who volunteered to serve as inaugural council members, and look forward to working closely with them as they identify issues and propose new courses of action.”

Campus research has revealed discrepancies in the satisfaction levels of various groups. The 2017 Faculty and Staff Climate Assessment Surveys and 2018 Student Climate Assessment Survey revealed high levels of faculty, staff, and student satisfaction on a wide array of campus experiences on a number of dimensions measured across multiple social identities, such as faculty rank, job function, gender, and race.

“The surveys also revealed there are some important differences in levels of satisfaction reported regarding some campus experiences,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI). “Disaggregation of the data by social identity reveal lower levels of satisfaction with campus experiences on a number of dimensions measured by the survey that deserve attention and deeper exploration to understand why the differences exist and what action steps, if any, could be taken to address root causes of problematic or potentially adverse differences of experiences for campus members.”

“In sum, the climate assessment reports help us to understand our strengths and suggest areas where we should focus our attention to improve experiences of some members of the Tech community,” Ervin added. “Given the baseline data obtained by the Climate Assessment Surveys, and the recent development of college-level diversity councils, the establishment of an Institute-wide council on diversity, equity, and inclusion is both timely and necessary for the next iteration of an improved overarching strategy to achieve Tech’s goals for diversity and inclusion.”

The GTDEIC will be charged with the following objectives:

• Provide a forum for Georgia Tech stakeholders representing all divisions of the Institute to identify and consider forward-looking, proactive strategies, methods, and approaches to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and outcomes at Georgia Tech;
   
• Create a setting in which Institute leadership can share and vet diversity, equity, and inclusion-related issues and opportunities; and
   
• Develop data-informed recommendations to improve diversity, equity and inclusion and allow the Institute to lead by example as a model institution advancing inclusive innovation.

The group will be chaired by Ervin, and Pearl Alexander, executive director of IDEI’s Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement, will serve as vice chair. The GTDEIC is composed of representatives from across the campus academic and administrative units, faculty, staff and student governance (undergraduate and graduate) and other faculty and staff who enhance the diversity of perspective of the Council.

In addition to Ervin and Alexander, council members include the following:

Chaouki Abdallah, Maryam Alavi, Sonia Alverez-Robinson, Nelson Baker, Raheem Beyah, Terry Blum, Barrett Carson, Kim Cobb, Carol Colatrella, Karie Davis-Nozemack, Melanie DeMaeyer, Stephen Eick, Samuel Ellis, Kaye Husbands Fealing, Bonnie Ferri, Byron Fitch, Kelly Fox, Mary Frank Fox, Steven Girardot, Rebecca “Beki” Grinter, Martha Grover, Kim Harrington, Diley Hernández, LouLou Hong, Darren Hubbard, James Hudgens, Javier Irizarry, Charles Isbell, Denise Johnson-Marshall, Paul Kohn, Renee Kopkowski, Keona Lewis, Susan Lozier, Joe Ludlum, Steve McLaughlin, Joseph Montoya, Tegra Myanna, Frank Neville, Loraine Phillips, Stephanie Ray, Elora Raymond, Michelle Rinehart, David Ross, Leslie Sharp, Todd Stansbury, John Stein, Yuanzhi Tang, Frank Trammer, Richard Utz, and Mitchell Walker.

“AAMI is very excited to host the Fall Leadership Summit,” said Jelani Liddell, assistant director of Outreach Initiatives for OMED: Educational Services and AAMI program director. “Like most other events this year, we’ve had to transition to a virtual format. However, we will maintain many of the physical components of the summit such as a main keynote, concurrent sessions, a campus partner expo, and attendee networking opportunities.

“We have gathered a very impressive group of strong African American male leaders,” Liddell added shortly before the event, “all who are doing great things in their respective fields. This year we will have several sessions at the summit to explore ways our students can engage strategically to improve their communities. It is our hope that our students exchange perspectives and leave fulfilled, renewed, and better equipped.”

Months before the event, the initiative was renewed for the Institute for the tenth consecutive fiscal year by the University System of Georgia.

“We continue to be honored and humbled by the confidence the University System of Georgia places in our institution to assist in its efforts to increase the educational opportunity, performance, and graduation rates of its Black male students,” said S. Gordon Moore Jr., executive director for the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. “This initiative continues to prove successful and beneficial to Georgia Tech, and the entire university system as a whole.”

The summit featured a full day of informative sessions and discussions designed around five themes: voting and activism; leadership and activism; PWIs (Predominately White Institutions) and activism; athletes and activism; and innovation and activism. In addition to Moore, speakers included Georgia Tech’s Raheem Beyah, vice president for Interdisciplinary Research and professor with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Samuel Graham, school chair and professor with the School of Mechanical Engineering; and alumni William “Bill” Stanley and Atlanta City Council member and Georgia Tech Alumni Board of Directors member Andre Dickens.

Guest speakers included Damon Williams, chief catalyst for the National Inclusion Excellence Leadership Academy; Ray Dempsey Jr., vice president and chief diversity officer with BP America and president of the BP Foundation; and author and social activist Shaun King.

Learn more about the African American Male Initiative at Georgia Tech by visiting https://omed.gatech.edu/programs/aami.

Chad Bryant, who directs Tech’s transfer initiatives, said, “We are firmly committed to providing more students the opportunity to earn a Tech degree through expanding capacity, establishing a variety of Transfer Pathway Programs, and collaborating with other colleges and universities locally and nationally.”

First-generation college students (neither parent graduated from college) represent 14% of Tech’s 2020 transfer class. This is Tech’s largest number of first-generation students in a single transfer class — a 29% increase from 2019. This increase is thanks, in part, to the Georgia First Pathway Program. Under the Georgia First Pathway Program, first-year applicants from Georgia — who are not offered first-year admission and have first-generation college student status — have the opportunity to apply to transfer.

“Our goal is to ensure Tech is accessible to Georgia’s most talented students. Public institutions are an engine of social mobility and fundamentally a public good for our state. This pathway is an outgrowth of that commitment,” said Rick Clark, director of undergraduate admission.

This year’s transfer class includes 33% female and 21% underrepresented students (which includes Black/African-American and Hispanic students). These students come from 61 Georgia counties, 35 states, and 22 nations.

Coming in with an average 3.8 GPA and 51 credit hours, this transfer class has a bright future. The top future careers listed by the students in this class include: engineer, computer programmer, scientific researcher, and physician.

Click here for the full 2020 transfer profile.

Charting the Unknown

No two students’ paths to a college education are exactly the same. Some students enroll straight out of high school. Some come from the workforce to pursue their degree. Some transfer from community college. No matter their path, one thing is certain: Each student has traveled a unique journey and overcome significant challenges to get to Georgia Tech.

The First Step on a New Path: Devan Moses

In high school, Devan Moses knew his next step was to attend college. Since no one in his family had pursued higher education before, he saw college as an opportunity to blaze a new trail, break the socioeconomic barrier for his family, and establish stability for his future.

He did not know it at the time, but Devan’s pursuit of a college degree would take him on a journey of self-discovery and eventually lead him to Georgia Tech and his dream career in the artificial intelligence research sector.

Growing up in a single-parent household, the main concerns for Devan’s family usually centered around making ends meet and keeping food on the table. Since college was not a frequent or typical topic of conversation for his family, Devan did not consider all the planning and preparation involved in the college application process.

“In a first-generation family, no one tells you the details about college. Parents who have not gone to college think all you need is good high school grades. In reality, you also need extracurriculars —something to stick out from the crowd,” Devan said.

When it came time to complete and submit college applications his senior year, Devan teamed up with a fellow classmate who was also a first-generation student. Together, they stumbled their way through the college application process.

“I wanted to do my best applying to colleges, but, at the same time, I did not know how to apply or if I even could apply knowing where I came from. It was disheartening, because I grew up around a lot of people who were not interested in going to college,” Devan said.

But Devan was accepted to Kennesaw State University’s Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering, where he went on to study computer engineering technology. This was a huge transition and all new to him.

By the start of his second semester at Southern Polytech, Devan felt as if he was just going through the motions. He came to the tough realization that he was not ready for college, and decided to join the United States Marines in 2013.

“I felt like I was wasting my time [at Southern Polytech], because I was not putting in the effort. I was not in the right frame of mind to tackle school. I figured the military would be a better move for me, then I could come back and start college again,” Devan said.

After completing basic training, Devan attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California where he learned how to speak Pashto, Afghanistan’s official language, in just 18 months. He attended language classes for eight hours every single day, learning 20 words per day. He also participated in immersive trips to study Afghan culture, all while continuing to maintain his physical training and participate in military drills. That’s where Devan adopted the consistency, motivation, and self-discipline he had been seeking.

“The people I went to class with at the institute really changed my perspective on life. Everyone was there for a purpose. Seeing my closest friends work hard to accomplish great things and achieve their goals motivated me to push myself harder,” Devan said.

He took this new perspective to his station at the National Security Agency (NSA) cryptologic center in Georgia where he spent his remaining time in the Marines working as an Afghan linguist and analyst for the government. It was at NSA Georgia that Devan was first introduced to some of the artificial intelligence research projects Georgia Tech was leading for the government. Tech’s interdisciplinary approach using a combination of machine learning, computer science, psychology, and neuroscience inspired Devan to consider a career in academic research.

“For me, I think it would be really fulfilling to be a researcher, because you are exploring the unknown. I look forward to integrating ideals from psychology and implementing what we know about the human brain into a machine, versus relying solely on statistics and big data,” Devan said.

After finishing up with NSA Georgia, Devan decided he was ready to go back to school. He attended Georgia State University for three semesters to improve his grades, then applied and was accepted to Georgia Tech’s incoming Fall 2020 transfer class through the Veterans Pathway Program.

While at Georgia Tech, Devan plans to take advantage of the undergraduate research opportunities and VIP Program. He is excited to experience Tech’s diverse, innovative culture and surround himself with other motivated, competitive people that will push him to be better.

For Devan, one of the most important things about being a first-generation student is the ability to help his younger siblings and cousins navigate the college application process, so they can avoid the same experience he had.

He hopes his story will encourage other first-generation students to pursue their college goals and be proud of their journey getting there.

“If you are motivated and want to go to college, then you can do it. Even if you did not do well in high school, there is still a path for you to go to a great school. It may not be the most perfect path, but you can be successful,” said Devan. “Just remember, you are a trailblazer doing something others have not done before. Be proud of that, and don’t diminish your accomplishments within the community.”

The Beginning of a New Chapter: Kenisha Stills

Kenisha Stills has always been interested in foreign languages. After studying Japanese in high school, she knew her next step was to attend college. She saw college as an opportunity to expand her horizons — especially as no one in her family had ever pursued higher education.

“Growing up in Toledo, Ohio, I don’t remember a lot of people talking about going to college or what they wanted to do after high school. For my parents and most of the people I grew up around, the consensus seemed to be that you graduate from high school and then go to work. I wanted to go to college, travel the world, and experience other cultures to learn more about myself and others, and to do more with my life, but my parents didn’t really support that,” Kenisha said. 

In 2007, before the start of her junior year, Kenisha moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, to spend her last two years of high school living with her aunt and uncle who wanted to provide her more stability and encourage her to chase her professional and educational dreams. Kenisha attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro after graduating from high school but quickly realized within her first year that, as a first-generation college student, she was not adequately prepared for college life.

“I didn’t know what to expect. I was not prepared to deal with some of the conflict that I had to face when living in a shared space with other people I didn’t know. It ended up being a bad experience for me that year. After a year at UNCG, I started looking into other universities that would be a better fit for me,” she said.  

Kenisha decided to apply to The Ohio State University as a transfer student in 2010. However, she was ultimately unable to attend because she did not receive her parents’ support in completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Kenisha was completely discouraged. She had no idea what was coming next.

After drifting for a year, Kenisha enlisted in the United States Air Force in 2011. 

“At 6 a.m. one day, I walked 8 miles to the first military recruiting center near my father’s house and started my enlistment process with the Air Force that very day. I figured if I could gain responsibility of myself and become an independent by FAFSA’s definition, then I could eventually go back to college,” Kenisha said. 

After completing basic military training, she continued her training at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California, where she learned how to speak Korean in just 18 months. Kenisha attended language classes for eight hours every single day. She even had the opportunity to study at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, where she developed a personal appreciation of Korean culture through unforgettable experiences with her homestay family and friends in Korea. That motivated her to continue her Korean studies after DLI — and now here at Georgia Tech.

Kenisha took that passion to her station at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, located just 45 minutes away from the North Korean border. During her two years at Osan, Kenisha excelled as a ground linguist for the 303^rd Intelligence Squadron. She even helped develop and implement the base’s official Korean Language Training Program to break down barriers to increasingly more advanced translation and transcription abilities for other Korean linguists preparing for the Defense Language Proficiency Test, a regularly administered language aptitude test.

It was at Osan Air Base that Kenisha first experienced the advanced technology that the United States Military had at its disposal. She was inspired by how these technologies enabled her team to secure communications over vast distances between ground stations and military reconnaissance systems while in close proximity to a hostile and technologically capable adversary. 

“We were using this technology to monitor potential military provocations from across the DMZ [demilitarized zone], which made me realize how important these high-tech assets were to defending our base and staying steps ahead of our adversaries, and also how important they were to protecting the people right next to me and people back at home,” Kenisha said. “I recognized the value of having these technologies in the context of what we were doing in Korea, but also in keeping people safe, protected from catastrophic events or potentially fatal situations. While in Korea, I discovered a new passion for technology and was influenced by those experiences to study more about computers to ultimately learn how to develop technologies similar to those I deployed at Osan that could potentially save lives.”

Six years after graduating from high school, Kenisha felt she was ready to leave the Air Force to resume school. She began searching for a college program that would enable her to study cybersecurity and improve her proficiency in the Korean language. As it turns out, Georgia Tech was the perfect fit.

“I honestly didn’t see anywhere else on the East Coast that could offer me a space where I could engage my passion for applying technology in impactful ways, cultural exploration and dialogue, and the support from a community that would enable me to reach out to and encourage others to pursue an education and life-changing opportunities,” she said. “Georgia Tech is where it’s at for me.”

She was accepted into Tech’s Fall 2020 transfer class as a dual-major in computer engineering and applied languages and intercultural studies in Korean.

While at Tech, Kenisha hopes to take advantage of the Institute’s various connections to industry leaders in defense technologies. She also wants to work with Tech’s first-generation student and military advocacy groups to educate low-income, first-generation student and military veteran communities about going to college, and support them on their journey to and through college. And she’s excited about experiencing Tech’s diverse, innovative culture and surrounding herself with others willing to take risks and take initiative in changing lives.

Kenisha hopes her story will provide other first-generation students a sense of inspiration and confidence that they, too, can graduate from college and pursue their dreams. 

“Don’t let the fear of not seeing anyone who looks like you going to college stop you from going to college or educating and improving yourself. It’s OK if you don’t want to go to college straight out of high school; there’s a lot of other options out there for you and a lot of other paths to college that’ll present an opportunity to you that could change your life, open your eyes to the world around you and to things you didn’t know about yourself before, and show you what truly matters to you.”

It was in the context of that last detail that ISyE reached out to Caldwell, who enthusiastically agreed to share – among other topics – his thoughts on how his Ecuadorian family has shaped his personal values, what it’s like to be a Hispanic STEM student at the Institute, and the impact of GT-SHPE on his college experience. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

We are in a time where conversations around the experiences of people of color are being rightfully foregrounded. What thoughts have you had about this cultural moment?

Our nation has not only grappled with a pandemic that is disproportionately affecting minority communities, but we also have been repeatedly shocked by instances of police brutality that are just a glimpse of what the Black community in the U.S. regularly faces. The dire need for social action is inescapable.

Yet I look ahead, feeling both challenged and optimistic. More than ever before, people are awakening to these perpetual injustices – although the reluctance to make substantive change and “what about-isms” unfortunately has been quick to follow. I personally wish to work toward making this moment a catalyst for a focused movement that is built for the long-term. Our generation has a momentous calling to funnel innovation and conscience into needed social change.

Tell us about your background and family origin. How has being of Ecuadorian extraction impacted your life?

My parents met in the small town of Sucúa, Ecuador. My mother, a town resident, was a waitress, and my father was a Peace Corps volunteer from the U.S. Both struggled with jobs that paid less than minimum wage, and they moved to the U.S. with few financial resources and big dreams of being able to support their family. Raised traveling back and forth between the U.S. and Ecuador, I was deeply molded to value the integrity of community and the significance of culture; this truly informed the ambitions I have and the value I hold for serving others. I am thankful for a heritage that has inspired me to spark innovation for the underserved and to never lose sight of la familia’s profound importance. 

What would you like the ISyE and larger Georgia Tech communities to know about being a Hispanic student at the Institute? 

I am so grateful for the way our Institute not only values diversity and supports our Latinx/Hispanic community but also amplifies our voices and unlocks opportunities for us to advance with confidence through the Office of Hispanic Initiatives, the Office of Minority Education, and other core initiatives at Tech. There are certainly barriers and stereotypes that have posed challenges throughout my college journey. At the same time, I still face biased perceptions around my very presence in STEM and have been kept out of internships, organizations, and professional opportunities simply for not having a more traditional background and “fit.”

Fortunately, ISyE and the broader Tech community have forged a culture that embraces differences and truly sets the tone for leading with diversity. Now in my third year, I look back at having been selected for the pilot Freshman Diversity Leaders Internship with McKinsey & Company as a testament to Georgia Tech’s leadership on this front, as it was one of the few schools in the U.S. to be part of this launch propelling top diverse students.

