The Fall of 2020 presented unprecedented challenges as three crises impacted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and other universities across the country. More specifically, UNL was impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic, a university budget crises, and the structural and institutional impacts of racism upon persons of color (and their allies) in the wake of the killings of Black Americans including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. While weathering the storm of these crises, the Institute for Ethnic Studies (IES) had several notable accomplishments. Our new minor in Racial Justice, Equity, and Inclusion was approved. A keystone of this new minor is our new "Ethnic Studies 101: How to Be Antiracist" course, which was also approved during the Fall 2020 semester. The first iteration of this course was created and piloted (as Ethnic Studies 198) by Dr. Patrick Jones during the Fall 2020 three week session.
The IES administrative office was also hard at work during the Fall of 2020. Among other accomplishments, we secured Native American Poet and Author Tiffany Midge as our Spring Celebration speaker for Thursday, March 11, 2021. In addition to our co-appointed faculty who were nominated for honors in their home departments, IES officially nominated the following faculty members for honors:
• Marc A. Garcia for the Edgerton Award
• Jennine Capó Crucet for a Rosowski Professorship
• Jeannette Jones for a Rosowski Professorship
We also nominated the Institute as a whole for the President's Excellence University-Wide Departmental Teaching Award, which comes with $25,000.
Other noteworthy accomplishments during the Fall of 2020 include the completion of paperwork for 3 new Foundation funds that will bring scholarships and awards to our students and faculty:
• The Rev. Dr. Michael W. Combs Memorial Fund for Scholars of Equality and Justice
• Rafael (Ralph) Grajeda Graduate Student Support Fund
• The Libano Fabio Castro Scholarship in Film Studies
In addition to the aforementioned accomplishments, this inaugural IES on-line newsletter provides highlights of individual faculty achievements during the Fall of 2020.