Dear Colleagues:
The American Cultures Center in the Division for Undergraduate Education is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the Spring 2023 Staff as Students of Social Justice (SSSJ) Program. This program allows campus staff to participate in discussions from leading scholars of race, ethnicity, and gender.
Along with our co-sponsors at the Multicultural Community Center in the Division of Equity & Inclusion, we are excited to announce a new public lecture series this semester. “Aspirations of Material Anti-Racism: What’s Next?” will connect Berkeley faculty working on campus with contemporaries in academia and beyond in a set of conversations to lift and provoke the criticality of university-based anti-racism projects. Series speakers will be in conversation around the radical possibilities of racial justice making against the ever-evolving nature of the carceral state; housing and housing justice movements; racial capitalism; collectivity, community, and mutual aid; and the central lineage of Black freedom struggles and contemporary abolitionist organizing, topics that previous SSSJ participants have already engaged in through rich dialogue and collective learning.
The SSSJ Program is sponsored by Becoming an Antiracist Campus and is an important expression of the campus’s commitment to the intellectual and professional development of staff, especially around issues of equity, inclusion, diversity and anti-racism. We hope that many of you will take advantage of this exciting opportunity!
Program Overview
- Attend online lectures/meetings for the core Staff as Students in Social Justice course
- No exams, grades or academic credit
- Supplemental readings will be available and encouraged - especially for the guest scholars who will be presenting to SSSJ participants
- Upon completion, you will receive a certificate signed by Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Oliver O’Reilly which will be added to your HR file
These requirements are meant to be a baseline for supporting staff development, and the program will seek to support participants’ needs.
Please take a moment to indicate your preferences on the application form. Applications are due by Wednesday, February 8. We will let all applicants know if they have been selected the following week. If you have any questions, please contact the Staff as Students in Social Justice Program at sssj@berkeley.edu.
Sincerely,
Oliver M. O'Reilly (he/him/his), Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
Dania Matos (she/her/ella), Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion
Victoria Robinson (she/her/hers), Director, The American Cultures Center
Monica Garcia (she/her/hers), UE DEIB Officer & Co-Chair of the EID Implementation Team
David Maldonado (he/him/his), Ph.D. Candidate, Berkeley School of Education
Matt Nelson (he/him/his), Program Coordinator, Staff as Students of Social Justice Program
This message was sent to all UC Berkeley staff. If you are a manager who supervises UC Berkeley employees without email access, please circulate this information to all.