CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps athletic department is the recipient of the April Division III Diversity Spotlight Initiative, the NCAA announced this week.

The Diversity Spotlight Initiative recognizes and promotes outstanding diversity-related projects, programming and initiatives occurring on Division III campuses and in conference offices. All selected recipients receive $500 toward their next diversity initiative.

CMS was profiled for the work of the Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Committee, which consists of 14 members. The committee created the DEI Learning Club, which conducts monthly seminars and features a speaker series to address a variety of topics to advance the committee's goal of developing an athletics environment that promotes diverse representation, creates equal opportunity for all, and offers opportunities for all individuals to be heard and respected.

The monthly DEI Learning Club seminars have been regularly attended by dozens of coaches and staff members from the CMS athletics department, often centering on articles or videos to serve as a springboard to discussion. The seminars so far have focused on articles and videos such as "How to Be An Antiracist: A Conversation with Dr. Ibram K. Kendi" (September), "What is Antiracism" and "10 Keys to Everyday Antiracism" (October), "The Power of Deliberate Listening" (November), "How to Respond to Microaggressions" and "How Microaggressions are Like Mosquito Bites" (December), "College Athletics: Where do We Go From Here" (February), "The War on Women Coaches" and "Women in Organizational Sports Leadership" (March), and "Diversity of Lived Experience" (April).

In addition to the seminars, the DEI Committee also began a featured speaker series in January with Dr. Derik Smith, Associate Professor of Literature at CMC, presenting a lecture on "Building an Empowering and Inclusive Community of College Athletics." In March, Nevin Caple gave a presentation for the series on "Creating a Team Culture of Belonging." The featured speaker series is open to student-athletes, coaches, faculty and staff and both presentations had well over 100 attendees. 

Head men's soccer coach Ryan Fahey and assistant athletic trainer Charles Dean III coordinate the DEI's Learning Club, but anyone within the athletics department can bring forward a topic to lead one of the monthly seminars. So far, head men's basketball coach Ken Scalmanini, head women's basketball coach Chanel Murchison, head women's soccer coach Jennifer Clark, men's tennis coach Paul Settles, and assistant athletic director/senior woman administrator Nikki Ayers have coordinated one of the monthly discussions.

As a result of the success of the Learning Club, Fahey and Dean were invited by the Claremont Colleges Center for Teaching and Learning to speak to the entire campus community in April on building a more inclusive culture through dialogue.