When did you get involved in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and how has the organization contributed to your college experience?

I got involved with GT-SHPE my very first semester at Georgia Tech, and it has honestly been a transformative experience. I find GT-SHPE to be an organization that is unique in the different experiences it offers students, both professionally and socially. I have had a chance to be involved with everything from our Mini World Cup, singing for the Taste of Latin America (an event showcasing Hispanic culture for all students), being a PEP mentor, and – currently – serving as external vice president. GT-SHPE is a place where I have truly felt at home, with people who resonate with my background and connect on shared interests and passions.

As the second largest collegiate SHPE chapter in the U.S., we now have 340 members. Having raised about $40,000 just this semester to fund all programmatic activities, it has been immensely rewarding for me to lead our corporate relations and events, national convention, and professional experience program. This is a community I have been able to lean on and grow with, and in return, it is one I wish to propel further so each member can achieve their dreams. 

Tell us more about PEP.

PEP stands for our Professional Experience Program. At its core, PEP is an opportunity for motivated students – PEPies – to be individually paired with older students – PEPos – who serve as mentors. This program is extremely actionable and provides a phenomenal outlet for students (particularly first-years) to transition into Georgia Tech with a gust of wind in their sails. As part of the program, students participate in everything from workshops on resume writing and personal brand building to learning how to navigate all aspects of their Georgia Tech journey. PEPies are encouraged and equipped to believe in their exciting potential as Hispanic students at Georgia Tech.

For me, it’s full-circle to have been a PEPo last year and now to be leading the program of 50 or so students. These one-on-one interactions that take place through the program are some of the most meaningful to me.

Anything final thoughts?

I believe that an integral part of the narrative of future innovation is being written by the ideas that receive venture capital backing, yet with funding only going to 9% women, 1% Black, and 2% Latinx founders, there is a glaring need to improve entrepreneurial diversity. 

At the start of this school year, I connected with local VCs, entrepreneurs, and Institute program directors to share my idea for a Georgia Tech-based, student-run VC that would specifically support underrepresented minority student founders. I am currently in the process of building this fund, Futuro Ventures, with support from CREATE-X leadership. If you are a student, faculty member, or alum interested in learning more either about the funding or operating side, feel free to reach out to me!

Nazario, an award-winning journalist whose stories have tackled some of this country’s most intractable problems, such as poverty, drug addiction, and immigration, has won two Pulitzer Prizes. She is best known for “Enrique’s Journey,” her story of a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother in the U.S. Published as a series in the Los Angeles Times, “Enrique’s Journey” won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2003. It was turned into a book and became a national bestseller.

“Latinx are nearly 1 in 5 Americans now in the United States, so I think putting a focus on Latinos is really important,” said Nazario.

“I have written about many social justice issues as a reporter, but it was really my past that has guided me to fight for perhaps the most vulnerable, I think – children who arrive alone at our borders and are often running from harm,” she said before launching into harrowing stories of journeying with children to cross Central American countries to reach relatives (often parents) in the U.S. and discussion about the need for better allowances for migrants to enter the country.

“When a child is knocking at our door and is in danger, I believe a country like ours should open the door," she added.

“Sonia Nazario is truly committed to social justice," said Jorge Breton, director of OHI. "Her lecture was powerful. Learning about the struggles and experiences of many immigrants gave me and others a different perspective about the conditions they face in their native countries, made us reflect on what we as individuals and as a nation could do to help them, and provided us with a better appreciation of what it means to live in this country."

To learn more about 2020 Hispanic Heritage Month at Georgia Tech, visit: https://hispanicoffice.gatech.edu/events/hispanic-heritage-month.

NOTE: This story has been edited to remove the video recording of the lecture.

Register for #NB40 Art Unveiling

Support Nu Beta Endowment*
*Please include "Nu Beta Endowment" under "Other Designations."

Georgia Tech Arts is excited to support Georgia Tech’s Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated^®, Nu Beta Chapter as a marketing and event streaming partner.

About #NB40 Art Commission
In 1979, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated^®, Nu Beta Chapter was chartered at Georgia Tech and became the first black sorority recognized by the Georgia Tech Pan Hellenic Council. In honor of the organization's 40th anniversary, alumna Maria Bailey Benson, IE 1992 and MSIE 1994, led the commission of two artworks to recognize all of the contributions of Nu Beta Chapter and Alumnae to the Tech community over the past four decades and as a tribute to all Black women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). The two pieces, Sister and Her Mind is Open, will be displayed prominently in Crosland Tower, Georgia Tech's library, for all to enjoy for years to come. Tracy Murrell is the artist selected for the project and is a prominent Atlanta-based artist and curator who describes her work as "a celebration of the beauty and grace that I see in all women of color."

“The members of Nu Beta have always been campus leaders. As a continuation of that leadership, alumnae of Nu Beta commissioned a prominent black female artist, Tracy Murrell, to create two pieces of artwork to celebrate Black women in STEM. These artworks are the first commissioned artworks located in the new Georgia Tech library, as well as the first artworks commissioned by a Georgia Tech Black Greek organization,” said Benson.

Support the Nu Beta Endowment Scholarship
The #NB40 Art Commission also coincides with the launch of a new campaign supporting the Nu Beta Endowment Scholarship previously established by AKA alumnae.

According to Benson, “Nu Beta alumnae’s philanthropic leadership at Georgia Tech will now include a named endowed scholarship, annual donations to Roll Call to support the undergrads, and permanent commissioned artwork in the library where we ALL spent countless hours persevering. Nu Beta has had less than 250 members over the past 40-some years but has an indelible legacy of being ‘small, but mighty!’”  

To support the Nu Beta Endowment Scholarship, please click below and include "Nu Beta Endowment" under "Other Designations."

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Hosted by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI), the event featured campus presenters discussing disability awareness and its importance to diversity, inclusion, and the campus community, and more than 600 viewers tuned in. This year marks the 30^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush.

“Unfortunately, many members of the Tech community have a limited understanding of the term ‘access’ when it comes to understanding the myriad challenges faced by some members of our community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for IDEI, ahead of the event. “Many of us understand issues of physical access to facilities and technologies. However, fewer realize that many members of our community face additional barriers — both visible and invisible to most of us.”

Featured speaker Haben Girma, the first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and author of Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law School, opened the event and relayed the importance of disability inclusion and disability technologies.

“If we can harness more awareness between disability and technology and innovation, everyone will benefit,” Girma said, speaking with the assistance of a hearing translator and braille computer.

“I have a braille computer; along the bottom are dots. I run my fingers over the dots and feel the patterns,” Girma demonstrated. “The patterns of the dots make braille. During this presentation, this is what I’m using for communication. I have an assistant who will be typing what people are saying.”

Girma urged viewers to let go of the idea that disabilities are a burden. “We have to resist those stories and instead reframe what disability means.” She described winning battles while at Harvard Law (such as successfully arguing for braille menus in campus cafeterias) and learning to salsa dance and surf. Today, she travels the world teaching the benefits of choosing inclusion.

The event also featured three panel presentations and discussions, including a group who discussed their experiences with their disabilities on campus and in everyday life.

“Awareness is only one part of it,” said Danny Housley, assistive technology manager with Tools for Life, part of the College of Design’s Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI). “I use a white cane and I’m blind. You’re now aware that I have a disability — what does that change? We want to move toward acceptance of disability and for people to look at it like a trait, like anything else. I may be blind, but that doesn’t mean that I’m incapable of working.”

“I think this is a great step toward things that we need to be doing more of,” added Liz Persaud, also a CIDI staffer and panelist. “Recognizing that we have a diversity symposium and being able to focus specifically on disability issues is unbelievably important.”

Other panels focused on Tech-centered disability technology research and development, design, and Georgia Tech’s IT accessibility policies.

“The 2020 Diversity Symposium raised critical awareness of accessibility issues and exclusion that many in our Georgia Tech community and around the world face due to poor design of the built and digital environment,” said Chantal Kerssens, panelist and CIDI’s executive director and director of research. “Disabilities, permanent and temporary, are much more common than we think. Removing barriers and designing for inclusion opens up society and unlocks joy and productivity from which we all stand to benefit.”

The symposium also featured live captioning from CIDI.

“The Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation was a proud partner in planning the event and we were proud to share our lived experiences, our scholarship, and our service to communities around the country,” Kerssens added.

The event ended with the annual awards presented to this year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence honorees and the Diversity Champion Awards honorees, who were recognized for their achievements in accessibility and inclusion on campus. They included Cassie S. Mitchell, assistant professor, Biomedical Engineering (faculty winner); Johan “John” Rempel, UX/ICT quality assurance manager, CIDI (staff winner); Nandita Gupta, graduate student, Human-Computer Interaction (student winner); and the Writing and Communication Program in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts School of Literature, Media, and Communication (unit winner).

“This year’s Diversity Symposium told the story that every person in the Tech community is valued and entitled to full access to all that we have to offer to fulfill each person’s aspirations, Ervin added. “Seeing access as an issue of inclusion demonstrates that everyone is welcomed and that we should all be dedicated to eliminating barriers of any kind for our community members.”

To learn more and to view the event’s panel recordings, visit: diversity.gatech.edu/12th-annual-georgia-tech-diversity-symposium.

A full transcript of the event is also available here. 

This is the seventh consecutive year the Institute has been named a HEED Award recipient.

“Our diversity and inclusion core values support our vision for building and sustaining an inclusive and welcoming community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI). “In the years ahead, these values will also undergird our commitment to ensuring success for all our students, staff, and faculty so they can thrive and succeed unimpeded by social barriers.”

Open to all colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the award measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.

The HEED Award announcement comes on the heels of Tech’s enrollment of a record number of first-year, transfer, and dual-enrollment students this fall and IDEI’s creation of Diversity and Inclusion Education and Training earlier this year to lead a broad range of education and training focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion for the campus community.

"The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion," said Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. "As we continue to see a record number of HEED Award applicants each year, nearly every school tells us they use the application itself as a tool to create new programs and to benchmark their accomplishments across campus. The process allows them to reflect on their successes and also determine where more work needs to be done. We also continue to raise the standards in selecting HEED institutions."

To learn more and for a full listing of 2020 HEED Award recipients, visit https://www.insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/2020-recipients/.

The typically five-week summer intensive academic program was shortened to three.

The incoming first-year student participants engaged in the program’s various community, athletic, and corporate activities while wearing protective masks.

Academic courses were hybrid – and smaller – to accommodate for physical distancing.

Students resided in single-occupancy dorm rooms in the campus’ Gray House (formerly known as Fourth Street Apartments).

A smaller cohort of 75 were welcomed this year.

Still, the 40^th iteration of the program successfully upheld its pledge to prepare incoming first-year underrepresented minority students for college life at Georgia Tech by addressing the 7Cs: computer science, chemistry, calculus, communication, career development, cultural competency, and community service.

“The 2020 Challenge program will be remembered as historic for at least two reasons,” said Archie Ervin, vice president of Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on a recorded video message during the program’s closing ceremonies on August 13.

“First, you as members of Challenge 2020 helped defy the odds and overcome obstacles the Covid-19 pandemic presented to us which threatened our chances for even conducting Challenge for its 40^th straight year. Second, history will acknowledge all of you for doing all the right things and staying focused on your academic goals that helped make Challenge 2020 successful in spite of the odds against us,” he continued. “Even though Challenge 2020 was shortened by a couple of weeks, I’m confident we accomplished all of our important goals and objects for the program.”

“Challenge has been one of the best experiences of my life,” said Cameron Heard, an incoming biomedical engineering major. “The academic courses here were very rigorous and I feel like they’ve prepared me for the courses I’ll see at Tech. Most importantly, I feel Challenge has helped me grow overall as a person.”

In addition to the academic rigor, participants took part in virtual dinners with corporate partners; performed community service activities; participated for a scavenger hunt; made new friends during the opening weekend cookout; and battled the rapids of the Ocoee River during the annual white water rafting excursion – all while practicing safe measures in the wake of the pandemic.

“We implemented additional measures for Challenge outside of what many of our participants were used to practicing on their own, so naturally there was a period of adjustment,” said Jelani Liddell, OMED’s assistant director of Outreach Initiatives and director of the program. “Our Challenge counselors did a great job monitoring and reminding students of safety protocols. And our participants understood the precautions and adjusted very well to our modified program.”

Some of the added precautions were: requesting participants to self-isolate prior to arrival on campus; single-occupancy housing on campus; restricted travel off campus; required isolation upon non-essential off-campus travel; required face coverings in all public spaces; body temperature monitoring; designated isolation rooms; and physical distancing guidelines.

“Our hybrid-program model allowed us to maintain safe distancing while still maintaining the engagement dynamic which consisted of participant social interaction and peer relationship development,” added Liddell. “We wanted to ensure that physical distancing did not assume social distancing. We believe we were able to accomplish that this year.”

The closing program was conducted across two ceremonies to account for physical distancing. Awards for most improved and exemplary academic performance were presented to six students in the program's computer science, mathematics, and chemistry courses.

Corporate sponsor BP joined with OMED to support the recognition of 35 students for outstanding academic performance, including 18 who earned a 4.0 GPA during the program.

“Coming into college, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” said Nathnael Aberra, a computer science major, ahead of the closing. “But Challenge has put my worries to rest. I feel great that I got the opportunity to give myself this head start at Tech.”

This year’s closing ceremonies also included the presentation of a new award on behalf of Tech's Center of Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED): the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) offered awards to five Challenge students eligible to receive an annual scholarship. “You are an impressive, proven, and resilient group," said Sybrina Atwaters, director of OMED and academic coordinator of Challenge. “During unprecedented times, this cohort has confronted every challenge placed before them, collectively earned over $30,000 in incentives for the upcoming Fall semester, and established a new Challenge academic record."

The 2020 program hosted participants from seven states with an ethnicity breakdown of 59% Black/African American, 32% Latinx, 4% Asian, and 4% two or more ethnicities. Student participants majored in more than a dozen areas of study.

This year's program was supported by corporate sponsors BP, Eaton, and Procter & Gamble.

To learn more about the Challenge program, visit omed.gatech.edu/programs/challenge.

The regulations mandate how colleges and universities receiving federal funding must investigate and adjudicate sexual misconduct cases under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities, including employment.

At USG institutions, sexual misconduct is addressed under Policy 6.7 in the Board of Regents Policy Manual. Much of the policy remains the same and Georgia Tech will continue to address incidents of sexual misconduct brought to its attention. One notable change will be in the hearing process for Title IX cases — institutions will now be required to provide an advisor to either party who does not have one. The advisor will have the right to cross-examine, in contrast to the previous Title IX process, where all questions during a hearing were submitted to and asked by a hearing panel. 

Georgia Tech’s Title IX office will host information sessions in the coming academic year to provide opportunities for the campus community to learn more.

Student support and services at Georgia Tech remain the same. Confidential victim-survivor support, prevention and education resources, and other services are available through VOICE, Georgia Tech’s sexual violence prevention program. Support is also available through the Counseling Center; Center for Assessment, Referral, and Education; and the Title IX office. Employees also have access to confidential resources through the Employee Assistance Program and health care providers.

Panelists and advisors are a vital part of the hearing process, and faculty and staff volunteers are needed to serve in these roles. Annual training is provided, and panelists and advisors serve on a rotating basis, usually one to two times per academic year.

To learn more, contact Marcia Bull Stadeker, Title IX Coordinator, at marcia.stadeker@gatech.edu or 404.385.5583.

Excerpt:

“Enhancing global competence and cross-cultural understanding are core priorities of the School of Modern Languages. By adding Hebrew and Swahili, we are strengthening our efforts in Middle Eastern and North African Studies and applied language learning to serve all Georgia Tech students, regardless of major,” said Anna Westerstahl Stenport, professor of Global Studies and chair in Georgia Tech’s School of Modern Languages and founding co-director of the Atlanta Global Studies Center (AGSC).

Read full article.

The “Remembering John Lewis” section of the Black Lives Matter reading room includes e-books, films, journal articles and primary source material from the NAACP database. Among the specific resources are a New York Times opinion piece he wrote in 1975, correspondence between Lewis and labor and activist groups, and original photography from the National Archive.

To view the resources, please visit the Black Lives Matter reading room, located on the Library’s website.

That conversation took place on July 16, online, hosted by IDEI. Tia Jackson-Truitt, director of Diversity and Inclusion Education and Training within IDEI, moderated “Race at Georgia Tech: A Call to Action.” The event drew more than 1,000 unique viewers during 90 minutes of candid reflections on Black experiences at Tech — and talking about about what comes next, as the Institute and the nation come to terms with the reality of systemic racism at a moment in which change feels both possible and palpable.

It was the first in a series of events that seeks to shine the light on painful racial truths and inspire the action required to bring about change. It featured students, faculty, and staff who, each in their own way, have worked to make Georgia Tech more inclusive. They were tasked with being open, honest, and vulnerable about their lived experiences, and they did that and more.

Mechanical engineering undergraduate Mykala Sinclair began by observing that Black students, and especially Black student organizations, are usually asked to participate in wider campus events when they involve a “Black” issue. “It’s almost a silo,” she said. “The Institute, by not showing care and interest in communicating consistently with the Black community at Georgia Tech, has created that narrative.”

Nettie Brown, third-year Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, first visited the Tech campus as part of the Focus program, which encourages the brightest underrepresented minority students from around the country to pursue graduate studies at Georgia Tech. When she returned as a doctoral student, one of the first things she noticed was that “people stare a lot. And there’s a difference between an admiration stare and a ‘What are they doing here?’ stare.” She described wearing her BuzzCard everywhere she goes on campus, “not just for the quick access, but so people will know, that’s a student, faculty, staff, she’s a something — she belongs here.”

