GCC's Inclusion and Diversity Center, located in N328, is a dedicated physical space promoting community, equity, unity, social gathering, and cross cultural understanding among students. All are welcome, especially those traditionally underrepresented in college. In addition to offering a student kitchen area with snacks, microwave, coffeemaker and refrigerator, there is a sunny student common room with comfortable seating, games, books, and magazines; a faculty mentor (Lillian Ruiz) is also housed in the area as a resource for student support and guidance.

Diversity, in all of its incarnations, nuances, and multiple identities, is not about division, but connection. The GCC Inclusion and Diversity Center promotes relationships that honor and celebrate commonalities and appreciate and embrace differences through shared experience and interaction.

If you have questions, ideas, feedback, or want to get involved, please contact: Lillian Ruiz, N328, , 775-1236.

In December of 2016, Greenfield Community College started Just One Thing, a campaign for faculty, staff, and students to support and empower community building among vulnerable populations, actively strengthen and increase inclusion on campus, and offer suggestions about diversity and inclusion resources to help students feel more welcome. This initiative, following a particularly divisive U.S presidential election in November 2016, resulted in an idea to build and support diversity by creating a cultural space at GCC, with a faculty mentor, so to offer these students personal, academic, and social support. In the Spring Semester of 2018, this idea became a reality with the opening of the GCC Inclusion and Diversity Center. The Center includes an inviting student common room, a student kitchen, and a faculty mentor available for support and guidance.

Mission

Diversity and inclusion, in all its incarnations, nuances, and multiple identities, honors and celebrates commonalities and appreciates and embraces differences through shared experience and dialogue. The Inclusion and Diversity Center, N328, provides a physical locale for community building and on-site faculty mentorship to students supporting the ideals of inclusion and diversity. The Center promotes diversity, equity, unity, cross-cultural interaction, social gathering, connection, and self-discovery.

Diversity at GCC

• GCC Institutional Statement on Inclusion
• GCC Library Database, Diversity Studies Collection (off-campus access requires GCC library card)
• Just One Thing
• Veterans' Center
• Women’s Resource Center

Student Clubs

BIPOC Club – Black, Indigenous, People of Color is an inclusive and intersectional student group dedicated to providing a space for community-building across the GCC campus. Advisor: Alyssa Arnell, , 775-1255

Videos

Upworthy: Overcoming Prejudice

Verna Meyers: How to Overcome Our Biases

Gary Orfield - The Civil Rights Project

Judge Victoria Pratt on the Power of Treating People with Respect

Interview with Former GCC President Yves Salomon-Fernández

Web Links

• Diversity Doesn’t Stick Without Inclusion
• Diverse Issues in Higher Education
• Insight Into Diversity
• National Geographic Reckons With Its Past: "For Decades, Our Coverage Was Racist"
• Primary and Secondary Dimensions of Diversity
• 7 Ways Unconscious Bias Inhibits Legal Diversity & Inclusion
• US News, Diversity

My name is Lillian Ruiz. I have been a faculty member at GCC since 1993, teaching English, public speaking, and media/popular culture courses.

Both my maternal and paternal grandparents, parents with young children and a desire to improve their lives and the lives of their children, emigrated from Puerto Rico to the Bronx in New York City.  Three of my grandparents had a third grade education, typical in rural Puerto Rico at the time.  My fourth grandparent had no formal education at all; none of my grandparents spoke English.  My parents learned English as children in the Bronx, and advanced their education to high school.  I, a first generation college student born in the Bronx, continued my education with college and graduate school, financing both with scholarships, student loans and work.

My story has many similarities to the stories of GCC students, and I remember well the challenges and anxieties of pursuing higher education.  My role as faculty mentor is to offer you support and assistance as you navigate your own college education.  Feel free to stop by my office, N328A, to introduce yourself, chat, or seek guidance.

Visit me during office hours listed on this site, or contact me at 413-775-1236 or

Best wishes on your time at GCC.  I look forward to seeing you soon.

Ticket to Terror: Horror Film in the Age of Anxiety with Lillian Ruiz

Puerto Rico: A Heritage of Celebration. With Erika Ramos-Rivera Clark, GCC Student Senator (2/26/20)

Student Panel on Inclusion and Diversity: (4/13/18)

Former GCC President Bob Pura on Inclusion & Diversity Center Opening (4/13/18)