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TIE Podcast Fall Semester: Crystal McCormick Ware on the Impact of Belonging on Campus
Recorded on 10/14/2022
Posted in TIE Podcasts
In the second episode of TIE’s fall semester series, Crystal McCormick Ware, inaugural chief diversity officer and senior advisor to the university president on DEI at Duquesne University, discusses the impact of belonging on campus. In conversation with Toward Inclusive Excellence editor-in-chief Alexia Hudson-Ward, Crystal defines the concept of belonging and its intersection with inclusion, situating it within the higher education context and explaining how it fits into an institution’s DEI mission. Crystal also digs into the measurement of belonging through campus-wide surveys, and how it connects to faculty and student retention. She closes with thoughts on DEI policy implementation, the impact of DEI certificate programs, and how libraries can model institutional belonging through assessment and collaboration with the DEI office.
About the guest:
Crystal McCormick Ware is the inaugural chief diversity officer and senior advisor to the university president on DEI at Duquesne University. Crystal served as director of diversity and inclusion initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh Library System from 2004-2021. In that role, she was responsible for DEI initiatives for over 250 faculty, staff, and students on five campuses, including four regional campus libraries. She also developed diversity programming and training for the entire library system and led University Library System-driven diversity efforts throughout the larger academic community. Crystal is a founding member of the Greater Pittsburgh Higher Education Diversity Consortium and has provided diversity and inclusion training to Pittsburgh Public Schools Food Service Divisions, the Junior League of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Diversity Council, the National School Nutrition Association, and other not-for-profit organizations in the Pittsburgh region.
In her role at Duquesne, Crystal is the coordinator of the President’s Advisory Council on DEI and provides essential updates on internal metrics and the progress of DEI initiatives. Crystal also works with the University president and leadership, advising on issues relating to Duquesne’s DEI strategy and providing support to advance innovative approaches to diversity-related efforts on campus.
She has a bachelor’s in political science and sociology, a master’s degree in education from Duquesne, and several DEI certifications from multiple institutions.
Episode theme music: Black is the Night by Jeris (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: DJ Vadim (djvadim), NiGiD
Learn more about Toward Inclusive Excellence:
The ongoing TIE Podcast series will feature provocative, in-depth conversations with important figures in the higher education community to help administrators and academic leaders understand racism from new perspectives and to promote racial justice on their campuses.
Check out the Toward Inclusive Excellence blog, which covers issues related to racial and social justice and provides actionable resources for those in higher education and beyond.
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Interested in contributing to TIE? Send an email to Deb V. at Choice dvillavicencio@ala-choice.org with your topic idea.
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