Associate Professor Manu Platt in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering recalled his first day in a Tech classroom. For the Morehouse College graduate, it was his first experience teaching white students. He was 29. “The challenges I got as a young faculty member from 18- to 20-year-olds in class were about my intelligence, where I got my degrees, did I deserve to be here, why did I get hired — it shocked me in my early days.”

Since then, he has taken an active role in making sure that Black students in biomedical engineering feel like they belong there. “If I hear of something being said to or about one of our students, my job is to go in and correct it. I don’t want to drive our students away from science and engineering” because of a hostile environment.

Where to start, then? Change the environment. Participants agreed on the necessity of creating and nurturing a pipeline and networks for Black students at Tech, and for white faculty — and students — to be intentional, persistent allies who will take the lead in solving problems that are the result of deeply entrenched racism.

Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, executive director of Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting, concluded the session, noting that the work being done to improve equity and inclusion represents a “great beginning. But we’ve got to accelerate the momentum. We have to take courageous action to address the things that we know are real. Racism is a societal cancer. I don’t know that we have gone as far to be as fierce as we need to to really address it at the root.”

Other panelists included Seth Marder, Regents Professor and Georgia Power Chair in Energy Efficiency in Chemistry; Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; and President Ángel Cabrera.

Cabrera wrapped up the event by identifying steps that Tech is taking to move beyond words to action. First, Tech’s executive leadership team will engage in anti-racist training this summer. Next, the Institute will set up a community police council made up of a cross-section of students, faculty, and staff to meet regularly with the Georgia Tech Police Department, ask questions, and share concerns. There are also plans to launch an Institute-wide diversity and inclusion council, to develop new implicit bias training with greater attention to racial biases, and to highlight diversity and inclusion in the new strategic plan currently under development.

“We have to act today,” Cabrera urged. Before signing off, he turned to the camera and said, “At Georgia Tech, Black lives matter.”

Starting with the 2021 admission cycle, first-year applicants can select one of three admission plans: Early Action 1, Early Action 2, and Regular Decision.

Early Action 1 is reserved specifically for Georgia students, including Georgia residents attending high school out of state. These students who apply during Early Action 1 will be given priority consideration and receive their admission decision in December. The deadline to apply for Early Action 1 will be October 15.

Giving Georgia students the ability to apply earlier allows the admission team to prioritize their review of in-state applications.

“We are confident this change will benefit all of our applicants and future students,” said Rick Clark, director of Undergraduate Admission. “As a public institution, our primary responsibility is to our state. Providing an application plan specifically for Georgians reflects that commitment.”

“We know our in-state applicants are phenomenally talented and have a lot of great options for college,” continued Clark. “This change allows us to admit Georgia students a month earlier than in years past and begin conversations with them about why they should choose Tech.”

Students who are not Georgia residents and attend a high school out of state are eligible to apply for Early Action 2, with a deadline of November 2. This new deadline for out-of-state students is more in line with school start dates in other parts of the country and provides those students additional time to complete their applications. Early Action 2 decisions will be released in mid-January.

“Many high schools around the country and the world do not begin until after Labor Day,” Clark said. “We’ve heard from counselors and school leaders that November 2 is a more helpful deadline for their students. Listening, refining, and creating policies that are beneficial to students and families is always our goal. Establishing an Early Action 2 deadline accomplishes that.”

The Regular Decision deadline remains the same for all students. This year it will be January 4, 2021, with decisions released in mid-March.

The application for first-year admission is available starting August 1, 2020.

More information: https://admission.gatech.edu/first-year/deadlines-fees

“In the aftermath of the national upheaval over the killing of unarmed Black Americans, the campus community has openly called out racism in our society,” Archie Ervin, vice president for IDEI and chief diversity officer at Tech, said last month. “We have heard their voices and understand that the campus body is not simply satisfied with platitudes – they want change and they are asking for our direction.”

Tia Jackson-Truitt, director of IDEI’s Diversity and Inclusion Education and Training, added, “Now that there has been a collective raising of consciousness on issues of race and racism, the campus community has been very vocal in telling us that they are ready to have these critical conversations.”

In addition to Cabrera, the July 16 event will feature Ervin; Jackson-Truitt; Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, executive director for Strategic Consulting; Nettie Brown, biomedical engineering doctoral student and vice president of Academic and Research Affairs, graduate Student Government Association (SGA); Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; Seth Marder, Regents Professor and Georgia Power Chair in Energy Efficiency, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Manu Platt, associate professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering; and Mykala Sinclair, mechanical engineering undergraduate student and vice president of Student Life, undergraduate SGA.

Each panelist will discuss their personal experiences with race and ways in Georgia Tech can expand on its commitment to eradicate overt and implicit racism, and build a more diverse and inclusive campus.

The event will be the first of a continuing series on race.

Following the July 16 discussion, its recording will be posted online for viewing. Questions may be submitted for panelists in advance to institutediversity@gatech.edu. They may also be submitted during the live event.

Date and time:

July 16, 11 a.m.to 12:30 p.m.— https://c.gatech.edu/race-at-GT

“A lot of people would like to talk about race, racial inequality, and the impact of racism, but don’t know where to start,” said Tiffiny Hughes-Troutman, licensed psychologist and director of the Center for Assessment, Referral, and Education (CARE) at Georgia Tech. “Some worry that others won’t understand their points of view or fear that what they say might be offensive to others. Also, individuals may be confused about how to be an ally and supporter and how to make an impact in a positive, meaningful way.”

That’s the position Steve McLaughlin found himself in until a few years ago. McLaughlin, dean and Southern Company Chair of the College of Engineering, said that he is like many white people when it comes to talking about race: cautious because he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing.

“There are your intentions, and then there’s how it’s received,” he said. “The fear of saying the wrong thing is so strong. It’s such a block to making a difference and to being able to work on the things you feel strongly about.”

McLaughlin said that throughout his adult life he has considered himself an ally of groups that sometimes feel marginalized or misunderstood. He thought it was enough to see himself as nonracist. His thinking changed when the son he and his wife adopted from Guatemala as a baby entered his teen years.

“I started to see how the world treated him and processed him and, quite honestly, didn’t process him because they didn’t see him. Or didn’t want to see him,” McLaughlin said. “He was raised as we would have raised any other child. Then all of a sudden the world starts to just process him differently. I became more attuned to some of the things that African Americans and Latinos experience — everyday microaggressions and racism. I became more passionate. And, I decided I need to speak up.” 

McLaughlin said he is still trying to find his voice in terms of race. He posts on social media about his journey, and he shared his experiences with Transformative Narratives, a digital story library curated by the Office of Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI).

“I did it rather quietly at first,” he said. “I was the chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, then came into this role as dean and realized I have a platform. I can pick the things I think are important to talk about, and this is one of them.”

Where to Begin?

When trying to start a conversation about race, Hughes-Troutman suggests starting small.

“There is great potential in intergroup dialogue that leverages diversity and creates opportunity for connection among large groups,” she said, “but I would suggest starting on an individual level and creating a safe space with friends, colleagues, or co-workers you genuinely care about and whose lives and experiences you are sincerely interested in learning about.”

Stephanie Ray agrees.

“I want you to call me because you really care about me. Don’t call just because you think you should join the conversation about race,” said Ray, associate dean of students and director of Student Diversity Programs in the Division of Student Life.

Ray added that people should not expect their Black colleagues to be the only ones talking about or even leading the conversation. “Everyone has a responsibility to do some heavy lifting,” she said.

McLaughlin is determined to do his part.

“I have African American colleagues with whom I have close enough relationships to initiate the race talk and feel uninhibited in both directions,” he said. “I haven’t had many, but a few, that I could really have a direct conversation about race and not feel worried. I want to get more and more comfortable talking about it.”

Current Climate and What’s Next

Ongoing political protests against police brutality and systemic racism, combined with the anxiety of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, are having a significant impact on students, according to Hughes-Troutman.

“Students share feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, and grief as they process these complex emotions and focus on other milestones, experiences, and events,” she said. “The Covid-19 pandemic is incredibly stressful, and many students are grieving many losses — losses of lives through death, and the loss of their former lifestyle.”

Even when looking at the intersection of racism and Covid-19, Hughes-Troutman is optimistic because of the nature of the conversations taking place.

“I certainly hope it’s a turning point,” she said. “This is a time for racial healing, and these conversations are more important than ever. Dialogue, affirmation and connectedness, and a sense of purpose and agency are ways to move us forward.”

McLaughlin wants to keep the conversation going, and make the most of it. He said the College of Engineering has been talking with student groups and will be collaborating with IDEI to prioritize what can be done within the College to improve the climate in a short time.

“These moments seem to come and go, and people move on to something else,” McLaughlin said. “I’m determined to not let this moment pass.” 

Ray suggests that applying Georgia Tech’s spirit of “We can do that” is the approach to take when addressing race-related issues.

“Look at all of the research Georgia Tech does. If we are willing to put in the hard work for STEM, we should be willing to work hard to improve the human condition — which is part of our new mission statement,” Ray said. “Let’s put these great minds together to do the work needed, not only for Georgia Tech, but for the world.”

“Last weekend, President Cabrera and I discussed at length the horrific events that have occurred in the black community in the U.S. in recent weeks,” he began. “The statement the president released Sunday about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the deaths of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbury in Brunswick, Georgia, inspired me.”

Read his full statement on the Chief Diversity Officer’s Corner blog.

The approved mission statement reads: The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university established by the state of Georgia in Atlanta in 1885 and committed to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.

Feedback from internal and external campus stakeholders was used to guide the development of the mission statement.

Along with this new mission statement, the strategic planning process has also produced a vision and foundational narrative, values definition, and strategic themes, which are currently being further refined by active working groups. 

The strategic planning process is currently in phase two: goal setting. Working groups are focusing on six strategic themes that will drive the Institute’s actionable goals — Amplify Impact, Champion Innovation, Connect Globally, Expand Access, Cultivate Well-Being, Lead by Example. These themes resulted from the first phase of the strategic planning process: the visioning phase. During visioning, more than 5,700 students, faculty, staff, alumni, campus partners, and community leaders shared varied perspectives, aspirations, and dreams to help shape the future of the Institute. From there, the steering committee worked to extrapolate and organize the most relevant and salient themes from the data collected. The committee then divided into four sub-committees to draft the mission statement, vision narrative, values definitions, and strategic themes that are now being further developed.

“Our mission to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition has never been more relevant and necessary,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “Georgia Tech is a leading research university devoted to inclusive and impactful innovation, relentlessly committed to serving the public good and breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges of our time. Our many contributions in combating the covid-19 pandemic offer a clear illustration of what our mission means in practice.”

Learn more about the work of these groups and each strategic impact theme by visiting the strategic plan website.

This is the third consecutive year the Tech chapter has been the recipient of the award on the regional level and the first time in over a decade it has received the honor on the national level.

Nominated by NSBE’s regional executive boards, and selected by its scholarship and awards committee, high-achieving collegiate and NSBE junior groups were chosen as the Society’s “best exemplars and promoters of academic excellence, professional success, community service and cultural responsibility” during the 2019–20 programmatic year.

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to be part of the Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers (GTSBE) for the past four years,” said chapter president Ndeyanta Jallow, a fourth-year Industrial Engineering major, Georgia Tech Provost Scholar, and spring 2020 graduate. “This organization has a been monumental part of some of the best and brightest engineers who go on to graduate from Georgia Tech. This year specifically, the awards and recognitions we received truly showcase the drive, ambition, and passion that our general body members and executive board members have for this organization.”

Chapter vice president Pampam Akinyemi, a fourth-year Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering major added, “For the past four years, I have had the privilege to be a part of this wonderful organization. Personally, I have been able to grow as a leader and more importantly as a person. Even though my journey with GTSBE has come to an end, I am very excited to see what the future of GTSBE leadership has to be bring.”

Founded in 1976, one year after the national organization was formed, GTSBE is the third-largest organization on campus with around 250 members. The chapter would go on to win NSBE’s first-ever National Distinguished Chapter of the Year Award.

Specific criteria for selection of chapter awards included creativity, diversity and consistency in programming, as well as intensity of engagement with other chapters, NSBE’s regional and national executive boards, and with NSBE’s 2019–20 National Directives.

Other collegiate winners include Northeastern University (National Medium-Sized Chapter) and Hampton University (National Small-Sized Chapter).

In-person celebration of these honors is scheduled to take place in August, as chapter members take the stage at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, to receive their awards during NSBE’s 46th annual convention.

Do you know a faculty member, staff member, student, or unit (e.g., office, department, school, or lab) who advances the culture of accessibility and inclusive excellence at Georgia Tech?

Centered around accessibility, the 2020 Diversity Champion Awards will recognize those who have demonstrated a commitment to accessibility and creating an inclusive campus community for all.

Nominations, including those by previous nominees and self-nominations, may be made by Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students for any award category. Honorees will be recognized at the 2020 Diversity Symposium in September.

Visit here for more information, including past winners, criteria, eligibility, and nomination form. Nominations will be accepted through June 15.

With support from Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the ADVANCE Program, the program brings together campus community members who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus.

“The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program provided me an opportunity to work on projects to raise awareness around topics of personal interest and of community and global importance,” said Stephanie Merrick, a senior Administrative Professional for the College of Design’s Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization and fellow in last year’s program. “I am thankful I had the opportunity to work with a collaborative team where we worked together and exchanged diverse ideas.”

The program will run from August 15, 2020 to April 15, 2021. During this time, fellows are expected to complete an individual or group action, teaching, or research objective to share with the campus community.

“As a grassroots effort to seed great ideas that have the potential to transform culture around diversity and inclusion on campus, this program has exceeded all our expectations,” said Magnus Egerstedt, co-director of the program and Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

“We have seen a number of really impactful projects go from vague ideas to crisp programs,” added Beril Toktay, Brady Family Chair and faculty director for the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. “We are really excited to see what the next round of fellows will bring to the table.”

Interested applicants should submit an issue area or project idea to focus on as a potential Diversity and Inclusion fellow. The program is seeking participants who have been immersed in the topics of diversity and inclusion, as well as those interested in connecting these topics to different fields and perspectives.

All Georgia Tech faculty, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students are welcome to apply.

The application deadline is May 15, 2020 at 5 p.m. To read the application instructions, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgramApplicationInstructions, and to apply, visit https://forms.gle/X74fh8nqNGbnwitU7.

To learn more about the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram.

Jackson-Truitt, who has worked in higher education since 2010, previously worked in the mental health field with at-risk youth and adults. She has also worked as a forensic social worker for incarcerated populations. 

“In this new role, I hope to use my experiences in counseling and higher education to create diversity and inclusion programming that enhances the culture and climate of the Institute,” Jackson-Truitt said. “In the ten years that I’ve been at Tech, I have seen so much growth in how people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise are regarded and respected.”

Archie Ervin, vice president of IDEI added, "The addition of Dr. Jackson-Truitt to Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s professional staff represents an important milestone in the Institute’s commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming campus community. She was selected for this position from a very competitive pool of talented candidates."

"She will develop and lead a broad range of education and training focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues that will be available to all members of the Tech community," Ervin continued. "Education and awareness about diversity, equity, and inclusion is a prerequisite to building the capacity to understand, embrace, and leverage differences that diversity brings. We fully expect Dr. Jackson-Triutt’s role as a diversity education and training specialist will be a difference-maker on Georgia Tech’s journey toward remaining a best-in-class model of diversity and inclusion among universities nationwide."

Jackson-Truitt received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Delaware; her master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania; and her doctorate in counseling and student support services from the University of Georgia.

In her most previous role at Georgia Tech as associate director of the Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED), Jackson-Truitt provided recruitment and retention programming for undergraduate and graduate students through the SURE, LSAMP, Grad REACH, and Grad RISE initiatives. Using best practices in STEM recruitment and retention, she has guided dozens of students from under represented backgrounds through master’s and doctoral degree programs at Georgia Tech and peer institutions. Combining her counseling background with her passion for students, she has also served as an advisor, advocate, and mentor.

Jackson-Truitt also serves as the Region B chairperson for the National Association of Multicultural Educational Program Administrators (NAMEPA) and is the principal empowerment officer for GRIOT -- the Georgia Tech African-heritage Employee Resource Group.

“I am ecstatic to be able to bring not only my professional and educational training into this role, but also my lived experiences,” Jackson-Truitt added. “I am optimistic for the opportunity to work across the campus’ various constituent groups and excited about this role’s many contributions to the Georgia Tech community to come.”

Working with partners across the Institute, Resilience – one of six ERG’s offered to campus staffers by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement unit – has provided experiences to help participants increase resilience and strength, and proactively mitigate the impact of routine stress, crisis, and change. Program activities have included workshops, leadership panels, educational experiences, facilitated dialogues, mentoring, and peer support.

“Today, this work is more important than ever,” said Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, executive director of Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting and principal empowerment officer of the Resilience ERG. And that is why Resilience, together with the University System of Georgia Employee Assistance Program (EAP) partner KEPRO, is hosting a webinar called Building Resiliency and Coping with Change.

This online workshop will be offered to Georgia Tech students, faculty, and staff on three dates: April 20, 28, and May 1, from 1 to 2 p.m. Interested participants can register for one of the sessions here.

In other efforts to increase resilience awareness across the Tech community, the first Building Personal and Organizational Resilience “mini-mester” course – 1 credit hour, five-week class introducing students to nontraditional classroom material – was delivered to Georgia Tech students earlier this spring. The course will be offered again in early and late Summer semester and during all three Fall mini-mester terms. 

