The Office for Institutional Equity and Duke Health annually convenes for the Diversity Informational Breakfast. In 2020, we extended the event to include diversity leadership teams and groups from Duke University. A call for initiatives from a select number of identified groups yielded numerous submissions that offered exciting and innovative approaches for tackling the challenges of developing programs focused on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. Only three were selected to present at the Breakfast, but the rest can be found here.

The Breakfast, which took place on Thursday, November 12th at 8:30 AM on Zoom Webinar and streamed on YouTube, included presentations from three Diversity Leaders who highlighted racial equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts that inspire and support the advancement of Duke's collective goals. Following the presentations, a panelist of several Duke experts discussed How the Pandemic Has Magnified the Challenges of Achieving Racial Equity in a Post-Election America. The Duke community had the opportunity to engage the speakers and panelists with a moderated Q & A.

Panelists

Guy-Uriel Charles, J.D., Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professor of Law

Professor Guy-Uriel E. Charles joined the Duke Law faculty in 2009. He is currently the Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professor of Law at Duke Law School. He is the co-director, with Mitu Gulati, of the Duke Law Center on Law, Race and Politics. He teaches and writes about constitutional law, election law, campaign finance, redistricting, politics, and race. In 2016, he received the Law School’s Distinguished Teaching Award. He has published over 30 articles in journals including the Harvard Law Review, Constitutional Commentary, The Cornell Law Review, The Michigan Law Review, The Michigan Journal of Race and Law, The Georgetown Law Journal, The Journal of Politics, The California Law Review, The North Carolina Law Review, and others. He is the co-author of two leading casebooks and two edited volumes. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Berkeley, Georgetown, Virginia, and Columbia law schools.

Professor Charles received his JD from the University of Michigan Law School and clerked for The Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. While at the University of Michigan, he was among a group of students who founded the Michigan Journal of Race & Law and he served as the Journal’s first editor-in-chief. From 1995-2000, he was a graduate student in political science at the University of Michigan. He is a past member of the National Research Commission on Elections and Voting and the Century Foundation Working Group on Election Reform.

Prior to Duke, Professor Charles taught at the University of Minnesota Law School from 2000-2009 where he also held the Russell M. and Elizabeth M. Bennett Professor of Law. From 2006-2008, he served as the interim co-dean at the University of Minnesota Law School. At Minnesota, he was named the Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year for 2002-2003.

Jayne Ifekwunigwe, Ph.D., Associate Director of Engagement, Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (Duke TRHT Center); Senior Research Scholar, Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference (GRID); Social Science Research Institute (SSRI)

Doctor Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe is Associate Director of Engagement for the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation and a Senior Research Scholar in the Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference. She is a Critical and Global ‘Mixed Race’ Studies pioneer, a Global African Diaspora Studies scholar, and a seasoned racial healing practitioner. Her research and teaching practices, the curating and co-facilitating of Rx Racial Healing™ Circles (RxRHC), and other TRHT racial equity strategies are all influenced by her disciplinary moorings in Anthropology. She received a Joint PhD in Medical Anthropology from UC Berkeley/UC San Francisco, an MA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, and both a BA in Anthropology and a BA in Biomedical Ethics from Brown University. She was a former Reader in Anthropology at the University of East London (UK), where she taught for over a decade.

Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, M.D., F.A.A.F.P., Family Doctor, Associate Professor, Director for Health Equity, Duke Family Medicine and Community Health

Doctor Viviana Martinez-Bianchi is a family doctor, fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the Director for Health Equity at Duke University's Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. She is Executive Member -at- Large of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) and WONCA liaison to the World Health Organization.

She is founder and co-director of LATIN-19, the Latinx Advocacy Team and Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19, a multisector group addressing Hispanic health during the COVID-19 Pandemic and beyond. She currently serves in the NC DHHS Historically Marginalized Populations COVID-19 Response team, and in the Vulnerable Populations Subcommittee of the Durham’s Recovery & Renewal Task Force (RRTF).

