Physical Therapy hires alumnus for first ever department-level DEI coordinator on campus

Albojay Deacon

By Alex Nemec, advertising communication expert in the Business of College Relations

When Dr. Albojay Deacon, H Sci ’11, PT ’13, 1st stepped on campus as a freshman, he admitted that obtaining acclimated and fitting in with his fellow classmates was not quick.

“When I attended Marquette, it was not as varied as it is now,” Deacon claims. “When I walked into a classroom, I was a single of two Black folks or individuals of colour in the room. It made it difficult to relate to other pupils.”

To get the job done toward guaranteeing that other students never feel the very same perception of exclusion, the College or university of Health Sciences’ Office of Physical Therapy hired Deacon to be the department’s diversity, fairness and inclusion coordinator — the very first faculty place of its variety at the educational department degree on campus.

Deacon — a Milwaukee native and Milwaukee Public Faculties graduate — has been performing in the Physical Treatment Clinic on campus for the previous nine many years, helping in many graduate-amount programs as very well.

“Albojay has been with our division both equally as a scholar and clinician for over a ten years and has shown time and time once again his devotion to this college and his passion for helping learners,” office chair Dr. Allison Hyngstrom says. “Now as a faculty member, he will leverage his instruction and experience, to establish vital infrastructure inside of the school to enable all college students thrive and obtain their health care expert goals.”

Though the college carries on to make strides towards turning out to be a far more assorted and inclusive campus, there’s however do the job to be done to help individuals learners who may well feel excluded, Deacon states.

“It’s easy to diversify a population, but it’s a minimal bit harder to make that numerous populace and all these person identities truly feel provided,” Deacon states. “I consider that’s the authentic relevance that this job serves. When our ambitions are raising range, the only way you can certainly harness the rewards of range is by inclusion.”

But Deacon’s targets aren’t just restricted to earning the PT program a more inclusive space — he also desires to enable the job come to be agent of the populace it serves.

“If you search at where by PT clinics are put in Milwaukee or in Wisconsin, what you will notice is that a great deal of the non-public clinics are placed in parts of lower vulnerability,” Deacon states. “The places of the optimum vulnerability are void of PT clinics. It just so occurs that spots with the cheapest sum of vulnerability have a tendency to be predominantly white. I imagine that is mainly because of the deficiency of the representation in our occupation as a full.”

Even more, Deacon claims he wants to be a resource for students to help enhance their conversation competencies when speaking to clients who a lot of not glance like by themselves.

“Oftentimes we reduce each and every other for the reason that we’re not talking the very same language. We say particular things but we have distinct definitions,” Deacon says. “I would hope that all pupils graduating from Marquette have a bigger EQ and intercultural competence.

“I hope they can interact and communicate with someone from a distinct race or society although remaining equipped to communicate with out offending. Mainly because ultimately that will affect affected individual outcomes and you will be a greater therapist if you can do that.”

Outside of function, Deacon says he has been volunteering on DEI initiatives and is energized to be able weave his passions for bodily remedy and aiding individuals into one part.

“There’s a cause why I have intentionally not left Milwaukee and not remaining Marquette,” Deacon suggests. “I am fully commited to making this university and this city a far better put, and this purpose offers me an opportunity to depart a substantially even larger mark on people’s lives.”