SHU Selects Inclusive Excellence Fellows

Group will concentrate on attracting diverse staff, faculty and students

Sacred Heart University has selected its first cohort of inclusive excellence fellows to help lead it forward in expanding its culture of inclusivity and attracting, retaining and advancing diverse staff, faculty and students.

Participants in the inaugural fellowship will serve two-year terms. They will complete professional development and individual and cohort projects as they prepare to help expand inclusive excellence throughout the campus.

The fellowship’s first priority is to partner with the human resources department to develop a hiring guide that includes writing position descriptions, where to post positions to attract a more diverse pool of candidates, interview strategies and search committee training protocol. “We must be intentional to attract and retain diverse candidates,” said Maurice Nelson, Sacred Heart’s chief diversity & inclusion officer.

Nelson was an inclusive excellence fellow at a different institution and found the experience transformative. “We affected change at the highest institutional level and across disciplines,” said Nelson, who has wanted to create a similar fellowship at SHU since he joined the University last year.

The eight fellows represent faculty and staff across various areas of Sacred Heart.

Ololade Afolabi, a lecturer in the School of Communication, Media & the Arts, specializes in gender and media studies, international communication and critical cultural studies. She brings a wealth of scholarship experience in researching issues related to marginalism among women of color. “I look forward to collaborating with colleagues in promoting a more diverse community through research, engagement and pedagogical development,” Afolabi said. “As faculty, my research often speaks to marginalized publics, so I find this fellowship an important space to continue my work in a more service-oriented form. It is a way of translating my scholarship into practice and I am grateful for that. The fellowship opens up a new dialogue on the seriousness of diversity and inclusion discourse on campus. Beyond just talking about this, I see the fellowship bringing actionable outcomes that can create a more inclusive campus community here at SHU.”

Rebekah Byrd is an associate professor of counseling in the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development and director of SHU’s Institute for Play Therapy and Expressive Arts Education and Research. Her studies focus on child, adolescent and school counseling, play therapy, LGBTQ+ advocacy, social justice and multicultural concerns, self-injury and women’s wellness.

“I am honored to be part of this work to further diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) initiatives across campus,” said Byrd. “This work is important because it is integral to all we do on campus and is essential for cultivating and sustaining environments that are positive, encouraging and fruitful. We must put DEIB, not performative measures, at the forefront of meaningful work. When everyone focuses on DEIB, overall climate changes for the better.”

Mark Congdon, Jr. is an assistant professor of communication. His teaching and hands-on research feed his passion for bridging the gap between universities and communities to usher in a brighter, fairer future. “Joining the inclusive excellence fellowship marks a vibrant step forward on a path of advocacy I’m deeply passionate about,” said Congdon. “My lived experiences as a queer, first-generation college student, continually navigating the challenges of a learning disability and Tourette syndrome, fuels my commitment to ensuring that every member of SHU feels recognized and supported. The fellowship empowers us to collaborate with diverse voices across the University, both in faculty and staff, to enrich our collective experience.”

“This fellowship represents a pivotal moment for growth at SHU,” he added. “It’s about more than just launching initiatives or programs; it’s about fostering crucial conversations and confronting the barriers that impede equitable progress. Together with a vibrant spectrum of colleagues, we're building a foundation for an inclusive culture with an impact that I hope reaches well beyond our campus boundaries.”

Raheem Davis is a clinical placement and compliance coordinator in the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing. His commitment to inclusive excellence began during his college years. “When I attended undergraduate school as a first-generation student, so many people helped me navigate through the journey to belong, stay engaged and graduate,” said Davis. “I want to pay it forward with the students here at SHU. Plus, as higher institutions throughout the country face challenges internally and externally, I’d like to use my experience to highlight SHU as a welcoming institution of higher learning and work with others who have the drive and passion to affect change in a positive way.

“My hope is that, as an institution, we are honest and transparent when we say diversity, inclusiveness and excellence are goals for SHU. If we are, the impact can create an institution where we become leaders and our students become proud alumni who combine their experiences to make the world better than they inherited it.”

Susan Goncalves is an associate professor in the Davis & Henley College of Nursing and a per-diem, off-shift supervisor at Harford HealthCare. “Diversity is lacking in the nursing profession, which I have been part of for 38 years,” said Goncalves. “More than two decades ago, the Institute of Medicine released its landmark report, ‘The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,’ which called for gender, racial and ethnic diversity in the nursing profession to reduce health disparities and improve quality of care. To accomplish this, we must tear down the barriers that exist for those entering the nursing profession, and that begins with nursing education. By participating in this fellowship, I hope I can be a change agent in my college to foster diversity, equity, inclusion and a sense of belonging for all, which includes students, faculty, staff, administration and alumni.

“I foresee this fellowship impacting a transformation and a sustainable inclusive excellence culture aligned with our mission and Catholic intellectual tradition underpinnings that permeate every aspect of our operations. This transformation can be on the individual level with a new intrapersonal and interpersonal awareness and can include sustainable changes in admission and hiring processes, pedagogy, curriculum and the overall learning and workplace environment.”

Katie Kroeper is an assistant professor of psychology specializing in identifying and mitigating social inequities between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Her research focuses on situational cues, such as norms and policies that trigger identity-related concerns, and she leverages these insights to create more inclusive environments.

“My scholarship focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, but I want to do more than just study these concepts in the laboratory,” said Kroeper. “This fellowship enables me to translate scholarly insights into practical initiatives, driving Sacred Heart toward becoming an explicitly anti-racist and more inclusive community. It aligns seamlessly with Sacred Heart University’s mission of embracing social justice, promoting the societal common good and recognizing the dignity and worth of every human being. My hope is that the initiatives and work cultivated through this fellowship will drive meaningful change on campus, fostering an even stronger, more inclusive and equitable community at Sacred Heart University.”

Deirdra Preis is an assistant professor of educational leadership. She teaches courses in transformative leadership and social justice in the certification, sixth-year and doctoral programs. Prior to her current role, she served for 33 years in various Connecticut K-12 public schools, in both teaching and administrative capacities. Her research primarily focuses on the preparation of school leaders who will work to ensure equitable educational access for all students and meet the needs of schools’ increasingly diverse student and family populations.

“I am honored to be invited into this fellowship to further develop the culture of belonging to which SHU is committed,” said Preis. “It is important to me to be involved in helping to create a place that feels nurturing for every member of our school community—a home away from home, so to speak—so that we can all take advantage of SHU’s amazing resources and opportunities. Our collective work aims to increase knowledge, skills and commitment to SHU’s core values, such as ‘excellence and equity in all we do’ and the ‘recognition of the dignity and worth of every human being.’”

Callie Tabor is a lecturer in the Catholic studies department. Her commitment to inclusive excellence is based on the Catholic intellectual tradition, which believes all human beings have equal dignity, and the liberal arts philosophy that critical thinking and creative action forms more inclusive communities. 

“I want to support a sense of belonging and inclusion at Sacred Heart among faculty, staff, students and the broader community,” said Tabor. “As someone who teaches the Catholic intellectual tradition, I want our University to be truly Catholic—a word that comes from the Greek word ‘katholikos,’ which refers to a sense of wholeness. We cannot be truly whole while people within our community are experiencing exclusion. This fellowship contributes to the ongoing effort to be more inclusive.

“I see this fellowship producing tangible resources that will help faculty, staff, students and the community be more inclusive in our work and learning. I hope it continues to grow a culture that not only respects but also loves and uplifts the dignity of every person.”