The Diveristy Committee welcomes collaboration with UT Libraries Common Ground Bookclub. This partnership will bring in an additional literacy component as well as provide awareness to intercultural issues.

Check out the UT Common Ground Book Club at our UTK Libguides and on Ning

Diversity Committee

I. Membership

List of ppl applying for our committee – we accept all of the applicants. Barbara will be informed.

Allison Sharp Bolorizadeh

Erin Moore

Dan Green

Ppl returning

Thura

Allison Roberts

Annazette McCane Houston

Laurie & Jerry Roberson

Rotating off

Jeanine Williamson

Marielle Veve

Sandy Allen

II. Volaware updates

a. JW has contact Connie Briscoe – director of Volaware – mental health awareness group. Distressed/distressing student helpline. Will come talk to us about Volaware in September…this will be a “Let’s Talk About It”

b. Future volaware events

1. Volaware street fare 11/7

2. Concert – 10/6

a. JW will probably attend the above functions. The theme is Poverty.

b. She can have posters rdy for the event.

ii. The library usually has presence at these functions.

III. We’ll host a welcome back thing in August

a. We usually pass out ice water and literature – last time we used cases of water.

1. We can pass out water during lunch….Tuesday the 25^th of August and the August 27^th

2. Allison will bring a banner we already have prepared.

3. Thura and Trisha will each bring two cases of water. Allison will supply an ice chest. Jeanine will make a financial contribution. Thura will accept it. Jerry will bring water (and has volunteered Laurie)

4. We’ll set up right on Melrose

5. If we can set a date on the volaware “Let’s Talk About It”, we can have promotional materials for that at our table at the welcome back.

IV. Let’s Talk About It – feat. Beverly Watts

V. Conflict – the timing of this allows us an hour…but there’s a retirement function at around the same time as the let’s talk about it.

a. Allison will get the let’s talk about it in the beacon, metropulse, and sentinel.

i. Trisha has created flyers, and some of them will go to the display that Shantrie is creating on the1st floor

ii. Allison will bring in some old child’s shoes…these can be part of the display (tossed over a phone line).

iii. Trisha has some other images of poverty Shantrie might use form when she was working on the posters.

1. We’ll eschew movies in favour of the welcome back activity – the movies will be depressing.

2. Advertising – hang flyers in Sociology, Poli Sci, the Golden Roast? TM and JW will help with hanging flyers.

VI. Reception for residents program completion

a. 8/24/09 – 10:30am in 605

b. There’s a committee planning the party

i. Gail Watson

ii. Sharon Boring

iii. Wanda Rosinski

iv. Melanie Feltner-Reichert

v. Sara Foster

vi. JoAnne Deeken

vii. Thura Mack

c. The theme is – “Sail away…but welcome to sail back!”

d. Trisha may be photographing the festivities

e. It’ll be a brunch – we can bring food.

VII. Allison Roberts will be the new co-chair of the committee – hopefully. TM will ask Barbara if it’s okay.

VIII. Volunteering Rocks – see the AgVet facebook and youtube..see Allison Roberts for details.

1. Announcements
   1. Laurie – Native American Heritage Night. 2^nd annual on 4/20/09 @ McClung Museum @ 7:30. We will publicize this. Post Bills about the library and put it on our website.

i. Publicity materials will be sent to Allison Roberts (Jerry will send them to Allison)

1. International Festival next Friday. Schedule is as follows:

8:00-9:30      Damon Campbell, Thura Mack

9:30-11:00    Jeanine Williamson, Thura Mack

11:00-12:30  Trisha Brady, Joanne Deeken

12:30-2:00    Laurie Roberson, Jerry Roberson

2:00-4:00     Shantrie Collins, Allison Roberts, Marielle Veve

1. 1. Thura will fill in as needed
2. Support for Possum Queen (Trisha Brady vs Michelle Brannen) – to support staff activities within the library
   1. How can we support this?

i. Trisha will have a friend with a pet possum in

ii. Trisha will solicit funds from others within the library

iii. Possible bake sale

iv. This goes on til May 12^th, at which point the winner is crowned. This will happen during the Spirit Awards in the Hermitage room at the UC.

1. Marielle will email Laurie information RE the spirit awards and such.

2. Trisha will send updates to the committee as well.

1. Let’s Talk About it with Native American Students
   1. We’ll hold off on this til fall – during Native American month
   2. Jerry says that we should pick a day in October and he’ll take it back to the Native American Students – this way, the group will be aware.

i. 10/01 is the pow-wow

ii. 10/16 – McClung Cherokee days

iii. The 15^th would be good, but it’s during fall break..

iv. We could do ours on the 8^th.

1. This is now our tentative date. Midterms jump around depending on the teacher, so some students will be busy, others will not (so says Trisha).

1. Invite VolAware ppl to have a Let’s Talk About It
   1. VolAware helps students in crisis
   2. As suggested by Dean Maxine
   3. We could do this Summer of fall.

i. AR says it might be lost in the summer

ii. Jerry suggests doing this after the first test

1. Are we focusing this on staff or students? Staff.

a. Trisha suggests training for high stress situations when we’re not high stressed.

iii. Ppl from other branches and portions of campus would have a better chance of attending if it falls in the summer.

1. We also need to be aware of summer vacations and ALA

iv. Late August/Early September, when we’re gearing up but before things are in full swing

1. JW will check with VolAware for times in Early September and see what they have.

2. We could put this in the Beacon to publicize, but students mainly came for LGBT session and Beverly Watts.

3. JW wants this to be focused on staff – helping us help students.

4. We should also encourage our student workers to attend, as per JR

1. Collaborating with Margaret Casado on poverty issues
   1. Culture corner?
   2. Some other way of showing our support, as this is a diversity issue

i. How can we go beyond the culture corner? JR suggests:

1. there will probably be campus-wide activities related to this

2. There are schools in the immediate area with high rates of child poverty – maybe there’s something we can do RE a visit to the school (work with Tahira A Williams on outreach) possibly host a read in at the school.

3. Program to get books to the kids or do a fundraiser?

a. AR – will this be ongoing? It’s a large undertaking.

b. We can adopt a school or a class – do it on a small scale as per JR

c. We’d need a lot of approval to actually give books to kids, but it would be effective publicity for UT and for higher education in general

d. Encourage volunteerism of some sort.

ii. Margaret has not talked with TM or JW about this yet

iii. We’ll want to do something that’s not only meaningful, but that supports Margaret

iv. This could be a service learning opportunity (like the Baker Center does). Bob Kronick from College of Education sometimes brings in younger students and exposes them to UT. They’d be in the library for 45 minutes or so. Allison Roberts and Chris Durman have participated in this.

1. 1. This issue is already part of Ready For The World (The Glass Castle is the book that they’ll be reading)
   2. AR might develop a webpage resource for dealing with this
   3. We can also scour the web for outreach models and bring them back to the group