Dear Members of the Darden Community,
Welcome to the Merry Month of May!
First and foremost we want to extend a heart-felt congratulations to the members of the Class of 2023!! Congratulations on an incredible accomplishment, and we also want to say thank you to each and every one of you for lending your unique perspective, your thoughtfulness and your multiple identities to our Darden Community. We are better for having had you as students and many staff and faculty would say we learn just as much from you as you do from us. We hope you go on to integrate the lessons you’ve gleaned from Darden as newly minted business leaders.
While we traditionally delegate and assign heritage months to their assigned 30 (sometimes less) day period, the truth is that our identities are so much more rich and complex, and it takes work to integrate those intersecting identities into a meaningful whole. You’ll notice themes of integration and intersecting identities in some of the resources and opportunities we’ve shared below, in a small attempt to deepen and extend the conversation. We hope you take the opportunity to reflect and also explore your own multifaceted and complex identity, while also celebrating our Asian American and Pacific Islander and Jewish community members.
Be well,
The Darden Diversity Team
May Commemorations and Observances
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Jewish American Heritage Month
Memorial Day – May 28th
Vesak – May 5th
Cinco De Mayo – May 5th
World Day for Cultural Diversity Dialogue and Development – May 21st
Resources
UVA Division of Diversity Equity and Inclusion Self Reflection Tool
Inclusion By Design Syllabus Rubric
Mental Health First Aid Resources
It’s Time We Talk about Mental Health in Business Classrooms. But How?
Training and Events
Tuesday, 05.16 12:30pm — 2:00pm EST
Equity remains one of the most sought out concepts both in theory and application. But how do we define equity? Are there certain concepts of equity which are off limits? This session seeks to not only define equity but describe the potential outcomes as well. Additionally, this session will seek to introduce concepts such as equity lens which can be applied to our lived experience.
June 15 -25, Jefferson African American Heritage Center
The 1920s chapter of August Wilson’s epic American Century Cycle begins as a routine recording session. As tensions rise between the members of a blues band and the owners of the recording studio and the white producers try to exploit the talents of the band—especially the gifted and impulsive Levee— Ma insists on having things her way
Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army
Thursday, 05.18 1:00PM -2:00PM EST
What was it like to be Jewish in Lincoln’s armies? The Union army was as diverse as the embattled nation it sought to preserve, comprising a unique mixture of ethnicities, religions, and identities. Almost one Union soldier in four was born abroad, and natives and newcomers fought side by side, sometimes uneasily. Yet though scholars have parsed the trials and triumphs of Irish, Germans, African Americans, and others in the Union ranks, they have remained largely silent on the everyday experiences of the largest non-Christian minority to have served. Adam D. Mendelsohn draws for the first time upon the vast database of verified listings of Jewish soldiers serving in the Civil War as well as letters, diaries, and newspapers to examine the collective experience of Jewish soldiers and to recover their voices and stories.
A Resilient Phoenix: Rising from the Pandemic
Sunday, 5.28 8:30PM EST
In CAPRI’s 2023 Annual Forum, members from CAPRI’s International Advisory Council and board, key stakeholders in the region’s policy community, and contributors to CAPRI’s ongoing research will discuss pressing challenges to resilience and solutions as the Asia Pacific emerges from this latest crisis and prepares for future ones.
Ongoing/ On-Demand **
Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.
**Please note that Mental Health First Aid trainings do have costs associated with them.
What We’re Reading/Watching/Listening To
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center is proud to present Bravespace, a compilation of original songs, sounds, and meditations created by Asian American women and non-binary artists and musicians. Arriving amidst a period of collective trauma and heightened xenophobic violence, Bravespace offers listeners a refuge for contemplation, grief, and growth.
Mira Jacob’s groundbreaking graphic memoir is speaking to the elephant in the room. Prompted by conversations with her bold and inquisitive half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Mira Jacob touches on race, color, sexuality, interracial relationships, love, and so much more. Good Talk provides a vital starting point for these seemingly unapproachable or uncomfortable conversations, and we are all so lucky Mira Jacob has created the space for them to happen in her beautiful framework.
Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities– Emily Tamkin
In Bad Jews, Emily Tamkin examines the last 100 years of American Jewish politics, culture, identities, and arguments. Drawing on over 150 interviews, she tracks the evolution of Jewishness throughout American history, and explores many of the evolving and conflicting Jewish positions on assimilation; race; Zionism and Israel; affluence and poverty, philanthropy, finance, politics; and social justice. From this complex and nuanced history, Tamkin pinpoints perhaps the one truth about American Jewish identity: It is always changing.
Asian American Histories of the United States– Catherine Ceniza Choy
Original and expansive, Asian American Histories of the United States is a nearly 200-year history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the US. Reckoning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in anti-Asian hate and violence, award-winning historian Catherine Ceniza Choy presents an urgent social history of the fastest growing group of Americans. The book features the lived experiences and diverse voices of immigrants, refugees, US-born Asian Americans, multiracial Americans, and workers from industries spanning agriculture to healthcare.
Soon to Be Released:
They Called Us Exceptional – Prachi Gupta
How do we understand ourselves when the story about who we are supposed to be is stronger than our sense of self? What do we stand to gain—and lose—by taking control of our narrative? These questions propel Prachi Gupta’s heartfelt memoir and can feel particularly fraught for immigrants and their children who live under immense pressure to belong in America. (August 2023)
