Office of Inclusive Excellence

Employee Affinity Groups

Members of Employee Affinity Groups play a vital role in ensuring an inclusive environment where all are valued, included, and empowered to succeed.

  • For more information contact:
    Marylou Shockley - mshockley@csumb.edu 
    Phuong Nguyen - pnguyen@csumb.edu
    Jill Yamashita - jyamashita@csumb.edu
    Lynnette Lathrop - llathrop@csumb.edu

  • The African American Heritage Faculty and Staff Alliance is a group of dedicated CSUMB faculty and staff purposed with providing community for one another and supporting the University's students. Re-established in 2009, the Alliance continues to grow as the demands for diversity and inclusion widen and deepen. It seeks to be an integral part of the community as the campus continues to grow and works with various campus partners including the Otter Cross Cultural Center and the Office of Inclusive Excellence.

    African American Heritage Faculty Staff Alliance - Meets the third Wednesday of Month

    Location: 3rd Floor Library Conference Room 3145

    For more information email: aahfsa@csumb.edu

  • La Colectiva hopes to create a space for folks to cultivate community, build authentic connections, engage in peer mentoring, and strategize ways for survival and success. We also want to advocate to enhance our well-being and sense of belonging to forge a more empowering campus climate by promoting a more representative composition of faculty and staff, and in other ways. Additionally, we seek to build coalitions with other staff/faculty affinity groups and alliances to advocate on behalf of our students, ourselves and various other communities on campus. We hope you can make it to our first social event and help us all start the semester in the community!

    We meet every third Thursday of the month. For more information, please join our Facebook group and/or fill out the Google form.

  • Staff and faculty help foster a positive work environment at the University by actively contributing to its mission, values, and efforts specific to diversity, inclusion, and campus engagement. Staff, faculty, and student assistants are encouraged to participate/engage in an effort to cultivate and foster an inclusive community. Engagement in these kinds of activities contribute to a greater sense of belonging to the CSUMB University community, as well as employees’ ability to bring their authentic selves to work and effectively engage with one another.

    Contacts:

    Linda Schaedle lschaedle@csumb.edu

    Terilynn Bench Harris tbenchharris@csumb.edu

  • Islamic/Muslim Employee Affinity Group

    The goal for this affinity group is to commune with, share ideas, passions, and simply support and validate one another with our existence and survival here at CSUMB. 

    For more information contact: Dr. Ibrahim Shelton gshelton@csumb.edu 

  • Mission Statement

    Shalom, CSUMB's Jewish Employee Affinity Group, fosters an inclusive community celebrating diverse Jewish cultures and heritages among faculty, staff, and students. We provide opportunities to deepen understanding of Jewish history and traditions, counter antisemitism, and promote peace through intercultural and interfaith dialogue. Together we build bridges and foster a welcoming environment for everyone.

    Membership

    Shalom welcomes anyone with Jewish ethnic, cultural, or religious backgrounds, or anyone seeking connection with others who share similar life experiences rooted in Jewish culture and traditions.  We support anyone wishing to learn about Jews, Judaism, and Jewish culture and history.

    Membership Contact

    shalom@csumb.edu

  • The LGBTQ+ Staff/Faculty Affinity Group exists to provide an opportunity for queer faculty and staff to connect socially, advocate for and empower LGBTQ+ students, develop partnerships with community-based LGBTQ+ advocacy and social efforts, and advance diversity and equity initiatives on CSUMB's campus and in the surrounding community.

    For more information contact: Tyler St Pierre-Young tstpierreyoung@csumb.edu

  • The Native American Council (NAC) is a group of dedicated faculty and staff.

    NAC serves three purposes:

    • To provide community and support for students;
    • To build community and continue campus relations with tribes;
    • To advise campus administrators on issues relevant to the support of Native students, faculty, staff and alumni.

    For more information contact: nchow-garcia@csumb.edu

  • The goals of this group are to provide support, exchange advice and resources, share experiences, and connect with one another. Faculty and staff are welcome to join as they navigate the journey of parenthood during these formative years and help each other with the unique challenges that accompany this age group such as childcare, milestones, and becoming a new parent.

    Contacts: Sarah Dahlen sdahlen@csumb.edu, Kaiqi Hua khua@csumb.edu, Tess Shirefley tshirefley@csumb.edu

    Interest List Link

  • The White Employee Anti-Racism Collective (WEAREC) brings together faculty, staff, and administrators committed to white engagement with anti-racism. We will build courageous conversations about race and social justice; provide a place for storytelling and reflection about how we cultivate white anti-racist identities; strengthen allyship with BIPOC faculty, staff, administrators, and students; and support white anti-racist inquiry and growth on campus. 

    Some goals for group engagement:

    • Investigate how whiteness and white supremacy shapes our experiences as CSUMB employees
    • Foster, support, and advocate for white anti-racist inquiry and growth on campus 
    • Provide a place for storytelling to deepen understanding of white antiracist ancestors, challenges, and problem-solving
    • Create problem-solving spaces to consider if we are showing up as a white anti-racist co-workers and how we might better do so 
    • Build community and support each other as learners and facilitators around anti-racism work
    • Offer an entry point for developing white anti-racist identity and white anti-racist engagement in our workspaces, committees, leadership positions, etc. 
    • Organize campus community opportunities for white antiracist professional development

    For more information contact: rkersnar@csumb.edu

     

  • We facilitate the inclusion of veterans, military members, and their families into the CSUMB campus community. We collaborate with campus partners to support recruitment, retention, comradery, and the ongoing success of our veteran community. For more information contact Giselle Young: giyoung@csumb.edu or Johnny Armijo: jarmijo@csumb.edu