Dear First_Name,
 

Hi, SIPA Students!

As the inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity and Community Engagement, I’m thrilled to welcome you to the SIPA community. We are excited that you’ve selected us to be your intellectual home for the next 18-months and beyond! You have chosen to join a global village of policy practitioners and leaders who are focused, bold, fun-loving, and truly committed to making a positive impact in the lives of others.

 

 

As your Associate Dean, I have the honor and privilege of thinking about you— uplifting your experiences, understanding your needs, and supporting your academic excellence and wellbeing. I am committed to helping you deepen your intercultural competence to become more effective change agents. In addition to working with you, I also directly support our staff, faculty, alumnx, and work to strengthen our relationships with our local neighbors.

The work needed to make systemic and sustainable change in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are forever evolving. Your engagement in this collective effort is critical for the betterment of us all. By practicing self awareness, utilizing accurate knowledge, and being open to diverse perspectives, we can make meaningful changes that uplift individuals, communities, and the world around us.

This is an exciting time to be at SIPA, and I look forward to getting to know you, learning from you, and working together to cultivate a more inclusive community where we all thrive!

Jilliene J. Rodriguez (She/Her/Hers)
Associate Dean for Diversity and Community Engagement

 

Here are a Few Ways to Get Involved

 

Starting with Orientation, you’ll have an opportunity to begin exploring issues of identity and power as it relates to being a policymaker with the support of our student-trained facilitators. At this session, you will also begin to contribute to our SIPA Shared Values Initiative as we refine and articulate our core values as a SIPA community as part of our strategic diversity work.

You can also join over 40 student organizations, which cover various identities, cultures, and issues, and get involved with SIPA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Climate & Engagement (DEICE) Committee. To learn more about our diversity initiatives at SIPA, read below and go to our webpage.

The Community Citizenship Initiative occurs at the start of each fall term and is required of all incoming students by the Office of University Life. The Initiative’s two modules—Sexual Respect and Inclusion & Belonging—ask you to consider what community citizenship means at Columbia. Each module offers skills, information, and resources for cultivating greater equity and inclusion while you are a student here and beyond.

During SIPA’s Orientation program, you will attend a session called “Inclusive Policy Making.” This session satisfies the Inclusion & Belonging requirement and is a program designed to:

• Increase awareness of your own identities and your relationship to power and privilege in policymaking.

• Explore concepts of culture, climate and values
• Begin to explore strategies to identify possible oversights in policymaking and identify systemic patterns and issues in policymaking.

SIPA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Climate, and Engagement (DEICE) Committee supports the efforts of SIPA leadership, faculty, staff, students and alumni to foster an environment at SIPA that is welcoming, respectful of individual and group differences, and represents our global community. You can get involved by attending monthly meetings, events, and becoming a committee member.

 

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In case you want to review any of the previous "Starting at SIPA" weekly emails, you can find them all here>>  

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