Image of many different people looking at a computer with the text 'Want to learn more on how to create an inclusive and equitable environment? All are welcome to join the Health Sciences Library in their Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Trainings. Find all trainings and more information at goto.unm.edu/hslicevents'

Click the image to be taken to our events page where our different workshops can be found.

The Justice, Equity, and Inclusion (JEI) Committee at HSLIC is now requiring that all HSLIC employees take at least 3 of 6 trainings on JEI topics of importance. The Committee has been working hard to schedule training opportunities that would help our employees in understanding the various needs of our campus and workplace dynamics. While these trainings are intended for the purpose of employee training, all are welcome! We currently have three upcoming offerings. Registration is required for each event and they will all be online. 

  • Transgender Cultural Fluency Training, Monday October 25th from 10am-12pm. Registration is required and a Zoom link will be sent day of. 

    • About the Transgender Cultural Fluency Training: Transgender people today are more visible and represented throughout our communities than ever. As such, organizations and individuals are finding the need to increase their knowledge and understanding of issues that affect their transgender colleagues, employees, friends, and family members.

      Despite gains in visibility and acceptance, transgender people continue to face enormous challenges in everyday life—from poverty, unemployment, lack of access to health care and secure housing, to horrific violence and discrimination. 

      Our Transgender Cultural Fluency Training lays the foundation for participants to gain a better understanding of what it means to be transgender, clarify common misconceptions about transgender people, become familiar with the challenges transgender communities face, and learn ways to be a strong and engaged advocate for transgender people.

      About the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico

      The Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico is the only agency in the state that exists solely to serve transgender people and our families and loved ones. We are one of very few organizations in the United States that provides a wide array of direct services, in addition to leading statewide education and advocacy efforts. Founded in 2008, TGRCNM has provided more than 2,000 Transgender Cultural Fluency Trainings throughout New Mexico, including multiple UNM campuses, Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless, Rape Crisis Center of Central New Mexico, Planned Parenthood, Barrett House, Crossroads for Women, New Mexico Physicians Assistant Association, the Farmington Police Department and many more varied audiences. We have assisted in crafting local and state policy and have provided individual advocacy for many transgender people in our state. Our direct services support some of the most impacted folks in our communities through food, bus passes, healthcare, free HIV testing, clothing, support groups, legal navigation, job search help, a safe restroom, a computer lab, emergency financial assistance, and much more.

  • More Than Words: Without Action, It’s Just Musical Acronyms, Wednesday November 10th from 10am-12pm. Registration is required and a Zoom link will be sent day of.   

    • Dr. Skyller Walkes is a deeply impassioned diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion leader who champions social justice through critical dialogue with the hopes of impacting positive change within shared communities. As a graduate of the Adult, Professional, and Community Education doctoral program at Texas State University, her scholarship focuses on Critical Race Theory, Afro-Latinx identity, art activism, race and intersectionality. Dr. Walkes also holds three Bachelor’s degrees in the areas of Communications, English, and Mass Media Journalism from Rutgers University and a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education and Administration from Kean University.  In her current role as the inaugural Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion and Assistant Professor of Instruction in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Walkes serves as chief College of Pharmacy spokesperson for diversity and inclusion, while bringing leadership, vision, integrity, and an intentionally inclusive team-oriented philosophy to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion efforts. This encompasses areas of recruitment, selection, appointment, and retention of diverse students, faculty and staff, while promoting a culturally responsive approach to pedagogical and andragogical development in the Healthcare Sciences. Dr. Walkes’ work encompasses several international projects for schools, regional libraries and diversity community education for numerous entities, including the United States Embassy in Madrid, Spain, Diversity Abroad, and the Southwest Region of the Anti- Defamation League. Dr. Walkes has successfully developed and implemented a restorative justice and positive identity development curriculum at the Hays County Juvenile Detention Center, serves on the Steering Committee for the Hays Caldwell Women’s Center and on the Board of Directors for the Calaboose African-American History Museum, where she also serves as President and Director of Program Development, and as an Educational Consultant for CARE- College Athletes for Respect and Equality. She also volunteers regularly with Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos as an Amiga del Centro. Dr. Walkes’ professional associations include, Executive Board Member for the Texas Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and Director of University Partnerships for the Black Doctoral Network. In addition to working with international, national, state, and local community organizations/ institutions around intercultural education, cultural humility, juvenile justice and sociopolitical reform, her redoubtable work surrounding social justice in schools, universities, and neighboring communities is demonstrated in her steadfast civic engagement and community.

  • Trauma Informed Care Training, Monday January 24th from 10:15am-12:15pm. Registration is required and a Zoom link will be sent day of.  
    • Trauma-Informed Library Work Starts with Being Trauma-Informed - Trauma-informed care is an evidence-based approach that can be applied to libraries from how we do instruction, how administrators and managers communicate with their staff, and how we care for each other. But while this approach can be applied to libraries, it has to start with us as individuals. In this workshop, Nisha will discuss how trauma can look systemically and individually, what it means to be trauma-informed, and how we can become more trauma-informed human beings within and outside of libraries. Presented by Nisha Mody. Nisha Mody, MLIS, MA CCC-SLP (she/her) is a Feminist Healing Coach, Writer, and Librarian. She worked as a Health & Life Sciences Librarian, serving as liaison to the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and as the Associate Director of the Network of the National Library of Medicine, Pacific Southwest Region. Prior to entering librarianship, Nisha worked as a speech-language pathologist with children and adults. Throughout her work, Nisha has consistently valued connection, compassion, curiosity, storytelling, and justice, all of which led her to becoming a healing coach with a trauma-informed approach. She teaches and talks about imagining and incorporating trauma-informed practices in libraries and in our everyday lives, centering the ways systems of oppression and intergenerational trauma affect us deeply. Nisha coaches people individually and in groups, and you can find out more about her at www.nishaland.com and on Instagram @healinghypegirl.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to reach out to the chair of the Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Kelleen Maluski (Student Success and Engagement Librarian).