Behind the Scenes with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Whether it’s managing Duolingo licenses, sharing resources on cultural awareness, or producing Reason and Respect events, Empire State University’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion contributes to the SUNY Empire community in many ways. Ahead, Assistant Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Xiomara Giordano, Program Manager Ade Byron, and Administrative Assistant Theresa Higgins weigh in on their work. 

What does “diversity, equity, and inclusion” mean to you? 

Byron: That is a big question, but I think for me the word that is sometimes tacked on at the end of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” is “belonging.” I love that word, and I think that how I approach a lot of the work—and how our office approaches a lot of the work—is by trying to create a community where everybody has a space and a voice and feels a part of something bigger than themselves. 

Higgins: For me, diversity, equity, and inclusion really just comes down to belonging. It’s about creating a space where people do not just show up, but actually feel comfortable being themselves and feel seen and heard. In my role, I help make that possible in practical ways. I keep things organized, coordinate meetings, manage logistics, and sometimes just serve as a sounding board when someone needs to talk through an idea. I see myself as part of the behind-the-scenes structure that helps the bigger work move forward. I have worked in places that felt very different from this, so I genuinely appreciate the culture we are building. We are intentional about being welcoming and respectful, and I am proud to play a part in that. 

Giordano: As Chief Diversity Officer (CDO), I can say that when I think about diversity, equity and inclusion, I think it is sometimes focused a little disproportionately. Diversity exists; diversity is a fact. The more important words for me are “equity” and “inclusion.” We live in a world where there’s all kinds of people—all kinds of difference. Now, how do we make sure that every person has access to what they need—not the same things, but what they need? The equity part is not that everybody gets one cookie. It’s that everybody gets what they need specifically to be successful, to bring their full selves to this space. And then how do we ensure that those parts of diversity—those parts of difference—are honored and respected and included in decisions, in our traditions, and in the ways that we move as a whole body.  

There are words that are traditionally added onto the acronym, so it’s “diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and belonging.” Those are also important things. We as an access institution have a duty to stand up and ensure that we are being who we say we are and we’re holding space for the things that are right and that we know are right—that when we invite someone into our community, whether that be a student, a faculty member, a staff member, or a guest, we are holding out for them the opportunity to be fully engaged in this space. I’ve noticed people get really confused with equity and equality, and those are not synonymous. They are not the same thing. We try to remind people that each human in this space brings a gift. And for that gift, we give them a platform. That platform is going to look different for each person, but we hold ourselves to that standard to ensure that we do that as much as we can. 

What does a typical workday look like for you? 

Higgins: No two days are the same, which I honestly love. I handle scheduling, travel, budgets, purchasing, and a little bit of everything to keep the office running smoothly. A big part of what I do is thinking ahead. I try to anticipate what might be needed and take care of details before they become issues. I am also someone people bounce ideas off of, and I do my best to keep things steady and positive, especially when it gets busy. At the end of the day, my job is about removing roadblocks so the important work can happen. 

Byron: One of the things that I love about the office is that no two days ever look the same. So much of our work is these initiatives that we’re building, but it’s also responding to what the community needs in that moment. I spend a lot of time responding to emails or meeting with people who have questions about either the work we’re doing or about skills like civil discourse and communicating with one another. We spend a lot of time talking people through those things. I also spend a lot of time planning content for skill building related to civil discourse and cultural awareness, depending on the different workshops we’re offering. Right now we’re working on micro credentials, so I’m building out content for those. I do some research trying to find different resources to share with people and also research to include in what we are teaching the community. Then there’s planning events. Theresa and I both do a lot of reaching out to different people in the community to see if they want to be a panelist on some of the existing programming we have or work with us to plan new programming. I also am a co-advisor for the peer mediation student group. Similarly working with students, we have two student interns in our office, and we have a student who is employed through Empire State Service Corps who works with us. I meet with them regularly.  

Giordano: I have my regular slate of meetings with colleagues and the Office of the President, trying to shuffle ideas around. But then I do a lot of work externally. I work with my professional organization. I’m on the board, so I go out and get information that I bring back—best practices, ways that we should be thinking about moving and shifting. I do a lot of work with SUNY System Administration and the CDOs there to try and figure out what our sister campuses are doing, how we can help them, and how they can help us. I also do a lot of research. I hear about a policy, read the law about the policy, and connect with people who are doing the work around it to make sure that what we’re doing fits our environment. That’s really important. And then I spend as much time as I can getting to know the people in our community, whether that’s through a Teams meeting or walking around the building. You can see me hamster-ing around all the time, up and down the stairs, making sure that I am having human connection so that my work has shape and form—so I remember who I’m doing this work for. 

