This year, we’re on the lookout for department members who are working to help us support our commitment to change by seeking equity, social justice, and anti-racism.
We asked Sherri Turner, professor in the counselor education program and chair of the Department of Educational Psychology’s Diversity Committee, to tell us a bit about the work of the committee and what inspires her to make a difference.
How has the Diversity Committee evolved since you started as chair?
I am so honored to be the chair of the Diversity Committee and to work with a group of people who are dedicated to diversity and inclusion. We have moved from an ad hoc committee to an official, standing committees in the department recognized in the 7.12 (the department’s official policies and procedures concerning faculty review, promotion, and tenure).
What does the Diversity Committee do?
Our work is focused on increasing and supporting diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and anti-racism across the department, and by extension across the college and university. Our committee is comprised of energetic, talented members who are involved in diversity work through other venues as well. Our committee exerts true leadership around these issues.
How do you support this work as chair of the committee?
My work as chair, as I see it, is to try to facilitate the work of committee members and keep us moving in the same direction. I also serve as liaison to the department chair and other leadership to ascertain how our committee efforts can support the goals and direction of the department concerning diversity, equity, anti-racism, and inclusion. Because we have a large and vibrant committee, our members focus on various projects in smaller teams (sub-committees), and then we meet together every month to see how our efforts are aligned with each other and with department as we together move the work of diversity forward. We focus on supporting students’ diversity initiatives, on climate issues, on pipeline issues, and on faculty professional development, among other initiatives.
What inspired you to do this work?
My own commitment to diversity came from moving out of my community where Native American values and mores were honored, Native American history was taught, and individuals and families seemed to have relatively stable and prosperous lives, and moving to other communities where that was not the case. In my master’s in counseling program, I took several classes that taught us about how inequities and a lack of social justice effected people’s lives, and the negative impact it had on us all. In my PhD program, I also studied multicultural counseling, and multicultural counseling psychology. I have focused many of my research efforts on multicultural and social justice issues. The rest is happenstance. When I heard that the department chair wanted to grow the Diversity Committee to support the work of diversity, I volunteered. I have found working with this committee has been incredibly and personally enriching, and I am grateful to learn from them and from our department community as I try to do my part to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion.
What challenges have you encountered along the way?
The only real challenges I have encountered along the way are that there is more diversity work than we could possibly do, and I am so appreciative that the entire department is working hard to increase diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism. As our department chair has said, this is the work of the entire department, of all individuals, committees, and programs.
What keeps you motivated?
What keeps me motivated to continue is that this is my passion. This is how I see that we can make a difference in the world. When people are respected enough to be treated as equals in pay, opportunities, influence, and representation, and to be included equally in every way in all aspects of life, the types of injustice that has led to brutality, violence, poverty, and whole classes of people being dispossessed will be greatly diminished. My experience with the people in this department is that the work of diversity is a shared vision. We may not always agree on how to get there, but I truly believe, after spending 20 years in this department, that our faculty, staff, and students are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and anti-racism in all of its forms.
About the Educational Psychology Diversity Committee
Professor Turner is chair of the Department of Educational Psychology Diversity Committee. She’s joined by co-chair and school psychology Lecturer Jessie Kember, school psychology Lecturer Annie Hansen Burke, psychological foundations of education Lecturer Jeff Bye, QME Assistant Professor Seungwon Chung, PhD student Tai Do, special education Professor Jennifer McComas (interim member), and special education Lecturer Brenna Rudolph (temporarily on leave).
