The Center for Diversity and Social Justice (DSJ)

The Center for Diversity and Social Justice (DSJ), established in the fall of 2019, aims to combine efforts towards multicultural research and social justice advocacy in one center with a committee model. Several core and affiliated faculty serve on the committee and contribute to the many efforts of the center.

The DSJ commits to taking action to advocate with individuals who identify with marginalized identities, integrate social justice into the curriculum and clinical training, and facilitate dialogues across difference on the AUNE campus, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.

Each year, there are multiple student affinity groups that dedicate meeting and asynchronous time to advancing knowledge, advocacy, and activism around a given topic. For example, the Affinity Group for Racial and Ethnic Equality (AGREE) meets several times per semester to discuss anti-racism, support of students of color, and campus activism. Another affinity group attends to the global climate crisis, from which a course on Ecopsychology emerged.

Also on the website, you’ll find ongoing research projects and presentations that students are involved in. There is also a DSJ research collaborative that meets monthly to support the ongoing research projects to be published in academic journals and the public media. The DSJ is dedicated to developing social justice research as a form of activism.

In addition to numerous activities that include student involvement, the DSJ is engaged in helping professors decolonize curricula, training faculty on anti-racist and social justice principles, and promoting university-level policies and procedures that are anti-racist. One example of this work includes the development of social justice benchmarks, including those focused on self-awareness and critical consciousness. The DSJ works to promote an international network of psychologists to help create a more just and peaceful world.

DSJ Leadership

Director: Katherine Evarts Rice, PsyD
Social Justice Coordinator: Dean Hammer, PsyD
Diversity & Social Justice Committee: Vince Pignatiello, PsyD, Monique Bowen, PhD, Karen Meteyer, PhD

Recent Projects

• Masculinity and Spirituality video screening and artist panel
• Biannual multicultural potluck for AUNE community
• “Jackets in January” winter coat drive
• Research projects with populations with diverse racial, gender, and sexual identities
  • Some examples include research on trauma and resilience in gender diverse populations, scale development for the disenfranchisement of grief in work with oppressed groups, and deprescription attitudes among individuals from low-socioeconomic status with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
• Further integration of Social Justice in curriculum
• Exploration of integration of sociopolitical concerns in clinical and classroom settings
• Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR): Walk of Remembrance
• Trans Day of Visibility awareness-building and resources
• NH Letter-Writing Campaign to call for better gender-related civil rights laws

DSJ Research Collaborative

Students lead research projects, with faculty sponsorship, that are related to individuals and experiences that are marginalized by US society. Through research, this collaborative is focused on activism and advocacy, with a particular focus on advocating with, rather than for, marginalized populations.

Faculty sponsors: Katherine Evarts Rice, PsyD; Dean Hammer, PsyD

Student leaders: Quynh Tran, MS; Rebecca Moussa, BA; Susana Gomez, BA

Ongoing Research projects:

• Gender diversity, racial diversity, and intersecting oppressions; trauma and resilience;
  • Evarts Rice, K., Tran, Q., Schagen, R., & Gomez, S. (2020 October) Trauma, Resilience, and Intersecting Oppressions: Toward a Future Shaped by Trans People of Color as Cultural Creators.Structured discussion at The Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture’s Diversity Challenge teleconference, via Zoom.
  • Trans and Gender Expansive Identities: Language, Statistics, and Assessment; speaker session; Plymouth State University’s Diversity Institute Conference; virtual, April, 2021.
  • Cultural Analysis, Conceptualization, and Treatment with Individuals with Trans and Gender Expansive Identities; workshop; Massachusetts Psychological Association Conference; virtual, December, 2020.
• Scale development regarding disenfranchisement of grief and oppression of clients and supervisees
• Integration of racial and social justice, as well as sociopolitical concerns in the clinical room and in the classroom
• Religiosity, attachment, and views towards lesbian and gay individuals among college and graduate students in the country of Lebanon and in the US
• Sexual violence, healing through creativity, and feminism.
  • Mangione, L., Evarts Rice, K., & Buonocore, C. (2021), The #MeToo Movement: Using Technology and Creativity in Healing. Paper Presentation at annual American Psychological Association conference, Virtual.

