DIY/DEI: Fostering inclusion and belonging

Advocates and allies are essential to promoting a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in higher education and beyond. For many, there is a new awareness of issues associated with DEI and a growing desire to learn and engage. To support your efforts, the NC State University Libraries and the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity have created a curated list of resources to inform your inquiry, introspection, and engagement with this topic. Engaging with these resources will provide you with an opportunity to explore DEI and develop your narrative and understanding.

This month's featured topic: Fostering inclusion and belonging

This list includes resources trying to foster an inclusive environment—one where conscious efforts are made to ensure that diverse members are seen, heard, and valued. Furthermore, the listing explores a newer concept to DEI—belonging—which emphasizes the importance of community acceptance and emotional connection specifically for members with diverse identities. This approach of going beyond the goal of diversity lifts up the belief that, as Christianne Garofalo writes, "Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is a behavior. But belonging is the emotional outcome that people want in their organization."

This list has been curated by Melissa Edwards and Darby Orcutt.

Past DIY/DEI resource lists on antiracism and the Black collegiate experience can be found here. To suggest a future topic for an edition of DIY/DEI, please send your topic idea to oied-communications@ncsu.edu.

Books

Ableism in Academia: experiences of disabilities and chronic illness in higher education.
Edited by Nicole Brown and Jennifer Leigh, 2020. Ebook. 
Ableism in Academia provides an interdisciplinary outlook on ableism.

Belonging : the key to transforming and maintaining diversity, inclusion and equality at work.
Kathryn Jacob, Sue Unerman and Mark Edwards, 2020. Ebook.
A groundbreaking investigation into diversity and equality in the workplace, and a clarion call to the people in power who need to rethink their place in the boardroom and become part of the solution.

Inclusive conversations : fostering equity, empathy, and belonging across differences.
Mary-Frances Winters, 2020. Ebook.
"What is impressive is not only how Winters builds a case for the urgency and need for bold, inclusive conversations but that she also gives specific strategies and competencies to turn her theory into practice." —Dr. Sheila Robinson, publisher and CEO, Diversity Woman Media

Neuroscience of inclusion: new skills for new times.
Mary E. Cason & Shanon Murphy Robinson, 2017. Book.
Highlighting several key aspects of neuroscience that are vital to inclusion, this book provides new, brain-based strategies and tools for working across differences in ways that build trust, foster creativity, and result in higher level outcomes.

Better allies: everyday actions to create inclusive, engaging workplaces.
Karen Catlin, 2021. Book.
The highly-acclaimed, practical guide for how to be an ally in the workplace, now in its 2nd edition.

Articles

“Five Ways to Promote a More Inclusive Classroom,”
Kathleen F. Gabriel.
“Ideas that can be incorporated in, or modified to align with, faculty’s existing teaching methods.”

“10 Small Steps for Department Chairs to Foster Inclusion,”
Ethel L. Mickey, Ember Skye Kanelee and Joya Misra.
“So how can campus leaders go about fostering climates that are, in fact, truly inclusive? How particularly is this possible at a time when faculty of color are witnessing and experiencing racist violence across the country?”

“Predominantly White Institutions, Black Women Grad Students and a Sense of Belonging,”
Torrie A. Cropps.
“As a Black female graduate student at a predominantly White Institution, I find that experiences that lend themselves to building a sense of community comparable to my HBCU occur less often…”

“Fostering an Inclusive Classroom,”
Tracie Marcella Addy, Derek Dube and Khadijah A. Mitchell.
“With feedback from students, faculty members and administrators, we co-developed a survey tool, the ‘Who’s in Class? Form,’ that enables learners to voluntarily and anonymously share items at the beginning of the course that they wanted their instructors to know to help create more inclusive classrooms.”

“Creating Inclusive College Classrooms,”
Shari Saunders and Diana Kardia.
“In an inclusive classroom, instructors attempt to be responsive to students on both an individual and a cultural level. Broadly speaking, the inclusiveness of a classroom will depend upon the kinds of interactions that occur between and among you and the students in the classroom.”

Podcasts

IT'S BEEN A MINUTE WITH SAM SANDERS: “Is 'Diversity And Inclusion' Far From Its Roots?” (42:00)

“Sam talks to Kim Tran, an anti-racist author and consultant, about her article in Harper's Bazaar on how the diversity, equity and inclusion industry has strayed from its movement roots.“

Who Belongs? Podcast: “On being seen and heard: Students reflect on their high school experience” (35:00)
“Tamia Dantzler & Dashley Concepcion… tell us what it has meant to be students at a school that makes them feel seen and heard.”

Diversity Deep Dive: “Building an Inclusive Workplace for LGBTQ Workers” (26:00)
“According to a recent study by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, almost 50% of LGBTQ workers remain closeted in the workplace. It’s a time to ask are we creating safe spaces where everyone can bring their whole selves into the workplace.”

Diversity Deep Dive: “Moving Beyond Diversity & Inclusion to Belonging” (16:00)
“In today’s workforce many people desire more than diversity and inclusion, they are searching for belonging.”

Videos

From the Inside Out: Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (14:00)
“What’s most important, is how do we become conscious of embracing and developing diversity within ourselves?”

How Diversity Heaven Can Be Inclusion Hell (13:00)
“Diversity should not be the destination or focus and each of us should make inclusion our personal responsibility.”

 

The Danger of a Single Story (19:00)
“Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.”

Roy Baumeister defines need to belong theory (4:00)
“Scholar Roy Baumeister explains the need to belong as an essential aspect of human existence. He breaks the need down into two categories: interactions and caring. If people have positive interactions and perceive that people care for them, their self-esteem is higher.”

Bridging: Towards a Society Built on Belonging (2:00)
“Bridging calls on us to reject a politics of 'us vs. them' and instead move towards a future where there is a new 'us'."

LinkedIn Learning

Through free access to the NC State community, LinkedIn Learning offers the following modules on this topic:

• Be An Inclusive Organization People Won't Leave
• Inclusive Mindset
• Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging
• How to Be More Inclusive
• Cultivating Cultural Competence and Inclusion