Dr. Murray has been recognized for her work fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion at IU Bloomington.
Dr. Maresa Murray has been selected as one of five inaugural recipients of the Indiana University Inclusive Excellence Award by her peers on the Bloomington Faculty Council. Dr. Murray is assistant dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Organizational Climate and clinical associate professor in the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington (IUSPH-B).
The Indiana University Inclusive Excellence Award was created by the Bloomington Faculty Council's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to honor faculty who contribute to the continued enhancement of a diverse campus community in accord with IU Bloomington's Statement on Diversity.
"I have enjoyed the process of creating opportunities to provide racial and inclusivity coaching among our administrators, chairs, faculty and staff, with the hope of cultivating a more productive and collegial professional environment for all, including our students," says Dr. Murray. "My hope is that people experience large improvements from even the smallest efforts toward inclusivity, which will become effortlessly woven into the fabric of our interactions."
SPH-B Executive Associate Dean Carrie Docherty says, "We are fortunate to have such an outstanding faculty member who is unrelenting in her focus on creating a diverse and inclusive community in our school."
Prior to being named assistant dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Organizational Climate in August of 2020, Dr. Murray was the Dean's Administrative Fellow for Culture and Climate. She is currently leading a task force that will provide recommendations for group-based diversity and inclusion, with a focus on racial, sexual, and gendered minorities. Complementing these issues will be a research-based approach to awareness of racism and gun violence as public health issues. Dr. Murray's research focuses on understanding resiliency traits and support systems within African American families, including exploring the interaction between African American families and religiosity/spirituality, media usage, and social resources.
"Professor Maresa Murray is not only a scholar of race, culture, and group relations who brings that depth of expertise to her work, but she is the personification of commitment. She is indefatigable in promoting conversations on the most difficult topics that are at once mind opening and heart opening," says SPH-B Dean David Allison. "She is relentless in pursuing a vision of a better world in which equity, compassion, respect, fairness, and grace are the shared fabric for all. She is uncompromising in her willingness to see the bit of good in every person. We are so blessed to have her in our community of scholars."
Other recipients of the Indiana University Inclusive Excellence Award include Maria Hamilton Abegunde, a post-doctoral fellow at the University Graduate School, founding director of the Graduate Mentoring Center, visiting lecturer of African American and African Diaspora studies, and affiliate faculty in gender studies in the College of Arts and Sciences; Kevin Brown, Richard S. Melvin Professor in the Maurer School of Law; Arlene Diaz, associate professor in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Jennifer C. Lee, associate professor of sociology and acting director of Asian American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.