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 nine 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.
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.
For those of you who'd like to see the BOOM! Schedule in a different format, please access the BOOM! 2025 Attendee Guide. You'll find tips to help maximize your experience, a Schedule-at-Glance, list of plenary and concurrent sessions, etc. Feel free to download to have on your device and/or print!
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.
New this year, all virtual Zoom sessions will be hosted via the Zoom Events platform. For more information and guidance about how attendees register, and navigate this platform, please visit the linked guide from Zoom, Getting started as a Zoom Events attendee. We strongly encourage you to access the BOOM! Zoom Event Portal early so you can register and familiarize yourself. If you have any trouble registering and/or accessing any of the virtual sessions through the BOOM! 2025 Zoom Events portal, please email the DEI Team.
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 8:45am
This year's 9th Annual Building On Our Momentum (BOOM!): Community day will feature an opening performance by Urban Thunder, an intertribal powwow drum group currently based in western Massachusetts.
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 9am to 10:15am
The 2025 BOOM: Community Day opens with a dynamic conversation between President Danielle R. Holley and ACLU Attorney, Chase Strangio. Mount Holyoke is excited to welcome Attorney Chase Strangio to...
Mary Woolley Hall, Chapin Auditorium
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 12pm to 1pm
We invite all faculty of color who teach at institutions within the Five College Consortium (Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and the University of...
Willits-Hallowell Conference Center, Wiese-Merriwether Room
free
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 3pm to 4:30pm
The Department of Critical Race and Political Economy hosts an annual lecture in honor of activist and alum, Barbara Smith ’69 whose unparalleled legacy of Black feminist writings and scholarship...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 5pm to 6:30pm
Join this year's BOOM!: Community Day plenary! ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed poet, comedian, public speaker, and actor. They currently hold a first look deal in Comedy with Sony...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 6:30pm to 8:30pm
45th Anniversary Celebration - Frances Perkins Scholars Program featuring Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham and the Frances Perkins Monologues Please join the Frances Perkins Scholars (FPs) as we...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 8pm to 9:30pm
Directors: Michael Ofori, Mustapha Braimah, Faith Conant Mount Holyoke College Performing Arts brings you an evening of beautiful, highly choreographed music and dance performances from West...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12pm
Dr. Amer Ahmed will share insights about Islam and Islamophobia, providing much-needed context for us to bridge divides that have been exposed by the post 9/11 era. Dispel myths and...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
Drop in to chat with Samm Nelson and Ava Healy in a birds of a feather session that explores the work of the community group Alliance Against Ableism that was started at UMass. This group meets...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
Diversifying the workforce of an educational institution is not only beneficial to the College itself, but also to its staff, students, and greater community. At Mount Holyoke College, the...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12pm
This capstone project focuses on the first-generation female entrepreneurs of immigrant origin and immigrants who have decided to venture into the entrepreneurial path rather than the corporate....
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
As disabled students at Mount Holyoke, Carson, Luz, and Stevie are aware of extensive ableism within the study body, faculty, and institutional as a whole. Their encounters with discrimination...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 11:45am
Recruiting diverse faculty can be a challenge. Common hurdles include the limited availability of diverse candidates, an inability to reach and notify them, and strong competition. This session...
Willits-Hallowell Conference Center, Wiese-Merriwether Room
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12pm
From the poetry of artists such as Maya Angelou and Amanda Gorman to the rhythms of musical geniuses such as Alice Coltrane and Stevie Wonder, Black creative, cultural, and spiritual wisdom guides...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12:30pm
Come learn about the foundations of social justice in this MoZone intragroup dialogue for white identified students. As we continue moving through trying times, it is crucial that we as white...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12pm
Angela Davis once noted, “It is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism. This session will be an in-person art-making workshop focused on engaging with students inspired by...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12pm
Our ancestors braided seeds, grew freedom gardens, and lived in reciprocity with the earth. Herbalism as Resistance orients our relationship building with our bodies, the land, and our community as...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12:30pm
This event is in collaboration with the BIPOC athletic community at MHC. Alongside the MoZone peer educators Mariama Diallo and Cynthia Akanaga, BIPOC student athletes will discuss their...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
Mathematical identity—how individuals perceive themselves in relation to math—significantly influences their confidence, engagement, and long-term opportunities in STEM fields. Yet, systemic...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12pm
Pathways to the Professoriate is a special program created to demystify the PhD process and the journey towards becoming a professor for students who may be interested in an academic career. The...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
Join Holyoke native and Latin dance artist Roshay for a high-energy workshop where movement meets neuroscience. No dance experience needed—just come ready to move. Rooted in Latin culture and...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12pm
Please join Justin Beatty (Ojibwe/Saponi/African-American) why is a cultural educator, artist, powwow singer, and powwow emcee. With this presentation/workshop he will address common misconceptions...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12:30pm
This interactive workshop will be an opportunity for faculty and staff to explore frameworks and strategies for supporting neurodivergent and neuroexpansive learners. Using the critical praxis of...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 10:30am to 12:30pm
In this one-of-a-kind workshop, guests will learn about the uses and functions of oral storytelling--sharing stories and personal accounts rooted in history and tradition--for Black folks,...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 11am to 12pm
