Although diversity policy has become one of the core elements of organization development also in German higher education in recent years, numerous tensions remain in the implementation of diversity measures, which are precisely based on a non-inclusive view of excellence. In many cases, discrimination is not addressed by diversity measures, but rather masked by them, so that, ultimately, exclusionary university structures continue to exit. This lecture series is dedicated to this tension and how a diversification in higher education institutions can be possible and which questions must be confronted. The lecture series will be hosted by the Diversity and Gender Equality Network (DiGENet) of the Berlin University Alliance's Cross-Cutting-Themes Diversity und Gender Equality. We are proud that six internationally renowned experts have accepted our invitation to deliver a lecture in our series. The lectures will critically examine the tension between diversity and excellence from different (inter-)disciplinary perspectives.

The lectures at a glance

Gendered Innovations: Importance and Relevance across different Disciplines
Prof. Dr. Londa Schiebinger (Stanford University)
Thursday, November 24, 2022
6–8 p.m.
Paul-Ehrlich Lecture Hall  (Virchowweg 4) – Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Prof. Dr. Londa Schiebinger will deliver the opening lecture in the series on Gendered Innovations: Importance and Relevance across Different Disciplines in the Paul-Ehrlich Lecture Hall at Charité starting at 6 p.m. on November 24. Professor Schiebinger is a science historian and theorist internationally renowned for her work in the field of gender and science. In addition to her own research, Professor Schiebinger has vast experience in the diversification of the university and academia. She is currently Professor of History of Science at Stanford University (USA) and Director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research and the EU/US Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering and Environment Projec

Diffusion of Policy Ideas on Gender and Diversity Change in Academic Institutions
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Zippel (Einstein-Profile-Professor at the Free University of Berlin)
Thursday, December 1, 2022
5:30–8 p.m.
Henry Ford Building, Lecture Hall A – Freie Universität Berlin

The second lecture will be held by Prof. Kathrin Zippel, Ph.D. We are very pleased that her inaugural lecture as Einstein Professor of Sociology focusing on Gender Studies at Freie Universität Berlin is part of the lecture series. Kathrin Zippel will hold a lecture on Diffusion of Policy Ideas on Gender and Diversity Change in Academic Institutions on December 1, 2022, at 5:30 p.m. in the Henry Ford Building, Lecture Hall A, at Freie Universität Berlin. Kathrin Zippel is an internationally recognized sociologist and member of the Berlin Cluster of Excellence “Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS)". Most recently, she held a professorship at Northeastern University in Boston. She also co-chaired the Seminar for Social Exclusion and Inclusion at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University and was a Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Her focus areas include gender, political sociology, scientific research, comparative sociology between the USA and Europe, and globalization.

Excellent Science? The Structural Failure of Coordinated Women's and Gender Studies
Prof. Dr. Heike Kahlert (University Ruhr-University Bochum)
Thursday, December 15, 2022
6–8 p.m.
Digital

On December 15, 2022, starting at 6 p.m., Prof. Dr. Heike Kahlert will speak online on Excellent Science? The Structural Failure of Coordinated Women's and Gender Studies within the Competitive Environment. Professor Kahlert is Chair of Sociology, Social Inequality, and Gender at Ruhr University Bochum. The focus of her work and research is, among other things, transformations of knowledge in modernity, gender relations, and social change in the welfare state, institutionalized inequalities in the educational system, and gender-sensitive organization development.

Decolonizing Policy of Equality of Diversity – University in the Tension between Diversity, Racism Critique, and Coloniality.
Prof. Dr. Encarnacion Gutierrez-Rodriguez (Goethe University Frankfurt)
Thursday, January 12, 2023
6 – 8 p.m.
Auditorium at Grimmzentrum– Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

We will enter the new year on January 12, 2023, at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in the Auditorium (Grimmzentrum) from 6 p.m. with a lecture by Prof. Dr. Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez. She is a Professor of Sociology with a focus on Culture and Migration at Goethe University Frankfurt. Previously, she was Professor in General Sociology at Justus Liebig University Giessen. She is also an Adjunct Professor at University of Alberta (Canada), and a Visiting Professor in the Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha (South Africa). Professor Gutiérrez Rodríguez will hold a lecture on the Decolonizing Policy of Equality of Diversity – University in the Tension between Diversity, Racism Critique, and Coloniality.

Institutional and Geopolitical Diversity: Limits to the Paradigm of Internationalization. Questioning Somatic Standardizations of Universities in a Decolonial Way
Prof. Dr. Maureen Maisha Auma
Thursday, January 26, 2023
6 – 8 p.m.
Lecture Hall H 3007 – Technische Universität Berlin

Prof. Maisha Maureen Auma, who held the first DiGENet-Audre Lorde-Chair for Intersectional Diversity Studies of the Berlin University Alliance, will hold a lecture on January 26, 2023, at 6 p.m. entitled Institutional and Geopolitical Diversity: Limits to the Paradigm of Internationalization. Questioning Somatic Standardizations of Universities in a Decolonial Way at Technische Universität Berlin in the lecture hall H3007. Professor Auma is currently a guest professor for intersectional diversity studies at the ZIFG of Technische Universität Berlin. Since 2008 she has been Professor for Childhood and Difference (Diversity Studies) at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences. Her research interests include diversity in educational materials in West and East Germany, sexual education empowerment for black people and people-of-color in Germany, critical whiteness research, anti-blackness, childhood studies, intersectionality in the context of critical race theory, and racism critique.

The Hidden Mechanisms of Power. Diversity, Discrimination, and the Decolonization of the University
Prof. Dr. Sabine Hark
Thursday, February 9, 2023
6 – 8 p.m.
Lecture Hall H 0111 – Technische Universität Berlin

Professor Sabine Hark will held the closing lecture in the series entitled The Hidden Mechanisms of Power. Diversity, Discrimination, and the Decolonization of the University. The final lecture in the series will take place at Technische Universität on February 9, 2023, at 6 p.m. in lecture hall H 0111. Professor Hark chairs Gender Studies at Technische Universität and also heads the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies (ZIFG). Moreover, she is a co-initiator and a member of the board of We’re doing it (wirmachendas.jetzt). Prof. Hark is spokesperson of the Diversity and Gender Equality Steering Committee of the Berlin University Alliance's Cross-Cutting Theme “Diversity and Gender Equality”. Prof. Hark's research and work focus includes feminist epistemology and criticism, queer theory, sociology of science, and university research.