Inclusive Excellence

Statement of Purpose

The Office of Inclusive Excellence fosters efforts to define, cultivate and support an inclusive educational community and workplace environment aligned with the St. Mary’s mission and its Catholic and Marianist identity. The office is committed to promoting community building and partnering to serve the common good. The work is guided by the St. Mary’s mission, the Characteristics of Marianist Universities and Catholic Social Teaching focused on the shared tenets of understanding, appreciation and respect for human dignity and cultural differences.

Inclusive Excellence Initiatives

• Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

  Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is observed annually in May to celebrate the contributions that generations of AANHPIs have made to American history, society, and culture.

  about AANHPI Heritage Month

  Jewish American Heritage Month

  Jewish American Heritage Month is observed annually in May to celebrate the range and depth of Jewish American heritage and contributions to American culture.

  about Jewish American Heritage Month

  Books

  All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
  America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo
  American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
  Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists by Chenxing Han
  But I Don’t See You As Asian by Ryan Kemp-Pappan
  China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston
  Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah
  Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
  Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
  Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
  Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
  Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh
  How Much of These Hills is Gold by Pam C. Zhang
  I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
  Klara and the Sun by Kazuro Ishiguro
  Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen
  Life of PI by Yann Martel
  Mahabharata by Vyasa
  Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
  Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
  Native Speaker by Chang – Rae Lee
  On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
  Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
  Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
  Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
  Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
  Shark Dialogues by Kian Davenport
  Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
  The Body Papers by Grace Talusan
  The Chinese in America by Iris Chang
  The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
  The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
  The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
  The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein
  The Leavers by Lisa Ko
  The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee
  The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi
  The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem
  The Myth of the Model Minority by Rosalind S. Chou and Joe R. Feagin
  The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
  This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura
  Two Faces of Exclusion by Lon Kurashige
  We Are Not Free by Traci Chee
  When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
  Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
  Yellow Peril by John Kuo Tchen and Dylan Yeats

