1. K-State home
  2. »Diversity and Inclusion
  3. »KSUnite
  4. »Intercultural Listening for Racial Healing and Reconciliation

Diversity and Inclusion

Intercultural Listening for Racial Healing and Reconciliation

KSUnite DEIB Conference Day 2 - November 15, 2022 - Concurrent Conference Sessions Period 2 (10:45am-11:45am)
Room 227

Narratives and counter-storytelling can serve as both a glimpse into another's life and as an effective and emancipatory way that connection, empathy, and understanding are (co)constructed (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Co-inquiry can bring to light the importance of collaborative reflexivity to develop stronger ethical frameworks and methods in research and community-engaged scholarship (Banks et al., 2009). This evocative autoethnography is situated within a time and place of extreme unrest and crisis throughout different communities and countries. In the United States, there is a certain looming tension that exists internally trying to make sense of the senseless acts that continue to happen against Brown and Black people and externally with every human interaction that happens around this movement. We are left with a feeling of discomfort surrounded by theories and fieldwork but still not having the answers needed to move forward as a society. In times of racial crisis, intercultural awareness and listening can be employed as a transformative listening framework in the field of diversity and inclusion to support the expression of underrepresented communities.

DEIB Challenge Level: Immersive

Presenters

Lorenza Lockett

Dr. Lorenza Lockett
Assistant Professor
Social Work

Lorenza Lockett, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Kansas State University.  Dr. Lockett retired from the US Army after twenty years of active-duty service in 1994. He then completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work (BSW; 1999) at Kansas State University; a Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW; 2006) at Arizona State University and most recently, a doctoral degree (PhD; 2015) in Family Studies at Kansas State University. He currently teaches in an undergraduate social work program at Kansas State University. His teaching motto - “People Matter!” never changes. Dr. Lockett is deeply committed to community activism that promotes an inclusive “common good” ideal for all members of society.

 

 

 

 

 

Aliah Mestrovich Seay

Aliah Mestrovich Seay
Executive Director
UFM Community Learning Center

Aliah Mestrovich Seay, LCMFT, ABD is the Executive Director of the UFM Community Learning Center and a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist. She holds a B.S. degree in Clinical Psychology in French (Université de Caen, Basse-Normandie, France) and a M.A. Degree in Counseling Psychology (Argosy University).  She is currently a doctoral candidate in Leadership Communication at the K-State Staley School of Leadership Studies. With over 20 years of experience in higher education and the not-for-profit sectors, Aliah’s research interests involve intercultural communication, critical whiteness studies, critical empathy, and intercultural listening for racial healing and reconciliation. 

Mac Benavides

Dr. Mac Benavides
Assistant Professor
Staley School of Leadership

I am an assistant professor in the Staley School of Leadership and teach in the Qualitative Research Graduate Certificate in the College of Education. This past May, I earned my Ph.D. in leadership communication from K-State, and I have a Master of Arts in educational administration from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from here at K-State. My academic and professional background are in the field of education at both the PK-12 and higher education contexts. My teaching, research, and practice center around global and domestic community-based learning; reciprocal partnerships in community-driven sustainable development; leadership education; and creating inclusive and equitable learning environments at institutions of higher education. As an engaged scholar, I am committed to critical and decolonial perspectives as well as qualitative methodologies as ways of honoring the voices of the communities with which I work.

Jurdene Coleman
Director of Therapy and Recovery Services
Pawnee Mental Health Services

Jurdene Coleman, LCMFT is the Director of Therapy and Recovery Services at Pawnee Mental Health Services and a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist. She holds a M.A. in Family Studies and Human Services from Kansas State University. She is currently a doctoral student in Leadership Communication at the Kansas State University Staley School of Leadership Studies. Jurdene has over 10 years’ experience in mental health and public service as a former school board member in her community. Jurdene’s research interests are the intersection of public service and race, specifically how Black community leaders understand and experience leadership in predominately white communities.

 

Return to the 2022 KSUnite DEIB Conference Day 2 main page