WKU News

Greetings WKU Campus Community!

This is the final monthly campus update from WKU Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for 2020. What a semester we’ve had! 

While planning workshops, trainings, and discussion groups was hard in a 100% online environment, we managed to accomplish a great deal. The participation and leadership among those in the WKU Community far exceeded our expectations. The following is a list of programming and efforts completed this term:

• 7 Book & media discussion groups (244 faculty, staff, & student participants)
• 2 Deliberative Dialogues discussing “named” campus buildings (72 faculty, staff, & student participants)
• 3 ONE WKU Academy Sessions: Microaggression, Intercultural/Interracial Communication, and Allyship (42 participants)
• 3 Diverse Hiring Practice Trainings in collaboration with AA, HR, and EEO (90 participants)
• Administered a faculty & staff Campus Climate Survey (n = 671) – results will be available soon!

In addition to the list above, the Co-Chief Diversity Officers worked with many departments and programs across campus to create and promote environments in which all faculty, staff, and students feel welcomed and included. We are looking forward to continuing our programming and delving further into the issues of systemic oppression embedded in our national institutions. If you didn’t get a chance to participate this fall, there will be plenty of opportunities in spring 2021. Look for more information about what will be offered in January next year.

As we take a break from work and get some rest, remember many cultures and faiths around the world see colder weather and the lengthening of the nights as symbolic. There are approximately 14 holidays across the world celebrated in and around the month of December - the beginning of winter. Each celebrate the season with light as a central focus. From the lighting of the Yule Log to advent wreaths to menorahs and kinaras, people acknowledge that even though the days are shorter now, in a few months night will give way to day and winter will come to an end. For more information about these and other observances, visit our Traditions and Religious Observations webpage.

Chag Urim Sameach, Happy Yule, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year…

Happy Holidays!

Molly & Michael

Co-Chief Diversity Officer for Academic Affairs, Molly Kerby, PhD, MPH
Co-Chief Diversity Officer for Enrollment & Student Experience, Michael P. Crowe, Jr