The UNMC community is invited to this month's "Conversation for Inclusive Excellence," which incorporates the university's ITEACH values and builds on cultural humility concepts from previous sessions.
Sheritta Strong, MD, assistant vice chancellor of inclusion, will host the discussion today, which runs from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Zoom links can be accessed via the campus calendar or via the Engage website.
Attendees will hear from Hasan Kwame Jeffries, PhD, a graduate of Duke University and professor at the Ohio State University. Dr. Jeffries teaches graduate and undergraduate seminars on the civil rights and black power movement and surveys in African American and American history. He is the author of "Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt." Dr. Jeffries' current book project, titled "Stealing Home: Ebbets Field and Black Working Class Life in Post-Civil Rights New York," explores the struggle of working class African Americans to secure and enjoy their freedom rights, from the height of the civil rights era through the present.
Dr. Jeffries will discuss the importance of confronting hard histories. Dr. Strong believes people must take initiative to seek growth in spaces of discomfort to consistently work toward becoming the best versions of themselves (for themselves, their colleagues and their communities).
Sponsored by the UNMC Office of Inclusion, "Conversations for Inclusive Excellence" allow participants to engage in meaningful and, at times, uncomfortable conversations to co-create understanding. Participants also gain tools to continue the dialogue within their departments and offices. The sessions, which take place on the second Thursday of every month, challenge participants and the assumptions people make consciously and unconsciously.