BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins Athletics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Team has launched a semester-long calendar of training sessions and an interactive speaking series for coaches and staff members.  The series kicked off in late September and includes programming that will run into December.  To-date and for the remainder of the fall semester, all sessions will be virtual.
 
The DEI team debuted its signature initiative, the Jays Talk Inclusion Series (Jays Talk), with the first of four scheduled discussions.  Jays Talk is a monthly discussion focused on materials that are provided in advance to coaches and staff to spark discussion about a variety of DEI-related topics.
 
The initial Jays Talk in late September was centered on an NPR podcast that provided an insightful look at the dynamics that have led individuals to open up about where they are and where our society is today as we view race and racial issues.  Moving forward, the team will introduce topics that include historical perspectives on the black American experience, the historical perspective of whiteness and a look at biases.
 
In addition to the small and large-group discussion-based Jays Talk, additional monthly educational opportunities have already included an insightful workshop on Race in Sport, which was led by Ben Carrington and Robbie Shilliam, on September 24.  Carrington is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Southern California and did his PhD on the role of sport as a form of cultural politics within black communities.  Shilliam is a professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins and has done extensive research on the political and intellectual complicities of colonialism and race in the global order.
 
The DEI Team also hosted a discussion on September 30 that featured Regina Boyce, a current member of the Maryland House of Delegates and former staff member in the department of athletics & recreation, and Adam Spengler, who was a member of the Blue Jay men's basketball team from 2009-13 and is currently a member of the Blue Jays Unlimited Advisory Board. Boyce and Spengler led an open forum discussion on Diversity and Inclusion and their everyday experience before, during and after their time at Johns Hopkins.
 
Student-athletes at Johns Hopkins are playing a key role in the DEI programming as Devin Ramsden (football) and Tim Treinen (men's soccer) moderated the Race in Sport event, while Chid Nnake (men's basketball) and Emmett Turner (football) moderated the discussion on September 30.  The programming topics were founded in discussions between Blue Jay student-athletes and administrators that took place over the summer; student moderators developed discussion points and topics within the overall theme of each program.
 
A spring semester calendar for Jays Talk and other DEI-themed programming is currently being developed by the 10-member DEI Team in collaboration with student-athletes and will be announced in the near future.