Purposeful Strategies for Belonging
Blending story and skill-building, she will explore the possibilities of imagining and taking action, in ways that transform practices, the experiences of students, faculty, and staff, and the institution itself.
Bio Information:
Dr. Sumun L. Pendakur (Sumi) serves as the Chief Learning Officer and Director of the USC Equity Institutes at the USC Race and Equity Center, dedicated to advancing racial justice in higher education and other sectors. Prior to this position, Sumi held roles as the Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion at Harvey Mudd College and as the Director for USC Asian Pacific American Student Services. The body of her work focuses on helping campuses, non-profits, and other organizations build capacity for social justice and racial equity. Sumi is a scholar-practitioner, whose research interests and publications focus on Critical Race Theory, Asian American and Pacific Islander students, change agents, and institutional transformation. She has held leadership positions in the professional associations for her field and presented her original research at NASPA, ACPA, NADOHE, NCORE, and ASHE. Sumi was recently re-appointed to the Board of Directors for NADOHE, the national chief diversity officers' organization. She has served as Faculty Coach for the AAC&U’s TIDES (Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM) Institute. She is also the co-editor, with Dr. Shaun Harper and Dr. Stephen Quaye, of Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Approaches for Diverse Populations (3rd edition) (2019). In 2019, she was named one of the top 35 women in higher education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine.
Save the dates for upcoming events in the series:
3/10 2-5 p.m.
4/16 2-5 p.m.