The class is designed to help students build skills to survive and thrive through chronic stresses and acute crises, and offers a variety of techniques for students to build resilience. Registration is now open and available on OSCAR.

To learn more about the Resilience ERG, workshop presentations, videos, resources, and information, visit sdie.gatech.edu/resilience-employee-resource-group. 

This fund has been established to support Tech students who have a demonstrated financial need related to the COVID-19 crisis and campus closures. Funding is available to all enrolled Georgia Tech students and can be used to alleviate financial challenges resulting from the current public health crisis, including travel assistance, housing assistance, medical expenses, moving costs, financial support, food insecurity, and much more. 

Students in need of financial assistance should complete the application form, and the Office of the Vice President and Dean of Students will contact them to coordinate the assistance through the Office of Financial Aid. The maximum amount of each grant is $1,000.

Funds are limited but are currently being raised. Parents looking to support this fund can make a gift through the Georgia Tech Parents Fund. Alumni can make a gift through Roll Call. And faculty and staff can make a gift by visiting the Office of Development website, clicking on Give Now, and entering Student Relief Fund in the space for "other designation."

• The deadline to withdraw from individual or all courses, apply for grade substitution, and/or remove incomplete grades from Fall 2019 is now May 2, 2020.
• Failure to meet minimum grades for major courses and/or minimum GPA for graduation may be evaluated on an individual basis for Spring 2020 graduates

The full list of updates can be found here.

“They have inspired me to never stop striving for greatness,” says Bell.

This inspiration has led her to Georgia Tech, where she is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Biochemistry and Chemistry. With her advisor Dr. Faisal Alamgir, she experiments with materials to help design better fuel cells for the next generation of clean energy devices. Outside of the lab, she is president of the Georgia Tech chapter of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).

“NOBCChE feels like a family — it is a community allowing me to see people who look like me in places where African Americans are not represented in large numbers,” says Bell.

Through the organization, Bell connects African American youth with STEM experiences. And through a middle school outreach event called “Hands on Future Tech,” Bell helps facilitate engaging experiments and scientific learning. It’s all with an aim to continue contributing to a community that once mentored her.

“Engaging students in STEM at younger ages promotes long-term curiosity that can lead them to pursuing degrees in STEM down the road,” says Bell.

Bell is particularly aware of how monumental a small bit of inspiration can be, given that that mentorship and guidance from others was critical to Bell’s decision to become a scientist.

When it comes to Black History Month, Bell is grateful for an opportunity to highlight the academic, cultural, and historical achievements of African American figures. And Bell underscores that those collective contributions to science and culture need to be further incorporated into regular curricula and conversation — and that Black History Month helps facilitate this incorporation through recognizing important African American figures and launching a conversation about their positive impact on society.

“I would not be who I am today — an African American chemist pursuing a Ph.D. — if it were not for people like Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Linda Brown, Mary Jackson, and thousands of other activists, scientists, and artists paving the roads to success,” Bell says. “Black History Month reminds me not only of our successes, but also of the obstacles we have overcome, the struggles we have had to wage, as well as of the adversity we still face.”

Related Links:

Alamgir Lab Georgia Tech

More Black History Month Features:

Celebrating Black History Month: How to Promote Diversity Daily with Lewis Wheaton

Celebrating Black History Month: Letting Diversity Shine with Alonzo Whyte

Black History Month: "6Ps" Relevant to Academic and Career Success

By Grace Pietkiewicz, First-Year Student, School of Literature, Media, and Communication

“Without an intentional commitment to portraying people of color and their successes, it’s almost impossible for our students, regardless of race or gender, to pick up those messages unless they go looking for them,” Whyte says. “As instructional faculty, we are the primary source of information about science to the students. We should deliberately take moments to send positive messages about the contributions to science from black people.”

Many of Whyte’s own initiatives to increase diversity come from his experience as a student that noticed few people that looked like him. In fact, Whyte was not taught by a black instructor until graduate school when he took a summer course instructed by Kevin Jones, who at the time was a faculty member at Howard University and is currently a faculty member at the University of Michigan.

“That was the first time that I saw someone that looked like me and that felt I could be in the future,” Whyte says.

And it wasn’t just with his faculty that Whyte noticed a lack of representation for people of color. The first time he heard about Ernest Everett Just, a black science credited for great contributions to marine biology, was four years into his PhD.

Whyte hopes that his students are exposed to more diversity than he was. In the classroom, this means that includes images and works of scientists from underrepresented backgrounds throughout his courses. In academic advising, he strives to ensure that all of his students are guided to the career and educational opportunities available to them. In curriculum development, he is working to form partnerships with other metro Atlanta institutions so that people from underrepresented backgrounds can earn chances to experience neuroscience research at Georgia Tech.

“Partnerships with local Atlanta students could really be beneficial to making science more global and reducing the barriers to getting research experience,” says Whyte.

Whyte also believes that Black History Month is particularly important for highlighting the underrepresented stories of black communities and black scientists, leaders, and mentors.

“It’s easy for that voice to get swept aside, if there’s not a concerted effort to keep making sure that it’s heard,” says Whyte.

Related Links:

College of Sciences Welcomes Seven Faculty Members

More Black History Month Features:

Celebrating Black History Month: How to Promote Diversity Daily with Lewis Wheaton

Celebrating Black History Month: The Importance of Representation with Crystal Bell

Black History Month: "6Ps" Relevant to Academic and Career Success

By Grace Pietkiewicz, First-Year Student, School of Literature, Media, and Communication

Since October 2019, more than 5,700 students, faculty, staff, alumni, campus partners, and community leaders provided input via surveys, in-person meetings, workshops, informal sessions, and webinars. They shared varied perspectives, aspirations, and dreams to help shape the future of the Institute.

The steering committee worked in tandem with the visioning and collection process to analyze volumes of raw data and provide the building blocks for the Institute’s new mission, vision, and values, and strategic impact theme areas.

Members of the Georgia Tech community are encouraged to visit strategicplan.gatech.edu to review the draft of the foundational narrative, vision, theme and values and beliefs that will ultimately shape the strategic plan. There, you can submit feedback through March 20, and learn more about the process, the data collection and analysis methodology, and next steps.

Applying to a Working Group

Starting now in Phase two — goal setting— working groups will cluster around six strategic themes. Applications are currently being accepted for any who are interested in serving on one of six themed working groups.

The strategic themes are as follows:

1. Amplify Impact: Embrace our power as agents of change for the public good and concentrate our research and learning efforts on identifying and solving the most critical and complex problems of our time, locally and globally.
2. Champion Innovation: Champion our leadership position as an engine of innovation and entrepreneurship and collaborate with other public and private actors to create economic opportunity and position Atlanta and Georgia as examples of inclusive innovation.
3. Connect Globally: Strengthen our role as a hub of worldwide collaboration and build a global learning platform to expand our reach and amplify our impact.
4. Expand Access: Empower people of all backgrounds and stages of life to learn and contribute to technological and human progress.
5. Cultivate Well-Being: Strengthen our culture of wellbeing and create an environment of holistic learning where all members of our community can grow and learn to lead healthy, purposeful, impactful lives.
6. Lead by Example: Lead and inspire by example by creating a culture of deliberate innovation in our own practices and by being an example of agility, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.

The working groups will meet between March and May, and work to identify goals, objectives and measures of success necessary to bring those themes to life. The groups are expected to meet on a regular basis, with time commitments expected to be between four to six hours each week.

Interested working group applicants must complete the Institute Strategic Planning Working Group Application Form by Wednesday Feb. 26, 2020.

Questions can be sent to strategicplan@gatech.edu.

Since 2018, OMED has collaborated with the African-American Male Initiative (AAMI) – an Institute-and-state-supported program to provide academic resources, mentoring, and leadership training to support the enrollment, retention, graduation, and career placement of black males at Georgia Tech – to host the student-focused event.

The 2020 event provided a centralized space where students were given access to targeted undergraduate and graduate one-on-one advisement, direct professional coaching, alumni and corporate interaction, interactive innovation and entrepreneurial coaching, professional and academic incentives, and out-of-classroom faculty interaction. 

“I see this day and all its efforts as making sure students are aware of the vast set of resources they can tap into here at Georgia Tech, while continuing the critical efforts of assisting students, faculty, and staff in building a community in which they can engage every day,” said S. Gordon Moore Jr., executive director of CSDI, a unit of Georgia Tech’s Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office.

This year’s event was supported by almost a dozen Institutional departments – which provided coaching services to attendees – while nearly 20 campus organizations and departments (including the the Center for Career Discovery and Development, the Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED), and the Office of International Education) provided tabling information and giveaways.

The event was also supported by 30 advisor and alumni volunteers, including the 2019-2021 president of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization, Jeanne Kerney (CE ’84).

The fair also received support from corporate partners BP, Cardlytics, Eaton, and Siemens.

"On behalf of OMED and AAMI, I would like to thank all of the campus organizations and departments that participated with us this year,” said Jelani Liddell, assistant director of OMED’s Outreach Initiatives and project director of AAMI. “It is through events such as these that gaps are bridged, access is transparent, and knowledge is transferred to our students."

“The third iteration of the Academic Empowerment Fair at Georgia Tech reached new heights,” added Sybrina Y. Atwaters, Georgia Tech alumnus and director of OMED. “The initial vision of the fair was driven by an observed need for intimate, candid engagement around black excellence during Black History Month. It is one of the few initiatives where the quantity of participants is not the metric for success. Instead, the Academic Empowerment Fair is measured by qualitative impact in providing students customized services on all levels of their academic endeavors, thus empowering students to become more excellent in their pursuits.”

The event also provided participants with a chance to receive free registration and travel to the 2020 National Society of Black Engineers National Convention and an innovation prototype entrepreneurship session and competition.

Overall, more than 60 development-coaching sessions were conducted in four hours.

The event concluded with an evening faculty seminar and dinner, welcoming faculty, staff, and students.

For more information on the Academic Empowerment Fair, visit https://omed.gatech.edu/academic-empowerment-fair.

“I always get a little bit drawn up with speeches about black history, in that oftentimes we reflect on names and personalities over the arc of history but fail to bring their experiences forward to what our lived experiences are today,” Gillum said. He was the featured speaker at Tech’s 2020 Black History Month Lecture, sponsored by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the African American Student Union.

“Coming here to Georgia Tech during Black History Month is already a very rich burden and privilege, because we are standing in the city that is often credited as the home, if you will, of activism and the civil rights movement,” he continued. “This is the capital of modern black history here in the United States.”

Gillum invoked the names of Ford Greene, Ralph Long Jr., and Lawrence Williams – who broke the Georgia Tech color barrier in 1961, becoming the Institute’s first African American students – and Ronald Yancey, Tech’s first black graduate. The four were honored at the Institute’s annual Diversity Symposium in September and with permanent bronze sculpture installations recognizing their historical significance to the campus, the city, and the region.

Gillum, also previously a Tallahassee city commissioner first elected at the age of 23, became the first African American nominee for governor in Florida’s history in 2018.

He lost the race to Ron DeSantis by less than half a point.

“I often reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial statue in Washington, D.C., which is not far from where he delivered the speech ‘Give Us the Ballot’ in 1957. Dr. King thought that in the years past Reconstruction, we would finally reach the pinnacle, ‘one citizen, one vote.’ Dr. King called that a great beacon of hope to millions of disenfranchised Americans who’d dared to only dream of freedom, of having the vote.”

Noting research that finds the best predictor of voting is encouragement from family and friends, Gillum called on the audience of 500 to dedicate themselves to registering more voters ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

Gillum also provided a road map for political change and for expanding voting rights, including for ex-felons.

In the same 2018 election in which he narrowly lost to DeSantis – one in which a record-shattering two million new midterm voters turned out – Florida voters also decided to re-enfranchise 1.3 million former felons whose voices, Gillum said, “will be heard in November of this year.”

In March 2019, Gillum launched the voter outreach organization Bring It Home Florida and has vowed to register one million new voters in Florida before November.

He also shared stories of growing up as the fifth of seven children. His mother, Frances Jackson Gillum, was a school bus driver and his father, Charles, worked in construction. He said his grandmother, who often helped him get ready for school, would tell him “to bring the education home” for the benefit of his parents, his siblings, and his community.

“I think of men like my father who built doorways that they themselves could not enter,” Gillum said. “I was told that I would need to open doors, not only for myself, but for others after me.”

He would go on to be the first in his family to graduate from high school and college.

“The only way we can commemorate this month of reflection is to take action. There’s no more room for those of us who choose not to engage our relatives, our dinner tables, our conversations around voter registration, to make sure that everyone around us gets out to vote. The time is too urgent.”

To view the 2020 Black History Month Lecture in its entirety, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_RX4h0cCbo.

The annual graduate-recruitment weekend program provides participants an overview of Georgia Tech’s graduate degree programs, including information on financial resources, and assistance with the application and decision-making processes involved in selecting a graduate school.

Focus Scholars – undergraduate college and university students – learned of the benefits of receiving an advanced degree, while Focus Fellows – doctoral students who are one or two years away from graduation, and postdocs – learned the advantages of pursuing a career in academia.

“I know Georgia Tech has a great track record of not only having some of the best engineering programs in the country, but it is also known for bringing in some of the best, most diverse students from all over the world."

The 2020 program brought together 184 Scholar participants and 19 Focus Fellows (the largest Fellow cohort to date), from over 90 colleges and universities across the U.S.

“For me, it was important to visit the campus to learn first-hand about graduate opportunities here are Tech,” said Alexandria Hicks, a University of Chicago third-year undergraduate student. “I’m interested in graduate programs that really look to help minority students find avenues to succeed.”

Florida International University undergraduate Heriberto Nieves shared Hicks’ sentiment.

“I’m especially interested in Georgia Tech’s biomedical engineering program,” Nieves said. “I was drawn to the Focus Program after taking on an internship here last summer. I want to know even more about what Tech has to offer, especially to someone like me.”

“In the current era of high technological innovation, globalization, and interdisciplinary scholarship, any agenda towards progress and excellence must be inclusive, diverse, intentional, and dare I say, ‘focused,’” said Sybrina Atwaters, director of the Focus Program and OMED: Educational Services, a unit of Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. “Focus 2020 represented an Institute-wide commitment of over 40 faculty, staff, graduate students, and alumni dedicated to meeting this aim.”

The three-day program included opening and closing dinners; the annual President’s Dinner – which included a fireside chat featuring Charles Isbell, dean of the Georgia Tech College of Computing – department and lab visits; workshops; and panel discussions on mentoring and graduate admissions led by Georgia Tech alumni and faculty members.

“For 28 years now, Georgia Tech has offered the Focus graduate-recruitment program on the same weekend our nation celebrates the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.,” opened Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, at the Friday President’s Dinner. “The Focus Program encourages the nation’s best and brightest diverse students to pursue graduate studies and careers in academia.”

Five-year sponsor Intel Corporation also presented two Intel Fellowships worth $10,000 each to recipients at the conclusion of the President’s Dinner.

Since its 1991 conception and opening weekend in January 1992, more than 3,200 students have participated in the program. Hundreds of former Focus Scholars are among Georgia Tech alumni who have earned master’s and doctoral degrees, while several Focus Fellows – a program initiated in 2000 – are current Georgia Tech faculty members.

The Institute currently ranks third in the country in doctoral degrees in engineering awarded to all racial/ethnic minority students and number one in doctoral degrees in engineering awarded to African Americans and Asian Americans.

“I know Georgia Tech has a great track record of not only having some of the best engineering programs in the country, but it is also known for bringing in some of the best, most diverse students from all over the world,” Nieves added. “That’s impressive to me.”

To learn more about the Focus Program, visit focus.gatech.edu.

“We have lost a true Georgia Tech hero. Because of Ford Greene and the other trailblazers who integrated Georgia Tech in the ‘60s, thousands of people of all backgrounds have been able to learn, grow, and contribute to our mission of Progress and Service,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “Ford has left an indelible mark on this place. His courage and determination will continue to be an inspiration for generations to come. I send his wife, Frankie, and his entire family my love and respect on behalf of the entire Georgia Tech community.”

Along with Ralph A. Long Jr. and Lawrence Williams, Greene started classes at Tech in 1961. In the fall, all three returned to campus, where they were honored for their courage and memorialized with a new sculpture near the campus’ iconic Tech Tower. A second sculpture honored the first African American graduate, Ronald Yancey.

“It’s important to look back and see your history,” Greene said that day, “measure yourself and see what progress has been made, and also look at what progress needs to continue to be made and move forward.”

Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair, said, “The fortitude of Ford Greene and his classmates so many years ago changed Georgia Tech forever. Those first steps onto this campus took a bravery like most of us will never have to know. We honor his memory and mourn his loss. He is a part of our history, and we pledge that his story of courage will never be forgotten.”

Greene studied chemical engineering at Georgia Tech after graduating from Henry McNeal Turner High School in Atlanta. He completed a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science at Morgan State University, working for years at IBM and eventually co-founding several telecommunications companies. He was a well-respected leader in the wireless communication industry, testifying before Congress and the Federal Communications Commission and contributing to the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

By virtue of an alphabetical seating chart, Francis S. “Bo” Godbold, IE 1965, sat in front of Greene in some classes in 1961. Decades later, he and his wife Betsy provided the gift to Georgia Tech that made the sculptures of Greene, Long, Williams, and Yancey possible.