  Movies

  A Separation – A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer’s disease.
  Already Tomorrow In Hong Kong – An attraction forms when a Chinese American girl visiting Hong Kong for the first time meets an American expat who shows her the way, but timing may not quite be on their side. A walk-and-talk romance set in the beautiful city of Hong Kong, the film asks the question – what happens when you meet the right person at the wrong time?
  American Pastime – Tells a story set in the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. This internment camp held Japanese Americans captive during World War II. The movie depicts life in this specific camp; it is based on true events. The movie was even shot not too far from the actual camp.
  Better Luck Tomorrow – Ben is a perfectionist and overachiever whose tunnel vision leads to nothing less than graduating at the top of his class. As he struggles to achieve social success, he discovers his darker side. He and his friends: Virgil, Daric and Han lead a double life of mischief and petty crimes to alleviate the pressures of perfection. As their adopted identity grows, the gang tumbles into a downward spiral of excitement, excess and fun.
  Catfish in Black Bean Sauce – A transracial family — here, Vietnamese children were placed into the care of African American guardians — is at the core of this little-known drama. Named after the Vietnamese delicacy, the movie has two Vietnamese American adults feeling torn by their two identities.
  Children of Invention – Two young children living informally in a model apartment outside Boston are left to fend for themselves when their hardworking mother disappears.
  China Girl – Racial relations are explored in this 1980s story of star-crossed lovers and organized crime. Teenage Tony is from Little Italy in Manhattan, and Tye is from Chinatown. Their respective families have ties to gang activity. Despite how they feel about each other, Tony and Tye cannot be together so easily. Their families are in direct conflict with each other, and prejudices keep these young lovers apart.
  Colombus – A Korean-born man finds himself stuck in Columbus, Indiana, where his architect father is in a coma. The man meets a young woman who wants to stay in Columbus with her mother, a recovering addict, instead of pursuing her own dreams.
  Come See The Paradise – The passionate romance between an Irish-American man and a Japanese-American woman is threatened when the Pearl Harbor attacks happen and the woman is forced into a prison camp because of her ethnicity
  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
  Die Perfekte Kandidatin – Haifaa Al Mansour, the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia, directed this film. Film about a young Saudi doctor’s bid for office in the local city elections was nominated for a Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion.
  Empty by Design – The sudden passing of Samantha’s parents forces her to pause her studies in London and return to Manila, while Eric, a stuntman who has lived most of his life in the United States, takes on a gig for a movie that happens to be set in his hometown. Brought back to their native country, they are faced with a difficult question: Where is home? No matter what they do, they can’t help but feel lonely and out of place in their own hometown.
  Enter the Dragon – Enter the Dragon revolves around 3 main characters; Lee, a man recruited by an agency to investigate a tournament hosted by Han, since they believe he has an Opium trade there. Roper and Williams are former army buddies since Vietnam and they enter the tournament due to different problems that they have. It’s a deadly tournament they will enter on an island. Lee’s job is to get the other 2 out of there alive
  Everything Everywhere All At Once –Illustrates the struggles of immigrant families, both financially and in terms of their personal relationships, through wild multiversal travel and fight scenes.
  Front Cover – Front Cover is about a gay New York City fashion stylist, Ryan, who detests and rejects his Asian upbringing. He is given an assignment to style Ning, a foreign actor, for an important photo shoot. After a rocky start, an unlikely friendship develops between them leading Ryan to examine his identity and make a major decision about an enticing new path for his life and career.
  Go Back to China – When spoiled rich girl Sasha Li blows through most of her trust fund, she is cut off by her father and forced to go back to China and work for the family toy business.
  Gook – An emotional story set around the “1992 Los Angeles riots.” Chon and his Korean-American character’s brother run their late father’s struggling shoe store in a predominantly African American area in Paramount.
  Hero – Ancient China and the Qin Empire is out to conquer the six kingdoms. This makes its king a target for assassination. However, one man has single-handedly ensured the safety of the king, by killing the three most notorious assassins in the land. Treated as a hero, he is summoned for an audience with the king.
  In Football We Trust – This feature length documentary intimately portrays four young Polynesian men striving to overcome gang violence and near poverty through American football. Viewed as the “salvation” for their families, these young players reveal the culture clash they experience as they transform out of their adolescence and into the high stakes world of collegiate recruiting and rigors of societal expectations.
  Journey From The Fall – Thirteen years after the end of the Vietnam War, a family who was tragically affected by the war are forced to emigrate to America.
  Joy Luck Club – Through a series of flashbacks, four young Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China, explore their past. This search will help them understand their difficult mother/daughter relationship.
  Life of PI – A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.
  Linsanity – The life story of basketball sensation, Jeremy Lin.
