University of Utah School for Cultural & Social Transformation

Congratulations to Dr. Edmund Fong, recipient of the CSBS Senior Superior Teaching Award! “Our students are fortunate to benefit from Dr. Fong’s commitment to engaging instruction and concern for student wellbeing,” said Acting Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner. “In his sixteen years on campus, Dr. Fong has consistently demonstrated his commitment to making his courses relevant to students’ present and future engagement in social and public discourse.” His students are appreciative of this approach, often responding to course evaluations with comments like: “Prof. Fong was fantastic. His lectures were fascinating and the readings and work he assigns definitely feels like it has the purpose of helping you learn”; “Dr. Fong is an amazing and well-read professor who does well to include both sides of each coin while still interpreting them through a lens of present issues”; and “I like how informative that the instructor was and he was very accommodating and made it so his class wasn't very stressful. I also like how Professor Fong was so willing to answer student questions even though it took up time.”   Thank you, Dr. Fong, for your dedication to our students and our campus.

Ethnic Studies student Emma Taylor was recently honored with the Exceptional Community Engagement Award through the Bennion Center. This award celebrates student leaders who demonstrate action in pursuit of long-term positive social change, inspire and engages others, demonstrate efforts to sustain their work through developing strategies for institutional and community commitment, and exhibit motivation and potential for effective long-term civic engagement. With support from faculty mentor Elizabeth Archuleta and community partner Martha Hernandez from the Center for Equity & Student Belonging, Emma did a capstone research project to assess support services and resources for survivors of gender-based violence on campus, specifically for survivors with marginalized identities. “We really wanted to investigate to see if survivors with marginalized identities were facing barriers and provide actionable items, through survivors' recommendations, that on-campus partners could take to ensure that resources were culturally competent and accessible to students with all identities,” said Emma. Dr. Archuleta echoed the need for research in this area and the positive outcomes from Emma’s research project. “Despite efforts to address sexual violence through campus policies and programs, many survivors find that their needs are not being adequately met,” she said. “Emma’s work addresses several ways in which universities can improve campus resources on issues such as under reporting, trauma-informed support, confidentiality concerns, long-term support, intersectional needs, and prevention efforts.” It is important to Emma that her research has tangible impact and acts as a starting point for better support for students on campus. “I hope that students or survivors can continue to research and force systems to change to better serve all communities.” Way to go, Emma!

The College of Humanities and the School for Cultural & Social Transformation at the University of Utah have partnered to foster the next generation of environmental leaders through a new interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate in Environmental Humanities and Transformative Justice. Through this program, undergraduate students at the U will have the opportunity to enhance their chosen degree with a certificate that provides an interdisciplinary and justice-oriented focus on environmental issues. Read more about this exciting new opportunity here: https://lnkd.in/gKdw6vV2

After seven years as a program, Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Utah has new stature as an interdisciplinary research center. The University of Utah’s Board of Trustees gave final approval to the Center for Pasifika Indigenous Knowledges during its meeting last Tuesday. “We are very excited the center has finally been approved and really look forward to Pacific Islands studies at the University of Utah receiving more national attention for the work that we do,” said Maile Arvin, center director and a Native Hawaiian feminist scholar. “We hope that it will become a hub for scholars nationally and internationally who are doing important Pacific Islands studies work.” Read more about this exciting development here: https://lnkd.in/gTPbbWps

Gender Studies Assistant Professor Jaimie D. Crumley is interested in history, liberation theology, and the intersections of being a Black, religious woman. Despite the difficult of the history she researches, she approaches her work with empathy—recognizing the importance of approaching historical texts and people with empathy and humanity. "People like me who work on the history of race, gender and religion are dealing with hard topics. I have to think about slavery, which is terrible. I have to think about racial violence, which is terrible. I have to think about sexual violence, which is terrible. Sometimes we look at these people from the past and we’re very judgmental of them. Perhaps rightfully so, but I also think we have to remember that they were also human and they were products of their time in the same way we are." Read more here: https://lnkd.in/geP2_tWu