Part III: The Other Side of the Mahogany Table • Dr. Martina Ramirez

(Professor of Biology and Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, Loyola Marymount University || CA USA)

(3/3) “I didn’t want to see myself become a statistic or a casualty like my dad. I’m very resilient. I worked hard and prayed a lot. I knew if I became ‘something’ — getting a degree or a job — I was going to use that to agitate for justice. Putting fertilizer in the direction of people who never got any. I want those people to be my legacy.

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I’ve worked at five different schools over 28 years. I’ve seen all manner of leadership styles or lack thereof. I’ve seen all manner of faculty development initiatives or lack thereof. I’ve seen all manner of favoritism towards certain groups or lack thereof. If you’re in any of these marginalized groups, it can feel sometimes like you’re laying siege to a castle to get progress done. So these issues of how diversity work happens are a big concern for me. It really helps to have leaders on the other side for whom this stuff isn’t just theory. I’ve been in the job market for higher level leader positions in colleges and universities — deans, provosts — that’s what I’m looking for. I’ve tried to do my best from one side of the big corner office table, but in these roles I’d have a chance to be sitting on the nice side of that mahogany table. I’m going to bring a perspective into that space that’s rather different. In the same way we scholars are into trying to be the best in our fields and gather the latest findings and be on top of everything, we should bring that same approach to diversity work. Opening up the academy needs that. You can’t just sit in your room and think about what to do; there are examples everywhere, case studies, models of excellence in all these different realms — look at them! You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. But it takes people willing to make it a priority. That’s my approach.”