FAN: Why did you want to be a Provost's Fellow for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)? What are you excited about?
Smirnova M: As a sociologist, all of my teaching and research focuses on issues of inequality and power at structural and institutional levels. As a result, I have sought to become involved in changing the practices and policies at my own institution, UMKC, such as serving as a board member of the Anti-Racist, White Allies and Advocates (ARWAA) staff/faculty group, which is committed to anti-racist work and the promotion of racial equity with the institution and surrounding community and serving as the co-chair of Educate-Advocate-Organize (EOA), UMKC’s social justice conference.
I am excited to be working collaboratively with faculty and staff to remedy the persistent retention and recruitment gaps that exist between our Black and Latinx students and our white students. Specifically, only 37% of Black students at UMKC graduate in 6 years in comparison to 55% of white students. While it can be difficult to discern the cause of these gaps, the fact that our faculty and staff do not racially or ethnically reflect the student body or the KC metro demographics may be a contributing factor. For example, there is one white faculty member for every nine white students (1:9), while there is only one Black or Latinx faculty member for every 24 Black or 24 Latinx students (1:24 for each group). In tandem with other important programs at UMKC, such as FirstGen Roo, I am hopeful that the Provost’s commitments to increasing the diversity of our faculty and supporting students from historically marginalized backgrounds may remedy longstanding inequities at UMKC.
FAN: What do you hope to accomplish this year? Are there any particular goals? What do you think will be the legacy of your work will be?
Smirnova M: Along with the highly-motivated and hard-working members of the Faculty Search Support Team, I hope first and foremost to increase the diversity of our faculty and staff through the implementation of research-informed, inclusive hiring strategies. In addition, I am hopeful that UMKC will make specific changes at institutional and disciplinary levels to support faculty, staff, and students from diverse backgrounds so that they can succeed. By collaborating with faculty and staff across the university to accomplish these goals, we might learn more about the needs of diverse employees and how they contribute to excellence at UMKC.
FAN: How does your research and role as faculty member inform your interest and work in DEI?
Smirnova M: My research is committed to social justice and analyzing systems of inequality. Beginning with my dissertation—which explored how Soviet political humor served as a form of political resistance against the state, while simultaneously reifying racial and ethnic boundaries between groups—all of my research has focused on the social impacts of classificatory systems. Race is one of these primary systems of stratified categorization. Currently, I am engaged in a participatory action research project with Kansas City Tenants, a grassroots organization fighting for safe, affordable housing for all. This organization is based on a social justice framework that sees housing as an issue of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia, and, therefore, seeks to dismantle such systems of oppression in their fight for housing.
I employ an intersectional approach of analysis in all of my research and teaching. This approach serves me well as a CAFÉ fellow in DEI, as I focus on how structures, policies, and institutions contribute to processes of inclusion, exclusion, and persecution. Versed in this research, I am able to suggest research-informed structural solutions that are attentive to the intersectional nature of discrimination and inequity.
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