Dear PSYC Terps,
As the world continues to bear witness to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and so many others, we acknowledge the sadness, anger, trauma, and exhaustion our community, and especially our Black students, faculty, and staff, are experiencing.
Anti-Black racism is systemic and has deep historical roots. As members of the University of Maryland community, we are responsible for upholding the core values of our institution to fight for freedom and equality for all. We must come together and make real change by educating ourselves and taking action. We encourage all members of our community to visit go.umd.edu/UMDSolidarity to find events and resources, increase our knowledge, and engage in action.
Acknowledging the underrepresentation of Black individuals at our institution and in academia more broadly and how these failures, especially in research and education, contribute to systems of oppression, our Department is taking time to reflect, advance our own education, and generate ideas for more effective anti-racist work. At this time, we are offering an anti-racist summer reading and reflection group for our faculty, a Fall faculty training about microaggressions and racism in the classroom, a Fall Psychology Community Unity Town Hall as well as a new undergraduate course for Fall 2020 (PSYC232: Psychology of Racism). Additionally, the Department of Psychology developed a new Exceptional Contributions to Black Lives Award to honor undergraduate students who demonstrate a commitment to advancing well-being within Black communities and/or are actively engaged in work targeted at reducing anti-Black racism. Please consider contributing to this fund by clicking here.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has prepared this resource to help you respond to anti-Black racism. Please be aware of campus resources that are available to you. Contact the Counseling Center, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, or the University Chaplains if you would like to access support. If you would like to report incidents of bias, please report to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. If you would like to share an idea of how to improve inclusion within the Department of Psychology or have a concern you would like to raise to the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, please use this anonymous survey or contact the diversity committee directly.
On behalf of UMD's Psychology Faculty and Staff, we stand in solidarity with the Black community.
Michael Dougherty, Department Chair
Karen O'Brien, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
Nazish Salahuddin, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Co-chair, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Bob Slevc, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
Erica Glasper, Associate Professor and Co-chair, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Joanne Leffson-Bryant, Director of Finance and Administration
As the world continues to bear witness to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and so many others, we acknowledge the sadness, anger, trauma, and exhaustion our community, and especially our Black students, faculty, and staff, are experiencing.
Anti-Black racism is systemic and has deep historical roots. As members of the University of Maryland community, we are responsible for upholding the core values of our institution to fight for freedom and equality for all. We must come together and make real change by educating ourselves and taking action. We encourage all members of our community to visit go.umd.edu/UMDSolidarity to find events and resources, increase our knowledge, and engage in action.
Acknowledging the underrepresentation of Black individuals at our institution and in academia more broadly and how these failures, especially in research and education, contribute to systems of oppression, our Department is taking time to reflect, advance our own education, and generate ideas for more effective anti-racist work. At this time, we are offering an anti-racist summer reading and reflection group for our faculty, a Fall faculty training about microaggressions and racism in the classroom, a Fall Psychology Community Unity Town Hall as well as a new undergraduate course for Fall 2020 (PSYC232: Psychology of Racism). Additionally, the Department of Psychology developed a new Exceptional Contributions to Black Lives Award to honor undergraduate students who demonstrate a commitment to advancing well-being within Black communities and/or are actively engaged in work targeted at reducing anti-Black racism. Please consider contributing to this fund by clicking here.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has prepared this resource to help you respond to anti-Black racism. Please be aware of campus resources that are available to you. Contact the Counseling Center, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, or the University Chaplains if you would like to access support. If you would like to report incidents of bias, please report to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. If you would like to share an idea of how to improve inclusion within the Department of Psychology or have a concern you would like to raise to the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, please use this anonymous survey or contact the diversity committee directly.
On behalf of UMD's Psychology Faculty and Staff, we stand in solidarity with the Black community.
Michael Dougherty, Department Chair
Karen O'Brien, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies
Nazish Salahuddin, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Co-chair, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Bob Slevc, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
Erica Glasper, Associate Professor and Co-chair, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Joanne Leffson-Bryant, Director of Finance and Administration