  Minari – A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.
  Minding the Gap – Bing Liu draws on more than a decade of footage to tell the story of three friends bonding over skateboarding as a way of confronting the challenges in their lives.
  Moana – In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the Demigod Maui reaches Moana’s island, she answers the Ocean’s call to seek out the Demigod to set things right.
  Ms. Purple – A young woman who works as a karaoke hostess in Koreatown reconnects with her estranged brother in the final days of their father’s life.
  Mulan – To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China’s greatest heroines in the process.
  No Crying at the Dinner Table – This refreshing tale of family reconnection through brutal honesty gives every viewer a new perspective and makes them rethink their relationship with self-care, mental health, and the meaning of family.
  Picture Bride – Riyo marries a man more than twice her age. She is devastated and labors in the sugar cane field. At the end she is able to love her husband.
  Pilgrimage – Two young Japanese Americans set out to find an obscure place called Manzanar in the California desert, in 1969. This was one of ten sites where over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated during World War II.  
  Saving Face – Traditional values and modern thinking butt heads in this romantic comedy. Chinese American Wilhelmina is a successful surgeon living in New York. She is a lesbian and remains in the closet as she believes her family, namely her mother, would not approve.
  Seoul Searching – In 1986, a group of foreign-born Korean teenagers attend a summer camp in South Korea.
  Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – The first Asian-American Marvel hero to enter the cinematic universe, Shang-Chi is a gifted martial artist and son of Xu Wenwu, the owner of the all-powerful 10 rings. The movie follows Shang-Chi, known as Shaun by his American friends, as he’s forced to confront his tumultuous past while protecting those he loves.  
  Son of Babylon – Filmmaker Mohamed Al Daradji narrates the narrative of 12-year-old Ahmed, who joins his grandmother on a journey across Iraq in search of the whereabouts of Ahmed’s father, who was killed in the Iraq War in 1991 and has never been found by his family.
  Spirited Away – During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
  Take Out – An undocumented Chinese immigrant falls behind on payments on an enormous smuggling debt. Ming Ding has only until the end of the day to come up with the money.
  The Beautiful Country – After reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
  The Big Sick – Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family’s expectations, and his true feelings.
  The Circle – Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.
  The Farewell  – A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.
  The Namesake – Based on the novel of the same name by Jhumpa Lahiri, “The Namesake” follows the struggles of East Indian immigrants Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, and their two children. Nikhil “Gogol” Ganguli (Kal Penn) is a young man caught between two cultures, often finding himself in disagreement with his parents’ traditions. 
  The Search For General Tso – Who was General Tso, and why are we eating his chicken? This feature documentary explores the origins and ubiquity of Chinese-American food through the story of an iconic sweet and spicy chicken dish.
  The Song of Sparrows – When an ostrich-rancher focuses on replacing his daughter’s hearing aid, which breaks right before crucial exams, everything changes for a struggling rural family in Iran. Karim motorbikes into a world alien to him – incredibly hectic Tehran, where sudden opportunities for independence thrill and challenge him. But his honor and honesty, plus traditional authority over his inventive clan, are tested, as he stumbles among vast cultural and economic gaps between his village nestled in the desert, and a throbbing international metropolis.
  The Tiger Hunter – An Indian immigrant who moves to Chicago in the 1970s to pursue a better life. His father was highly regarded for killing a vicious tiger that menaced the village. To live up to his father’s legacy, Sami hopes to become a successful engineer in the U.S.
  Tigertail – In this multi-generational drama, a Taiwanese factory worker leaves his homeland to seek opportunity in America, where he struggles to find connection while balancing family and newfound responsibilities.
  To Be Takei – A look at the many roles played by eclectic actor/activist George Takei, whose wit, humor and grace have helped him to become an internationally beloved figure and Internet phenomenon with 7-million Facebook fans and counting.
  Turning Red – The movie follows Mei Lee, a Chinese Canadian teenager who must balance pleasing her micromanaging mother (that she loves) with having fun with her friends. Also, she has a habit of turning into a giant red panda when she’s emotional.   
  Turtles Can Fly – Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.
  Twinsters – Adopted from South Korea, raised on different continents & connected through social media, Samantha & Anaïs believe that they are twin sisters separated at birth.
  Wadjda – A film directed by Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker, Haifaa All Mansour. Wadjda, a 10-year-old girl who lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, is the protagonist of the film, which is subtitled in English. “Wadjda is a fun-loving entrepreneur who always tests the limits of what she can get away with, even though she lives in a conservative world.”
  Yellow Rose – The tumultuous story of a Filipina undocumented immigrant in Texas who dreams of being a country music star. Eva Noblezada plays Rose, who yearns to leave her small town to pursue a career in country music but is held back by love for her family.   

