WATERVILLE, ME, 10/11/2022 – Thomas College is proud to welcome Lisa Sockabasin, co-CEO of Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness, as the keynote speaker headlining the institution’s 2022 Diversity Week. Held during the week of October 11-14, Diversity Week comprises lectures, celebrations, and campus-wide projects which encourage students, faculty, and staff to learn about and apply the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
On October 11, the Tuesday of Indigenous Peoples Week, Lisa Sockabasin will deliver her keynote, “The Wabanaki: Our Past, Our Present, and Our Future Generations.” Sockabasin is a citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk with extensive experience in public health serving tribal communities. Her keynote complements the daily lunch and learns offered by student clubs and organizations during Diversity Week which explore current challenges facing tribal people and communities, particularly in the classroom, the need for diversity in business, intergenerational trauma, and the effect of Title IX in sports, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
As the first college in Maine to establish a DEI task force, Thomas College has sustained an intentional, campus-wide effort to advance knowledge and action related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “We involved our entire campus community in creating innovative and creative opportunities regarding conversations and discussions in a variety of spaces and places,” explained Dr. Richard Biffle, professor of education and co-director of Thomas’s Presidential Council on DEI. “Ours is a model of collaborations and partnerships between students, faculty, staff and administrators in meaningful and sustainable ways.”
The Thomas College Presidential Council on DEI includes representatives from students, faculty, staff and executive administration, board of trustees, and alumni. Student clubs and organizations have organized the Diversity Week lunch and learns, and the Council’s Student Intern, Owen Orlando, has provided leadership and organization of students’ involvement in the week’s wide variety of events, programs, and activities.
About Thomas College: U.S. News & World Report ranked Thomas College #2 among colleges in Maine for social mobility of our graduates. Located in Waterville, Maine, Thomas College is your pathway to a promising future, guaranteed, with our Guaranteed Job Program, 3-year accelerated offerings in all undergraduate degrees, and graduate offerings ranging from in-person and on-campus to 100% online. For more information, visit www.thomas.edu or contact MacKenzie Riley Young at mediarel@thomas.edu or 207-859-1313. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok.