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Eric and Alex chat about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in academia with Liz Lara, DEI manager for the University of Iowa College of Public Health. To learn more about DEI resources at the college, visit www.public-health.uiowa.edu/diversity/

Eric Ramos:

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to From the Front Row brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. My name is Eric Ramos, and I am joined today by Alex Murra. And if this is your first time with us, welcome. We’re a student-run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they’re relevant to anyone, both in and out of the field of public health. Today, we’ll be chatting with Liz Lara, manager of diversity, equity, and inclusion with the College of Public Health here at the University of Iowa. Liz is an alum of the university and comes to this position after serving as a director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Graduate College since 2019. She’s an exciting addition to the College of Public Health. And we’re excited to have her. Welcome to the show, Liz.

Alex Murra:

So before we begin, as Eric mentioned in your introduction, you’ve had lots of leadership positions, many of which were related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. So can you just talk us through how you got started in this important field?

Liz Lara:

Hi, thank you. Thank you for the invitation too. I think this was a really interesting question, because I think about my journey quite often, and it really started coming to Iowa as a student. And I remember coming to Iowa. So I’m from California and my mom, the first thing she said was like, “Don’t forget who you are. Don’t forget where you come from.” And that’s always been at the back of my head at any work that I do. But it really, Iowa made me realize I didn’t really have to think about my identities as much because I was in California and I identify as Latina. And I didn’t have to think about my Latinidad until I got to Iowa. And I was like, “I am different. So how do I make the best of this?” Right.

Liz Lara:

And for me it was building community and finding that space because I knew I wanted to pursue my education and I had to anchor myself here and make it work. So that was… I got involved in working with the community, but my interest grew even more deeply, I would say when I was pursuing graduate school, because I started college during the housing market crash in 2008, where my community in California was just completely devastated. And several people were displaced from their homes. People were homeless all of a sudden, right, who had these beautiful homes. And so I wanted to be able to see like, “How can I go back and help my community and how can we get through this?” So I pursued urban and regional planning, and housing and community development. And that’s where I really learned about inequities and the histories of our towns.

Liz Lara:

And I’m like, “I want to do something.” And as soon as I graduated, I pursued and I was able to, I feel very lucky that I was able to land a job with the civil rights commission and investigate cases of discrimination. And so I was working directly with community members who filed complaints, and I was the first bilingual investigator. So I was able to file cases and working with folks who spoke Spanish, and it was mostly in cases of employment and housing discrimination, but that really got me to be able to really work directly with the community, and be able to provide any form of relief from what that was. And really not just like the investigation piece, but also the awareness piece of teaching folks about their rights and the responsibility as a local government that we have, to look into that. Just because we’re not getting cases, doesn’t mean discrimination isn’t happening.

Alex Murra:

Yeah. That’s a really interesting career and quite a path, honestly. Thinking about your current role as a DEI manager for our college, can you just tell us a little bit what that role specifically entails?

Liz Lara:

Yeah, there’s a lot in there. I was thinking about this earlier too. And so I would say that my main role really entails in supporting the implementation of our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and efforts. And that is really bringing a DEI lens to everything that we do. And I know that we have it in different spaces, but really to the different things that we do. So I serve on the college’s DEI committee. I also serve on the subcommittees, the outreach, and the scholarships. And really what it is, it’s working with faculty and staff to bring educational training, workshops, and even social opportunities to the college, to really build a sense of community for underrepresented students, but also for our entire college community. There are a lot of folks who want to do the work already here.

Liz Lara:

So I feel very lucky to be a part of that. And I don’t feel like I’m doing this work alone. There’s a lot of support and there’s a lot of ideas. And I think something that we’re just trying to do is funnel and centralize all those efforts so that we can increase awareness of what we’re doing as a college, and just helping that. And so I feel very lucky to have a lot of support here. Well, and that’s the other piece too, is the main thing too, is be a resource for students as well. And the DEI liaison serves as the DEI liaison for any concerns, issues, anything DEI related. But it doesn’t have to be DEI related as well. I want to be as a resource here for students and help you navigate whatever things I can, not the college level, but at the institution level as well.

Liz Lara:

I know a lot of the campus resources. And so for me, I’ve been in meetings and I think Eric came in a few of these meetings where students are like, just the fact that we have someone that we can go to, is so incredibly important because that’s the first step in just trying to figure something out. So I’m really working on building an affinity space for underrepresented students so that they have somewhere also to just go and be with each other.

