From Lindsay Valderrama Created from College Staff Retreat | "Beyond Binaries: Sex, Gender, and Sexual Orientation" - Jessica Hille, Ph.D.
Description:
True allyship is one of the most challenging yet rewarding efforts in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The ambiguity of the term makes it a concept worthy of further exploration, particularly as it is practiced at higher education institutions. A true commitment to allyship is a nuanced process that requires hard work, deep reflection, and change on multiple levels. In this session, IUB Culture Center Directors will address the different ways people think of allyship and share examples and best practices of how to approach allyship in the various spaces we occupy.
Bios:
Presenter: Melanie Castillo-Cullather
Title: Director, Asian Culture Center
Melanie Castillo-Cullather is the founding director of IU’s Asian Culture Center on the Bloomington campus. She has over 20 years of experience in community organizing. She has served on many boards and local commissions including Bloomington Human Rights Commission, Commission on the Status of Women, Middle Way House, Catholic Charities of Bloomington, and was a member of the City of Bloomington Board of Public Works. Her extensive experience and interests include working in diverse organizations building initiatives from the ground up, leading educational and culturally enriching programs, and spearheading philanthropic efforts. Recently, she taught a course on Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities and Social Change in the Asian American Studies Program in the College.
Presenter: Gloria Howell, Ph.D.
Title: Director, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center
Gloria Howell is the director of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center at Indiana University Bloomington. She is also a faculty coordinator for a first-year experience and introductory research course for freshman Hudson and Holland Scholars. Her research focuses on Black students broadly, specifically identity development and affirmation, culturally relevant pedagogy and curricular practices, and the effects of student activism on institutional change. Her Ph.D. dissertation research was on the African American Arts Institute at IU Bloomington. She is active in the Bloomington community, serving as the vice-chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Commission, a member of the City of Bloomington Black History Month Planning Committee, co-coordinator of the Free Homework Help Program at Beth AME Church, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Kappa Tau Omega chapter.
Presenter: Rabbi Sue Silberberg
Title: Executive Director, IU Hillel and Jewish Culture Center
Rabbi Sue grew up in Indianapolis. She attended Indiana University as an undergraduate, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work. Rabbi Sue attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was ordained in 1988. During Rabbinical school, Sue served as the Hillel Director at the University of Delaware. In August of 1989, following a year in Israel, Rabbi Sue returned to the United States to become the Executive Director of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center at Indiana University. She loves IU Hillel and the students there. Rabbi Sue is also committed to promoting diversity on campus. She helped to found Bloomington United, a grassroots community organization dedicated to building diversity and responding to incidents of hate in Bloomington, IN.