"This is a great loss for Georgia Tech and for Betsy and me personally,” Godbold said. “Unfortunately, it took me nearly 50 years to understand better the adversity Ford Greene faced at Tech — to have those deep conversations about breaking down racial barriers and his finding the strength to persevere through difficult times. We will never forget his place in Georgia Tech's history. I am so grateful that I got to sit in front of him in several classes in September 1961, had the chance to get to know him personally, and feel blessed to have been with him and his family at the ceremony commemorating his courage with the Three Pioneers sculpture."

“We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Ford C. Greene,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “As our office made preparations to honor Mr. Greene and the other trailblazers this past September, we learned of his courage and strength in the face of adversity. We are thankful for his efforts and determination, which forever transformed the Georgia Tech community. Our sincerest sympathies are with his wife, Frankie Hall, and the family at this time.”

At a discussion before the sculpture dedication in September, Greene recalled his first class on campus: Army ROTC, then mandatory for all students.

“I was placed in the front rank,” Greene said. “There were numerous ugly remarks coming from the rear of the rank.”

When the platoon commander heard the other students’ comments, he shut them down. It didn’t hurt that the commander was Chick Graning, the football team’s star running back.

“I can’t repeat what Chick told them, but it had something to do with severe bodily harm,” Greene said. “His final threat was, 'I will put you out of ROTC.' ROTC was a requirement for graduation. So, never again did I hear that.”

Liddell will be in charge of OMED’s signature summer program, Challenge, as well as OMED’s AAMI (African American Male Initiative), awarded by the University System of Georgia (USG).

Liddell brings a strong repertoire of experience to the role. He has several years of academic outreach experience establishing K-12 partnerships, most recently from Clayton State University where he managed the USG’s third largest dual-enrollment program of nearly 1,000 students. 

In addition, he was a part of the inaugural AAMI committee and has developed multiple AAMI-funded programs during his career. He is also familiar with initiatives and efforts necessary to support students transitioning from high school into collegiate matriculation which are essential to continuing Challenge’s success in academic preparation for incoming first-year students at Georgia Tech.

Liddell has nearly 20 years of service as an educator in both the K-12 and post-secondary settings in multiple capacities as a teacher and academic support professional, as well as developing and leading student programs. His goal to inspire students to excel in school and life led him to launch The Remarkable Youth Project Inc., a not-for-profit organization that provides youth with exploration opportunities in career paths in digital media arts.  

Liddell obtained his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and a master’s degree in Higher Education Administrative Leadership.

The Women’s Resource Center is hosting several events for groups of women at Georgia Tech, including Community Circles, a biweekly dialogue for African American, Asian, and Latinx women; and Women of Color and Study Abroad, which will be held Thursday, Oct. 10, in the Student Center, Room 321.

Graduate student women may be interested in the Graduate Women’s Writing Circle, which is hosted in the Smithgall (Flag) Building, Suite 131, every Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Two trained graduate peer facilitators also host a monthly Women’s GradChat, the last two sessions of which will be held on Thursday, Oct. 24, and Thursday, Nov. 21.

Both the Community Circles and GradChats are new programs this semester. The Community Circles are part of the WRC’s new Women of Color Initiative, which they launched with OMED: Educational Services. The GradChats came from a partnership between the WRC and Graduate Student Government Association.

“After completing multiple focus groups and reviewing campus climate data, the Women's Resource Center has chosen to deepen our level of commitment to women of color and graduate women through intentional programming that strives to meet their specific needs and experiences,” said Melanie DeMaeyer, director of the WRC. “We're excited to launch these programs — and expand our resources for these groups over the next year.”

Both undergraduate and graduate women can attend the WRC’s Craft Circles on Oct. 30 and Nov. 15. The Oct. 30 Craft Circle will be Harry Potter-themed and cohosted with the LGBTQIA Resource Center’s Gay Christmas. Visit the WRC Programs page for more information on upcoming events and RSVP links.

The LGBTQIA Resource Center also hosts events for specific groups within the LGBTQIA community. New events this year include Closed Circuit Q Chats and a meeting group for the existing Ace Space. Q Chats are student discussion groups that meet every other week and are open to queer people of color; trans, gender nonconforming, and gender questioning students; and closeted and questioning students. Most Q Chats will be held in the LGBTQIA Resource Center, though some will only disclose the meeting location upon request to protect attendees’ identities. Queer Coffeehouse events take place on a monthly basis and serve coffee and treats while offering a casual discussion forum. The next Queer Coffeehouse will be held Monday, Nov. 11.

The Center’s highlighted events for the fall are this week, which is OUT Week. These events include a Reading Rainbows workshop, Fostering Families: LGBTQIA Youth in Foster Care, tabling at the second annual Pride Fest, and walking in the Oct. 13 Atlanta Pride Parade with Pride Alliance and the Tech Trolley. The Center will also host an educational event for Trans Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20.

“We hope that our programs provide a well-balanced mixture of education, support, community-building, advocacy, and fun,” said Camilla Brewer, coordinator for the LGBTQIA Resource Center.

For more information on LGBTQIA programs, including Safe Space training for all students, visit the Center’s Student Programs page. Some Safe Space training will also be available during OUT Week. Be sure to check which events require advance registration.

“During the 2019 Hispanic Heritage Month at Georgia Tech, we will recognize the contributions made and the important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United states,” said Toyya Pujol, a doctoral candidate in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, in her opening remarks referencing this year’s theme, Hispanic Americans: A History of Serving Our Nation. “Hispanic Heritage Month pays tributes to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our society.”

“I hope each one of you can see yourself reflected in me,” Marin said at the top of her remarks. “My life is no different than yours; I just get the tremendous honor of sharing it with you,” she continued. “My life is your life.”

The daughter of a janitor father and seamstress mother, Marin described her experiences moving to California from her family’s two-room home in Mexico City.

“I didn’t want to come here,” she said. “I was fourteen-and-a-half; what about my quinceañera?” she quipped to audience laughs.

Though she initially struggled in high school because she couldn’t speak English, her persistence and reliance on an “English diet” led her to graduate at the top of her senior class. She then enrolled in East Los Angeles Community College, completing an associate’s degree, followed by the completion of a bachelor’s degree at California State University, Los Angeles -- all over the course of seven years.

While in college, she also began working fulltime at City National Bank in Beverly Hills, initially as an assistant to the receptionist. Six years later, she was appointed as the bank’s assistant vice president.

Her career and enrollment in an MBA program came to a halt, however, after her first child, Eric, was born with Down syndrome in 1985. His condition launched Marin to become an advocate for Latino families with children with disabilities. She also founded Padres de Personas con Sindrome Down (Parents of Persons with Down Syndrome), which was later renamed FUERZA, meaning "strength."

In addition to her public advocacy work, Marin became politically involved.

She won a city council seat in Huntington Park, California, in 1994. She then served for a term as mayor, becoming the first Hispanic to hold the position in the city’s history. And, in April 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Marin for the post of U.S. Treasurer. She was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate four months later.

“If someone would have said that those things were going to happen, I wouldn’t have believed them," Marin said." But that’s how my life happened.”

During her two-year tenure, she championed the Treasury's financial literacy outreach program focusing on the more than 10 million Americans who did not have their own bank account. 

After a failed run in 2004 for the U.S. Senate – becoming the first Latina in California to run for a Senate seat – and serving in roles under the administration of then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, she published her memoir, Leading Between Two Worlds: Lessons from the First Mexican-Born Treasurer of the United States, in 2007.

At the conclusion of her lecture address, she shared three of her ‘Successful Seven’ values from the book which she says helped her gain successes both personally and professionally. “These are the three things I raised my kids with. They’ve very simple, but not always easy to do:”

Always do the right thing; always try your best; and always treat people the way you’d like to be treated.

“Look at me. I made it and so can you,” Marin concluded. “Know that whatever is for you, no matter how big your challenges are, no matter how difficult your obstacles are, you can overcome them. It is within you, but you have to believe.”

To view the 2019 Hispanic Heritage Month Lecture in its entirety, visit https://youtu.be/NPP0SUMNOXw. 

The Hispanic Heritage Month Lecture is a part of Georgia Tech’s Intercultural Lecture Series. To learn more, visit https://hispanicoffice.gatech.edu/HispanicHeritageMonthLecture.

Georgia Tech has received the 2019 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, one of the oldest and largest diversity-focused publications in higher education. As a recipient of the annual HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — Georgia Tech will be featured along with 93 other recipients in the magazine's November 2019 issue.

This is the sixth consecutive year the Institute has been named a HEED Award recipient.

“Georgia Tech continues to be an influential thought leader in the areas of diversity and inclusion,” said Archie. W. Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “Receiving the HEED Award for a sixth year in a row signifies the Institute’s commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming campus community for all as we continue on our path forward, together, as ‘One Georgia Tech.’”

Open to all colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the award measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.

The award announcement comes on the heels of Georgia Tech welcoming one of its most diverse class of incoming students last month and amid the expansion of campus diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives such as the Challenge program for incoming students; one-on-one leadership coaching for staff members; and added implicit bias workshops and trainings for faculty.

“The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”

For a full listing of 2019 HEED Award recipients and to learn more, visit insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/.

Months earlier on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Institute dedicated Dawe’s Continuing the Conversation interactive art piece in Harrison Square, depicting Rosa Parks at age 42 in 1955 — the year her courageous act of refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger on a Montgomery bus helped launch the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott — and at the age she died, 92. The pieces sit across from each other, an empty seat in between, inviting passersby to sit in reflection.

Bras shared an idea for a second campus sculpture collaboration.

The provost had received a call from Francis S. “Bo” Godbold (IE 1965) with an idea to have a statue dedicated to Ford C. Greene, one of three African American students who integrated Georgia Tech in 1961. Godbold, who led a successful career in the financial services industry after graduating from Tech in 1965 and Harvard Business School in 1969, had shared a class with Greene.

His idea eventually developed into a having a sculpture of all three of Tech’s first African American matriculants – Greene, Ralph A. Long Jr., and Lawrence M. Williams – dedicated and installed on campus grounds. The men made their arrival on campus in September 1961, less than five years after the bus boycott in Montgomery ended.

“When the three of us were shepherded in, the [Georgia] State Patrol had to escort us everywhere we went,” reflected Long on the 50^th anniversary of the integration.

In 1961, Georgia Tech became the first major university in the Deep South to open its doors to African American students without a court order.

The Three Pioneers

“This project was different than Continuing the Conversation,” said Dawe, founder and owner of Cherrylion Studios in midtown Atlanta. A graduate of Georgia State University, Dawe apprenticed for eight years with Georgia Tech alumnus, architecture professor, and sculptor Julian Harris before his death in 1987.

“With Rosa, I was the conductor,” Dawe continued. He came up with the idea for Continuing the Conversation years ago and shared it with Bras and then-director of Tech’s Office of the Arts Madison Cario who both felt the piece would be a perfect fit for the campus. “With this project of these three pioneers, however, the score was written for me by Bras and Godbold.”

The first step was to talk with the men.

“After talking with them and getting their approval on the project, we decided that the iconic photo of the three on their first day on campus would be my starting point,” Dawe said. “I then studied various photos of each of them from that time.”

He continued, “I really liked the idea of a walking sculpture which would add sense of comradery to its feel. With this sculpture, they’re all looking off [to their left] and you get this sense that they’re looking at something, but you don’t know if it’s [something] good or bad. For me, that tells a little bit of what they went through on campus – that they had this awareness, a very strong awareness about what was going on around them.”

According to Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, “These were three individuals who, though not members who were readily accepted into the community, were very proud to be at Georgia Tech. Even then [their first day on campus] they were wearing their Georgia Tech insignia.”

It was quickly decided that the statue would be placed in Harrison Square, named after Edwin D. Harrison, Georgia Tech’s sixth president (1957-1969). The campus’ integration came under Harrison’s watch just one day after he called a meeting of students and ordered that the integration be done peacefully.

On the day of the pioneers’ arrival, Harrison flew overhead the campus on a plane to observe its climate. He also evacuated his family from their home due to a barrage of threats.

The First Graduate

Months later, in February 2019, the idea to also dedicate a bronze sculpture of Tech’s first African American graduate Ronald L. Yancey (EE 1965) was developed.

“Yancey started after the three pioneers, but he was the first to graduate, so it didn’t seem fair to not include him as a part of this story,” said Dawe.

Yancey, who entered Georgia Tech in September 1962, one year after the campus’ integration, completed the first two years of his undergraduate degree at Morehouse College. During those years, he applied repeatedly to Tech, with no answers provided with each denial despite excellent grades and test scores.  

Once accepted, Yancey faced isolation and intimidation on campus.

“It was a lonely and difficult time,” said Yancey. “‘Glares and stares’ is the best way I can put it, but I try not to reflect on the negative.” 

Though Tech exempted seniors from final exams at the time, Yancey was required to take 18 exams in his five classes during his last three weeks of school. He would prove successful and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering in 1965, becoming the Institute’s first black graduate.

With the target of dedicating both statues on campus later that September, Dawe and his team immediately went to work on the Yancey statue.

But where would the Yancey piece go?

There were almost a dozen locations around campus discussed before the decision was made that it would be installed in the Wayne G. Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, seated at the bottom of the atrium’s wooden staircase providing the building's one million yearly visitors with an interactive seating experience much like Parks’ Continuing the Conversation.

“The bronze pieces take at least four months to complete: a month to complete the molds and then they spend about three months at the Baer Bronze Fine Art Foundry in Springville, Utah,” said Dawe.

At the foundry, the sculptures were then bronzed, welded, and sandblasted.

The final stage of the process is patina -- the coloration of the bronze brought about by the oxidation of the metal surface. This is achieved by applying various chemicals and finishes to the surface of the bronze until the desired color effect is reached. For both the Three Pioneers and the First Graduate, Dawe decided on an ombré effect from top to bottom.

The Trailblazers

“These pieces are reminders that it wasn’t that long ago when intolerance ruled the day,” said Bras.

“The other part of the lesson that I hope doesn’t escape people is the reality is that these young men must have lived through very difficult times,” Bras added. “Despite the fact that our intention was to integrate peacefully, nobody is naïve enough to think that this was an easy time for them.”

He added, “What I hope is that as the community interacts with these pieces – either walking or sitting next to them – that their interaction will become natural. They’re reminders of how far we have come. They’re also reminders that we still have a way to go."

Life After Integration

Greene studied chemical engineering at Georgia Tech. He completed his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science at Morgan State University and led a successful career in telecommunications and information technology systems.

After attending Georgia Tech, Long completed his bachelor’s degree at Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) in mathematics and physics and would go on to become the first African American systems engineer for the Large Systems Group in the southeastern U.S. at IBM Atlanta.

Williams was drafted and served honorably in the Vietnam War, earning several distinctions and honors.

One week after graduating from Tech, Yancey moved to the Washington, D.C. area. He went on to have a successful career with the Department of Defense and served on the Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees.

The four men will participate on a panel at the Institute’s 11th Annual Diversity Symposium, Georgia Tech’s Racial Diversity Journey: Recognizing Our Past, Acknowledging Our Present, and Charting Our Future, on September 4.

Later that afternoon, both sculptures will be unveiled and dedicated in their honor at Trailblazers: The Struggle and the Promise in Harrison Square.

As part of Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI), OMED is charged with the retention and development of historically underrepresented minority students at Georgia Tech. In the role of director, Atwaters will provide oversight and leadership of various OMED programs and initiatives such as Challenge, Edge, Focus, and Transitions.

“We’re looking forward to the impact Dr. Atwaters will have on student success and development at Georgia Tech," said S. Gordon Moore Jr., executive director of CSDI. "Her previous experiences in STEM research, sociology, and student programming will serve OMED and the larger Tech community extremely well.”

Atwaters previously held roles as OMED’s assistant director of Outreach Initiatives and as outreach support for OMED’s African-American Male Initiative (AAMI), an Institute and state-supported program to provide academic resources, mentoring, and leadership training to support the enrollment, retention, graduation, and career placement of African-American males at Tech. Simultaneously, she managed the Challenge program, OMED’s signature five-week, academic intensive summer residential program for incoming first-year students and Focus, the Institute’s graduate recruitment initiative hosted by Institute Diversity.

She is a three-time graduate of Georgia Tech, holding a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and master’s and doctorate degrees in sociology of technology and science. She also holds master’s degrees from Emory University and Georgia State University.

Atwaters brings to the role ten years of experience as a senior wireless design engineer and more than a decade of STEM diversity research and programming. Her research interests have included the intersection of sociology and technology as well as social inequality in higher education.

Atwaters has also taught Intro to Sociology and Women in Science & Engineering courses at Georgia Tech. She has also served on the board of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO) and currently serves on the Georgia Million Women Mentor and Complete College Georgia (CCG)-GT steering committees.

During her undergraduate and graduate studies, she was an active member with the Institute’s Xi Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.; a member of the executive board of the Georgia Tech chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers; a member of the Black Graduate Students Association; and a President’s Fellowship recipient.

During the five-week summer intensive academic program, participants resided in the campus’ Field and Hanson dormitories while preparing for college life by addressing the “7Cs:” computer science, chemistry, calculus, communication, career development, cultural competency, and community service.

The 2019 class was also the growing program’s most diverse: 52% female and 33% Latinx – the largest percentages of both groups to take part in the program – and 42% of all black students committed to attend Georgia Tech in the fall participated in this year’s program. Participants hailed from across the United States (including Puerto Rico), Brazil, Panama, and Nigeria. The students represented interests in 27 unique majors, with 44% intending to pursue non-engineering degrees while at Tech.

“The diversity of this year’s participants reflects the diversity that continues to flourish at Georgia Tech and highlights the continuing need for programs aimed at attracting and retaining talented minority students,” said Archie Ervin, vice president of Institute Diversity. “I am confident that OMED will continue to grow the program’s capacity resulting in the higher performance and graduation rates of our underrepresented minority students.”

