Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
I believe in the importance of making higher education inclusive and accessible to all learners, regardless of their unique background or individual circumstances. I have always found passion in serving others, and believe that this is largely what brought me to academia and drove me to be an educator. As an educator of future healthcare and public health professionals, I believe it is especially important that we train a diverse body of students to better support the diverse populations we serve. In an effort to embrace student diversity at my current university, I co-led an initiative to create a “Diversity Matters” training for internship preceptors of all School of Health Professions programs at UAB. To prepare for this training, we developed a survey for both students and preceptors to collect input on their perspectives of how diversity was or was not embraced in internship settings and what could be done to make students feel comfortable and accepted in these professional practice settings. Though the initiative was led by myself and colleague in the Genetic Counseling department, the “Diversity Matters” training session was facilitated by the Assistant Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at UAB to ensure that internship preceptors were educated by a highly qualified DEI trainer. Two live sessions were offered during the summer 2021 term, and the recording of these sessions is still shared with all preceptors presently as a continuing education opportunity.
Regardless of the setting, I have always found joy working with a diverse group of people and have been told I get along very well with others. I believe that diversity in any setting offers a richness in perspectives and ideas that a homogenous group would not be able to achieve. I value diversity in my work and in my classroom and take extra measures to ensure inclusiveness of students from different backgrounds and abilities in my class. For instance, at the beginning of the semester I devote time to get to know my students and for the students to engage with one another (regardless of in-person or online class settings). In addition to offering traditional in-person office hours, I allow students to choose virtual (e.g. Zoom, phone) appointments to meet regarding classroom matters and am always accessible via email. Through my instructional design I explicitly aim to offer content that helps with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles. For instance, in online course modules, I always include the transcribed text in addition to audio/visual recordings as well as hands-on learning opportunities where feasible. One recent student shares their perspective these kinesthetic learning opportunities below:
Regardless of the setting, I have always found joy working with a diverse group of people and have been told I get along very well with others. I believe that diversity in any setting offers a richness in perspectives and ideas that a homogenous group would not be able to achieve. I value diversity in my work and in my classroom and take extra measures to ensure inclusiveness of students from different backgrounds and abilities in my class. For instance, at the beginning of the semester I devote time to get to know my students and for the students to engage with one another (regardless of in-person or online class settings). In addition to offering traditional in-person office hours, I allow students to choose virtual (e.g. Zoom, phone) appointments to meet regarding classroom matters and am always accessible via email. Through my instructional design I explicitly aim to offer content that helps with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles. For instance, in online course modules, I always include the transcribed text in addition to audio/visual recordings as well as hands-on learning opportunities where feasible. One recent student shares their perspective these kinesthetic learning opportunities below:
I genuinely enjoyed this course! I feel like it prepared me well for my upcoming foodservice rotation and I learned a lot about all of the important components that go into a foodservice career as a dietician. I really enjoyed the labs and assignments as I learn best when engaging in hands-on activities and I feel like the activities taught me a lot about the material being presented in a way that helped me to actually retain the information. I also liked how the professor provided so many resources that will become so helpful in future rotations and careers, especially in foodservice. Overall, great course!!"
Above all, I embrace the fact that students are not only students, but have many roles, relationships, and intricacies that make up their life. From getting to know my students I have learned that most work in addition to going to school full-time, for many this is full-time employment. Many students are responsible for caring for others in their household besides just themselves, and, overall, have a significant number of responsibilities they are juggling. I was moved upon reading this particularly evaluation feedback from a student, which read:
“Professor Harman! You have been the best this semester. You really set this class up in a way that worked for all students who worked or not which I honestly appreciate because I’ve had to work overtime to make ends meet. You as an instructor really helped us understand all concepts in the modules and you always showed us kindness and grace. Your truly an amazing professor and I hope I have you again. Be so proud of yourself because you rocked!”
It is difficult hearing that a student faces such great struggles while trying to pursue a college degree, which is why I strive to be involved in whatever efforts help to improve students’ circumstances in this regard. Since beginning my appointment at UAB in 2017 I have been involved with groups that address food insecurity on-campus and students' other basic needs. For instance, I serve the on-campus food pantry (Blazer Kitchen) as a member of the Blazer Kitchen Advisory Committee and, from this involvement, was invited to serve on UAB's Coalition of Basic Needs. My goal in serving with these groups is to support the success of these programs that aid students in need of this assistance, which includes a higher prevalence of minority students, first generation college students, and international students. My support expands to my research, specifically the dissertation I am currently completing which provides nutrition education to students using the on-campus food pantry.
Updated December 2022
Updated December 2022