Subversive For Good Reason: How Academics are Traversing Changes in the DEI Landscape

By Sierra Pawlak

Disclaimer: Participants of the Conversation Circle whose stories and advice are shared in this article will remain anonymous. This is to ensure that TAA members still receive key takeaways from the meeting, without repercussions to attendees.

During the February 26, 2025 TAA Conversation Circle, “Incorporating Inclusive Content Into Your Writing,” TAA members shared their concerns with the ever-changing political landscape of DEI. While some participants said their university had a “keep calm and carry on” approach, others experienced changes in diversity-related job titles, eradication of DEI language altogether, and even the possible loss of grant funding.

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Trying to Organize Your Work? A Content Curator Can Help

By Sierra Pawlak

During the November 27, 2024 TAA Conversation Circle, Janet Salmons, co-moderator and qualitative methodologist, shared an analogy of what she meant by the term “content curation” in the context of her work:

“If you go to an Art Museum, the curator doesn’t just hang all the stuff. They make sense of it. Like, ‘Oh, okay, here’s these George O’keefe paintings, and here are the Kachinas that were depicted in the painting,’ the artifacts and the history and the social context. So, I’m not just walking through a whole bunch of different pieces, but I’ve got something that’s making sense of it and looking for themes and pulling in other context that would help to build more meaning around it. That was the inspiration I had for using that term.”