2024-2025 Heller Student Working Groups
Brandeis University Africa Forum
Contact buaf@brandeis.edu
The Brandeis University Africa Forum is a working group of African students and other members of Heller who are interested in African history and culture. Some of its activities include 1) organizing various panels with a focus on African socioeconomic and political context; 2) coordinating cultural events that reflect African and African descent culture and history; 3) creating a network with other African Student Associations in the U.S.
Disability Working Group
Contact Ian Moura, ianmoura@brandeis.edu
As the Heller Disability Working Group, our purpose is to serve as a resource to people with disabilities within the Heller community, as a network of support and advocacy. We do this through organizing events to draw awareness to issues affecting the disability community, through advocating directly to the university faculty on behalf of people with disabilities within the Heller community, and through building connections with other groups promoting social change on campus. We envision a rights-based, intersectional definition of disability, taking into account the historical processes through which disability has been created and defined.
Gender Working Group
Contact gwgheller@brandeis.edu
The GWG approaches development from a gender perspective by making space in the development dialogue for discourse surrounding gender inequality, gender identity, and sexuality. Our goal is to be as inclusive and intersectional as possible, and to foster important and meaningful discussions through speakers, movie screenings, discussion groups, and campaigns.
Racial Equity Working Group
Contact Calah McQuarters, cmcquarters@brandeis.edu, and Saynab Maalin, smaalin@brandeis.edu
The Racial Equity Working Group is an open and collaborative space to explore and take action to make our communities more just, anti-racist, and equitable. There has never been a more important time to work together to create solutions to these ongoing issues of racial injustice. We would also like to use this opportunity to communicate with any other groups currently doing racial equality work or who would like to. Another role our working group hopes to fill is to act as a liaison between student groups and the Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity or at the very least a hub for all the different efforts being taken at Heller.
Steps to creating a working group
- Check the list of current working groups to determine if you can work with an existing group. A streamlined list of working groups means events are less likely to overlap with each other!
- Draft a short introduction to the objectives, goals and proposed activities of the working group.
- Meet with the Associate Director of Academic Affairs, Marc Kiredjian (mkiredjian@brandeis.edu), to discuss your idea(s).