SEAoNY Diversity Committee Summer Seminar Series
Conversations on Racism for Built Environment Professionals
July 9, 2020
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
Zoom Webinar Platform
Registration closes 2:00 pm July 8, 2020
This 3-part series is designed to educate our membership, provide policies and practices to support anti-racism, and promote diversity in our profession.
Session 1: An Introduction to Topics of Racism in Society
Speaker: Shani Barrax Moore
Moderator: Jennifer Anna Pazdon
Event Description:
In this session, diversity and Inclusion strategist Shani Barrax Moore will lay groundwork for understanding how racism impacts individuals, institutions, and the greater structure of our society. We will explore how racist biases are learned by individuals and reinforced through life experiences. Shani will provide a roadmap for individuals and firms to take action, challenge acceptance of racist norms, and create measurable change.
Speaker Bio:
Shani Barrax Moore (she/her/hers pronouns) is a strategic diversity and inclusion practitioner with 20 years of experience in training and development, strategic planning and change leadership, and inclusive programming and recruitment initiatives. After a career in public relations and marketing she began specializing in dialogue-based awareness programs and integrating inclusion initiatives into organizational branding strategy.
A trained mediator and investigator, Shani currently serves as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton where she has overseen the campus cultural centers, leads a learning and development team, executes planning and delivery of the Equity and Diversity Conference, and develops strategic partnerships for the University. At both UNT and Tarrant County College District, her previous institution where she served as the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, she led an institution-wide campus inclusion climate survey and strategic planning process leading to institutional diversity and inclusion infrastructure. In higher education, Shani has also served as an academic advisor, tutor, and adjunct instructor in business, leadership, and social work.
Shani also leads The Aurora Change Agency, a consulting group that develops individual and organizational capacity for entities to practice intentional inclusion and compliance, innovate and facilitate equitable programs and practices, and develop strategies for creating organizations where all its members and those they serve can be authentically engaged.
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, she received her bachelor’s degree with a concentration in public relations from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a minor in French, and her Masters of Business Administration from Strayer University with a concentration in marketing and human resources. Shani is a Certified Diversity Advanced Practitioner through Cornell University and is an Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrator. A member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated, Shani is the mom of two teenage daughters and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in higher education administration at the University of North Texas and creating an arts collective in honor of her father, the late poet Gerald William Barrax Sr. who passed away late last year.
Registration closes 2:00 pm July 8, 2020
1 PDH / AIA LU offered
Zoom Link will be sent anytime between 3:00 pm on July 8, 2020 to 11:30 am on July 9, 2020 directly from Zoom.
SEAoNY members and NCSEA/SEA members registration is free
Non-members registration is $15
