‘Nurturing our Differences’ a Theme of First Student Equity Retreat at Cypress College
Cypress College President Dr. Bob Simpson welcomes participants in the first Student Equity Retreat. The event took place on Friday, April 29, 2016.
Cypress College hosted its first Student Equity Retreat on Friday, bringing to campus experts in the field from across California.
“It’s about recognizing and nurturing our differences” Ashley Griffith said in opening the event. Griffith, the college’s Special Project Director responsible for Student Equity, planned the event — a first for Cypress College.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Simpson spoke to the issue of workforce diversification as the College is in the process of hiring 31 new full-time faculty. “Equity is not the same as equality…. Thinking about doing something is not doing something,” he said.
The day-long event featured San Diego State University professors Dr. J. Luke Wood and Dr. Frank Harris III of SDSU’s Minority Male Community College Collaborative. A panel discussion earlier in the day featured highly regarded experts Dr. Edward Bush, Dr. Anna Ortiz, Dr. Lindsay Pérez-Huber, and Dr. Robert Teranishi. A student panel, facilitated by Dr. Harris, closed the retreat.
Topics presented during the day included:
- All Talk No Action: How to Foster “Real” Conversations in Achieving Student Equity Goals
- Acknowledging Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Student Development
- The Effects of Racial Microaggressions on Student Success
- Equity Leaders Prep
- Creating Conditions that Foster Engagement Among College Men of Color
- Dream Big: How Graduate School Plays a Part in Creating Your Career Path
Dr. Bush is the president of Cosumnes River College and a founder of the African American Male Education Network and Development (A2.M.E.N.D). Dr. Ortiz is the department chair for the Educational Leadership Department at California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Pérez-Huber is an assistant professor in the Social and Cultural Analysis master’s program at CSULB. Dr. Teranishi is a professor of Social Science and Comparative Education, the Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies, and the co-director of the Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Pictured are: Dr. Anna Ortiz, CSULB; Dr. Edward Bush, Cosumnes River College; Ashley Griffith, Cypress College; Dr. Lindsay Pérez-Huber, CSULB; and Dr. Robert Teranishi, UCLA.