Holly Naveh

Career Development Specialist

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?

One example that comes to mind is one of my Taubman Racial Justice Staff Working Group meetings which I lead. During each of these meetings we start to dive into topics of racial injustice, inequity, oppression, power, privilege, etc. as a group of staff members across the college. As we go through our reflections personally, we also attempt to identify and change where those elements show up in our own roles and work. I felt at my best because I was helping lead and collaborate in a conversation about change in a tangible way in the college.

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?

What a difficult question to answer. I don’t believe we’ll ever be done, especially not while institutional systems are built the way they are at the college, institution, state, national, and global levels. I guess for the sake of this question, I would say that if we had better, safer, more inclusive mechanisms to have healthy dialogue and reflection around difference with actually listening fully and intentionally, we would at least be in a better state to continue pushing our DEI work forward. An environment where this could be a reality is absolutely a start.

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

Being a recipient of this award is humbling, as I watch peers and colleagues around me do work I think is much more deserving of recognition, and I do not take my selection lightly. To me, being a recipient of one of the North Campus Deans’ MLK Spirit Awards means that I am a part of a community of people who care about advancing the work of Dr. King. We all have a role in contributing to change, and this award means that I’ve got continued work to do, and a much larger community to continue serving.