  Podcasts

  AAWW Radio: New Asian American Literature
  Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast
  Asian Americana (Potluck Podcast Collective)
  Asian Enough (L.A. Times)
  At the Moment: Asian American News (AZI Media)
  Authentic
  Feeling Asian
  Immigrantly
  King of the World
  Legends from the Pacific
  Let’s Have This Conversation
  Long Distance
  Model Minority: Uniquely American
  Modern Minorities
  Pod Save the People
  Saturday School (Potluck Podcast Collective)
  Self-Evident: Asian America’s Stories
  Shoes Off
  Southern Fried Asian (Hard NOC Media)
  The Color of Success
  They Call Us Bruce (Potluck Podcast Collective)
  Yang Speaks

  Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Resources

  Books

  A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious by Roya Hakakian
  A Living Lens: Photographs of Jewish Life from the Pages of The Forward by Alana Newhouse
  Ambivalent Embrace: Jewish Upward Mobility in Postwar America by Rachel Kranson
  American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York by Nomi M. Stolzenberg, David N. Myers
  America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today by Pam Nadell
  An American Type by Henry Roth; Willing Davidson, ed.
  Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska
  By the Waters of Manhattan by Charles Reznikoff; Phillip Lopate, intro.
  City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York by Tyler Anbinder
  Coming to Terms with America: Essays on Jewish History, Religion, and Culture by Jonathan D. Sarna
  Displaced Persons by Ghita Schwarz
  From the Ghetto to the Melting Pot: Israel Zangwill’s Jewish Plays by Edna Nahshon, ed.
  How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish by Ilan Stavans, Josh Lambert
  In the Shadow of Race: Jews, Latinos, and Immigrant Politics in the United States by Victoria Hattam
  Jewish Comedy: A Serious History by Jeremy Dauber (Finalist for the 2018 Natan Book Award)
  Journeys: An American Story by Andrew Tisch & Mary Skafidas
  Little Failure: A Memoir by Gary Shteyngart
  Miriam’s Kitchen by Elizabeth Ehrlich
  Modern Girls by Jennifer S. Brown
  Natasha: And Other Stories by David Bezmozgis
  Nuestra América: My Family in the Vertigo of Translation by Claudio Lomnitz
  Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multi-Racial Jewish Family by Laura Arnold Leibman
  One Foot in America by Yuri Suhl
  One More Year by Sana Krasikov
  People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn
  Raising Secular Jews: Yiddish Schools and Their Periodicals for American Children, 1917-1950 by Naomi Prawer Kadar
  Stations West by Allison Amend
  The Boston Girl: A Novel by Anita Diamant
  The Chosen Wars: How Judaism Became an American Religion by Steven R. Weisman
  The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen
  The Free World by David Bezmozgis
  The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel by Helene Wecker
  The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots that Shook New York City by Scott D. Seligman
  The Jews of Harlem by Jeffrey S. Gurock
  The Last Chicken in America by Ellen Litman
  The Little Bride by Anna Solomon
  They Left It All Behind: Trauma, Loss, and Memory Among Eastern European Jewish Immigrants and Their Children by Hannah Hahn
  Unspeakable Things by Kathleen Spivack
  Unterzakhn by Leela Corman
  Up From Orchard Street by Eleanor Widmer

  Videos

  When Rabbis Bless Congress: The Great American Story of Jewish Prayers on Capitol Hill
  America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today
  Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR
  The Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court, from Brandeis to Kagan – Their Lives and Legacies
  The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics
  Lincoln and the Jews: A History  
  We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, a Documentary History
  When General Grant Expelled the Jews
  Shared Legacies: Honoring the Black-Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
  Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis and Social Justice

