Bethany, an academic advisor in Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, completes a consultation with a student while under the observation of her associate dean, Lin. The observation is a part of a regularly scheduled function of her supervision. After the observation, Lin commends Bethany for her warmth, rapport-building, humor and knowledge of the university.
Terry and Chris are senior custodial supervisors in the athletic department. They recently completed a bulk hire of new custodial staff and are amidst orienting the new staff to their roles and expectations. Within the first few months, Terry and Chris begin to experience tension with the new staff member as they are frustrated with the inflexibility of the informal policies and protocols that guide their work.
Lola, an undergraduate intern working with the information technology unit of Student Health Services, is granted time at a team-wide staff meeting to share her proposal for changes to the group’s operating procedures. Lola contends that a long-running auto-population function for their client ticketing system, which automatically imports names and gender pronouns from Banner into the client response emails and team communication, is problematic and potentially marginalizing to users.
Hassan is an administrative assistant in the College of Business. One of his assigned duties is to post notices for his office regarding managerial announcements, new policies and other college-wide communications.
Lucas is a sous chef in a campus dining center and the staff member in charge of the cultural food programming. Lucas is reading a year-end report that synthesizes customer feedback from online surveys and on-site feedback cards. Lucas reads a substantial number of comments that are critical of the dining center’s food selection. Comments from students, faculty and staff of color, as well as international patrons, disapprove of food options that connect to their cultures being separated in the dining center in an “ethnic foods” concept.
Savanah is supervisor for work study employees for the student services office at the College of Science. At the start of the academic year, Savanah holds a mandatory new student employee orientation that focuses on her office’s commitments to exemplary student service. Savanah’s orientation includes explicit instructions on how to communicate verbally and non-verbally with student patrons. Savanah’s directives include being high-energy and she insists that her students be smiling and talkative with a “perky” disposition.
James is a staff member in the library reference center. He works in an open office setting with several colleagues. James’ workstation is adjacent to his colleague Yosef, whom he has been trying for some time to form a personal relationship.
Lydia serves as a receptionist at the university’s general information desk located in the central administration building. Lydia enjoys her job and prides herself on being able to connect students to information and resources quickly and efficiently. As such, Lydia attempts to intuit and anticipate students’ needs as quickly as possible. A consequence of her enthusiasm is that Lydia often asks questions or makes statements that are assuming of students’ identities and her assumptions are often grounded in stereotypes.
