I have long been committed to supporting and advancing principles of equity and inclusion in both my personal and professional life by centering and amplifying the voices of minoritized individuals who often get excluded from the hegemonic discourse.

During my undergraduate studies, I was one of the founding members of the Feminist and Queer Equality Alliance, a student-run organization at my alma mater, Jacobs University. As part of the leadership team, I was actively involved in the projects and programs it organized, such as the annual Gender Awareness Week, which included a variety of events that explored issues pertaining to gender, and sexuality, as well as their intersection with race, mental health, and disability. My participation in these projects allowed me to listen to my peers, learn from and about them, and challenged me to critically self-reflect on my perspectives and beliefs. From then on, I continued to push myself to engage in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work.

I am currently a Fellow of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Graduate Student Advisory Committee at Rutgers University, working on Professional Development initiatives for graduate students, particularly those who come from minoritized backgrounds, who are first-generation or international students. I believe that my interest in these initiatives derives from my own identity and struggles as an international student and immigrant over the past decade. Originally from Romania, I have lived in both Germany and the United States. Unfortunately, in both countries, I had to navigate different cultures and academic systems without mentorship, which has informed and shaped my desire to guide students as they begin and advance in their learning journey. Therefore, my future plans include mentoring students. I strongly believe that providing mentorship and support to students entails, first and foremost, deep introspection within ourselves and the structures of inclusion and exclusion prevalent in higher education. Thus, in challenging the notion that there is a “normative” student who thrives in academia, I am committed to being an ally to students by challenging exclusionary narratives and practices in higher education and contributing to an academic environment where diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are not only legitimized but celebrated.

In advocating for the principles of diversity and inclusion, I hope to further engage in community-strengthening work outside the classroom. During my PhD program, I was involved in RU Bilingual, a student-run organization that engages in community outreach and aims to inform and provide strategies and resources regarding bilingualism and bilingual development to parents, educators, and the wide community. Through RU Bilingual, I developed and gave talks about the benefits of bilingualism, debunking deficit-based views of bilingual development. Furthermore, I was one of the contributors of an RU Bilingual podcast episode on language attitudes during which I discussed some of the negative ways in which multilingualism can be perceived.

This type of work is deeply connected to my academic and professional interests. During my time at Rutgers, I was part of the Language Engagement Project. In my role as Research Assistant, I collaborated on developing proposals for a Certificate and a Minor in Language and Social Justice to be implemented at Rutgers; the Certificate proposal has since been approved. As part of this work, I created curricula rooted in social justice and oriented toward community engagement and designed syllabi related to topics such as language and power, language and race, and the language rights of minoritized individuals. Moreover, in my dissertation, I examine the ways in which listeners use language cues, such as a multilingual individual’s accent, to make assumptions about their race and/or ethnicity and, consequently, stereotype them as ‘(in)articulate’ and ‘(un)professional’. Specifically, I investigate how this type of language stereotyping impacts employment opportunities. My research aims to emphasize that, while overt discrimination based on a person’s race, gender identity and expression, etc. is generally disapproved, language attitudes oftentimes serve as a proxy for looking into covert discrimination.

As I continue my career in higher education, I aim to expand my work around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging by creating pathways that ensure the retention and success of diverse students. To achieve this, I will offer my support and mentorship, and engage with flexibility and understanding.

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