My commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in academia is grounded in my experience. In my third year as a Ph.D. student at UNH, a friend invited me to The Audre Lorde Summit held by The Aulbani J. Beauregard Center for Equity, Justice, and Freedom UNH. That was the first time I connected with people who belong to underrepresented and marginal groups. This experience changed me. After hearing different people sharing their life stories, I started thinking seriously about how I could create an equal and inclusive atmosphere around me. As an international student from China, the first person to attend college, and the first person to seek post-graduate education in my family, I realized that I could contribute to creating a more inclusive and equal academic environment because the way I instruct could be and should be a model to young students for their college and career life. At the summit, I also learned how to communicate effectively with people from different backgrounds, which is very helpful in teaching.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching and research are critical for academic success. In my courses, I keep communicating with students from different backgrounds because communication is the first step to eliminating biases and helping students. By knowing students' concerns, I can give them advice and my experience as a student to facilitate their success. I am also ready to cooperate with faculty members from different backgrounds. I believe this cooperation can deepen my cognition of the world's diversity, and I, an economist interested in various phenomena in the world, can benefit from it.