Eric Ramos:

Yeah. Thank you so much for that. I definitely have been on the other end of that making… I really appreciate it that you’re here as someone who is trying to tackle these DEI issues. To serve as that faculty resource, to really try to push these things forward. So I know I’ve appreciated having you thus far. I guess bouncing off that, what do you hope to accomplish, what would you say is a good success in your terms thus far as your tenure here with diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Liz Lara:

[inaudible 00:06:11] that was a really hard question. Because, there’s so many things I’d love to accomplish and if money was no object or anything, but ultimately I think to me, the biggest thing that I would love to have, is just to have, or to accomplish just a strong sense of belonging and community, where I want folks, underrepresented folks, all folks from historically marginalized identity to walk the spaces in as their full, authentic selves, right. To not have to put a mask on, put a mask off whenever they interact with other people to feel like, “This is my institution, this is also my home.”

Liz Lara:

And to really have that connection. And I was at an alumni meeting, and I was with wearing my Iowa gear and people were, nobody else was, and they’re like, “Look, she’s wearing Iowa gear.” I said, “Yeah, this is my institution too.” Right. You might not think of a Latina an immediate connection with Iowa, but it is. I am part of this community and I want our folks to feel that way too.

Alex Murra:

So when we’re thinking about all these initiatives, and all the goals that we have for this program, how can we even begin to measure the success of them as far as, have they been successful in promoting these DEI activities?

Liz Lara:

Yeah, that’s a good question. I thought about this and I was like, “Maybe I’ll go back to it.” Because I think that a lot of people want to do diversity, equity and inclusion work, and they just want to jump right into it. And they want to do trainings, and they want to do workshops, and they want to do outreach. But to be completely honest, a lot of the work really starts with oneself and having that increased awareness of our own identities. Our own salient identities. And how aware are you of the assumptions that you have, and why do you have those, and how do the identities that you have impact the relationships and the conversations that you build with others? Because we do [inaudible 00:08:07] which we do act differently when we’re in front of other people and when we are working with different folks.

Liz Lara:

And so a lot of the work, I would say before you jump into that, is do a lot of self-awareness, self-reflection and understanding, and we don’t, unless you’re actively thinking about it, you don’t really stop and do that self-awareness piece to be able to work with communities. And I think it’s just so important because it increases not just your own understanding, but it builds skills for you to be able to get into communities, and understand their needs, and their wants, and legitimize their experiences and trust that they’re telling you what they need. And then be able to create sustainable solutions so that it’s not just a one and done approach thing, but being able to see what we’ve done in the long run. So increased awareness of our own work, recognizing our own assumptions and doing our work as well. And the sustainable measures.

Eric Ramos:

I know that’s a lot to tackle when we talk about DEI. There’s so many aspects when you start talking about identity and diversity inclusion, recruitment. What would you say is the most pressing issue within your work currently at the College of Public Health that the general public students, faculty may not be aware of?

Liz Lara:

I was thinking about this question, because I think, and I’ll touch base about this in a later question too, but I think we all know or have some understanding that we need to do training, right? We need to do education and we need to do workshops. And we need to talk about microaggressions and privilege and all those things. But I think something that is not as loud, that’s not really spoken about, is the cultural impacts of mental health and checking in on ourselves, in our community, because I’ll speak for myself, and my family, and my community, like talking about mental health is taboo, right? That’s not a thing you talk about. We don’t talk about it. You just work, and you don’t ask for help. And you keep doing what you do.

Liz Lara:

And so it’s really important that we recognize that this is something that needs to be addressed and talked about. And I know the perfect reference for that is the Disney movie, Encanto, if you’ve seen it. It talks about the family and culture and dynamics. And those are really deep and heavy that we can bring onto ourselves. But when we’re talking about the communities we serve, our students, and our faculty and staff, they all bring something. And I think we can’t just keep pretending that it’s not there and we need to address it and make sure that we’re talking about it and that it’s okay. Right. It’s okay to talk about it. And being able to provide resources and be vulnerable. It’s just hard because people are not used to being vulnerable in spaces, but if we don’t know about it, we can’t help each other. So

Alex Murra:

Yeah, 100%. I think mental health has been one of those topics that has been so heavily emphasized by just in the past couple years with this pandemic. Right. And this goes into our next question, where it’s a heavy hitting question, and it’s honestly a lot to introduce, but we have seen many longstanding inequities in healthcare, housing, education. And honestly, just so many other factors that influence a person’s overall like physical, but also mental health and wellbeing. And all of these have been really brought to attention during this pandemic. And we’ve seen two lots of discussions about how these inequities are largely driven by factors, such as racism or biases that are embedded within our systems and institutions. So getting to the heavy hitting question, what advice maybe do you have for current and future public health professionals when addressing these inequities, especially some of them, they can be hard to talk about and difficult to address because they are systemic.