Affinity Groups

These affinity groups are comprised of Clinical Psychology students and serve the AUNE campus, Monadnock region, and beyond.

Affinity Group for Climate Justice

• Research, awareness-raising, activism
• Climate catastrophe and omnicide as apocalyptic twins
• Current projects students can get involved in:
  • sociopolitical discussions regarding climate
  • advocacy around climate issues on campus
• Student Leader: Kelli Woodson
• Faculty Sponsor: Dean Hammer, PsyD

Affinity Group for Immigrants and Refugees

• Research around psychotherapeutic and community work with these groups, including in the New England area
• Providing practical support, among other forms, to students who identify as immigrants and refugees
• Student Leader: Rebecca Moussa
• Faculty Sponsor: Dean Hammer, PsyD

Affinity Group for LGBTQ+ Visibility

• Campus awareness-raising community for individuals on campus, research, activism, and advocacy
• Current Research Topics:
  • young adults’ attitudes towards LGBTQ+ individuals in the US and the country of Lebanon;
  • trauma and resilience among trans and gender diverse Indigenous and People of Color (IPOC)
• Current projects students can get involved in:
  • annual Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR)
  • bulletin board
  • letter-writing to NH politicians
  • “Hot Tea”: LGBTQ+ topics over hot tea
• Student Leader: Becca Butler
• Faculty Sponsor: Kate Evarts Rice, PsyD

Affinity Group for Racial and Ethnic Equality (AGREE)

• AGRE goals include: building community across racial and ethnic differences, conducting research, raising awareness of current events on campus, and engaging in local action
• Open to all students on campus
• Current Research Topics:
  • trauma and resilience among trans and gender diverse Indigenous and People of Color (IPOC);
  • scale development regarding clinician disenfranchisement of grief in work with oppressed populations;
  • the COVID-19 global pandemic’s disproportionate effects on individuals from minority racial and ethnic groups, as well as colonized societies, such as Puerto Rico
• Current projects students can get involved in:
  • student meetings regarding topics of racial justice, current events, and anti-racist identity development
  • biannual multicultural potluck
  • sociopolitical discussions
  • bulletin board
  • workgroup for recruitment/retention on campus
  • research with diverse racial and ethnic population
• Faculty Sponsor: Kate Evarts Rice, PsyD

Affinity Group for Sexual Assault and Harassment Awareness (SAHA)

• Campus awareness-raising, practical and emotional support for individuals on campus, activism and advocacy
• Current projects students can get involved in:
  • colloquia on sexism and sexual harassment based on vignettes
  • guide to reporting for AUNE campus
  • bulletin board
• Student Leaders: Casey Buonocore
• Faculty Sponsor: Kate Evarts Rice, PsyD

Disability Justice Affinity Group

• “Nothing about us without us!” This is a key slogan of the Disability Rights Movement. Whether in public policy or academia, this remains the goal as we move towards increased accessibility and awareness.
• An inter-campus organization for students with and without disabilities. We aim to engage in advocacy & education within the AU community to increase accessibility and inclusion, and to foster deeper understanding and respect for the lives of people with disabilities.
• Students from all AU campuses are welcome! Email the faculty sponsors to be included on the Zoom links.
• Current projects students can get involved in:
  • offering learning opportunities for AU about ability status and neurodiversity;
  • raising awareness about current challenges and opportunities for growth in terms of accessibility;
  • Note: due to the various ways that people with disabilities define themselves, the student participants will take the lead in determining the name as well as its direction.
• Student Leaders: Susana Gomez, Jess Minckley, and Becca Freimuth
• Faculty Sponsors: Ángel Martinez, PhD ([email protected]); Dana Waters, PsyD, ABPP ([email protected])

Check out Dr. Dana Waters’ work towards disability justice: The AWAKE project!

Possible Future Groups

Based on student interest each fall semester, additional affinity groups may include:

• Age Diversity
• Religion/Spirituality
• Deep Poverty/Socioeconomic Status

Feel free to contact faculty sponsors or student leaders to get involved!