What do you find most rewarding about your work? 

Giordano: What I find the most rewarding about this work, specifically at SUNY Empire, is going to commencement and being able to see not only the students, because the students are amazing, but also our colleagues cross the stage and support students and their families. It’s truly a community event.  

I was recently speaking to a colleague about Dr. Martin Luther King and his Beloved Community, and I wanted to remind her that it’s not just the big thing. We don’t all have to be in Selma putting our bodies in danger. When you remember someone’s pronouns, you are creating the Beloved Community. When you are helping somebody who needs assistance, you are creating the Beloved Community. I see the embodiment of that big, beautiful work at SUNY Empire every day—people who are taking steps to make things better so we can have the pathway to that Beloved Community. That’s what’s rewarding to me. 

Byron: One of the things that Xiomara said to me before I started working here was “Wait until you see a commencement.” Day to day, when I’m interacting with students, you don’t always see the impact that you’re having. And then you go to commencement and you get to actually talk to them and see them. It’s amazing when they come up and give you a big hug, and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, you did this thing for me.” For me, that thing was maybe an hour out of my day, but they are getting ready to walk across the stage and their whole family is there, and they remember an interaction they had with me because it made their life a little bit better. That’s amazing. I’ve never made it through a commencement without crying. It’s just awesome to see that.  

The other thing that’s rewarding is meeting up with faculty and staff online or in person. I love being able to be thought partners and think about all the things that we could do. Maybe there are things that logistically we can’t put into place, but just being able to dream and collaborate on different initiatives is exciting. I always leave those conversations feeling really full and excited about the work that we do. 

Higgins: Commencement always means a lot to me, and I really enjoy the student conference too. Seeing students excited, engaged, and reaching milestones, especially when we have supported them along the way, makes everything feel worth it. I also take pride in processing grants and honoraria that directly impact students and faculty. A lot of my work happens behind the scenes, but knowing it leads to real opportunities is incredibly rewarding. 

What’s something about your work that might surprise people? 

Higgins: People might be surprised by how much I touch across the institution. Between travel, budgets, purchasing, scheduling, grants, and honoraria, I get to see how a lot of different systems connect. Because of that, I am usually able to troubleshoot quickly and help guide things when questions come up. It is a role that requires flexibility and attention to detail, and I like being someone the team can rely on to keep things moving forward. 

Giordano: One of the things that people don’t realize about this work is that it really is, first of all, about everyone. And while we are the facilitators of this work, we are not the people who make the most impact all the time. There is work for everyone to do, and we can all contribute something valuable. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that diversity, equity, and inclusion is a very binary thing—that it’s just for one group or another. But there’s value and importance in everyone’s story. This is not just about the exoticized identity.  

Byron: Similar to our office not being for one person or one group of people, I think that a lot of times people underestimate the scope of the work we do as well. When you say “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” people automatically think about bias incidents and things like that. We do that work and we do a lot of education around bias and cultural awareness, but one aspect of diversity, equity, and inclusion that gets overlooked that our office is really leaned into is civil discourse and skill building: the conversations and—especially important for SUNY Empire—connection among people. We focus on building spaces for our community to intentionally connect with each other and supporting affinity groups that give people an opportunity to be in community, to learn from one another, to share resources, but also to just be humans with one another. 

Giordano: The affinity groups are spaces where employees come together either through allyship or affinity to share ideas and offer feedback not only to my office, but to the Office of Human Resources about ways that people who have this shared identity might feel better supported. That’s a big part of belonging. We currently have four groups, and we’re always open to offering more opportunities for people to fully engage. We’re always looking for ways to think about how we can bridge those communication gaps. One of the hardest parts of this work is that right now we’re living in an era where people are kind of pulled to poles—they’re really stuck in polarity. We’re in this information overload, but we’re never verifying, we’re not confirming, we’re not leaning in, we’re not being curious. I want to work with our community to figure out how we get curious. That’s really important. Any way that people want to contribute to that conversation about how we build that curiosity muscle, how we lean in, how we feel safe to do that—we’re always excited to hear about that.