In this informal session with a focused Q&A, Attorney Chase Strangio will discuss the rights of Queer and Trans people with a specific emphasis on the current executive orders and strategies for...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 11:30am to 12pm
Ahead of her afternoon talk, Imani Barbarin is going to gather with students in a closed Disability Affinity Space at 11:30 am in the Great Room. Come meet Imani and join in conversation with MHC’s...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 12pm to 1pm
This informal discussion space is being hosted by/for Black d/Disabled Students. Open to those with physical or mental conditions, visible and invisible disabilities, chronic illnesses, and...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
Community-Based Learning will bring together a panel of community leaders and authors of Anti-Racist Community Engagement: Principles and Practices, to discuss the transformative potential of...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
For disabled and non-disabled persons. A (padded) crash course on how to recognize, then respond, to past, present, and future instances of ableism that you come across. Think of this session like...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2pm
The afternoon session has been canceled. Please join us for the morning session. Diversifying the workforce of an educational institution is not only beneficial to the College itself, but also to...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
This workshop focuses on the story of 48 Court Street, a queer collective in Binghamton, New York, active from 1983-1993. Here, genderfuck parties, deaf activism, Latinx solidarity work, and AIDS...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2pm
This presentation will share the results of my Lynk-funded summer research, which explored how the changeling child from fairy folklore have encoded societal perceptions of neurodivergent...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
Cultivating Culture & Allyship invites participants into a collective exploration of what allyship can look like in their everyday lives as athletes, coaches, and administrators. Through personal...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
“We cannot practice embodiment without practicing awareness of who we are and where we come from, and we cannot practice conflict resolution without being aware of the metaphorical water in which...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
Come join Labrador Inuk Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz, MFA. She is excited to lead a workshop about poetry written by Indigenous women. Alkiewicz will incorporate her poetry with greats like Ada Limón,...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
This session will be an informal, collective healing space through cross-stitching and conversation as an act of resistance to state violence. Participants will be in conversation and community...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2pm
Mount Holyoke is honored to welcome Imani Barbarin to campus for BOOM! Imani Barbarin is a disability rights and inclusion activist and speaker who uses her voice and social media platforms to...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
A proud descendant of Japanese American incarceration camp survivors, Jen Brock's account of her family's experience during World War 2 demonstrates how fragile constitutional rights can be and...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
A healing space like no other, all are invited to join Irene “I-SHEA” Shaikly for a workshop focused on healing and restoration. Utilizing her own instruments and inviting others to learn and...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2pm
Join us for a relaxed, informal song workshop where you can learn, or just listen to, a handful of accessible choral songs for solace and resilience. Student and faculty songleaders, with the help...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
This event will be a dialogue with Dr. Elizabeth Rule in conversation with Dr. Patricia Dawson. Dr. Rule's book, Indigenous DC is the first and fullest account of the suppressed history and...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
Join trans student-leaders at Mount Holyoke for a closing reception in celebration of the yearlong project TGNC10, which has brought together students, alums, faculty and staff to celebrate MHC’s...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1pm to 2:30pm
This session will focus on enhancing the Mt. Holyoke community's critical engagement with the concepts of antisemitism and solidarity, while exploring their intersections and distinctions with...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025 1:30pm to 2:30pm
Begin to gently integrate the learnings from this day important to our campus community, and our times more broadly, by participating in a community nap with other motivated but weary folks...
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
This session was previously recorded. Mount Holyoke's 2023-2024 Common Read is “Disability Visibility,” an anthology of essays, stories, poems and more that centers around disability justice —...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
This session was previously recorded. Please watch at your convenience. The College continues our ongoing educational sessions as part of the Fifth Annual Fighting Antisemitism Teach-In with a...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
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, Apr 29, 2025
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, Apr 29, 2025
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, Apr 29, 2025
This session was previously recorded. Please watch the recording at your convenience. Our Sexual Assault Awareness Month Keynote featured activist and writer adrienne maree brown. adrienne maree...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
Gender 101: Beyond the Gender Binary System This session was previously recorded. Speaker: Gabe Hall As part of our ongoing educational offerings, the DEI Office has created a training that is...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
Let Trans Kids Play - Protecting Trans Lives On and Off the Field with Chris Mosier This session was previously recorded for BOOM 2022. Speaker: Chris Mosier BOOM: Community Day 2022 at Mount...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
Creating Inclusive Community: Pronouns 101 This session was previously recorded. Speaker: Gabe Hall As part of our ongoing educational offerings, the DEI Office has created a training that is...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
This session was previously recorded. Please watch at your convenience. Please join an important dialogue focused on the essential anthology edited by Dr. Frank Abe and Dr. Floyd Cheung, The...
Virtual Event
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
This session was previously recorded. Join the DEI Office in an evening with Dr. Perry Zurn as he shares insights and critical reflections into the tremendous archive of trans stories of...
Virtual Event
free
Tue, Apr 29, 2025
This session was previously recorded. Panelists: Dr. Laura Leibman Dr. Paola Tartakoff Moderated by Dr. Mara Benjamin Mount Holyoke has been the site of hateful acts of antisemitism yet we...
Virtual Event
Free