“I have been a part of so many Challenge programs here at Tech that I am no longer concerned about whether our Challenge students will be successful,” added S. Gordon Moore Jr., executive director of Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. “Instead, I eagerly await to see just how far they exceed.”

The 2019 cohort was the first to experience the newly added resource and information component with six rotating sessions before the opening-day orientation. During the resource and information component participants obtained academic coaching tips from Georgia Tech’s Center for Academic Success, important insights from Tech’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Study Abroad, and more.

Sybrina Atwaters, 2019 Challenge program director said, “Over the past three years, strategic decisions were made to enhance the program’s quality, content, and participation in order to broaden the impact of the program to meet the needs of the evolving Georgia Tech student population. That’s no small feat for an already successful program.” She added, “The 2019 cohort is a reflection of these efforts, resulting in over $16,000 in monetary rewards for outstanding performance, over 7,500 minutes of course and development training per student, and the formation of life-long networks.”

“My first year at Georgia Tech went really well – definitely thanks to the Challenge program,” said Zion Martell, a rising second-year environmental engineering undergraduate student who completed the program in 2018 and returned this year to serve as one of 19 counselors to the participants. “I was headed to Georgia Tech not knowing anyone here, but the program provided a network of friends and mentors I could count on,” Martell continued. “I got a 4.0 my spring (second) semester.”

Dwanda Brew, mother to 2019 Challenge participant and academic performance award recipient Kelsey Brew, reflected on the effect the program had on her son, Julian, eight years ago. “My son took part in the Challenge program in 2011 and it really set the foundation for him here,” she said during the program’s kickoff in June. “He went on to complete his master’s degree here in 2017 and will complete his doctorate in aerospace engineering – also at Georgia Tech – in December of this year. He’s been a really big advocate for Kelsey to attend the Challenge program and I hope it does the same for her as it did for him.”

During the closing banquet on July 25, OMED recognized each participant with certificates and some were also presented with monetary awards for completing the five-week program with exceptional academic performance. Banquet sponsor BP presented more than a dozen grant awards.

Faculty, staff members, counselors, and student participants all offered words of reflection.

“The past five weeks have been some of the best -- and busiest -- of my life,” said Aniya Alston to the banquet audience. “I know that no matter how hard things may get while I’m here, my Challenge family will help me get through it. I’m incredibly thankful for each and every one of you.”

The 2019 Challenge program was supported by the following corporate sponsors: Bechtel, BP, Eaton, ExxonMobil, John Deere, Marathon Petroleum, Procter & Gamble, Southwire, and SunTrust.

To learn more about the program, visit omed.gatech.edu/programs/challenge.

The report from the 2018 Student Climate Assessment Survey is now available from Institute Diversity and the Office of Academic Effectiveness. The report also offers a comparison of results from the 2013 Climate Assessment Surveys providing a longitudinal perspective.

The Climate Assessment Task Force (CATF), established in Spring 2012 by Provost Rafael Bras to measure Georgia Tech’s progress towards the goals articulated in its Strategic Plan, was chaired by Vice President of Institute Diversity Archie Ervin.

“The survey results indicate that large majorities of both undergraduate and graduate respondents feel Georgia Tech provides a comfortable and inclusive environment with over 80% agreeing that Tech provides a comfortable and inclusive environment and over 85% feel that the Institute supports their academic aspirations,” Ervin said. “The surveys also reveal that student experiences vary by gender, race and ethnicity, in both positive and negative ways, which merits attention and actions to ensure an inclusive culture for all Tech students.”

In the survey, students were asked to describe the overall climate at Georgia Tech and the degree to which they feel supported by the campus community. Respondents were also asked their opinions on the value of diversity and the degree to which the Institute is committed to policies that support the principles of diversity and inclusion.

Ervin added “As the methodologist for the survey data analysis, Joe Ludlum, and the Office of Academic Effectiveness, make the presentation of data a clear and understandable analysis for everyone interested in our campus culture and climate. I think policymakers will find the data analysis crisp, concise, and useful."

To learn more and to read the complete survey reports, visit the Institute Diversity survey report website.

Hosted by OMED: Educational Services, the event marked the 25^th year the ceremony has celebrated the academic achievements of traditionally underrepresented students at Georgia Tech. Undergraduate and graduate students – including doctoral candidates – were honored. Out of 1,500 academically eligible students, 335 were present to receive their awards.

“This night is about you,” said S. Gordon Moore, Jr., executive director of the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion as he opened the evening ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. “Tonight, we honor your achievements of scholastic excellence,” he continued.

Award categories included Ph.D. Awards, Master’s Awards (graduating GPA of 3.5 or higher), Graduating Senior Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher), Sustained Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher), Yearly Awards (GPA of 3.15 or higher over the past three semesters), Transfer/Dual-Degree Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher), and First-Year Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher). Within each award category (except the Ph.D. and Master’s Awards), sub-categories included Bronze (GPA of 3.15-3.49), Silver (GPA of 3.50-3.94), and Gold (GPA of 3.95 or higher).

Also presented were the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO) Valerie Dial Thomas Unsung Hero Award, the OMED Mentor Award, and the 2019 Lift As You Climb Scholarship by the Jeremy T. Feaster Foundation.

"I grew up looking at my parents’ Tower Awards, aspiring to have one, one day,” said Milan Johnson, an undergraduate biomedical engineering student, Tower Award honoree, and recipient of the GTBAO Unsung Hero Award. “I will always appreciate the Tower Awards for celebrating underrepresented minorities’ hard work in an environment where our accomplishments can often be overlooked."

Part of Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI), OMED is supported by more than 25 corporate partners and sponsors who attended and provided raffle giveaways at the ceremony. OMED corporate partners include 3M, BP, Eaton, General Motors, and Southwire.

To learn more about the Tower Awards, visit the OMED: Educational Services website.

The report from the 2017 Faculty and Staff Climate Assessment Surveys is now available from Institute Diversity and Academic Effectiveness at diversity.gatech.edu/ClimateAssessmentSurveys. In the report, longitudinal data from last year’s surveys were compared to the results from the 2013 Climate Assessment Surveys.

As Academic Effectiveness Assistant Director Joe Ludlum explained, “The content of the questions in the 2017 surveys remained unchanged from the 2013 surveys, which therefore allowed comparative analysis to track changes over time since the first surveys’ administration.”

The Climate Assessment Surveys assessed the lived experiences, perceptions, and satisfaction of faculty and staff with respect to the Strategic Plan’s aspiration to build “a culture of collegiality, close collaboration, global perspective, intercultural sensitivity and respect, and thoughtful interaction among a diverse community of scholars that includes all students, faculty, and staff.”

“The results of the surveys indicate significant progress on some important measures,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “For instance, there were positive gains over the past four years on faculty satisfaction with support from their chairs, and nearly 90 percent of staff respondents hold the opinions that they freely interact with colleagues across Georgia Tech and that the Institute is generally a comfortable and inclusive environment for them.”

“Despite the generally positive direction over four years, we have work to do. As another example, the level of agreement from staff respondents that adequate processes are in place to address grievances dropped by seven percent in 2017 in comparison to 2013,” added Ervin.

Following the evaluation of the faculty and staff surveys over the past year, all undergraduate and graduate students were invited to participate in the 2018 Student Climate Assessment Survey earlier this month. Results from this survey will be compared to the findings of the 2013 Student Climate Assessment Survey and released in 2019.

“Thank you to those who participated in the surveys as this feedback will help us better understand the lived experiences of faculty, staff, and students and inform Tech’s leadership about strategies to improve support for the campus community,” said Keona Lewis, program review and research manager for Institute Diversity. “Programs like the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, Inclusive Leaders Academy, and Leading Women@Tech were launched, in part, after reviewing the findings from the 2013 survey.”

To learn more and read the reports from the 2013 and 2017 Climate Assessment Surveys, visit diversity.gatech.edu/ClimateAssessmentSurveys. 

“We are honored,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. “On the heels of a challenging year for our campus community, we remain steadfast in our commitment to an inclusive, safe, and healthy community on our path forward together as ‘One Georgia Tech.’”

Open to all colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the award measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.

Award applications are reviewed and evaluated by representatives of Potomac Publishing Inc., publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity, and the magazine’s editorial board members may have also been asked to assist with evaluating applications.

“Georgia Tech’s HEED Award application received our highest score to date,” said Keona Lewis, program review and research manager for Institute Diversity. “While we are grateful for the recognition, there is still work to do as evidenced by our recently released report from the 2017 Faculty and Staff Climate Assessment Surveys.”

Ninety-six higher education institutions, including Georgia Tech, received the HEED Award this year. They will be featured in the November 2018 and December 2018 issues of INSIGHT Into Diversity.

To learn more about the HEED Award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/. 

With support from Institute Diversity and the ADVANCE Program, this program brings together campus community members who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program is a bottom-up initiative tapping into the creativity and diversity of thought among our campus community to crowdsource ideas that create long-term culture change.

“The goals of the program are to cultivate a network of ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and to create an environment where people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech,” said Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

Each applicant should submit an issue area or project idea to focus on as a potential Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. The program is seeking fellows who have been immersed in the topics of diversity and inclusion, as well as those interested in connecting these topics to different fields and perspectives.

All Georgia Tech faculty, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students are welcome to apply. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program will run from January 15 to December 1, 2019. During this time, fellows are expected to:

• Complete an individual or group action, teaching, or research objective and share with the campus community; and
• Attend the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program meetings, including the program’s final poster expo and celebration.

“Our intention is that Diversity and Inclusion Fellows will benefit from this program by building lasting connections among participants and accelerating culture change at Georgia Tech,” said Catherine Ross, Harry West Professor and ADVANCE Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning and incoming co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. 

The application deadline is October 19, 2018 at 5 p.m. To read the application instructions, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgramApplicationInstructions, and to apply, visit https://goo.gl/forms/WM3OOdBB5ndTi3dB3.

To learn more about the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram. The program is one of three diversity and inclusion initiatives funded through a Strategic Planning Advisory Group proposal; the other two are the Diversity and Inclusion Councils and Transformative Narratives. 

This year’s cohort consisted of 48 percent women, 66 percent African-American, and 29 percent Hispanic/Latino students. The participants also represented more than 20 different majors with 39 percent pursuing non-engineering degrees.

“The long-term goal of Challenge is to enroll a more diverse undergraduate population at Georgia Tech reflecting the demographic diversity of the United States through programming that enables these students to thrive and perform at the highest levels,” said S. Gordon Moore Jr., executive director of the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. 

Challenge participation has nearly tripled in size since its inception at Georgia Tech. “As a strategic response to the Black Student Experience Task Force recommendations, Challenge began to expand three years ago when we had an opportunity to build the program’s capacity to contribute to higher performance and graduation rates of underrepresented students,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

“The data shows that your first-semester performance can dictate your graduating GPA,” said Cedric Stallworth, assistant dean of outreach, enrollment, and community for the College of Computing and computer science instructor for the program. “Challenge is a program that helps prepare incoming first-year students for a successful transition.”

Last year, for example, the average fall first semester GPA of Challenge participants was 3.35 compared to the 3.22 GPA of non-Challenge participants.

As OMED Assistant Director and Challenge Director Sybrina Y. Atwaters explained, “For five weeks, Challenge students lived in a first-year dorm, took classes from professors, and participated in activities like whitewater rafting and mental health and well-being workshops. After volunteering in the Atlanta community, participants also used their enhanced knowledge about the community – along with their academic interests – to develop social impact project solutions like urban farming.” Atwaters serves as the communications, career, and cultural development instructor for Challenge.

Each Challenge student completed 4,500 in-class minutes of computer science, calculus, and chemistry; 1,560 in-class minutes of communications and interpersonal development training; and 1,560 in-class minutes of direct corporate engagement and professional development training.

“The relationships that Challenge students establish with each other and with faculty will last throughout their time at Georgia Tech, which will help them weather the inevitable hard times and set them up for success in the future,” stated Michael Evans, first-year chemistry laboratory coordinator for the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and chemistry instructor for Challenge.

“I’m glad that I participated in this program,” undergraduate Jeniveve Vaia told the audience at the Challenge closing banquet on July 26. “When I saw compassion by my fellow students asking about other students’ well-being or opening a spot in their group study sessions, it made me proud and excited to spend the next several years at Tech.”

During the closing banquet, OMED recognized participants with certificates and presented more than $18,000 in awards and incentives from corporate supporters.

“Georgia Tech is a place where you will thrive in a community and by learning from those around you. By sharing our strengths, we were all able to perform the best that we could in Challenge,” added Jaylen Williams, an undergraduate student who received the BP Scholar award.

The Challenge program is supported by the following corporate partners and sponsors: 3M, Bechtel, BP, Eaton, ExxonMobil, John Deere, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Southwire, and SunTrust.

To view the Challenge highlight video, visit https://youtu.be/KNH70JRlWMs, and to learn more, visit www.omed.gatech.edu/programs/challenge. 

This year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication and video will recognize deserving faculty, staff, and students at the 10th Annual Diversity Symposium on September 5, 2018.

“The theme of this year’s Diversity Symposium is ‘Building Inclusive Communities: The Path Forward – Together,’ which will explore both the progress made and the challenges that remain in the interrelated areas of academics, health and well-being, and student and community life," said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “We encourage you to nominate faculty, staff, and students for Faces of Inclusive Excellence to honor their accomplishments, and we look forward to celebrating their successes at the Diversity Symposium as we all work together to continue building an inclusive community at Georgia Tech.”

Faces of Inclusive Excellence recognizes campus community members who have distinguished themselves in their research, teaching, and/or service by receiving special awards or recognitions during the past academic year.

Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by all Georgia Tech faculty, staff, or students and will be accepted until June 29, 2018.

For more information and the nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/facesofinclusiveexcellence. To view last year's Faces of Inclusive Excellence video, visit https://youtu.be/8L9OLnHIMwY.

“If we’re going to talk about equity, then it needs to extend beyond the building,” said Atira Rochester, corporate relations manager for Institute Diversity. “The Kendeda Building presents a unique opportunity to connect the campus and greater Atlanta community with equity-centered sustainability programs and initiatives. That’s why we launched the Living Building Equity Champions initiative.”

Working with Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, the Living Building Equity Champions (LBECs) are students charged with fully engaging in the development and realization of the equity component of The Kendeda Building.

The LBECs provide input in the design and development of The Kendeda Building; engage current students in The Kendeda Building’s equity, sustainability, and diversity efforts; and enhance the greater Atlanta community’s access to The Kendeda Building, particularly K-12 students.

Eleven undergraduate and graduate students have been selected as LBECs: Angelica Acevedo, Chaselyn Baca, John Butler III, Helen Chang, Simon Clopton, Tamera Flowers, Nataly Granados, Janay Jones, Lucy Kates, Amber Roberts, and Arionna Russell.

Keona Lewis, program review and research manager for Institute Diversity, said, “As equity practitioners, we are often faced with the challenges of bringing more voices to the table as it relates to sustainability. It was exciting for us to be able to bring a diverse group of passionate students to the table to inform The Kendeda Building project.”

Lewis and Rochester represent Institute Diversity on The Kendeda Building equity working group. They proposed the LBECs initiative as a way to engage more students, particularly those from underrepresented communities, in equity and sustainability efforts.

Last fall, the LBECs focused on their own understanding of The Kendeda Building and the role of equity within this project. They also participated in workshops and other learning opportunities to increase their knowledge of equity and sustainability. In Spring 2018, the LBECs connected with other Kendeda Building projects, visited the Center for Civil and Human Rights, and participated in outreach efforts, including OMED’s African American Male Initiative Academic Empowerment Fair and Expo, Serve-Learn-Sustain’s Community Open House, and GoSTEM’s Latino College and STEM Fair.

“Being a LBEC opened my eyes to the term ‘equity’ itself,” said Kates. “Because of this experience, I am more aware of people’s very different backgrounds, and it is important to understand that even if a design shows equality, it doesn’t mean that it is equitable in reaching all users.”

Another LBEC project was a student-produced video to explain the initiative, which can be viewed at https://youtu.be/T-qIJoM9iHo.

Acevedo added, “I hope that The Kendeda Building can be a place where people of all backgrounds feel included and productive. I would like this education and research facility to serve as an example for how we can prioritize equity in an everyday, working environment.”

“The LBECs will continue to develop and refine our equity work beyond this academic year,” said Clopton. “For instance, we plan to conduct surveys and interviews to evaluate the interplay among sustainable buildings, sustainable education, and underrepresented groups. This data will be used to tailor our work to create positive change for the campus and greater Atlanta communities.”

The 2018-19 LBEC application period will open this summer. For more information, contact Lewis at keona.lewis@vpid.gatech.edu or Rochester at atira.rochester@gatech.edu.

The LBECs pilot project is supported by the Academic and Research Council and Serve-Learn-Sustain. To learn more, visit www.csdi.gatech.edu/living-building-equity-champions. 

He didn’t think he’d get in — but he did, and he arrived in the summer of 2014 for Georgia Tech’s Challenge Program, a summer academic preparation program for incoming underrepresented minority students.

In that same Challenge cohort was Brandon Gipson, a computer science major from Virginia who started programming in seventh grade. Gipson had Georgia Tech on his radar at an early age thanks to a teacher and an older student from his high school who had gone on to attend Tech. Like Johnson, Gipson never set foot on campus before coming to Challenge that summer.

For Gipson, culture shock hit once classes started. During Challenge, Gipson and Johnson had been part of a cohort of 73 students. When the fall semester began, their worlds changed.

