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WE ARE NORTHCENTRAL
UNIVERSITY
ANNABELLE GOODWIN, PHD, LMFT
Director of Equity and Inclusion/Faculty
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
DR. ASHA SUTTON, LMFT
Program Director, Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
One of the really wonderful things about studying and working online is that we can
flex our work around our busy lives. Workplaces have been forced online due to
COVID-19, but many of us were already here.
We've seen colleagues from brick-and-mortar programs struggle with how to teach
and engage online. They've asked for grace as they navigate these unfamiliar waters.
As we hear their stories, we're grateful for our experience with the virtual workplace,
but we also want to acknowledge that none of us can really manage "business as
usual" right now. We all need additional grace and understanding.
The world feels hard and heavy right now. The pandemic has upended our lives. Each
of us is affected, yet we are learning that Native, Black, and Hispanic people are five
times as likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19. Women are leaving the workforce
at four times the rate of men. Add to this the pain, fear, and exhaustion brought by
the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others this year…a
burden felt especially deeply by those of us who are Black/African American.
While we advocate for a community that acknowledges and eradicates injustice and
inequality of all types, we believe it is important right now to talk about race and
gender. We take a stand because we are an academic institution that is committed to
improving lives and communities, and because we believe in the wise words of Maya
Angelou, who said, "When you know better, you do better."
As we think about the work to be done as NCU community members, and the impact
on us personally and professionally, consider the following ways you can know better
in order to do better:
Acknowledge
Recognize that key aspects of everyone's reality, even your own, are constructed
through language and informed by culture and history.
Understand that we all have blind spots and biases. Do your own work to better
understand your blind spots and biases and how it comes out in everyday life as well
as in your professional pursuits.
NCU HAPPENINGS | WINTER 2020
