Place-Based Justice Network’s 2023 BIPOC Leadership Collective appoints MC’s Dr. Kathie Shiba to serve
March 30, 2023
Kathie Shiba, the assistant dean for institutional equity and a professor of psychology at Maryville College, has been appointed to the Place-Based Justice Network’s (PBJN) 2023 BIPOC Leadership Collective.
Based out of the University of San Diego’s Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness and Social Action, PBJN is a membership-based, volunteer organization focused on deconstructing systems of oppression to improve a specific geographical community, particularly in higher-ed institutions and communities. Members meet in person and through online video sessions to analyze the historic, current and intersectional factors affecting discrimination on both a micro- and macro-scale.
“When I heard about this collective through Amy Gilliland (MC director of the Center for Community Engagement), I was really excited, especially in my new role as assistant dean for institutional equity,” Shiba said. “This is about encouraging community engagement and growth, and I look forward to learning about what other institutions are doing; also, getting to speak with other BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) individuals about their experiences and give each other support and suggestions for professional development is just very personally fulfilling.”
According to its website, the BIPOC Leadership Collective is “designed to uplift professionals of color in the community engagement field (both on and off campus) to powerfully lean into who they are.” Members apply and are selected after a written application and interview process. Of the six collegiate professionals chosen for 2023, Shiba is the only one to represent the Southeast.
Beginning in the summer, the organization will engage in monthly Zoom meetings and individualized coaching sessions. In addition to the usual PBJN summer institute retreat, collective members will also meet for a leadership retreat towards the end of the year.
Membership duties include developing a supportive, inclusive community within the Place-Based Justice Network, understanding of institutional power dynamics, oppressions and prejudices, and implementing anti-oppression frameworks through vulnerable, diverse consultancy work.
History in Activism
Growing up in the shadow of the U.S. internment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II, Shiba recalls how early discriminatory practices from elementary classmates spurred her innate interest in social justice.
“I kind of laugh now about how passionate I was even as a child. I was involved with social justice work – although I didn’t know it by that name – like raising awareness for animal welfare or the risks of smoking cigarettes. And I recognized when racism was directed towards me, especially being in California and being Japanese,” Shiba said.
During her undergraduate years, Shiba began digging deep into systemic and institutional racism. It helped her to contextualize her own experiences through a broader academic lens, and she found the research enjoyable, as well. It was important enough, in fact, for her to expand her focus to gender, sexual and ability discrimination later as a graduate student.
After completing her bachelor’s and doctorate degrees in California, Shiba arrived at Maryville College in 1994, excited to teach at the undergraduate level. Building on her history of undergraduate social justice engagement, Shiba was quickly drawn into the world of Appalachian community engagement through the College’s partnership with the Appalachian College Association (ACA).
“I attended their conference that first summer I was here,” Shiba said. “The focus was on community service work: doing research and implementing programs. We’d bring in our expertise, the students would get to apply their coursework and the local community had an equal hand in it all.”
That work led to the creation of the nonprofit Just Connections, a Central Appalachia-based grassroots political and social organization of which Shiba was a founding partner. Until its dissolution around 2013, Just Connections focused on increasing community efficacy and sustainability.
College programs and development
As a professor, Shiba has implemented the Positive Psychology Laboratory, “where we study the impact of racial, national origin, sexual, and gender prejudice on college campuses and how people respond in positive ways through coping skills, resiliency, and education,” and taught a variety of psychology courses from first-year seminar to senior-study level advising.
“I loved taking intro psych with Dr. Shiba,” said Carder Sprous ’23. “I loved how she cared for our mental health and always encouraged us to take care of ourselves.”
Shiba says it all goes back to her two core tenets.
“Justice and peace have always been at the heart of everything I do, personally and professionally,” she said. “Community engagement is vulnerable work, but it’s important and vital. We all want and need to feel like we can be effective, capable and welcome in our social groups, so we have to be willing to learn where those gaps are and how to close them.”