UMass iCons and Fighting Institutionalized Racism with Dr. Scott Auerbach

UMass iCons Mahoney Family Sponsored Executive Director, Scott Auerbach, joined Nefertiti Walker, VC for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer at UMass Amherst, on the university’s Dignity & Respect in Action podcast this past week.

They discussed issues of racism and diversity in STEM, how science suffers from and perpetuates racism, and what the iCons program is doing to combat this historically pervasive issue.

The Dignity and Respect in Action podcast is brought to you by the UMass Office of Equity and Inclusion and features members of the University community and other experts in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this podcast, we’ll learn about the work and experiences of our guests, and gain insight from their expertise.

News Highlights

UMass iCons Program Sparks Creative Thinking to Address Student Anxiety

On October 22, 2024, the UMass iCons Program hosted the annual Idea Slam. This event urges students to think creatively and collaboratively to hypothesize potential solutions to real-world issues, with a particular focus this year on addressing the epidemic of student anxiety. Presentations delivered by thought leaders Dr. Melissa Rotkiewicz, the director of the UMass Amherst Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH), and Brian Pearson, the founder of Adventure East, prepared participants for the issue at hand: the epidemic of student anxiety.

In 2016, Marinna Teixeira graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in Environmental Sciences and a minor in French. Having emigrated from Brazil at a young age, Marinna was the first woman in her family to graduate from university and has achieved profound accomplishments since. After joining the UMass iCons Program as a freshman, she befriended peers who dreamed of professional accomplishments like hers. As a member of the third iCons cohort, the Third Axis, her participation in the undergraduate program fell under the Renewable Energy track where she pursued her interest in climate change mitigation.

Heather Bortolussi '24 and Fay Paicos '24, both recent graduates of the Environmental Science program and the UMass iCons Program at UMass Amherst, discovered that an iCons classroom is not just the beginning of a professional toolkit but a gateway to enriching experiences beyond academia. Their journey began in an iCons 2 classroom, where their teamwork sparked a friendship that extended far beyond those four walls, taking them all the way to Thailand for a study abroad adventure.

UMass iCons and Fighting Institutionalized Racism with Dr. Scott Auerbach

Stay Connected