The Office of Diversity and Inclusion at NC State’s College of Natural Resources is pleased to announce that Ericka Hines and Marcus Martin will be joining the Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity (DIRE) Dialog seminar series.
Funded by the Duke Energy Foundation, the DIRE seminar series aims to address the discrimination and systemic inequalities faced by marginalized individuals in fields related to natural resources. Each seminar is led by a local or national expert on diversity, inclusion and belonging in subject areas related to natural resources.
“While the line up is still developing, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion is really striving to bring in higher levels of thought leaders that can share and also offer us a new understanding of social and racial justice in the context of who we are and work that we do,” said Stacy Nelson, interim associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the college and a professor of forestry and environmental resources.
Hines, who is the principal at Every Level Leadership, has worked with government agencies, nonprofits and foundations across the country to help their staff and stakeholders learn how to work in more inclusive environments where leadership is valued as an attribute and a title. Her work focuses on developing frameworks for transforming white-dominant organizational cultures to a race-equity based culture through very detailed institutional change. Hines will facilitate a virtual seminar on Thursday, February 4 at noon.
“Ericka Hines came highly recommended from several voices in the college. She’s not new to some of us, as she was one of the co-facilitators for the ‘Whiteness at Work’ series that over 60 of our staff and faculty participated in this summer, with even a few more folks wrapping up a new session of the workshop,” Nelson said.
Martin is the recent recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. He was the first African American football player at NC State and graduated with a dual degree in pulp and paper science and technology and chemical engineering. He went on to earn a medical degree, and among several other firsts, Martin also served as the vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity at the University of Virginia. Martin will facilitate a virtual seminar on Thursday, March 4 at noon. He will share his story, as well as his thoughts about the impact of the 2017 Charlottesville riot on the campus community.
“Marcus Martin is coming in March, and being a graduate of our program, he has so many lived experiences that resemble our own. As well, having led the University of Virginia’s diversity program, he offers a unique insight into navigating the intersectionality of change that’s ahead of us,” Nelson said.
The DIRE Dialog series is free and open to students, faculty and staff at the College of Natural Resources. The seminars will be hosted via Zoom and can be accessed here.
For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/3phvF0v.
