MAPP Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Mission Statement:
MAPP’s Diversity & Inclusion committee works to uphold diversity and inclusion as core values of the school. We celebrate the rich identities and multiple perspectives within our community. We support and amplify the research, creative practice, and service work of faculty, students, and staff. We work to ensure that the school’s policies and practices embody these values and affirm them as a shared responsibility.
Read about the MAPP’s commitment to anti-racism in our Action Plan and Racial Justice Resources.
Contact the MAPP Diversity & Inclusion Committee by emailing mapp-diversity@umd.edu, or using the form at the bottom of this page.
Starting in AY2020-21, the D&I committee is supporting MAPP faculty, students, and staff in implementing the School's Anti-Racism Action Plan. The Plan reflects an effort to gather information from BIPOC colleagues and students at MAPP, UMD and at other universities across the country during the summer 2020. It also incorporates concerns from the newly-formed Design Justice-UMD student group.
School leadership understands that to make the meaningful progress we have to transform what we do across all aspects of MAPP. To this end, the proposed action steps are organized in separate tabs by categories of our work—curriculum and public programming, faculty, staff, students, etc.
This action plan is a living document. We will be regularly updating this document, clarifying roles and responsibilities, putting tighter timeframes and benchmarks on the action steps, and tracking progress (at least) monthly. As part of our commitment) as you will see in "community-building"), we will regularly report out on progress through public gatherings, public-facing materials and on our website.
Your participation is critical. We will have multiple ways for you to provide feedback and engage throughout the semester and welcome additional suggestions on how this should happen.
- Fill out this feedback form
- Email the Diversity & Inclusion Committee: mapp-diversity@umd.edu or use the contact form below
- Email Dean Dawn Jourdan: djourdan@umd.edu or Clara Irazábal: irazabal@umd.edu
For resources and reading on anti-racism and anti-racism in the built environment, visit our MAPP Racial Justice Resources.
the School's anti-racism action plan was created under the leadership of donald linebaugh and ariel bierbaum.
MAPP Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Committee
After leading and completing the D&I Strategic plan in 2014/15, the D&I Task force was reborn in 2015/16 as MAPP’s D&I Committee. Committee members are appointed by the Dean and Directors. As outlined in the strategic plan, the committee is composed of one graduate student and one undergraduate student, two staff members, and two faculty members. Additional members are invited to join on an ad hoc basis. This representative body is charged with leading MAPP on all D&I efforts; working proactively to advance the strategic plan; and protecting and building a respectful, diverse, and inclusive community. The committee is chaired by the School’s Diversity and Inclusion Officer who is appointed by the Dean.
The committee members are:
- Clara Irazábal, Chair and MAPP Diversity and Inclusion Officer
- Ingrid Farrell, MAPP Equity Administrator
- Jelena Dakovic, MAPP School
- Melissa Tellez, Urban Studies & Planning
- Julie Gabrielli, Architecture
- Maria Day-Marshall, Real Estate Development
- John Sprinkle, Historic Preservation
- Hiro Iseki, PhD in Urban and Regional Planning and Design
- Bi'Anncha T Andrews, PhD in Urban and Regional Planning and Design Student Representative
- Isabel Anderson, Architecture, Undergraduate Student Representative
- Elizabeth Mekonnen, Historic Preservation Graduate Assistant
- Hoang Edullantes, Urban Studies & Planning Graduate Assistant
- R. Maisha Islam, Dual Degree (ARCP) Student Representative
Diversity & Inclusion Activities
The D&I Committee promotes and co-sponsors community conversations and gatherings, public events, trainings, and workshops that embody the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion at MAPP.
We the People? Reframing Social + Spatial Justice in 2020 | September 30, 2020
In the first year of a new decade, 2020 forced many Americans to restrict how we socialize and gather, to stand in solidarity against racial injustice, and to imagine change for the future. The global pandemic, Black Lives Matter Movement, and the Presidential Election reveal a pivotal time for our society and culture here in the United States, asking the question: Who are We the People? This speaker series hopes to explore how this year’s events will reframe social and spatial justice ideologies and practice for architects, urban planners, preservationists, real estate developers, and academics.
Hot Take Conversation with NOMAS and Professor Treva Ellison | September 16, 2020
As part of the Under Construction Architecture Lecture Series.
Treva Ellison is an inter-disciplinary scholar and artist and whose research is at the intersections of trans and queer historiography, Black geographies, and history and theories of state power. Treva’s writing appears in places such as Transgender Studies Quarterly, The Black Scholar, Radical History Review, and Scholar and Feminist Online. Treva's artwork has been exhibited at the William Grants Still Art Center in Los Angeles, California, Recess Access Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, and NYU's Hemispheric Institute.