Liz Lara:

Yeah. I was like, “There’s a…” I have a really long answer for this, but to put it really shortly, if that’s a word. Nothing about us without us, right? Nothing about us and the communities that you will be working for without their feedback, without their input, without their opinions. Because ultimately we need the communities on board so that our efforts can succeed. And having a DEI lens is hard, right? It’s hard because it forces us to break down and slow down our thinking and to be really intentional about who we’re including, and what we’re doing and being really aware. And that’s why self-awareness is just really important because if you know your identities and how that impacts your conversations or your relationships. You’re more aware of how you’re going to interact with others and being able to gain that community trust, so that they can provide you with the feedback and the opinions on the policies or the programs that you’re going to be working with, is just so critically important.

Liz Lara:

So take a moment to try to approach things with the DEI lens, understanding that it’s going to require empathy and patience. And slow down your thinking to be really intentional about who you’re going to include. And again, always make sure you’re thinking nothing about us without us. Who’s in the room and who’s not in the room. And whose voices are louder than others, and who we’re including. It takes a lot more work. It takes time. But if you really want to have an equitable approach to things, that is how it has to be done.

Liz Lara:

And being patient with yourself, but also learning that it’s going to be a learning experience for you as well. And I would approach it in a situation where you’re also learning from the community, because we don’t always have all the answers. Right. And they might give you some feedback that you don’t want, but usually when the community’s pretty loud about it, they’re right. And I would say, and work with that as well, because it is really hard. And I’ve been in these spaces where we’ve gone directly to talk to the community, and they appreciate it so much on a huge level that you’re even just seeking their input. And so I like to remind myself, nothing about us without us.

Eric Ramos:

I think that’s really good advice, especially to me who’s studying to be a healthcare administrator. Constantly told to listen to your community, listen to your staff. They’ll tell you what they want out of their healthcare needs. I think that’s really great advice. As far as the College of Public Health, what are some ways that you think we could increase the number of underrepresented students, faculty, and staff, in the College of Public Health, just to get more people here to be able to listen to that community.

Liz Lara:

Yeah, no. That’s so incredibly important because we know that representation matters, right? It’s so important. And to be honest, I think we have to, this is, I know I sound repetitive, but I want to do our own self-awareness and really work on our retention. And really work on building the culture that we have here, building a stronger culture for the folks that we have here, because that’s going to be our number one recruitment tool, right. It’s the folks who have really great experiences. They’re going to go out and they’re going to tell everyone how much they loved their experiences here, our underrepresented folks. And to be able… They’re going to feel comfortable telling people “Yes, go to the College of Public Health because I felt supported. And I felt like I could be myself.” And when students are looking for a space to be, they want to know that they’re not going to be alone.

Liz Lara:

I don’t remember who I was on a phone call with, but their number one concern coming here is, “How can I build community? Where can I find space?” And if we can provide the answers to that, that means we have to have a healthy community within ourselves where we can say we are retaining our folks and that’s helping bring people here. There’s always a lot of focus on recruitment and that’s important, but we also need to talk about retention and how we’re providing support for our people that we have here. And that’s creating those affinity spaces, and including them to be part of the conversations, and including them in our vision, our strategic goals, and planning and setting. Making sure that they’re always in the room present.

Liz Lara:

And I do think that that will attract more people here. And then also, folks of color get picked on a lot to talk about their experiences when we have candidates here. And if you don’t feel like you could have a candid conversation, I can pick that up. We can pick that up from each other. And it goes to the whole experience about bringing people here. Right. And I also, I know that we’ve talked… It’s in the plan and we’re trying to work on this, but I’d love to also establish some pipelines with underrepresented high school students as well, and just increasing awareness about public health and the opportunities and what it is, and what they can explore at Iowa. So those are some really exciting things that I know that we’ve got coming down, but there’s lots of ways, but I would say, take taking care of the people we have here and really establishing that so that we can bring others into a really healthy and strong environment.

Alex Murra:

Actually, quick follow up question before I ask our final question, are there any, maybe events or things that we should be on the lookout as far as like DEI related events in the next semester?