Her work addresses clinical education, teamwork and interprofessional education, chronic disease management, women's health, addressing social determinants of health and promoting an understanding of health equity both from local and international perspectives. She joined the Duke faculty in 2006 with broad clinical experience, gained by working as a family doctor in a rural/industrial health professional shortage area in Iowa followed by being a faculty at a community hospital-based residency program. Viviana was a Community Teaching Scholar at the University of Iowa in 2004. She completed a Fellowship in Faculty Development with Emphasis in Caring for Underserved Populations at the University of Cincinnati in 2005, a Family Medicine Faculty Development Fellowship with emphasis in Cultural Competency with the Cultural Medicine Training Center in 2015; and a Teaching for Equity Fellowship at Duke in 2018.

Her leadership activities have included serving as an elected member to several Boards of Directors, including the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians. She is Member-at-Large of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) executive and WONCA liaison to the World Health Organization. She has been Chair of the Health Equity Team for Family Medicine for America’s Health, a member of the Faculty for the AAFP Foundation Emerging Leader Institute, and chaired the AAFP Commission on Membership and Member Services. Dr. Martinez-Bianchi has represented minority physicians to the Congress of Delegates of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and has been a member of the Medicare Advisory Board to the North Carolina Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities. She has been an invited speaker to multiple organizations, especially on issues of population health, leadership, cultural competency/humility and health care for minority populations.

Presented Initiatives

Diversify IT & Virtual "Living (IT) While Black" Series

Co-presented by La'Shawnda Kendall, M.B.A., Assistant Director, Special Projects for Duke Alumni Association, DiversifyIT Co-Chair
Co-presented by Laura Webb, IT Project Manager for Office of Information Technology, Diversity IT Co-Chair
Slides

We all watched in horror for over 8 minutes as a man was publicly lynched. While this happened, we were also seeing other black people being chased down and beaten to death or shot and murdered in their own homes by police. Many people were hurting and traumatized, while others wanted to move on. DiversifyIT offered a space for staff and leaders to talk with each other about what was happening in the world and how the societal norms showed up specifically in our workplace. We hosted a virtual series, Living (IT) While Black after the Living While Black symposium hosted by the Provost’s Office to be more specific to Duke and IT staff in particular. This series became a much-needed outlet for many who were not free to discuss their personal experiences at Duke within their own teams. As a result of the conversations, an action plan and feedback report were submitted to leadership teams of IT staff. https://diversifyit.duke.edu/action/

duARTS BIPOC Accountability Project

Presented by Francesqa Santos, M.Ed, Assistant Director for Arts & Media, Student Engagement, Involvement, Duke University Center Activities & Events
Slides

duARTS, advised by Sarah Neff and Francesqa Santos, has created a series of programming and initiatives in conjunction with making a statement over the summer in relation to the political and social landscape within the United States. Our duARTS Exec+ Team made a statement over the summer and knew that the work couldn't stop there. We are working to better address not only BIPOC related issues within the art worlds but also hoping to tackle general issues of equity and justice.

The duARTS BIPOC Accountability Project includes four components: first, an accountability survey that addresses follow-up actions of student groups and organizations that made a BIPOC-related statement over the summer months. We are trying to gain a better understanding of how student organizations are fulfilling their commitment and creating space for equity and justice within their programs. In the survey's initial launch, we reached out to over 80 arts groups and organizations. We are hoping to expand in its next launch.

Second, we have created an initiative in tandem with Duke University Union (DUU) and Duke Partnership for Service (dPS) titled, Arts and Social Justice, seeking to build connections for students and artists on campus to ethically engage with notions of society, equity, art, ability, intersectionality, and justice.

Moving into our third practices, we take an introspective look and examine our complicity with inequity. To begin, we are re-evaluating recruitment practices, election procedures, marketing and advertising, and access to both our programs and our organization itself. We are working to identify barriers to engaging with student arts at Duke and actively working to create equity for student groups, including reforming Theatre Council, partnering intentionally with cultural and identity-based groups, and creating lasting partnerships in the Durham community for Duke and local artists.

Finally, we are growing our collective knowledge within our weekly duARTS meetings by hosting weekly discussions surrounding topics of arts and inequity by identifying and addressing issues of privilege within various art worlds. Each week a team member shares articles and leads the group in a discussion surrounding a prevailing inequity in the art world.

