My doctoral research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studied DEI professionals across higher education — what they were asked to carry, what they were never given, and why the field keeps burning people out. What I found was a pattern so consistent it was almost impossible to believe no one had formally documented it before. Every practitioner had entered their role with no defined competencies, no structured pipeline, and no framework for reaching the people who resist most.
The Research
Content designed for DEI professionals, organizational leaders, and anyone who has ever stood in a hard room and wondered how to reach the people who need it most.
Contributing author: Bunch, M., Johnson, L., & Pak, Y. (Eds.), Reimagining Culturally Responsive Learning Spaces: Collective Voices and Shared Practices, Routledge, 2027. Chapter Six: Community Creation in the Classroom — an exploration of how intentional community-building before any lesson is taught creates the conditions for belonging, safety, and learning that persist throughout the school year.