  Movies & Shows

  A Serious Man – This black-comedy from the Coen Brothers follows Larry Gopnik, a physics professor in 1967 Minnesota whose life seems to be falling apart. His wife wants a get (divorce), and he may lose his job. But even though the film deals with some dark subjects, it’s extremely entertaining, and at times, hilarious.
  An American Tail – Fievel Mousekewitz, an animated Jewish mouse, immigrates with his sister and parents from Ukraine to the United States, where there are no cats. But Fievel gets separated from his family along the way, and the film follows his quest to find them.
  Angels in America – Adapted from Tony Kushner’s award-winning play about social, sexual, and religious issues facing 1980s America as the AIDS crisis gains momentum.
  Broad City – Based on the real-life friendship of creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, this comedy follows two broke, Jewish millennials and their ridiculous, often-obscene adventures and schemes while attempting to “make it” in New York City.
  Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – After a chance meeting with a former fling, lawyer Rebecca Bunch (played by Rachel Bloom) leaves behind her luxurious Manhattan lifestyle and relocates to a California suburb… where aforementioned former fling lives. Bloom, the show’s co-creator, won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her portrayal of the singing, dancing lead.
  Crossing Delancey – This romantic comedy set mostly in New York’s Lower East Side centers on Isabelle Grossman, whose bubbe (grandmother) hires a marriage broker to set her up. What comes next forces Isabelle to think about what she wants in a partner, but it involves funny Jewish humor and people who make pickles.
  Difficult People – Yet another comedy about struggling millennial New Yorkers, Difficult People stars Julie Klausner (also the show’s creator) and Billy Eichner as broke comedians making questionable life choices.
  Fauda – In this Israeli action drama, IDF agent Doron Kavillio (played by Lior Raz) comes out of retirement, leaving his quiet new farm to hunt down the terrorist he thought he’d killed. When his cover is blown, a series of chaotic events unfold.
  Funny Girl – This musical dramedy is loosely based on the life of vaudeville, Broadway, and film star Fanny Brice, and it won Barbra Streisand a well-deserved Oscar. Streisand’s portrayal of Brice as an unapologetic Jewish woman carries the film, and it depicts Jewish women in a way that they hadn’t been portrayed before – as confident, witty, and talented.
  Gentleman’s Agreement – The Best Picture winner of 1948 tells the story of a journalist who poses as a Jew in New York City while researching an article on anti-Semitism. Even though it was widely acclaimed, Jewish film producers were wary of making the film, fearing it would “stir up trouble.” What they ended up creating was a movie that tells the story of bigotry unlike any movie of its time, and one that holds up today as a portrait of what it means to be blinded by privilege and to suffer under oppression.
  Grace And Frankie – Modern-day acting icons Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin star as the titular Grace and Frankie, polar opposites who have never much liked one another. When their husbands announce their love for one another, the two women begin to forge an unlikely friendship.
  Hester Street – Jewish immigrants move to the Lower East Side of New York City from Eastern Europe in 1896. Much of the film is spoken in Yiddish with English subtitles, and it shows what is possibly the most detailed representation of early American Jewish life that exists on film. The challenges of assimilation, and of sticking to tradition in modern society, are displayed with accuracy and empathy.
  Keeping the Faith – Best friends since they were kids, Rabbi Jacob Schram (Ben Stiller) and Father Brian Finn (Edward Norton) are dynamic and popular young men living and working on New York’s Upper West Side. When Anna Reilly (Jenna Elfman), once their childhood friend and now grown into a beautiful corporate executive, suddenly returns to the city, she reenters Jake and Brian’s lives and hearts with a vengeance. Sparks fly and an unusual and complicated love triangle ensues.
  Keeping Up with The Steins – Everybody knows the b’nai mitzvah service is more important than the party, but that doesn’t stop many families from planning extravagant celebrations. Keeping Up with the Steins depicts Joanne and Adam Fiedler as they attempt to plan a bar mitzvah party for their son that is better than the Stein’s party, which took place on a cruise ship and had a Titanic theme.
  Liberty Heights – This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows the Kurtzmans, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenager Ben (Ben Foster) completes high school, he falls for Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson), a Black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben’s brother, Van (Adrien Brody), becomes smitten with a mysterious woman.
  Mad Men – Set in 1960s New York, this multiple-award-winning show follows the now-iconic Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), a high-powered advertising executive and family man, through his personal and professional life. The seven-season series ran from 2007 to 2015.
  Schitt’s Creek – When the extravagantly wealthy Rose family goes suddenly broke (thanks to a little visit from the IRS), the couple and their two spoiled, adult children move into a rundown hotel in a small town they once purchased as a joke.
  Shiva Baby – While at a Jewish funeral service with her parents, a college student has an awkward encounter with her sugar daddy and her ex-girlfriend.
  Shtisel – This two-season series follows family patriarch Shulem Shtisel (played by Dov Glickman), the rabbi of a yeshiva in a strict, Haredi neighborhood in Israel. Not yet sold? Rabbi Sharon Forman explains “Why Shtisel Should be Your Next Binge-Watch.”
  The Baker and The Beauty – This romantic comedy series centers on the relationship between an international supermodel of Ashkenazi descent and a Yemenite Sephardic baker is also. As writer Bonnie Azoulay points out in Alma, it’s also a surprising testament to the reality of Jewish diversity.
  The Chosen – Based on the 1967 Chaim Potok novel of the same name, The Chosen depicts the friendship between Reuven, the son of a Modern Orthodox college professor, and Danny, the son of a Hasidic rebbe. Set in Brooklyn in the 1940s, the film follows their friendship as they question their faith and family, and as they each find their purpose.
  The Goldbergs – With every episode set in the year of “1980-something,” this show is based loosely on the real-life experiences of show creator Adam F. Goldberg’s childhood and his colorful family – complete with ’80s pop culture references, an overly attached Jewish mom, and hijinks galore.
  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – Jewish TV showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) is behind this screwball comedy about a 1950s Manhattan housewife-turned-comedian. Maisel charms viewers with blunt, quick-witted humor, late-50s pop culture and comedy, and countless Jewish references, from brisket to Yom Kippur break-fast to Tishah B’Av in the Catskills.
  The Meyerowitz Stories – An estranged family gathers in New York City to celebrate the artistic work of their father, Harold (Dustin Hoffman).
  The Spy – This Netflix miniseries follows the true-life exploits of Mossad secret agent Eli Cohen (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) in the years before the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Syria.
  Uncut Gems – Charismatic jeweler Howie (Adam Sandler) makes a high-stakes bet that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. In a precarious high-wire act, he must balance business, family, and adversaries on all sides in pursuit of the ultimate win.
  When Do We Eat? – What happens when a Passover seder leader accidentally ingests psychedelics? At this family’s first seder in three years, that’s what happens. This hilarious comedy features a cast of future stars, and it makes your dysfunctional Passover seder look like a trip to the spa.

