Assistant Vice Chancellor for Community Engagement

"I am most passionate about advancing issues of opportunity and equity for all community members," Smith says. "Typically, I try to understand and influence these issues from both the systems and individual levels of work. Creating curricula and programs that develop active and empathetic listening skills in participants from target and non-target populations excites me. Listening-to-understand is the groundwork that allows individuals from very different starting points share and affirm stories within a diverse setting while also developing the emotional resiliency, trust, and listening skills to explore and address systemic and institutional inequities."

Director of the Office of Fraternal Leadership and Learning

"Their ability to lead in very different ways had an impact on me and were great examples of strong women.  My mother is such a go-getter and takes initiative when she sees some thing that needs to be addressed.  She was and continues to be an inspiration to other young girls and women through her work in the community."  

Professor of English and Poet Laureate of Mississippi

"I had very, very few female professors, for example, so doing something as simply as teaching in a nine-months-pregnant body has seemed deliciously, importantly radical.  So has actively mentoring women students as they consider their professional plans, marching in the Pride parade ("English Profs do it with Pride" read my poster), serving as an Isom affiliate, and including on my syllabi that I'm an Ally." 

Interim Director, Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement, and Ed.D candidate in Higher Education and Student Personnel

Professionally, White says that she is just grateful to see students every day. "They motivate me to be a better professional and challenge me to think critically."

Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion for the College of Liberal Arts

"I’m compelled to figure out how things work in organizations" Dellinger says. "In particular, how do people experience their work lives? How do everyday practices or policies impact different groups and how can we make change for the better?"

Associate Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assistant Professor of Psychology

"My parents and my extended family of aunts, uncles, grandmothers, and grandfathers created a context in which it would be difficult to be anything other than a person who believes all people should be afforded equal rights.  I didn’t really know humans needed a word for this belief until well into my teens. Then I took a couple of Women's Studies courses while an undergraduate."