Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement

As a full-time Visual Art Faculty member at Otero College, I am deeply committed to creating an inclusive, equitable, and empathetic learning environment for all of my students. I am fortunate to work with a diverse student population that includes many first-generation, low-income, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and Latinx and Hispanic students, among others. This diversity is an asset to my classroom, and I strive to create a community where all students feel valued and respected.

To promote empathy, I integrate opportunities for students to learn about different cultures, perspectives, and experiences through art. In addition, I model trust and vulnerability by being open and honest about my strengths and weaknesses and work to create a safe and supportive space where all students feel comfortable expressing themselves. I also recognize that creating an equitable learning environment requires addressing systemic barriers and working to ensure that all students have equal opportunities to succeed; this means being aware of my own biases and actively working on challenging them, creating a classroom environment that is inclusive and culturally responsive, and providing targeted support and resources to students who may be facing unique challenges.

As an educator, I understand that creating an equitable learning environment is essential to fostering the academic success of all students. Equity means ensuring every student has access to the resources and opportunities necessary to achieve their full potential, regardless of their background or circumstances. I am committed to actively identifying and addressing systemic barriers that may prevent certain groups of students from succeeding in my classroom. I am open to feedback and continuously reflect on my teaching practices to ensure that I provide all students with the support and resources they need to succeed. By creating an equitable learning environment, I am helping my students achieve their academic goals and contributing to a more just and fair society.

Art education plays a critical role in promoting social and emotional learning, helping students develop greater self-awareness and self-confidence. In addition, it can lead to greater social-emotional intelligence, which is essential for building healthy relationships and navigating complex social situations. By fostering an environment of inclusivity, accessibility, and understanding, I strive to inspire resilience and encourage my students to persevere. I wrote my graduate thesis, Influence: Art, Activism, and Identity as Seen Through a Neurodivergent Lens, on this topic.

Growing up in a racially diverse family has made me keenly aware of my many unearned privileges and the unfair disadvantages, daily micro-aggressions, and challenges others face in our society. This experience has taught me to appreciate and respect other people's unique perspectives. It has made me devoted to promoting and developing empathy and tolerance in and out of the classroom.

While I am generally optimistic and idealistic, I am not naive. Life presents us with challenges and uncertainties, and our world suffers from profound inequality. We have much work to do to address these issues as a society. Empathy is crucial to our survival as a species and planet; art education can help cultivate this essential quality. Throughout human history, art has been a vital part of our culture and is necessary for our creative self-expression and individuality. By developing skills such as compassion, patience, comfort with ambiguity, vulnerability, real social connectivity and support, authenticity, trust, and empathy, art education can help create a more compassionate, creative, and well-informed society; this is critical for addressing the complex problems we face today. Although I know that as an individual, I cannot solve all of the world's problems, I am committed to effecting positive change in the lives of those around me. That is why I have dedicated my life to art education. Ultimately, we all share a common ancestry and are all in this together as one human family.