  Podcasts

  18Forty Podcast
  Behind the Bima
  BigShot
  Can We Talk?
  Chutzpod!
  College Commons
  For Heaven’s Sake
  Funny, They Don’t Look Jewish!
  Identity/Crisis
  Into the Verse – A Parsha Podcast
  Jew Oughta Know
  Jewish History Soundbites
  Jewish History with Rabbi Dr. Dovid Katz
  Judaism Unbound
  Meaningful People
  On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah
  People of the Pod
  Rise & Shine with Adrienne Gold Davis
  Stories We Tell
  Streetwise Hebrew
  The Forgotten Exodus
  The Jewish Lives Podcast
  Two Nice Jewish Boys Podcast
  Unorthodox
  Wholly Jewish

  Jewish American Heritage Month Resources

• Helping Individuals Enhance Intercultural Competence

  The world we live in is comprised of people from many cultures. Any given day we may interact with individuals from our own culture and/or different cultures. We rely on our personal knowledge, skills and attitudes to think, act and communicate effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. Intercultural Competence is one’s ability to make sense of and respond to cultural differences.

  At St. Mary’s, we recognize the importance of intercultural competence as a key to inclusive excellence. To help each individual on their personal journey, we offer the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessment tool and developmental plan to students, faculty and staff.  IDI aligns closely with our mission to create leaders for the common good.

  IDI assesses intercultural competence –the capability to shift cultural perspective and appropriately adapt behavior to cultural differences and commonalities. After taking the assessment, IDI generates profiles on an individual’s intercultural competence paired with an Individual Development Plan (IDP) –a detailed blueprint for the individual to further develop their cultural competence.

  For more information, email inclusion@stmarytx.edu.

• Employee Affinity Groups

  St. Mary’s University values diversity and recognizes the importance of all individuals feeling connected to our community, regardless of their personal identities. As we continue to foster an inclusive campus work environment, the Office of Inclusive Excellence is pleased to sponsor affinity groups for employees and has established guidelines for employees seeking to form an Employee Affinity Group (EAG).

