Trenette Clark Goings, Ph.D., the Sandra Reeves Spears and John B. Turner Distinguished Professor, has been named a 2022 University Diversity Award Winner. Goings and Michal Osterweil, a teaching associate professor with Global Studies, were both selected to receive this year’s faculty diversity award.
The awards recognize individuals and groups who have given their time and effort to further diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Carolina and in the surrounding community. Goings was among eight total award winners recognized this year.
“Our 2022 Diversity Award winners have gone above and beyond to build a community here at Carolina where all of our students, faculty and staff know and feel they belong,” said Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz. “Their work is critical to meeting the goals of our strategic plan, and we are grateful for their dedication to making our community a better place.”
Goings, who joined UNC School of Social Work in 2010, has dedicated her personal and professional life to the advancement of DEI. She created the Innovative and Strategic Prevention in Racial and Ethnic Disparities (INSPIRED) Lab, which focuses on ways to prevent health disparities and increase equity for racially and ethnically diverse groups.
As a scholar in the substance use field, Goings has devoted her research to a similar mission, authoring 60 peer-reviewed articles focused on DEI. Much of her work centers on youth of color and biracial youth who historically have been ignored in research and programming. A sought after thought-leader, Goings is invited regularly to give research presentations, during which she often discusses how other researchers can incorporate antiracist approaches into their work.
In the classroom, Goings challenges students to think critically about racism at multiple levels, including institutionally and interpersonally and she encourages her students to advance DEI as students and practitioners.
She has been equally vocal at the School level, challenging leaders to address institutional racism, advocating for equitable pay opportunities for staff and faculty and mentoring for faculty of color that is comparable to the support that white colleagues receive.
Dean Ramona Denby-Brinson praised Goings as a tireless advocate, scholar and teacher whose remarkable leadership deserves recognition.
“We are so lucky to have Dr. Goings paving the way for our efforts on multiple levels, including within the School of Social Work, the University, and throughout multiple local and national communities,” Denby-Brinson said. “This is an important recognition and one in which we should take pride as a school. Thank you, Dr. Goings for modeling our values and putting rhetoric into action.”
