Call for Advocates and Allies Advisory Council nominations
The Women’s Place and grant partners request nominations, including self-nominations, for women faculty and staff members who want to help further gender and minority equity at Ohio State by serving on the Advocates and Allies Advisory Council (AAAC) for an NSF-funded grant geared toward creating a male advocates and allies facilitation program. This program is intended to give men the ability to put good intentions into play in substantial ways to support diversification in the academy.
Changing the culture at Ohio State takes everyone, including men. As the primary holders of influence and privilege, men must be involved to ensure long-term sustained change that brings the benefits of influence and privilege to women and people of color. Bringing men closer to the center of the issue requires new behaviors and actions for everyone so that partnerships across our differences and within our perceived sameness can flex to accomplish the change we seek.
To bring men further into the gender equity coalition, The Women's Place along with the College of Engineering, Ohio State ADVANCE, and Dr. Joan Herbers, professor and principal investigator of Project CEOS, have partnered on the NSF grant initiative Advocates and Allies for Equity. The grant will bring the successful Advocates and Allies facilitation program developed at North Dakota State University to Ohio State. In this men-training-men-advised-by-women program, “Advocates” are men who volunteer to increase their understanding of male privilege and facilitate workshops for other male faculty—the “Allies,” who commit to understand the issues, adopt specific approaches and behaviors, and extend the benefits of privilege and influence to women and under represented minorities.
The AAAC’s role is to select and advise Advocates, provide them feedback, and help them understand and remain in touch with the experience of women and underrepresented minorities in our academic climate.
Diversity is everyone’s responsibility. It lessens all of us when any of our colleagues cannot fully participate at work as they really are. Your self-nomination or nomination of a colleague will help to create a work culture that brings out the best in everyone. The deadline for nominations is January 11, 2016. The selection of members will be done quickly thereafter so that the group can begin its work immediately.