Empowering Changemakers Through Mentoring

The Center for Inclusion and Diversity (CID) at the University of San Diego (USD) hosted its annual Roy L. Brooks Distinguished Lecture Series Thursday evening with an evocative conversation between keynote speaker Renetta Garrison Tull, PhD, and USD’s Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Regina Dixon-Reeves, PhD. 

Tull is the inaugural vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at the University of California, Davis, a member of the university’s Chief Diversity Officers Council and an adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her talk, “Getting What You Came For: How to Position Yourself as a Changemaker Through Mentoring, Perseverance and Agility,” offered a broad perspective on finding community and creating what she calls a “constellation of mentors” to support growth, development and advancement in all aspects of our lives.

“We can break down hierarchies when we talk about mentoring,” said Tull. “Mentoring constellations and mentoring mosaics create multiple opportunities for mentoring, beyond a dyadic relationship between two people.”

Tull encouraged those in attendance to seek out mentors with different life experiences and divergent ideas and beliefs from themselves. She also emphasized the need to keep in contact with the people we meet in our lives and to seek continuous mentoring.

“You can have a lifespan of mentors — it doesn’t stop when you are a student,” said Tull. “I have mentors from a variety of echelons, and it is important to keep mentoring throughout your lifetime.”

When asked about what happens when individuals experience roadblocks and disappointment, Tull emphasized the need for education, enrichment and travel to expand our ways of thinking and referenced her faith and belief in a higher purpose. 

“Think about your success in your journey as well as the destination. Be open to the things that could be,” she said. “You’re going to stand. You’re going to walk. You’re going to keep your doors and your mind open, and go from there.”

At the close of the event, Tull was presented an award from USD Professor Roy L. Brooks, JD, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law. The lecture series was named after Brooks, the first tenured Black professor at USD, for his lifelong dedication to issues of equality, diversity and justice. 

“Professor Brooks is an essential resource and colleague for the university and the law school,” School of Law Dean Robert Schapiro, JD, said during the inaugural event in March 2023. “He’s an outstanding scholar, an engaging and brilliant teacher … and he stands for the very best we can become.”

The lecture series was established, in part, as a response to requests from Black faculty members, who in a 2020 letter, asked for the establishment of an annual event that would bring an African American scholar to campus to create a dedicated space for important conversations on campus. 

“I was mentored tonight by Dr. Tull,” Brooks noted at the conclusion of the event. “Mentoring is a never-ending process.”

— Story by Russ Yost and Matthew Piechalak, photos by Lauren Radack