Over the summer break, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion hosted two Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) fellows Ibrahiim El-Amiin and Emily Stradling.
Ibrahiim was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, and moved to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College in August 2013. Ibrahiim is currently an academic adviser at Georgia State University and a graduate student at Mercer University’s Tift College of Education and graduate DEI fellow. Ibrahiim enjoys writing poetry, reading (especially about Black feminist theories and frameworks), working out, playing sports, playing the trumpet and many other things. Ibrahiim worked on a book review as well as two podcast episodes for the Mercer Mondays Podcast, detailing strategies for embracing intersectionality as a framework and reimagining masculinity and manhood.
Emily Stradling was the post-graduate DEI fellow. She is from South Wales in the United Kingdom and received a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design and communication studies from Mercer University. This fall she will be starting her Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership. Emily’s future goals are to continue working in higher education. She wants to use her design and communications skills to help create content and experiences for students that enrich their college lives. Her long-term goal is to become a college professor. Emily created several marketing projects for the office including a cultural calendar and several book reviews for the Social Justice Book Club, and designed a brochure, newsletter and reporting form so that people know where and how to report discriminatory acts.
In addition to celebrating the new fellows, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion also celebrated July as Minority Mental Health Awareness Month with the Macon and Atlanta Counseling and Psychological Services offices. Panelists for a Mercer Mondays Podcast episode on the topic included Dr. Emily Piassick, Ruvan Weerasuriya, Erica Geralds and Lorice Harris. The conversation centered around dismantling stigmas and stereotypes, post-traumatic stress disorder, racial trauma, coping mechanisms and resources for help for BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) Mercerians. You can listen to this episode on Spotify under Mercer Mondays Podcast. See the Atlanta CAPS website for mental health resources for persons of color.
The second installment of the podcast summer series celebrated Disability Pride Month. Panelists for this discussion included Katie Johnson, director of access and accommodation, and Andreena Patton, access coordinator. This included discussion of the book “Disability Visibility,” how to become an advocate and an ally, different types of disabilities, campus improvements for access, appropriate language, barriers to resources and the pay gap. You can check out this week’s episode on the Mercer Mondays Podcast Spotify account as well.
Welcome back events
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has been extremely busy this summer planning some awesome initiatives and activities for the 2021-22 academic year. Check out some of our welcome back events:
- 5-7 p.m. Aug. 23 — Join us at Bear Fair in University Center. Stop by our table to get some cool information about how to become a DEI ambassador/fellow, our events and free Mercer DEI swag. Sign up here to become a DEI ambassador.
- 5-7 p.m. Aug. 31 — Join us on Cruz Plaza for the Minority Mentor Program/Diversity and Inclusion Multicultural Mixer. There will be information tables from our multicultural student organizations, free food, henna, student performances and free Mercer limited edition DEI swag.