Division Chief School Initiative

Presented by Erica Taylor, M.D., Orthopaedic Surgeon, Assistant Professor, Duke Department of Orthopaedics
Slides

In academic environments, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy is enhanced exponentially through the education and shared accountability of key decision makers. Our Department of Orthopedics has created a novel longitudinal program geared towards building community through the influence of Division Chief Leadership. Our Vice Chair of Faculty, Dr. Alison Toth, developed “Division Chief School” as an eight-month, eight session academy that provides training in several key areas around communication, diversity, and general leadership principles (professionalism, financial stewardship, and organizational issues), supplemented by essential accountability metrics.

In conjunction with our Vice Chair of Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Erica Taylor, an effective curriculum for the first session, Tackling Racism, was designed, taking into account experiential data from department members and trainees and incorporating the sensitivity, empathy, and confidentiality required for thoughtful execution. To reinforce key principles, pre- and post-course exercises were administered to the division chief participants, who were able to reflect on their own perceptions and understanding of bias and racism. The session was facilitated by three expert faculty, including a former trainee. Topics included systemic racism in America and anonymously reported experiences from diverse departmental faculty and trainees. In addition, there was an interactive segment on discovering solutions for moving forward. At the conclusion of the session, assessments of diversity, equity, and inclusion were presented as trackable measures for the division leaders to support sustainable change.

Eleven of the twelve division chief participants responded to a post-session survey to give their feedback. One hundred percent of the respondents reported that they found the Talking Racism session beneficial, that they were interested in learning more about racism, and that they preferred this interactive style of session to other implicit bias training formats. The majority felt as if this session should be rolled out to the larger faculty group.

The innovation of the “Division Chief School” program highlights two critical features that lend toward advancement of diversity efforts: 1) the integration of principles of inclusion into existing structure and leadership and 2) creation of progress assessments of diversity and equity that confer shared accountability to our department leaders and key decision makers. Specifically, the assessments include a) Improvement in Environment, b) Recruitment, Retention, and Salary Equity, and c) Increased Opportunities and Visibility for Minority Faculty. There are detailed, measurable targets within each of these assessment levels that division leaders will evaluate and report on a regular accountability schedule.

It is our vision that this initiative will be shared broadly for possible implementation within other department, at Duke and beyond, emphasizing a modern, interactive method of incorporating principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion into leadership development.

Read about all of the submitted initiatives for 2020

Watch the 2020 Breakfast on YouTube

Agenda

2020 Breakfast Program

Office for Institutional Equity
Annual Diversity Informational Breakfast
Thursday, November 12, 2020
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM

8:20-8:30 AM — Registered Guests Log In to Zoom Webinar or watch on YouTube

8:30 AM — Welcome & Introduction: Kimberly Hewitt, Vice President for Institutional Equity and Chief Diversity Officer

8:35 AM — Introduction of Diversity Initiatives: Robert Crouch, Director for Diversity & Inclusion

• La'Shawnda Kendall, M.B.A., Assistant Director, Special Projects for Duke Alumni Association, DiversifyIT Co-Chair, and Laura Webb, IT Project Manager for Office of Information Technology, Diversity IT Co-Chair
  DiversifyIT and a virtual "Living (IT) While Black" series
• Francesqa Santos, M.Ed, Assistant Director for Arts & Media, Student Engagement, Involvement, Duke University Center Activities & Events
  duARTS BIPOC Accountability Project
• Erica Taylor, M.D., Orthopaedic Surgeon, Assistant Professor, Duke Department of Orthopaedics
  Division Chief School Initiative

9:00 AM — Panel Discussion and Q&A, moderated by Kimberly Hewitt.

• Guy-Uriel E. Charles, J.D., Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professor of Law
• Jayne Ifekwunigwe, Ph.D., Associate Director of Engagement, Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (Duke TRHT Center); Senior Research Scholar, Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference (GRID); Social Science Research Institute (SSRI)
• Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, M.D., F.A.A.F.P., Family Doctor, Associate Professor, Director for Health Equity, Duke Family Medicine and Community Health

10:28 — Closing Remarks: Kimberly Hewitt

10:30 — End

Programs & Slides from Past Diversity Informational Breakfasts