Inside Research

A Message from the OVCR

We join the nation and campus in celebrating the history and achievements of African American and Black people in academia and beyond during this year's Black History Month. The events of this past year have been poignant and sobering reminders of why such reflections and celebrations are important to observe. As Interim Chief Diversity Officer Sibby Anderson Thompkins recently stated: "A half-century after the national recognition of Black History Month, America is still plagued by racism. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, even as we strive to advocate and educate for anti-racist behavior, we continue to grapple with it [...] we still have a long way to go towards real understanding."

To that end, in partnership with the OVCR and the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science has created a certificate program to foster a new standard of inclusion, sensitivity, and intentionality in the UNC research community. The pilot for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research (DEIR) Certificate Program will run this semester and will soon be open to anyone conducting or administrating research who is interested in participating.

There are also opportunities this month to learn and engage in discussions around racial justice and understanding. The third event in the Race, Racism, and Racial Equity (R3) Series — ARTivism: Using Arts-based Scholarship to Interrogate and Dismantle Racism — will be held on February 24. The panel will focus on how the arts can help us better understand systems of oppression and their impacts, challenge white supremacy, foster dialogue around race and racism, and advance racial equity.

Additionally, the 2021 African American History Month Lecture, an annual tradition that brings leading scholars and activists whose work centers on the lives of African Americans from both historical and contemporary perspectives, will take place Tuesday, February 23. This year's speaker is journalist and activist Charlie Cobb, a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists. As a field secretary with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he originated the idea of Freedom Schools as a part of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project. The lecture is open to the entire campus as well as the surrounding community and is the university's major programming initiative to recognize the importance of African American histories nationally, statewide, and on campus.

We hope you take advantage of these event offerings and, along with us, continue to learn and reflect on the nature of their importance.