Campus News and Stories on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In commemoration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, the North Central College Office of Multicultural Affairs held its annual prayer luncheon on January 16, 2023. North Central alumna Tracie Morris '02, chief people officer for Corewell Health, gave an inspiring keynote address regarding on putting inclusivity into action. The luncheon also featured music from Voices of Praise, North Central's student gospel choir, and comments from Interim North Central President Dr. Donna Carroll, College Chaplain Rev. Eric Doolittle, Assistant Director of Faith and Action Rev. Josiah Montgomery, and student leaders Serene Labadi '21/M '23, Morgan Harmon '23, and De'Jenae Phillips '23. Assistant Director of Multicultural Affairs Karl Constant served as emcee for the event.

North Central College students got the opportunity to learn new cultural practices and embrace one another’s traditions during Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15. Students, faculty and staff alike commemorated the month with a series of events dedicated to exploring Latinx and Hispanic practices from a number of perspectives: social, cultural and historical. 

North Central College held the second event in its distinguished speaker series "Empowering Latino Communities," an address by Roberto Ramírez, founder & CEO of Spanish Public Media, on February 24. Ramírez spoke about what success means and provided advice from his own experience as a Latino immigrant and undocumented student on reaching goals and aspirations.

The Honors Salon Series, hosted by North Central College’s Honors Program, is back for the spring 2022 semester and is examining new topics under the theme of social justice, a continuation of fall semester. A new lineup of speakers will present new issues, allowing the campus community to look at social justice from different perspectives.

In September 2020, a Campus Climate Survey working group was established to assess the overall campus climate as part of a commitment to create a more inclusive North Central College. The research teams collected both qualitative and focus group data drawn from students, staff and faculty.

In recognition of her active leadership on campus and passion for serving others, Bry’Shawna Walker ’22 was selected as North Central’s 2021 Lincoln Laureate. In the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, Student Laureates are honored by the Lincoln Academy “for their leadership and service in the pursuit of the betterment of humanity and for overall excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities.”

A new initiative from Jelena Sanchez, assistant professor of Spanish, is welcoming influential, inspiring Latino professionals to North Central College to share their stories with students. In November, the series began with the first Latino and Latina judge in Kane County, Illinois.

Excelencia in Education, the nation’s premier authority on efforts to accelerate Latino student success in higher education, selected Cardinal First as a winner of its 2021 Examples of Excelencia award.

This fall, the Honors Salon Series returned by popular demand with more presenters and topics surrounding a new theme: social justice. This time last year, North Central’s Honors Program debuted its first-ever salon series. Throughout the year, the program hosted 12 different salons around the theme of racial justice. The series featured faculty members across a range of departments presenting on topics, such as environmental racism, voter suppression and media depictions of race in the criminal justice system.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Abiodun Gòkè-Paríolá's Fourth Annual Fall Faculty Colloquium on August 24 featured Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, director of the Office of Community College Research & Leadership at the University of Illinois. Zamani-Gallaher’s presentation “Building & Broadening On-Ramps for Transfer Students” challenged the College to move beyond being “transfer friendly” to being “transfer receptive.”

Despite a muscular dystrophy diagnosis, Daniel Persinger has fulfilled a lifelong ambition to work with firefighters, as a “volunteer” chaplain for the Rockford, New Milford and Blackhawk fire departments.

North Central College today announced that Dr. Rebecca Gordon, assistant vice president for equity, diversity, and inclusion; Title IX/504 coordinator, will become the College’s first-ever chief diversity officer and will join the President’s cabinet effective July 1 in this new role.

Mara Berkland, professor of communication at North Central College, found an enthusiastic group of research assistants in an unlikely place: a high school hundreds of miles away in Buffalo, N.Y. She has been partnering with students at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, a private college prep school for boys, to conduct a climate study on ingrained racial attitudes at the school.

In recognition of Pride Month, North Central College looked to highlight some of the outstanding work by our faculty to help North Central students examine key issues for the LGBTQIA+ community. Carly Drake, assistant professor of marketing, and Suzanne Chod, professor of political science and coordinator of gender and sexuality studies, share their expertise on critical current events they talk about in their classes as well as how they get students involved in the conversation.

North Central College has received a $25,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation for the Civic Humanities Project, which will help underserved students learn about the humanities and prepare for college.