Liz Lara:

So I don’t have the full fall semester planned out yet. But yes, definitely. So that is one of my main responsibilities too, is establishing a connect series. And so I wanted, what I’ve called it is, connecting communities, creating space for underrepresented students. And so we’ll have different opportunities to come together. And the next one, I want to have a, I’m aiming for April 19th. We’re going to have Dr. Maria Bruno come and talk about, actually the cultural impact of mental health. And also through the Encanto characters, which is a really cool presentation and build, and have a separate hands on activity of grounding skills. And then also through the DEI student subcommittee, it’s a great group of 2020 or so plus students from the College of Public Health who have just gotten together, and we’re going to be creating a calendar of events for the next school year already. So be on the lookout for that.

Alex Murra:

Yeah, that sounds so exciting. So our last question, and this is a question that we ask all of our guests who come onto the podcast is, what is one thing that you thought you knew but were later wrong about?

Liz Lara:

Is this DEI related, or?

Alex Murra:

It can be about anything.

Liz Lara:

I was trying to figure out. I’m like, “Do you really want to hear about my kids? Or?” But I’ll keep it DEI related because I’m constantly reminding myself of this, is that I always think, obviously this is my world. I live in DEI. I breathe the language or whatever, speak it, but not everybody does. Right. And everyone has their own different level of understanding and different foundation. And to me, I’m like, “Everybody knows about microaggressions. And everybody knows about all these terminology,” but that’s not true. And I’m always told, “You give people too much the benefit of the doubt.” And I’m like, “Well, I just assume people know.” And so I’m just trying to remind myself that we all have a different level of understanding, and it’s going to require our patience, and empathy when working with folks, especially if they’re really trying to learn, because you want to keep having those conversations.

Liz Lara:

You want to be having these conversations all the time, and you want to get to the point where people are comfortable talking about diversity, equity and inclusion conversations. And that requires us to understand that everyone comes at it from their own experiences and from a different approach. And that’s okay. And just because you know more than, a little bit more than other folks, doesn’t mean that everyone knows everything. And so I think that’s why it’s important to just remind yourselves that everyone’s coming from a different perspective, and we just got to have patience. And keep the conversation going. I think that’s the biggest, most important piece for me.

Eric Ramos:

Okay. Liz, I’m going to make you answer the question also in non DEI related, just because I know that sometimes DEI people get stuck in that DEI box. And I wanted the College of Public Health to know more about you other than just around the DEI work. So what’s one thing you though you knew but were wrong later about that’s not DEI related?

Alex Murra:

Okay. This is going to be about my kids. I thought having a second kid was going to be easier because I already had one, and I was completely wrong. Because now you have two little people who constantly need your attention and having to navigate that. But also something that I, so I was like, “I’m going to be a pro.” I’m one of nine. I have five brothers and four sisters. And, well, there’s five brothers and four sisters. And I was like, “I got this.” And then I had my second baby. And I was like, “I have to pay attention to [inaudible 00:21:07] little ones,” but also my four-year-old, she’s growing so fast and develop… She’s in school. And so she’s learning new things. And so I’m figuring out that balance between having a baby newborn going through those developmental milestones and then another one.

Alex Murra:

And so my colleagues always say, “You got little people, little problems, big kids, bigger problems.” So it’s supposed to get more fun or harder later. But yeah. So no, I’m learning a lot. It’s definitely teaching me a lot of patience and just really finding a healthy balance. Work-life balance. I think my kids are teaching me that a lot. So I thought, I was like, “I got this.” Yeah, no. And I actually had a random person at a store telling me, “If a parent tells you they’re thriving and they know it all, they’re lying to you. So it’s okay. You’re not the only one feeling that.” So, yeah.

Alex Murra:

Great. Well, thank you so much for just not only for the DEI advice but also for the life advice as well. You’re doing it all. You are doing DEI work and also, being a mother is so hard. So thank you so much for coming onto this podcast with us. I think we had a blast talking, but yeah. Thank you.

Liz Lara:

Yeah. Thank you so much. I really did enjoy this and thank you for the opportunity. And if there’re other ways that I can help support either of you, and these efforts, please let me know. I love it that you’re giving DEI a space for this. So thank you.

Alexis Clark:

That’s it for episode this week. Big thanks to Liz Lara for coming on with us today. This episode was hosted by Eric Ramos and Alex Murra. Written, edited and produced by Alexis Clark. You can learn more about the University of Iowa, College of Public Health on Facebook. Our podcast is available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode, and would like to help support the podcast, please share it with your colleagues. Our team can be reached at cph-gradambassador@uiowa.edu. This episode was brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Stay happy, stay healthy, and keep learning.