Learning from the EDJI Fellowship Program

EDJI stands for Equity, Diversity, Justice and Inclusion. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), equity recognizes that we all do not start from the same place. Our backgrounds are different and unique, and we must acknowledge this fact. Once acknowledged, we adjust the unfair imbalances created by these differences. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) explains how diversity refers to the wide range of different backgrounds and identities of our society. These can include (but are not limited to) socioeconomic status, gender identity, ethnic identity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, etc. In higher education, we foster justice (or social justice) by creating teaching and learning environments that support all students without regard to their identities or learning potential (Johnson McPhail, 2021). When we have an inclusive environment, we have a welcoming community that values the participation and active engagement of all its members. To put it simply, inclusion is being welcoming to every member of the community (University at Buffalo Office of Inclusive Excellence, 2023).

The University at Buffalo is committed to cultivating an inclusive environment where everyone in our community feels welcomed, valued and has a sense of belonging. To create a just culture, UB vows to eliminate barriers and implement fair and equitable practices and policies that allow all to flourish and reach their highest potential. For more information about UB's goals, for a just, inclusive, and anti-racist campus environment, please visit the Office of Inclusive Excellence website. In addition, the PACOR recommendations are available on the PACOR webpage.

Nominated faculty participate in the fellowship program for one academic year. Throughout the year, fellows participate in a training series and apply the concepts learned to their own teaching practices. Fellows also develop and support EDJI initiatives within their unit and/or department, where they share the information learned; serve as exemplar instructors by implementing inclusive practices into their course design and teaching; participate in new course proposal reviews using an inclusive pedagogy lens; and discuss initiatives and resources with their peers and CATT to develop a university-wide repository of resources for other faculty and staff to use.

The training series portion of the program includes presentations and workshops from CATT staff and various experts from the UB community. Topics included:

The end goals of this program include:

• Increase communication and collaboration across units and between units and Academic Affairs.
• Empower faculty with knowledge, information and resources
• Establish a collaborative cohort who serve as advocates and ambassadors for inclusive pedagogy within their units.

“I joined the EDJI Faculty Fellows program so that I would have impetus, guidance, and time to focus on making my teaching more inclusive. By providing opportunities like this, the university demonstrates its commitment to promoting a more diverse and welcoming culture on campus. So far, the trainings have raised my awareness of barriers faced by students coming from backgrounds which are different from mine and helped me build connections with colleagues working to promote inclusive teaching in other departments. For next semester, I am working on proposed changes to syllabi and am reflecting on how to best convince colleagues of mine to attend trainings that I organize. Cultural change can be slow, but I hope that over time students from all backgrounds will feel welcome and supported at the university regardless of which major they choose.”

“This Image hangs above my computer at work, one of my colleagues got it for me when I graduated with my Ph.D. We used to talk about how white-washed the curriculum was in most universities and how if we were going to work at any university we needed to engage in actively making a change. I have always known that this would not be easy but it is critical to me and shapes not only how I approach my time in the classroom but further how I show-up to work every day. And fundamentally was why I agreed to be in the inaugural cohort of Equity, Diversity, Justice, and Inclusion Fellows.

My goals for this program are simply to help my colleagues be less afraid to talk about the stuff that matters to students in the classroom. As someone who is openly queer, who actively engages in anti-racist work, who grew up working class, and who seeks to bring disability, reproductive, and queer justice to everything I do – my hope with this program is to encourage more people to do actively do this work. My dream, is that one day, students walk into my upper-level classes that are focused on oppression and privilege and say, “we’ve heard all this before and ready to dive deeper.” I say that meaning that not every class has to cover every aspect of oppression and privilege but rather that students have learned how to have the conversation, learned to see their peers as full humans and not aspects of identity, have heard faculty mention their own identities in inclusive ways, and are able to have deep conversations about the systems that operate oppression because they are already comfortable with these topics in the classroom. And every classroom, every instructor, every subject can work to treat students as autonomous humans with intersectional identities who deal with a lot of life in addition to learning in the classroom.”

“This program has enlightened me to the efforts that are being made throughout the institution towards equity and justice. It has allowed me to create a network of resources, existing and emerging, that I can use to engage and support my students. Being in an alternative location, this venture has grown my respect for the efforts and put me in contact with a plethora of allies and supports throughout the institution that I would not have been aware of. The program has made great effort to consider real-world application of theories and provided multiple perspectives and experiences. The program has helped me to strategize what goals are obtainable and how to mitigate barriers that impede progress toward equity. I think that this program is integral in identifying and shaping ambassadors of equity that will move the institution effectively forward toward Equity, Diversity, Justice and Inclusion. The program should be continued and more cohorts of faculty should be trained throughout the institution, while the experiences and lessons of the current cohort should be leveraged and the fellows should be allowed to be active participants. I have supervised faculty in various areas, at various institutions and feel that this fellowship series is impressive in giving the knowledge, theories, tools and leverage to practically implement EDJI principles.” 

Fellows thus far have reported they are using their new knowledge in a variety of settings. Our fellows are currently working with their respective deans and/or chairs to identify EDJI goals and initiatives for their units/departments. Some fellows have joined departmental DEI committees and are collaborating with their Unit Diversity Officers to host EDJI events and trainings. The fellows are also reviewing course proposals and/or program syllabi to enhance current course offerings and ensure new courses have an inclusive pedagogy lens.

If you are interested in learning more about the program or how to become part of next year’s cohort, contact us at ubcatt@buffalo.edu.