Social entrepreneurship major Haven Denson ’22 has earned a coveted Newman Civic Fellowship for 2021-2022. Denson was one of 212 students from 39 states to be selected for the honor. The yearlong fellowship, sponsored by Campus Compact, supports changemakers and problem-solvers with recognized potential for public leadership. 

A $75,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to North Central College represents several important firsts and lays the groundwork for significant additional grant support in the future. The funds will be used to build capacity and partnerships, with the end goal of preparing STEM teachers who are equity-minded and willing to teach in high-need schools.

Members of the North Central College Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force are preparing to take what they have learned over the past year and put it into decisive action for the good of the entire College community. In mid-February, the task force met with Deepa Iyer, director of strategic initiatives for the Building Movement Project (BMP). BMP is an organization dedicated to helping educational institutions, nonprofits and other similar groups strategize how to bring about positive social change.

When Jojo Galvan Mora ’19 came to North Central College and discovered the archives inside Oesterle Library, he “fell in love.” Now he’s using that passion to fuel graduate research and a career in public history. For the past year, he’s held the position of archivist/curator for the Midwest Nursing History Research Center (MNHRC) in Chicago, while also pursuing a master’s degree in museum and exhibition studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago. 

The first virtual session of spring was held February 3 and attracted 40 participants as Sean Kim Butorac, assistant professor of political science, discussed “Race & The Politics of Resistance.” All sessions are held virtually on Zoom or Microsoft Teams and are open to the campus community. After the presentation of topics, participants are welcome to ask questions and discuss content further.  

Business management major Elizah Leonard ’24 found her home away from home in Naperville, Ill. A strong sense of community, inspiring mentors and exceptional opportunities inside and outside of the classroom showed Leonard North Central College was the right fit for her. “North Central had everything I wanted,” said Leonard. “The campus size and the idea that I wouldn’t be (just) a number to professors really helped me want to come here.” 

Glaude is a noted author, having penned numerous studies of the intersection between race and politics in America, focusing particularly on the Black community and the nature of democracy. His latest book, “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” reflects on America’s history of racial division to find what lessons we can learn from the past.

A virtual approach to celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will give the North Central College community an opportunity to engage in relevant discussion topics. 

The North Central College Department of Art and Design is hosting an exhibition devoted to student protest art now through February 25, 2021 in the Schoenherr Gallery at the Wentz Performing Arts Center.

In support of North Central College's efforts to facilitate racial healing and promote racial justice, Healing Illinois awarded the College a $20,000 grant. The grant will be used to help expand five of the College's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Writer and historian Robert W. Fieseler will give a virtual lecture on how North Central College's home of Naperville became a large, suburban “melting pot” with a diverse population and broad sense of social acceptance.

North Central College's Office of Multicultural Affairs and Center for Social Impact are implementing dialogue training and a toolkit for it called CHIRP, named for how Cardinals communicate with each other.

During the 2018-2019 academic year, students in Professor Ann Keating’s HIST 200 Methods class uncovered racist images in North Central College’s student newspaper and yearbook archives. 

While enrolled in Models of Social Thought and Philosophy of Race and Gender with Ann Dolinko, visiting professor in the Shimer Great Books School, Beth Rodriguez '21, Josselin Rodríguez '21 and Mayra Dominguez '21 formed an idea: to create an organization on campus that provides a safe and welcoming environment for all. 

The North Central College Board of Trustees expanded its committee structure in order to give Board members more time to engage with student programming and success and the College’s continued work on diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Honors Program is hosting a Salon Series focusing on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion as a way to expand important “conversations” within the campus community. Led by North Central faculty and staff, all six sessions can be joined via Microsoft Teams; many can also be attended in person.

Each year, Welcome Week at North Central College offers valuable workshops and events for first-year students. Welcome Week 2020 included a virtual keynote session with bestselling author, public speaker and media producer Austin Channing Brown. 

As students study the writing of social change movements of the past and present, they learn how their own writing can influence public media.

North Central’s faculty were inspired to reflect on their beliefs and consider new teaching approaches during a virtual workshop on diversity, equity and inclusion, lead by Dr. Sumun L. Pendakur, chief learning officer at University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs held two special events to promote dialogue about race and racism in July. These events were fully virtual and open to the public, and saw strong attendance.

Ambitious students use their skills as entrepreneurs by bringing Colombian jewelry to the U.S.