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FSU To Host Symposium On Inclusion, Diversity In Academia

A giant plaque with the words "The Florida State University" and a seal with three torches is in the foreground of this picture. Behind the plaque is a two-tiered fountain with a small pool underneath it. In the background are trees, benches, and a massive brick building.
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FSU’s virtual symposium on diversity and inclusion in academia will be held from September 17 – 18.

Florida State University is channeling the cultural conversation around social justice by having its own examination of how race impacts academia. The college will host a symposium on diversity and inclusion.

Topics for the symposium include racism and xenophobia amid the pandemic, addressing racial trauma in the classroom, and more. Lisa Liseno is overseeing the summit. Liseno says implicit bias, one of the topics to be discussed, is common:

“We all have implicit biases. It doesn’t make us bad people. We just need to be aware of them and change them.”

Liseno says some teachers may not realize how they could be excluding others in academia:

“There’s a bias, a well-known researched bias that faculty tend to call on males more than females, call on Caucasians more than Black students.”

Liseno says having a space to talk about and reflect on biases will help create more inclusivity, which wasn’t always at the forefront of academia in the past:

“If we’re only talking to, for instance, white middle-class classrooms, you’re going to get a very different result then if you go into inner cities and talk to classrooms.”

The symposium will be held via Zoom on September 17 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. And September 18 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. To register, click here.

Robbie Gaffney graduated from Florida State University with degrees in Digital Media Production and Creative Writing. Before working at WFSU, they recorded FSU’s basketball and baseball games for Seminole Productions as well as interned for the PBS Station in Largo, Florida. Robbie loves playing video games such as Shadow of the Colossus, Animal Crossing, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Their other hobbies include sleeping and watching anime.