  These voluntary, identity-based groups may be formed around demographic characteristics (such as, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or ability) as a way to bring together employees with a shared purpose. In addition to networking with individuals from similar and often marginalized communities, EAGs empower members to contribute to the education of our campus community, give back to the local community and be an active voice for change.

  Learn more on Gateway

• Hear the Name, Say it Right with NameCoach

  At St. Mary’s, we value each individual and believe correct name pronunciation is a sign of respect. To continue fostering inclusion, in the classroom and beyond, we are providing faculty, staff and students access to the NameCoach platform which will allow each person to record the correct pronunciation of their name. 

  Ideas for using NameCoach

  Before a meeting, listen to name recordings if you are unsure of pronunciations
  Ask students you work with to record their name and to use the recordings to learn their peers’ names
  Share the Nivedhan video and have a discussion
  Talk within your work team to discuss ways you might use Name Coach
  Share the story of your name as an icebreaker and way to get to know each other 
  Remind students of the NameCoach recordings as a resource before and during group work
  Get started

• Language Resource Directory

  The purpose of the Language Resource Directory is to provide contact information for faculty and staff who need assistance communicating with campus visitors during regular business hours. We requested assistance from faculty and staff who speak multiple languages and are willing to be listed in an online directory,  and as a result, we have contacts for 11 languages: Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Kannada, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Tamil.

  Access the directory

  The directory is available for students, faculty and staff of the University.

• Resources

  Students, faculty and staff can find comprehensive lists of organizations for diverse populations and resources to learn about systemic injustices and other cultures.

  Explore resources

  The resources are available for students, faculty and staff of the University.

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the San Antonio River as Yanaguana, (Spirit Waters in Pajalate) as the source of life for this city and commit to protecting her, all her tributaries and connected waters and this land called Texas as Somi Sek to the Esto’k Gna people who are called Carrizo-Comecrudo by the Spanish, today and for future generations.

We acknowledge this place known as San Antonio as the traditional homeland of many Native American peoples who are called Coahuiltecan by Spanish records. 200 tribes/bands/clans were documented in historical records and include the Payaya, Auteca Paguame, Jarame, Pompopa and Borrado, as well as other aboriginal peoples such as the Carrizo-Comecrudo who continue to carry their traditional lifeways.

We acknowledge these Indigenous various communities as the traditional people of this land now called San Antonio, Texas.

We acknowledge this homeland that would later include Comanches and Lipan Apaches in the 1700s, as a place that is now home to nearly 30,000 Urban Indians spanning from tribes across the North, Central and South America who continue to sustain their traditional languages and customs.

• Advisory Board

  Cody B. Cox, Ph.D.
  Associate Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior
  Greehey School of Business
  ccox9@stmarytx.edu

  Léo Benavides
  Counselor
  Office of Student Financial Assistance
  rbenavides1@stmarytx.edu

  Mike Martinez Jr., J.D., M.S.I.S.
  Director Sarita Kenedy East Law Library and Professor
  St. Mary’s University School of Law
  mmartinez17@stmarytx.edu

  Verónica Contreras-Shannon, Ph.D.
  Professor and Program Director – URISE
  Department of Biological Sciences
  vcontrerasshann2@stmarytx.edu

  Wendy D. Martinez
  Assistant Dean
  Office of Residence Life
  wmartinez@stmarytx.edu

  Jenee Margo Gonzales, J.D.
  Chief Development and Communications Officer
  Community In Schools of San Antonio
  jgonzales@cissa.org

  Janet Guadarrama
  Executive Director of Human Resources, Title IX Coordinator
  Office of Human Resources
  jguadarrama2@stmarytx.edu

  Paul X. Uhlig, Ph.D.
  Professor and Chair of Mathematics, Marianist Educational Associate
  puhlig@stmarytx.edu

  Andre Hampton, J.D.
  Professor of Law
  St. Mary’s University School of Law
  ahampton@stmarytx.edu

  Marlon Furlongue
  Associate Athletics Director, Compliance and Internal Operations
  Athletics
  mfurlongue@stmarytx.edu