Unpacking Whiteness
Unpacking Whiteness: Moving Beyond Allyship
Engagement: Intermediate This session will introduce participants to the pyramid of accountability and will provide an opportunity for self-reflection on one’s own culture and its proximity to whiteness. Facilitators will model how understanding oneself and assumptions can lead to productive action for social justice. By the end, participants will create an individual action plan with the goal to move from an ally to an accomplice in advocacy.
Through participation in reflective practices/processes and discussion, participants will create an individual action plan to move from ally to accomplice. It is important to understand oneself before being able to understand others. This session will provide space for realization and understanding.
Presenters
Dr. Brenee King
Assistant Director
Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry (OURCI)
Brenee is the Assistant Director for the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry (OURCI) and the Project Administrator for the Kansas Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. In both roles she has the privilege of working with first-generation and underrepresented minority students to help them accomplish their academic goals. In overseeing the OURCI she coordinates the Developing Scholars Program and its program components, manages university-wide undergraduate research initiatives, and oversees the daily operations of the office and the work of its team members.
Dr. King has developed and coordinated several initiatives that focus on student recruitment and retention efforts with a focus on community college students. Dr. King is also involved in work focused on leadership development for early career underrepresented faculty. Prior to her student-centered work Dr. King was a postdoctoral fellow at Kansas State University where she studied the effects of exercise on cancer prevention. She received her doctorate in Biomedical Science with an emphasis in Pharmacology/Toxicology from the University of New Mexico where her research focused on DNA Repair pathways.
Dr. Sara Luly
Associate Professor of German
Department of Modern Languages
Dr. Sara Luly is an Associate Professor of German in the Department of Modern Languages. She joined K-State in Fall 2011 after completing her PhD at The Ohio State University. Dr. Luly’s research focuses on late 18th and early 19th century German literature and culture, with an emphasis on German Romanticism, Gender Studies, and the intersection of literature and theories of medicine. Dr. Luly enjoys teaching courses on German Gothic literature and German fairy-tales, as well as all levels of language courses. She has served as both the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Director of Undergraduate Recruitment and Outreach in the Department of Modern Languages and is an affiliated member of the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies.
Kiley Moody
Managing Director, Scholar Services
Office of First-generation Students
Kiley Moody serves as Managing Director for Scholar Services in the Academic Achievement Center and as an adjunct instructor for the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University.
Kiley has the opportunity and privilege of working with students from various backgrounds through scholarship programs, the Office of First-generation Students, and as a result of collaborations across the institution. Kiley is passionate about making education accessible and working with students to realize their potential.
Kiley has a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Fort Hays State University, a Master of Science in College Student Personnel Administration from the University of Central Missouri and is currently working on her PhD in Leadership Communication from Kansas State University.
Rebeca Paz
Assistant Director
Office of First-generation Students
Rebeca serves as assistant director for the Office of First-generation Students at K-State. Throughout her extensive career, she has served in several capacities working with retention programs and specifically, first-generation and underrepresented students. She is a recipient of the 2008-2009 Commerce Bank Award for Distinguished Services to Under-represented students at Kansas State University. Rebeca has worked at K-State for over 20 years and is one of the founding members of Alianza, the Latino faculty and staff alliance at K-State. Rebeca is a native of Bolivia and proud of her Latina heritage.
Cheryl Rauh
Program Manager
McNair Scholars Program
Cheryl coordinates day-to-day operations of the McNair Program, applying professional experience as a technical writer, tutor, and professional writing teacher to plan program curriculum, teach and guide students, and manage behind the scene workflows, data, assessment, and reporting. She loves working with students and engaging in a bit of sarcastic banter. Outside of work, she and her husband have a fixer upper house with two dogs and three cats from local rescues. They spend most of their free time working on the house and caring for their pets--all of which are projects.
Mariya Vaughan
Assistant Director
K-State First
Mariya Vaughan is the assistant director of K-State First, the university’s first-year experience program. She has called K-State home since 2004, when she began her bachelor’s degree in graphic design and women’s studies, and then went on to earn her master’s degree in English with a focus on cultural studies.
Vaughan oversees and manages the daily operations of K-State First and the work of its team members, builds and maintains relationships with partner units on campus, coordinates the GPS mentoring program, leads communications, marketing, and recruitment efforts, and works closely with students as a teacher in both CAT Community and First-Year Seminar courses, as a mentor in GPS, and as the advisor for the K-State First Student Advisory Council.
Vaughan teaches the Fiction into Film First-Year Seminar and the Muggle Studies: How Harry Potter Shaped the World CAT Community, and leverages her and her students’ love of all things nerdy to foster an engaging and collaborative learning environment.
Paulicia Williams
Student Services Coordinator
TRIO Educational Supportive Services (ESS)
Paulicia Williams serves as Student Services Coordinator for TRIO Educational Supportive Services (ESS) where she is responsible for working with faculty and staff in the identification and verification of eligible students for ESS, providing academic support services to program participants who have disabilities, are low-income, and first-generation college-age students.
Williams came to K-State with more than 14 years of experience providing academic services to diverse populations, discovering her passion in working with young adults while employed as a paraeducator in a middle school resource classroom assisting students with various learning disabilities. Williams previously served as a career and personal counselor, diversity coordinator, disability program coordinator, and Academic Supervisor for the federal Job Corps program under contractors Management & Training Corporation and minority-owned Serrato Corp. She has spent her career working as a mentor, counselor, educator, supervisor, and advocate for students from high-risk populations and has proven to be a valuable asset to K-State students and staff alike.
Williams, once a high school dropout and teen mother who entered college as a first-generation student with a GED, earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a minor in Journalism from Kansas State University. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, creating art, getting into "good trouble", and using her talents to help fund social justice causes she believes in.
