Lesli Hoey

Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning

A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning

Being your best DEI self: Think of a time when you were at your best at advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. What happened? Who was there? Why did you feel at your best?

I’ve grown the most and been most inspired when I started listening more and doing my own self-study, and when I’ve been surrounded by others who are willing to dig deep and ask hard questions of themselves, admit their mistakes, confront others with compassion, and keep pushing for change.

    Wishes for the future: How would you imagine your environment needing to be for you to feel that you don’t have to do DEI work anymore?

    That’s a hard future to imagine! It would be a day when everyone one of us individually has unlearned implicit bias and outright discrimination and where we’ve also dismantled and rebuilt institutional structures that operate on a foundation of racism and exclusion – everything from our legal systems to police, education, regulatory, financial and so many other governance systems.

    What does it mean to you to be a recipient of the MLK Spirit Awards?

    It’s humbling, because frankly, I feel like I’m still on a long learning journey and that I’ve barely touched the surface in terms of what I could do to advance DEI in our workplace, among our students, through my research, and in the broader community.