“I came from a majority minority high school,” Gipson said. “In some ways, it was exciting to get to meet people from all over the world. But, at times, it was alienating.”

Gipson was feeling what numbers show: Though Georgia Tech awards more engineering degrees to women and underrepresented minorities than any other university in the U.S., black men comprise less than 5 percent of the resident student population.

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Each year, the Diversity Champion Awards recognize those who demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Georgia Tech community. They will be honored at the 10^th Annual Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon on September 5, 2018.

“This year’s Diversity Symposium theme is ‘Building Inclusive Communities: The Path Forward,’ and the awards will be given to campus community members who demonstrate leadership in building an inclusive community and advancing a culture of inclusive excellence,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Award recipients will have demonstrated one or more of the following within the last 10 years:

• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Leadership in building an inclusive campus community and advancing a culture of inclusive excellence.
• Organized, conducted, and/or supported programs, events, and activities that promote cross-cultural understanding, respect, and inclusion of diverse individuals and groups.

Nominations will be accepted until June 1, 2018. For more information and the online nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/diversitychampionawards. 

“As we celebrated the 24^th anniversary of this award, we marked a milestone in recent years as more than 1,400 underrepresented students were academically eligible to receive a Tower Award in 2018,” said Denise Ocasio, assistant director for OMED. “This is a significant testament to our students’ scholastic abilities, work ethic, and commitment to excellence.”

Award categories included Ph.D. Awards, Master’s Awards (graduating GPA of 3.5 or higher), Graduating Senior Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher), Sustained Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher), Yearly Awards (GPA of 3.15 or higher over the past three semesters), and First-Year Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher). Within each award category, except the Ph.D. and Master’s Awards, sub-categories included Bronze (GPA of 3.15-3.49), Silver (GPA of 3.50-3.94), and Gold (GPA of 3.95 or higher).

Two special honors were also presented: the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO) Unsung Hero Award and OMED Student Mentor Award. Alexander Pegues, undergraduate student in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, received the GTBAO Unsung Hero Award, and Charles Van-Hein Sackey, undergraduate student in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was honored with the OMED Student Mentor Award. Both also received a 2018 Tower Award.

Pegues remarked, “The GTBAO Unsung Hero Award is quite special. When I accepted this award, it was not just for me but for all of the people who are working in the background to organize events and set ideas in motion to increase the social well-being at our institution.”

“This award recognition is a tribute to how much I have learned from each of my outstanding mentees within and outside of OMED,” said Van-Hein Sackey. “OMED has been a haven for academic excellence and a great support system for students like me. I will always be grateful to OMED for giving me that exposure and pushing me to excel in all facets of my life at Georgia Tech.”

Part of Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion (CSDI), OMED is supported by more than 25 corporate partners and sponsors who attended and provided raffle giveaways at the Tower Awards. Corporate partners include 3M, BP, John Deere, Procter & Gamble, and Southwire.

CSDI Executive Director S. Gordon Moore Jr. concluded, “The aspirations in the Institute’s strategic plan can only be truly realized if we foster a fluid pipeline of talented, innovative, strategic, engaged, and compassionate students. At the Tower Awards, we honor the students who meet these criteria and walk the talk, and we applaud their hard work, persistence, and determination.”

To learn more about the Tower Awards, visit www.omed.gatech.edu.

According to Georgia Tech’s Fifth Annual Black History Month Lecture Keynote Speaker Angela Rye, this is the wrong ask.

“In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Where Do We Go from Here?’ speech, he discussed power, and he defined power as the ability to achieve purpose,” said Rye. “When you can’t achieve your purpose, does it matter if you are dealt with fairly?”

“If you’re released from a form of bondage, and you’re not equipped to fully engage in society in a meaningful way, your justice means nothing. Society can treat you fairly, but if you don’t have the tools to achieve your purpose, or power, you’re going to fail. Black activists have been asking for justice and equality, but what we need is equity and power.”

The theme of this year’s Black History Month Lecture was “Giving Voice to Justice for 50 Years.” “The theme was selected to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King and the founding of AASU at Georgia Tech,” explained Leah Miller, president of the African American Student Union (AASU) and undergraduate student in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business. “Moreover, 2018 is seeing a continuation of the #MeToo movement in the ongoing struggle for gender equity.”

Rye, a national political strategist and commentator, discussed the recent controversies surrounding pervasive sexual harassment, the unmasking of male privilege, and the impact of the #MeToo movement through the lens of Black History Month. As a central narrative, Rye repeatedly referenced “Ain’t I a Woman?,” a powerful speech delivered by Sojourner Truth at the Women’s Rights Convention in 1851.

“I wonder what Sojourner would say today given our current discord and state of the struggle. Not just for women’s rights but for black women’s rights,” reflected Rye. “When I think of the many black women throughout history who have blazed trails, opened doors, persisted, and resisted, I pull from their strength. I get to stand on their shoulders. And ain’t I a woman?”

In addition to #MeToo, Rye talked about the #StayWoke movement. “We can’t afford to talk about ‘Stay Woke’ anymore; we have to ‘Work Woke.’ We have to use our gifts to truly change our path forward. Black History Month is about honoring the legacy of people who blazed trails for us. They were working woke.”

Institute Diversity Vice President Archie Ervin concluded the lecture by stating that he was inspired by the references to “Ain’t I a Woman.” “Today’s lecture was an uplifting experience, and at Georgia Tech, we are honored to continue the conversation on April 5 by unveiling a sculpture of Rosa Parks in one of our most cherished locations, Harrison Square.”

To view the Black History Month Lecture in its entirety, visit https://youtu.be/n_W4WzIx9dw.

Georgia Tech’s Black History Month Lecture was sponsored by Institute Diversity and AASU. To learn more, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/2018-black-history-month-lecture. 

Earlier this month, Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement (SDIE) hosted the inaugural Transformative Narratives Storytelling Crawl, an immersive, six-event series featuring 51 stories, four poems, and two monologues from 26 national, local, and Georgia Tech storytellers and six musicians over two days.

“Transformative Narratives was launched as a major storytelling initiative at Georgia Tech because we want to be among the best at modeling and achieving inclusive excellence,” said Cheryl D. Cofield, director of inclusion and engagement and curator of the initiative. “The reciprocal relationship between storytellers and story listeners sparks connection among people and the opportunity for ‘being with’ and understanding others.”

The storytelling crawl elicited strong reactions from attendees. “It was cathartic to hear the stories of pain, hope, and triumph from my colleagues and invited guests. While we may be in a different time, stage, or season in life, we can all persevere and help one another grow by taking the time to listen and truly care about what others have experienced,” remarked Laura Pusateri, assistant director of Institute special events and protocol for Institute Communications.

Aisha Oliver-Staley, executive director for Affiliated Organizations, found it an enriching experience. “I left inspired by stories of lived experiences that connect all of us beyond our identifiable differences.”

Through the Transformative Narratives initiative, SDIE has curated 24 artistically embellished photographic portraits as a traveling exhibit, currently hosted by the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, and 17 audio recordings that capture the rich diversity of the campus community. The curated sets of photographic portraits and audio recordings are maintained in the growing digital story library.

Now, SDIE is seeking stories from faculty, staff, and students as part of Transformative Narratives, which is endorsed by the Strategic Plan Advisory Group. Submitted stories may be selected to become part of the Institute’s digital story library and showcased in a future exhibit. To participate, campus community members can submit 55-word story summaries at www.sdie.gatech.edu/share-your-story.

“The initiative aligns well with growing the capacity of our faculty, staff, and students to increase their intercultural competence and interpersonal savvy through the sharing of their identities, experiences, and perspectives,” Cofield noted.

Pearl Alexander, executive director for diversity, inclusion, and engagement and co-producer of Transformative Narratives, credits Cofield’s leadership as well as input from the steering committee with the initiative’s success to date. “We are creating the spaces and means for our campus community to excavate and express their personal stories,” she said. “I’m extremely proud of Cheryl’s vision, the work of the committee, and the sponsorship that we’ve been afforded to make this initiative happen.”

Visit www.sdie.gatech.edu/transformative-narratives to learn more, share your story, or register to attend an upcoming storytelling workshop. 

“During this pivotal time, it seems as if we are at the height of the struggle toward becoming an inclusive society, and our journey continues during this evolution toward becoming a truly just and beloved community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

During Georgia Tech’s Seventh Annual MLK Lecture, “Actualizing the Dream: The Future of Nonviolent Political Protest,” Joy-Ann Reid, national correspondent for MSNBC, discussed King’s legacy and his vision of a beloved community, achieved through nonviolent principles.

“I sometimes object to the ‘postcardization’ of Dr. King,” said Reid. “During these anniversaries, it is easier to remember the beautiful words that he said and to forget the more complicated person that he was. If Dr. King were alive today, he wouldn’t be the man who is saying that we can get to the table of brotherhood; he would be agitating for the change that he was trying to create.”

After discussing the complexities of American history, including the Poor People’s Campaign, King’s last days, and the designation of a federal holiday honoring him, Reid shifted her focus to today’s national climate. “The wealth gap is only getting worse, and the political power gap is just as wide. The country has a long way to go to be a more perfect union.” 

As Reid stated, the median black family has $1,700 in wealth, and the median Latino family has $2,000 in wealth – total assets minus total debt – which has declined over the past three decades. Meanwhile, white median household wealth is significantly higher – $116,800 – up from $102,000 30 years ago.¹

“Anyone who wants to advocate for economic justice needs to understand that you need to fight for racial justice as a unique, special, and separate thing. Then, you need to fight for economic justice as a reparative, multi-community, and interdenominational thing,” concluded Reid. “Otherwise, America is a tribal country, and all the tribes will fight for whatever limited resources there are.”

Following the lecture, Allen Hyde, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology, remarked, “It is important to understand the complexity of Dr. King and American history, so we can understand the connections between racial justice and economic justice in both the past and today’s society.”

“Despite America’s tribal nature, we can come together by developing Dr. King’s dangerous unselfishness, particularly in today’s narcissistic era, as the need for economic justice cuts across everything,” said John Jordan, alumnus of Morehouse College and managing partner for Fight for Light Inc.

To view the MLK Lecture in its entirety, visit https://youtu.be/LF9PiJpzW2U.

Georgia Tech’s MLK Lecture is sponsored by Institute Diversity, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Office of Government and Community Relations, and Office of Student Diversity Programs. To learn more about the MLK Lecture, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/mlk-celebration.

¹ Josh Hoxie, “Blacks and Latinos Will Be Broke in a Few Decades,” FORTUNE, (September 19, 2017). 

For 27 years, Georgia Tech’s Focus Program has brought high-achieving students from diverse backgrounds to campus. The annual graduate recruitment weekend is held during the observance and celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.

This month, 192 underrepresented minority students and postdocs attended, representing 81 colleges and universities from 32 states and four countries.

“Our Latinx applications to the Focus Program increased this year, and our attendance of Focus Scholars from Puerto Rico almost doubled compared to 2017,” said Sybrina Atwaters, assistant director for outreach initiatives at OMED: Educational Services, a unit of Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion.

The three-day program includes opening and closing dinners; President’s Dinner; campus tours; department and lab visits; and panel discussions on graduate admissions, fellowships, scholarships, mentoring, and student and alumni experiences.

S. Gordon Moore Jr., the Center’s executive director, told Focus Program participants during the President’s Dinner, “Georgia Tech seeks excellence. You are not here as an underrepresented minority; you are here because you are one of the best students in the country.”

Approximately 47 percent of the 2018 Focus Program participants, who will graduate this May, have applied to graduate programs at Georgia Tech, and 37 percent received application fee waivers. Compared to last year, participant applications to Georgia Tech’s graduate programs have increased 17 percent.

“You have to believe in yourself. The Focus Program helped everyone believe that we could earn graduate degrees,” remarked Gabriela Lopez, an undergraduate student at New York University.

Since its inception, more than 3,000 students from a wide array of colleges and universities have participated in the program. Some 300 former Focus Scholars are among the Georgia Tech alumni who have earned master’s and doctoral degrees. Focus Scholars is a component of the program designed to inform juniors and seniors about the benefits of earning an advanced degree. Additionally, numerous Focus Fellows are members of Georgia Tech’s engineering faculty. Focus Fellows encourages diverse doctoral students to consider an academic career.

“The program’s level of success is due to the support of the Institute’s administration, faculty, staff, and students – with generous support from corporate sponsors like Intel,” added Atwaters.

Currently, Georgia Tech awards more doctoral degrees in engineering to all racial/ethnic minority students,¹ and more undergraduate degrees in engineering to women,² than any other school. 

To learn more about the Focus Program, visit www.focus.gatech.edu.

¹ Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

² American Society for Engineering Education

Georgia Tech already had such a tool. But at the time, it wasn’t being used for student-related matters. Today, the EthicsPoint reporting system is set up to address a broader array of concerns.

Melissa Hall, an associate director in the Department of Internal Auditing, said that the act of expanding the reporting categories had an additional benefit: It initiated a thorough review of all the information contained on the site, as well as a process for keeping it up to date. 

“Going forward, it’s something we’re going to review every two years,” Hall said. 

Anyone with a concern such as unsafe working conditions, academic misconduct, or abuse are encouraged to access the EthicsPoint system. When a report is submitted, personnel within the responsible unit are notified by email to investigate the claims. Alleged financial improprieties are referred to Internal Auditing, for example, just as allegations of discrimination are directed to staff in Institute Diversity. The University System’s Board of Regents is also alerted and has oversight for all filed reports. 

“We acknowledge receipt [of a complaint] within 48 hours, so the submitter knows there is an awareness of their report,” Hall said. 

Once a user submits a report, they receive unique login credentials that enable them to monitor status updates, upload supporting documentation, or respond to any follow-up questions the investigator may have.

Hall said she’s aware the primary reluctance people have when reporting is whether or not there will be anonymity in the process. In response, she pointed out that EthicsPoint is a third-party system — which keeps the reporter’s identification secure — and that the Institute’s focus is ensuring that staff, faculty, and students are operating within the boundaries of ethical behavior. 

“Our interest is investigating the claims and taking corrective action if necessary, not trying to identify the source of the information,” she said.

The first cohort of fellows included Jennifer Beveridge, Brienné Coates, Santanu Dey, Lana Ferreira, Michelle Gaines, Stephanie Gillespie, Tia Jackson-Truitt, Ronald Johnson, Timothy Lieuwen, Susannah McFaul, Jerrold Mobley, Lauren Neefe, Dionne Nickerson, Irina Nikivincze, Yelena Rivera-Vale, Sebastian Ruf, Calvin Runnels, Hussein Sayani, Jacquelyn Strickland, and William Todd.

“Through this program, we wanted to create a grassroots movement that would accelerate cultural change at Georgia Tech,” said Magnus Egerstedt, professor and Julian T. Hightower Chair in Systems and Controls in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

According to the Harvard Business Review, a number of organizations experienced consistently positive results with diversity and inclusion programs that apply three basic principles: engage ambassadors in solving the problem, expose them to people from different groups, and encourage social accountability for change.¹

With support from Institute Diversity, the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program was launched last year to bring together faculty, staff, and students who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus.

The goals of the program are to cultivate a network of ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and create an environment where people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech.

“After selecting the first cohort from their submitted proposals, the fellows were grouped into teams, and each team had a leader or co-leaders,” remarked Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. “This cohort represented an excellent cross-section of the Institute. We are proud of the authenticity of this program thanks to the unique perspecties of the fellows.”

Projects from the first cohort included podcast stories, blogs, icebreakers, online training modules, panel discussions, and circus arts performances focusing on the dimensions and intersectionalities of diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, and disability. To learn more about the fellows’ projects, visit
www.diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram/2017ProjectSpotlights.

Yelena Rivera-Vale, one of the fellows and TV and web operations coordinator for the Georgia Tech Cable Network, described her team’s project: “Accent Stories is a series of podcasts where campus community members share their personal recollections and perspectives related to the way they speak. The way one speaks tells a story, and accents can be related to bias. After hearing these stories, it is our hope that listeners will think about accents in a different way.”

The second cohort of 21 faculty, staff, and students was recently selected for the 2018 Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. Following an application period last fall, this year’s fellows will be expected to:

• Complete an individual action, teaching, or research objective and share with the campus community;
• Contribute to a group project, to be determined by the fellows, that will raise the profile of the diversity and inclusion theme on campus or make a campus-wide contribution; and
• Attend the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program meetings.

“Institute Diversity is pleased to support the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, which was launched after a Strategic Plan Advisory Group proposal was submitted. We applaud the first and second cohorts who are making a difference and transforming the culture through modeling inclusive excellence,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

To learn more about the program, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram.

^{1 Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail,” Harvard Business Review (July-August 2016).}

The findings from the 2017 Climate Assessment Surveys will provide longitudinal data that will be analyzed and compared to the results from the Institute’s 2013 Climate Assessment Surveys.

“The climate assessment survey comparisons will help us measure progress toward achieving the goals in our strategic plan and inform the Institute’s leadership about our strengths and opportunities to improve efforts with supporting a culture of collegiality, close collaboration, and professional development,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Beginning the week of November 13, 2017, faculty and staff will receive an email that includes a link to their respective online survey. The survey should take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete, and participation is completely voluntary.

Students will receive a climate assessment survey email during spring semester 2018.

“On behalf of Institute Diversity and Academic Effectiveness, thank you for your time to complete this survey, as your feedback is greatly valued,” added Ervin.

Contact Academic Effectiveness at 404.385.1292 or survey@oars.gatech.edu with any questions. To read the 2013 Climate Assessment Survey findings, visit http://b.gatech.edu/17c2DzK.