Community-Building Lunch | March 28, 2019
For the third consecutive year, the D&I committee continued the tradition of celebrating our community. We changed the name of the event from International lunch to MAPP Community Lunch in an attempt to embrace the broader principles of diversity and inclusion here at MAPP. This year's event featured remarks from Dean Linebaugh and all of our program directors, as a way to honor the commitment our committee made to the School community to advance concerns related to diversity and inclusion to decision makers. We featured Chinese, Caribbean, Venezuelan and American cuisine.
International Lunch | May 2, 2018
The D&I Committee lead a gathering of faculty, staff and students in celebrating a year of accomplishments. The MAPP community shared food, music and stories that affirmed our strengths in our diversity. Our International Lunch marked the culmination of the School’s 50th anniversary year. We celebrated the announcement of our first female Architecture full professor in the School’s 50 year history. We bade farewell to the School’s first female Dean. The committee also unveiled the MAPP Values Statement that will be placed that moving forward 50 years from now will still be a reflection of who we are as a community.
Moment of Reflection for MAPP Community | August 30, 2017
MAPP’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee leads a gathering of the School's community (joining with the entire University community, Bowie State as well as at several other USM campuses) in the Great Space of the Architecture Building on August 30, 2017. The Dean, Program Directors, Faculty, Staff and Students of the School suspend talking, teaching and electronics for one minute at 12:05 for a Moment of Reflection to honor the life of Second Lt. Richard Collins III. The leadership of the School address the community and reaffirm our values.
International Lunch | April 28, 2017
MAPP’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee culminated its thought-provoking “Table Talks” series with our first International Lunch. Faculty, staff and students celebrated the richness of our global community by sharing conversation and food designed to connect our diverse backgrounds. After several lunchtime discussions throughout the academic year, this final “Table Talk” featured a custom-made interactive table that physically incorporated issues and ideas that resulted from the previous talks. Fifteen different phrases, representing 22 different countries, were included on the table.
Table Talks | February 13 and February 16, 2017
In these conversations designed to celebrate the richness of MAPP’s global community, our students, faculty and staff gathered together to identify phrases that sparked conversation and dialogue, affirming and strengthening our diverse community. Once translated into all languages spoken in our school, the phrases were incorporated into a communal table that was unveiled at an International Lunch.
Fall Lecture: "Feel the Force" by Frances Bronet and Alito Alessi | October 17, 2016
Alito Alessi (DanceAbility International) and Frances Bronet (Illinois Institute of Technology) discussed how physical and architectural bodies impact each other in their “Don’t Leave Me” mixed-abilities dance/architecture performance piece. The installation is only stable if the dancers manage their movement and shift their weight; the project depends on the collective musculature of the bodies and resulting architectural interaction.
MAPP & Campus Resources
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MAPP Actions for Anti-Racism
The action steps reflect an effort to gather information from BIPOC colleagues and students at MAPP, UMD, and at other universities across the country. The proposed action steps are organized in separate tabs by categories of our work-- curriculum and public programming, faculty, staff, students, etc. This is a living document and is updated regularly. Please share your comments, concerns, and/or suggestions through this form. -
MAPP Racial Justice Resources
UMD's School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation has created a resource list of news articles, how-to guides, podcasts, videos, action steps and more on topics related to anti-racism in general and how race and racism intersect with the built environment. This is a living document and is updated regularly: please check back often! -
Office of Diversity and Inclusion
The Office of Diversity & Inclusion provides expertise and leadership at the University of Maryland to enrich the experiences of individuals, to build stronger communities, and to create a more just and compassionate world. -
University Strategic Plan
The plan is comprehensive, bold, and action oriented. It sets forth a vision of the university as an institution unmatched in its capacity to attract talent, address the most important issues of our time, and produce the leaders of tomorrow. -
Center for Leadership & Organizational Change (CLOC)
Using our strengths in organizational development and tools from Gallup, CLOC helps nurture a culture of engagement and inclusion where faculty and staff work with passion, feel a profound connection to their workplace, and are empowered to succeed. -
Thriving Workplace Initiative
This initiative, sponsored by the Office of the President, is dedicated to making the University of Maryland “the best place to work.” The Thriving Workplace Initiative is viewed as a strategic investment in the university’s staff and faculty to ensure that their voices are heard and that they feel valued for their important work.
TerrapinSTRONG
TerrapinSTRONG
- Required campus-wide onboarding program to acclimate incoming students, faculty and staff to our Maryland traditions, values, mission and culture.
- The goal is to create an inclusive environment for all where everyone feels that they belong and can reach their full potential.
Course links: