Building On Our Momentum (BOOM) is an annual Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) learning symposium featuring a series of events that incorporate the voices and experiences of students, faculty, staff and alums.
Over the last eight years, BOOM sessions have explored topics from cultivating anti-racist pedagogy and praxes and challenging gender-based oppression to examining histories, legacies and stories of inclusion and creating supportive strategies for countering bias. Building upon this work, BOOM Day 2024 — April 9 — will feature a mix of in-person and virtual healing and reflection spaces as well as asynchronous programming. Classes are canceled on April 9. BOOM plenary sessions will be held between April 4th and 15th.
BOOM sessions are designed with care to meet the campus community where we are in our learning capacities to engage in topics on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Learn more and explore the schedule below.
As part of your BOOM journey, check out the BOOM LibGuide. LITS has curated a range of resources to help our community deepen our engagement with each session. Pieces include works created by this year’s speakers and facilitators.
E-mail the DEI team with any questions at diversity@mtholyoke.edu.
Thu, Apr 4, 2024 7pm to 8:30pm
This is a past event.
Join us for an evening of real-life stories from Frances Perkins Scholars (FPs) and the non-traditional journeys that brought us through the gates of Mount Holyoke College. Our backgrounds are...
Mon, Apr 8, 2024 6pm to 7pm
This is a past event.
President Holley’s Class: POLIT-351, The Supreme Court and Civil Rights – Zoom BOOM! As part of BOOM, President and Professor of Politics Danielle Holley is offering all students, faculty, staff...
Virtual Event
free
Thu, Apr 11, 2024 11:45am to 1:15pm
This is a past event.
Michelle "Mikki" Hebl, Ph.D. Rice University, will be giving the annual Hastorf Lecture. Title of the talk: Working Together, Practicing the Science of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This...
Fri, Apr 12, 2024 9:30am to 11am
This is a past event.
Join us for a special session hosted by the Intergroup Dialogue Center in collaboration with the Division of Student Life and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We will screen a...
Mon, Apr 15, 2024 5pm to 6pm
This is a past event.
Mount Holyoke is honored to host Dr. David Karp for a BOOM keynote titled “Becoming a Restorative Campus” on Monday, April 15 from 5 to 6 pm. Restorative Justice — a communal approach to prevent...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10am to 11:30am
This is a past event.
This session offers an opportunity to gather together as staff — a time to pause, connect, and reflect. Drs. Molly Keehn and Pat Romney will lead the group through informal activities designed to...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10am to 11:30am
This is a past event.
Join Aaron Athey for a Healing through Music workshop in the Great Room on Tuesday, April 9 from 10– 11:30 am. Aaron will share his passion for and extensive knowledge of indigenous drumming...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10am to 11:30am
This is a past event.
Come join Labrador Inuk Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz for a Healing through Poetry Workshop at the Zowie Banteah Cultural Center on Tuesday, April 9 from 10–11:30 am. There’s healing available and with...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10:30am to 12pm
This is a past event.
Whew, that thing you’re carrying inside of you that feels like it has nowhere to go as everything is falling apart? It may have a name and it may be grief! Grief is one of the most misunderstood...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 11am to 11:45am
This is a past event.
Foster a new appreciation of Mount Holyoke’s natural landscapes with a guided walk by Angelica Patterson, MWCE's Curator of Education and Outreach. You will be led on a 45-minute mindful walk along...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 11:30am to 1pm
This is a past event.
Join Iréne “I-SHEA’’ Shaikly for a Healing through Music workshop in the Unity Center on Tuesday, April 9 from 11:30 am–1 pm. I-SHEA will share African-Caribbean drum techniques and rhythms in an...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 12pm to 1pm
This is a past event.
As professionals, we often need reminders to practice the self-empathy and compassion that we so willingly offer our students and broader community. In this shame-free and judgment-free space,...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 12pm to 1pm
This is a past event.
We invite all community members (alums, students, faculty and staff) to participate in this healing space designed to help everyone who may need time to process and explore their feelings of living...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1pm to 2:30pm
This is a past event.
In this restorative session, Chris Painted Turtle Harris will lead a focused discussion on spiritual healing and sacred herbal remedies with an intentional focus on nature awareness.
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1pm to 2pm
This is a past event.
Join this collective healing space facilitated by Hadar Cohen to connect with yourself and with community. In this volatile political reality, it is vital to care and tend to ourselves and each...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1pm to 2:30pm
This is a past event.
In this session, participants will be introduced to the practice of deep listening, perspective sharing, and storytelling as strategies which can create salves to heal as individuals and...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1:30pm to 3pm
This is a past event.
This space is being offered in response to an expressed interest in healing and community. This will be an intimate space for students to openly share the areas in which they need support and...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 2pm to 3pm
This is a past event.
We live in a world of near-constant noise. Each day we encounter both sounds that delight—a new song that makes us want to dance, the laughter of a loved one, birds chirping outside—and sounds that...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 2:30pm to 4pm
This is a past event.
The dreams of mad, mentally ill, and neurodivergent (MMIND) folks are regularly disappeared, our futures stolen—all under the guise of treatment. We deserve the right to figure ourselves and our...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. Despite many perceptions, most non-Muslims in the United States know little about the actual religion of Islam. In fact, it takes minimal...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. As part of the ongoing work of documenting stories connected to The 1619 Project, Scholar Rafael Ocasio shares his important research on the...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the recording. As a women’s college that is gender diverse, Mount Holyoke recognizes the unique and particular ways that women are often subjected to...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. Speaker: Anthea Butler The relationship between the African American community and the Jewish community in America has been one of shared...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
Please note that this recording presently features auto-captions that may not always be accurate. While we are working to professionally caption this recording, we wanted to make this resource...
Virtual Event
Free
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. We welcome Clint Smith , gifted spoken word poet and academician, as the keynote speaker for our 5th annual Building On Our Momentum...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. This important dialogue on challenging anti-Blackness and anti-Semitism between Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Rabbi Josh Lesser focused on building...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. Isabel Wilkerson’s pivotal work, Caste has led to many insightful conversations around the criticality of understanding race, place and...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session is previously recorded. Watch the video. This webinar is geared toward faculty and staff seeking inclusive pedagogical strategies to create accessible classrooms. Speaker: Dr....
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session is previously recorded. Watch the video. Creating a campus environment that affirms, supports and honors the diversity of abilities that exist is a priority for our community. As part...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the Video. Join us for a workshop covering the basics of digital security. We'll be using principles of harm reduction and community safety to think...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. We are witnessing increases in acts of violence, discrimination, harassment, and hate speech that have harkened us back to a time when...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. A family of sugar-cane farmers in Louisiana worked the same land for generations and ultimately they began to realize that racism was looming...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
Please note that this recording presently features auto-captions that may not always be accurate. While we are working to professionally caption this recording, we wanted to make this resource...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the Video. Anti-racism is a skill and a practice. It requires honesty, the willingness to unlearn and confront power. Do you consider yourself an...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. In the United States, between 1882 and 1927 - there were 4,951 documented lynchings. About a third of those killed were white often on the...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. Indigenous people have always lived on this land, but their history, culture, and contributions are not seen. Instead, stereotypes and...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This video was previously recorded. Watch the video. Inclusive pedagogical strategies are critical to implement in a remote learning environment. This session for faculty and staff will provide an...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the Video. For Latinx Heritage Month, we are excited to welcome a keynote lecture with Storyteller, Public Theologian and Feminist, Prisca Dorcas Mojica...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. Speaker: Chris Mosier BOOM: Community Day 2022 at Mount Holyoke will feature dynamic activist, athlete and educator, Chris Mosier. As the...
Virtual Event
Free
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This sesssion was previously recorded. Watch the Video. Speaker: Dr. Tameeka Hunter (she/her) Transformative racial trauma healing requires that marginalized persons have space, support,...
Virtual Event
Free
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
Please note that this recording presently features auto-captions that may not always be accurate. While we are working to professionally caption this recording, we wanted to make this resource...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the Video. Sybrina Fulton lost her seventeen-year old son, Trayvon Martin and was instantly thrust into the spotlight as a grieving mother whose son's...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. We are honored to welcome Dean Spade in conversation with activist Taylor Alxndr of Southern Fried, Queer Pride and Smith College Professor,...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the Video. We will welcome two dynamic speakers for a special conversation, Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. 2020 has been a...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the Video. An obsessive genealogist and descendent of one of the most prominent Jewish families since the American Revolution, Blanche Moses firmly...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the Video. Our speaker will be Marcus Trujillo of Pueblo Alliance. Marcus Trujillo, Gààtaiyàà | He/Him/His, is from the Pueblo of Laguna in affiliation...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
Please note that this recording presently features auto-captions that may not always be accurate. While we are working to professionally caption this recording, we wanted to make this resource...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the recording. Sexual violence and stalking are both prevalent, commonly misunderstood, and severely underreported victimizations. In honor of Sexual...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. This public lecture with FRONTLINE correspondent and New Yorker staff writer Dr. Jelani Cobb took place to the commemorate the birthday of...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. Scholar Martha S. Jones shares her incredible research on women's suffrage and the role Black women played in actualizing gaining the right...
Virtual Event
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
This is a past event.
This session was previously recorded. Watch the video. Panelists: Dr. Laura Leibman Dr. Paola Tartakoff Moderated by Dr. Mara Benjamin Mount Holyoke has been the site of hateful acts of...
Virtual Event
Free
Thu, Apr 4, 2024 7pm to 8:30pm
This is a past event.
Join us for an evening of real-life stories from Frances Perkins Scholars (FPs) and the non-traditional journeys that brought us through the gates of Mount Holyoke College. Our backgrounds are...
Mon, Apr 8, 2024 6pm to 7pm
This is a past event.
President Holley’s Class: POLIT-351, The Supreme Court and Civil Rights – Zoom BOOM! As part of BOOM, President and Professor of Politics Danielle Holley is offering all students, faculty, staff...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10am to 11:30am
This is a past event.
This session offers an opportunity to gather together as staff — a time to pause, connect, and reflect. Drs. Molly Keehn and Pat Romney will lead the group through informal activities designed to...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10am to 11:30am
This is a past event.
Join Aaron Athey for a Healing through Music workshop in the Great Room on Tuesday, April 9 from 10– 11:30 am. Aaron will share his passion for and extensive knowledge of indigenous drumming...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10am to 11:30am
This is a past event.
Come join Labrador Inuk Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz for a Healing through Poetry Workshop at the Zowie Banteah Cultural Center on Tuesday, April 9 from 10–11:30 am. There’s healing available and with...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 10:30am to 12pm
This is a past event.
Whew, that thing you’re carrying inside of you that feels like it has nowhere to go as everything is falling apart? It may have a name and it may be grief! Grief is one of the most misunderstood...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 11am to 11:45am
This is a past event.
Foster a new appreciation of Mount Holyoke’s natural landscapes with a guided walk by Angelica Patterson, MWCE's Curator of Education and Outreach. You will be led on a 45-minute mindful walk along...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 11:30am to 1pm
This is a past event.
Join Iréne “I-SHEA’’ Shaikly for a Healing through Music workshop in the Unity Center on Tuesday, April 9 from 11:30 am–1 pm. I-SHEA will share African-Caribbean drum techniques and rhythms in an...
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 12pm to 1pm
This is a past event.
As professionals, we often need reminders to practice the self-empathy and compassion that we so willingly offer our students and broader community. In this shame-free and judgment-free space,...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 12pm to 1pm
This is a past event.
We invite all community members (alums, students, faculty and staff) to participate in this healing space designed to help everyone who may need time to process and explore their feelings of living...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1pm to 2:30pm
This is a past event.
In this restorative session, Chris Painted Turtle Harris will lead a focused discussion on spiritual healing and sacred herbal remedies with an intentional focus on nature awareness.
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1pm to 2pm
This is a past event.
Join this collective healing space facilitated by Hadar Cohen to connect with yourself and with community. In this volatile political reality, it is vital to care and tend to ourselves and each...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1pm to 2:30pm
This is a past event.
In this session, participants will be introduced to the practice of deep listening, perspective sharing, and storytelling as strategies which can create salves to heal as individuals and...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 1:30pm to 3pm
This is a past event.
This space is being offered in response to an expressed interest in healing and community. This will be an intimate space for students to openly share the areas in which they need support and...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 2pm to 3pm
This is a past event.
We live in a world of near-constant noise. Each day we encounter both sounds that delight—a new song that makes us want to dance, the laughter of a loved one, birds chirping outside—and sounds that...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 9, 2024 2:30pm to 4pm
This is a past event.
The dreams of mad, mentally ill, and neurodivergent (MMIND) folks are regularly disappeared, our futures stolen—all under the guise of treatment. We deserve the right to figure ourselves and our...
Virtual Event
free
Thu, Apr 11, 2024 11:45am to 1:15pm
This is a past event.
Michelle "Mikki" Hebl, Ph.D. Rice University, will be giving the annual Hastorf Lecture. Title of the talk: Working Together, Practicing the Science of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This...
Fri, Apr 12, 2024 9:30am to 11am
This is a past event.
Join us for a special session hosted by the Intergroup Dialogue Center in collaboration with the Division of Student Life and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We will screen a...
Mon, Apr 15, 2024 5pm to 6pm
This is a past event.
Mount Holyoke is honored to host Dr. David Karp for a BOOM keynote titled “Becoming a Restorative Campus” on Monday, April 15 from 5 to 6 pm. Restorative Justice — a communal approach to prevent...