The magazine’s cover profile of CEO Satya Nadella centers on the culture of empathy and inclusion he has cultivated since taking the reins of Microsoft three years ago. In the old days, the article says, employees were know-it-alls. Nadella is working to make them learn-it-alls, and that requires strengthening interpersonal competencies.

“You have to be able to say, ‘Where is this person coming from?’ Nadella says. ‘What makes them tick? Why are they excited or frustrated by something that’s happening?’”

It’s exactly that kind of thinking that’s at the heart of a remarkable new initiative taking shape within Georgia Tech’s Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. Partnering with the Vice President for Institute Diversity’s Office at Georgia Tech, the initiative hopes to change the ways student’s think before they go on to their careers.

The department announced this summer it had been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to do something unheard of in engineering education: prepare students to shape and lead teams of people who have different backgrounds and perspectives.

The logic behind the initiative is simple. The big problems facing the world are so complex, they can only be solved by teams. A number of studies show the highest-performing teams not only have people of varied cultures and influences — these different members are able to connect with each other. Diversity is a start; harnessing diversity is the key.

By infusing such awareness among student teams in classrooms and labs, the thinking goes, the department will produce graduates so well equipped to collaborate, they’ll ultimately transform the engineering workplace.

“I like to think of it as creating situations in teams where people feel both respected and connected,” says Joe LeDoux, the department’s associate chair for undergraduate learning. “We all need to feel like we’re valued as individuals, for who we are. But just as important is feeling like we belong.”

The initiative is part cultural transformation and part scientific research. The grant comes from NSF’s “REvolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments” program, which supports “groundbreaking, scalable and sustainable changes in undergraduate education.”

An obvious question is, why the Coulter Department? The department itself is already a model of fusion: Since its founding 20 years ago, it’s been the nation’s only academic engineering enterprise comprised of both a public and private university (Georgia Tech and Emory). In 2013, the state Board of Regents recognized the department for its teaching innovation. And a “climate study” conducted last year revealed favorable perceptions from students on matters of diversity and acceptance.

“Yet, I hear anecdotally all the time that faculty at Georgia Tech witness interpersonal issues on teams of students,” says Wendy Newstetter, the College of Engineering’s assistant dean for educational innovation. “There are conflicts that go on in undergraduate teams. For example, female members are sometimes given writing tasks, rather than technical work. I don’t think it always means that boys on teams consciously say, ‘We’re going to give these jobs to the girls.’ But it happens.”

Julie Ancis, associate vice president for Institute Diversity, who has studied such attitudes and behaviors over a 30-year career, agrees. “Some biases affect our judgments, actions and decisions unconsciously,” says Ancis, Tech’s associate vice president for diversity. “These implicit biases differ from the more conscious biases that people may choose to conceal. They’re automatic reactions to people and events.

Ancis – who, along with Paul Benkeser, senior associate chair of the Coulter Department, holds faculty workshops on the issue – points to a number of examples in academe. Letters of recommendation written for female students and faculty tend to hedge on achievements, compared to the descriptors in letters written for men. Students of color often report feeling marginalized in classroom and lab work. “They may be perceived as less capable by others, which impacts how they are treated, or they may be picked last,” Ancis says. “Their input is not sought out, or they say they don’t feel included in a group or team.”

How the new Coulter Department and Institute Diversity initiative will peel back bias, interpersonal conflicts and other issues affecting team performance stems from a well-considered plan. The 15-page grant application to NSF presents organizational change theories and frameworks – the kind of social science exploration not typically seen around engineering departments.

The thrust of the approach is independence and collaboration. Faculty, staff and industry representatives, guided by learning specialists, will work in “incubator” teams to engineer strategies and tactics for student groups in classrooms and labs. Their approach is not prescriptive – each team develops its own interventions, which are tried, then refined. Outside of this effort are a host of other activities, such as the creation of a “Faculty Learning Community,” in which faculty collectively explore approaches that work.

By addressing student pairings, or dyads, as well as larger groups, the plan creates an architecture that ultimately will influence the culture of the department. Five years of this kind of activity is expected to produce knowledge that will then be shared across Georgia Tech and exported to other universities around the country.

“It’s essential that we create engineers in the workforce who understand what inclusion is and can help promote it,” Newstetter says. “We need to be graduating those people.”

“There is such a thing as an ‘inclusion dividend,’ and that’s really at the heart of what we’re doing,” says Le Doux. “The inclusion dividend is the positive impact that high-functioning teams make, not just because they’re diverse, but because they’re inclusive.”

To appreciate the distinction, he points to a 2015 talk from consultant Verna Myers. “She said, it’s the difference between being invited to a dance — and being asked to dance,” Le Doux says. “Who among us doesn’t want to be asked to dance?”

AT-A-GLANCE

The Wallace H. Coulter Department ’s RED Grant

$2 million from the National Science Foundation

Five-year program to prepare students to shape and lead teams of people who have different backgrounds and perspectives

Three-part effort:

1. Create “incubator” squads of faculty, students, industry reps and learning specialists to invent classroom and lab practices that equip students to shape and optimize diverse teams
2. Hold ongoing dialogues to exchange ideas and share experiences on strengthening interpersonal competencies
3. Take actions to apply what’s learned to transform department culture

For More Information:

Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory

www.bme.gatech.edu

Office of Institute Diversity

diversity.gatech.edu

Implicit Bias Workshops

advance.gatech.edu/implicit-bias-workshops

With support from Institute Diversity, this program brings together campus community members who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program is a bottom-up initiative tapping into the creativity and diversity of thought among our campus community to crowdsource ideas that create long-term culture change.

“The goals of the program are to cultivate a network of ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and to create an environment where people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech,” said Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

Each applicant should submit an issue area or project idea to focus on as a potential Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. The program is seeking fellows who have been immersed in the topics of diversity and inclusion as well as those who are interested in connecting these topics to different fields and perspectives.

All Georgia Tech faculty, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students are welcome to apply. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program will run from January 15 to December 1, 2018, and during this time, fellows are expected to:

• Complete an individual or group action, teaching, or research objective and share with the campus community; and
• Attend the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program meetings.

“The bottom-up nature of this program recognizes the importance of ensuring that the Institute leverages the thoughts and actions of each individual in promoting diversity and inclusion,” remarked Magnus Egerstedt, professor and Julian T. Hightower Chair in Systems and Controls in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

The application deadline is October 20, 2017 at 5 p.m. To read the application instructions, click here, and to apply, visit https://goo.gl/forms/NSsxCjy8FSwB0Yyd2.

To learn more about the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram. The program is one of three diversity and inclusion initiatives funded through a SPAG proposal; the other two are the Diversity and Inclusion Councils and Transformative Narratives. 

In light of this year’s theme, “Building Inclusive Communities,” the Diversity Symposium featured a variety of lectures, panels, and performances that explored the impact and implications of race and class on individual success and community engagement in higher education institutions.

The morning sessions featured an opening keynote from John Quiñones, author, broadcast journalist, and host and creator of What Would You Do?, and panel discussions on race, class, and bias.

Quiñones shared his inspiring journey from migrant farm work and poverty to more than 30 years at ABC News and the anchor desk at 20/20 and Primetime. “When journalism is done right, stories can shed light on injustice,” he said. “Peter Jennings once told me to talk to the moved and the shaken – not the movers and the shakers.”

After the morning sessions, the Diversity Symposium awards luncheon included Diversity Champion Awards and Faces of Inclusive Excellence presentations and an artistic performance that addressed issues of race in contemporary society.

Four Diversity Champion Award winners were honored for advancing equity at the Institute, particularly at the intersections of race and class. This year’s winners are Anne Pollock (faculty), Jocelyn Thomas (staff), Jennifer Salcedo (student), and the Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED) (unit). To view the 2017 Diversity Champion Awards video, visit https://youtu.be/NrK61wCwIzY.

“The Diversity Champion Award means so much to me, everyone within our office, and the students we serve. The recognition shows that not only do you see us, but you accept us, and value what we do,” remarked Felicia Benton-Johnson, assistant dean and director for CEED.

Sixty-five honorees were featured in this year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication, which was distributed at the Diversity Symposium. The publication recognized a diverse group of faculty, staff, and students who are committed to advancing a culture of inclusive excellence at Georgia Tech and who have distinguished themselves in their research, teaching, and/or service. To view the 2017 Faces of Inclusive Excellence video, visit https://youtu.be/8L9OLnHIMwY.

Following the awards and recognition presentations, Dahlak Brathwaite, writer and performer of Spiritrials, delivered a powerful performance on race and the criminal justice system. To view his performance, visit www.bit.ly/2xiQQr4.

“The last five years have been particularly challenging on college campuses as we have grappled with issues of free speech, political ideologies, race, gender identities, access, and disability,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “I want to thank the faculty, staff, and students who attended and contributed to the discussions during this year’s Diversity Symposium. These conversations are important to our journey toward becoming the kind of community that we want to be.”

To learn more about the Diversity Symposium, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/diversitysymposium.

“The HEED Award, open to all colleges and universities across the country, measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff,” said Holly Mendelson, co-publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

Eighty higher education institutions, including Georgia Tech, received the HEED Award this year, and these institutions will be featured in the November 2017 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

“We are honored to receive the HEED Award for four consecutive years,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. “Following a landmark year for the Institute, Georgia Tech’s HEED Award application received our highest score to date from INSIGHT Into Diversity. We remain steadfast in our commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment, particularly in this time of uncertainty in the U.S.”

To learn more about the HEED Award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/.

For nearly four decades, OMED: Educational Services has offered Challenge, a summer academic preparation program, to help prepare incoming freshmen for a successful college career — academically, professionally, and socially.

This summer, the Challenge program welcomed one of its largest cohorts representing 23 different majors to Georgia Tech. Fifty-four percent were women — the highest percentage since the program’s inception — and 68 percent were black.

“The Institute’s Black Student Experience Task Force recently recommended expanding Challenge to 175 underrepresented minority and women students per program over the next three years,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “The growth of this year’s cohort is a strategic response to those recommendations.” Among the 137 black students who were considered eligible for Challenge, 41 percent participated in the program. 

“To successfully and sustainably grow Challenge, OMED enhanced the program’s academic focus and structure to attract more high-performing students, and increased corporate and institutional funding and alumni sponsorship to provide fee waivers,” explained Sybrina Atwaters, assistant director of outreach initiatives for OMED and director of the program. “It was remarkable to see the caliber of this year’s cohort who voluntarily chose to participate in this intensive program before fall semester.”

Over five weeks, participants were immersed in the Georgia Tech environment, living in a first-year dorm, taking classes, and participating in activities like whitewater rafting and mental health and well-being workshops. Individually, each student logged 4,500 in-class minutes of computer science, calculus, and chemistry; 1,560 in-class minutes of interpersonal development training; and 1,560 minutes of corporate engagement and professional development training.

“I’m significantly more prepared for fall semester,” undergraduate Alexander Bustos told the audience at the Challenge closing banquet on July 27. “It all comes down to happiness, and I’m a happier person from this experience.”

Last year, the average fall first semester GPA of Challenge participants was 3.26 compared to the 3.17 GPA of non-Challenge participants.

“I am so proud of my students, and it recharged me to see their enthusiasm this summer,” reflected Ta Nycia Wooden, one of the Challenge Counselors and an undergraduate student in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business. Twenty Challenge Counselors served as role models and peer mentors to incoming freshmen during the program.

The Challenge program is supported by the following corporate partners and sponsors: 3M, Bechtel, BP, Eaton, ExxonMobil, GE Aviation, John Deere, Procter & Gamble, and Southwire.

To learn more about Challenge, visit www.omed.gatech.edu.

¹ “Summer Bridge Programs,” WWC Intervention Report by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (July 2016).

Each year, the Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication and video are featured at the Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon. In addition to the Diversity Champion Awards, this year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication and video will recognize deserving faculty, staff, and students at the Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon on September 6, 2017.

Faces of Inclusive Excellence recognizes campus community members who have distinguished themselves in their research, teaching, and/or service by receiving special awards or recognitions during the past academic year.

“We encourage you to nominate faculty, staff, and students for the Faces of Inclusive Excellence to honor our diverse community of students, faculty, and staff whose accomplishments consistently exemplify inclusive excellence,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by all Georgia Tech faculty, staff, or students. Nominations will be accepted until June 30, 2017.

For more information and the nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/facesofinclusiveexcellence.

“Lavender Graduation rewards graduates for their accomplishments at Tech and serves as a formal farewell to the community,” said Aby Parsons, director of the Center. “The celebration also gives students the opportunity to connect with our alumni and learn how they can stay involved with LGBTQIA life at Tech after graduation.” 

During the celebration, Student Life Vice President and Dean of Students John Stein welcomed attendees, and Institute Diversity Vice President Archie Ervin invited each graduate to the stage to receive a lavender diploma from the LGBTQIA Resource Center and a letter from Stein.

“Lavender Graduation means to me that there is progress at Georgia Tech,” said Jefferson Dixon, a mechanical engineering student and Greek Allies facilitator with the Center. “In the last few years, Tech has made astounding progress in creating an inclusive, welcoming community.”

Following the event, the Center presented the Third Annual Lavender Awards to recognize individuals who have made the Institute a safer and more inclusive environment for LGBTQIA students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Award recipients included:

• LGBTQIA Alum of the Year Award – Katie Olliff, grant consultant, Palmetto Grant Consulting
• Award for LGBTQIA Employee Leadership – Jennifer Hasler, professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Award for LGBTQIA Student Leadership – Andrea Welsh, doctoral student, School of Physics
• The Billiee Pendleton-Parker Award for Outstanding Allyship – Rev. Steve Fazenbaker, director, Wesley Foundation at Georgia Tech

“It is such an honor to receive this award, as I know Billiee personally,” remarked Fazenbaker. “We strive to be a good partner to the LGBTQIA community. It is our belief that you can explore your sexuality in light of your spirituality, and explore your spirituality in light of your sexuality.”

The Fifth Annual Lavender Graduation and Third Annual Lavender Awards were supported by Institute Diversity, Parent and Family Programs, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, ADVANCE Program, and the Campus Recreation Center.

To learn more about Lavender Graduation and Lavender Awards, visit www.lgbtqia.gatech.edu.

The Diversity Champion Awards recognize faculty, staff, students, and units who significantly demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Georgia Tech community. They will be selected and recognized at the Ninth Annual Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon on September 6, 2017.

“This year’s Diversity Symposium theme is ‘Building Inclusive Campus Communities,’ and the Diversity Champion Awards will be given to campus community members who are advancing equity at the Institute, particularly at the intersections of race and class,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Award recipients will have demonstrated one or more of the following within the last three years:

• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, particularly at the intersections of race and class.
• Leadership in building an inclusive campus community.
• Behavior that illustrates commitment to the inclusion of persons within the Institute who represent the diversity of the Georgia Tech community.
• Organized, conducted, and/or supported events and activities that promote cross-cultural understanding, respect, and inclusion of diverse individuals and groups.

Nominations will be accepted until May 26, 2017. For more information and the online nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/diversitychampionawards.

For 23 years, the Tower Awards have celebrated the academic achievements of underrepresented students at Georgia Tech. Of the more than 1,200 students eligible to receive a 2017 Tower Award, nearly 300 gathered for the annual recognition ceremony, hosted by OMED: Educational Services, on April 6.

“Our students set the standard for what the next generation can accomplish with a high-quality education and community support,” said OMED Director Cynthia Moore. “For instance, one of our Tower Award recipients, Cray Noah, was recently accepted into Harvard Medical School, and we are very proud of him! Cray served as a physics tutor and mentored several pre-med students in OMED for years.”

Award categories included Ph.D. Awards, Master’s Awards (graduating GPA of 3.5 or higher), Graduating Senior Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher), Sustained Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher), Yearly Awards (GPA of 3.15 or higher over the past three semesters), and First-Year Awards (cumulative GPA of 3.15 or higher). Within each award category, except the Ph.D. and Master’s Awards, sub-categories included Bronze (GPA of 3.15-3.49), Silver (GPA of 3.50-3.94), and Gold (GPA of 3.95 or higher).

Two special honors were also conferred: the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO) Unsung Hero Award and OMED Student Mentor Award. Renee Copeland, a biomedical engineering undergraduate student, received the Unsung Hero Award, and Nyemkuna Fortingo, a biochemistry undergraduate student, was recognized with the Student Mentor Award. Both also received a 2017 Tower Award for their outstanding academic performance at Tech.

“I am thankful to GTBAO for this award, and I credit support from OMED for this achievement,” said Copeland, who plans to pursue a graduate degree in public health. Fortingo, who plans to attend medical school, echoed the sentiment: “OMED has had a huge impact on my life – both academically and socially. As an incoming freshman, I participated in the Challenge program, and my Challenge counselors inspired me to become a Challenge counselor and Edge mentor.” Challenge is an immersive bridge program for incoming freshmen, and the Edge program pairs first-year students with upperclassmen who help them acclimate to Georgia Tech.

As the ceremony concluded, Henderson Johnson II, an aerospace engineering doctoral student and a co-founder of The Black Burdell, reminded attendees of the meaning and significance of their success.

“As Georgia Tech students, you are called to change the world,” he said. “Every day we are here, we make history. Your story should be one worth noting.”

Part of Institute Diversity’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, OMED is supported by more than 25 corporate partners and sponsors who attended and provided raffle giveaways at the Tower Awards. Corporate partners include 3M, BP, Eaton, John Deere, Northrop Grumman, Procter & Gamble, and Southwire.

To learn more about the Tower Awards, visit www.omed.gatech.edu.