Committee on Equity, Inclusion, & Diversity (CEID)

The Big Bend Committee on Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (CEID) is composed of representatives from stakeholder groups across the college.  The team exists to promote equity and inclusion through education, leadership, collaboration, and advocating social justice.  Within the areas they represent and  the college community, members of the Committee on Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity will fulfill the following roles:

The CEID takes a lead role and serves as an advisory group to BBCC senior leadership to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice for the BBCC campus community. The CEID works collaboratively with BBCC leadership and stakeholders including, but not limited to, in the following capacities:

• Serve as a resource for the BBCC community on matters relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion;
• Encourage and support programs, pedagogy, and activities to develop a campus climate of diversity, equity, and inclusion;
• Identify barriers and support the development of policies and practices to attract, recruit, retain, advance, and promote a diverse student body and college workforce;
• Recommend strategies to encourage interaction among the college’s diverse populations;
• Recommend how to enrich the educational experience to prepare members of BBCC to live and work in diverse workplaces and communities.

Big Bend Community College believes that every person’s background, which includes identifiers such as ethnicity, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and ability, helps enrich our campus community when an environment is conducive to the expression of that identity. We commit to providing a campus climate where equity, inclusion, and diversity thrives and leads to individuals pursuing their educational, personal, and professional goals.

These definitions reflect Big Bend’s understanding that in order to intentionally apply our commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity, we must challenge social, political, and cultural norms and policies that perpetuate inequality and exclusion or underrepresented groups.

• Equity: full and fair access to resources, opportunities, and services.
• Inclusion: the creation and maintenance of an accepting environment where all have equitable opportunities and support.
• Diversity: individual, group, and social differences in cultures, exceptions, backgrounds, opinions, and values, all of which enrich our shared community.

• Yolanda Ibarra (Co-Chair and Director of Workforce Education Services)
• Dr. Barbara Ann Bush (Co-Chair and Communications Studies faculty)
• Salah Abed (Faculty)
• Anne Ghinazzi (STEM Advising Specialist)
• Octaviano Gutierrez (Faculty)
• André Guzman (Dean of Student Services)
• Beth Laszlo (Director of Center for Business and Industry Services)
• Tammy Napiontek (Director of Title V Grants)
• Allison Palumbo (Faculty)
• MariAnne Zavala-Lopez (Faculty)

CEID board presentation