Dr. Aleesha Grier-Rogers ’90 at the Helm to Expand DEI Initiatives

Throughout its 226-year history, Cheshire Academy has always been a campus that welcomes and supports diversity. In the Gideon Welles Dining Commons, flags of the nations from which our students come hang proudly on the wall, reminding everyone that their classmates, dorm mates, friends, and peers all come from different backgrounds, upbringings, opinions, feelings, and visions.

But welcoming international students to the Cheshire Academy campus is only the first step. With a nation at unrest in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, and grassroots campaigns bringing racial injustice to the forefront, it is CA’s responsibility to always strive to do more to ensure everyone is heard, respected, appreciated, and responded to.

We recently met with Dr. Aleesha Grier-Rogers ’90, CA’s director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, to hear how CA is responding to these national issues and ensuring that every student is guaranteed a voice on campus.

Provide a brief background on your professional career and individual involvement at Cheshire Academy.

I’m a member of the Cheshire Academy Class of 1990, and currently work at CA as the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I joined CA in 2019 as the diversity, equity, and inclusion coordinator, which was the inaugural year for the position. This year, along with my title change, I became part of the senior leadership team. Embedding DEI within the leadership team gives us the opportunity to look at all the school initiatives, big and small, through the DEI lens.

I’m a licensed clinical psychologist. I earned both a master’s and doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Hartford-Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology. I also hold a Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University. I completed my predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships at Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. Since 2009, I’ve served as an assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine’s Division of Addictions. Since 2008, I’ve taught in the Psychology Department at Southern Connecticut State University. I’m currently at CA three days a week, and when I’m not on campus, I continue to provide clinical services.

Why did you choose to attend CA? And why have you decided to return?

I moved to Cheshire in the middle of sixth grade. Prior to that, I had always attended Catholic school. By high school, I was looking to return to that type of smaller classroom environment.

I happened to be on the CA website looking for info about alumni weekend when I saw the DEI position posted. I guess it was perfect timing since, at that time, I was looking for a change after nearly 10 years of managing behavioral health clinics. Returning to CA to do DEI work seemed like a great opportunity for someone like me, with years of experience in leadership roles, along with a specialization in providing mental health treatment to underserved populations, training clinicians in multicultural competency, and teaching about bias based on gender and other intersecting identities. So, I met with Head of School Julie Anderson, heard her ideas for the role, and decided to return to my alma mater and bring to life DEI initiatives she had in mind.

Briefly describe your role as the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at CA.

My role as the director of DEI involves developing and implementing diversity initiatives and programming, assisting the leadership team in creating a strategic vision for DEI, and collaborating with various stakeholders to address the impact of DEI issues on all aspects of campus. For example, so far this year I collaborated with Community Life and the Academic Office around the development of an action plan to promote civil discourse. I’ve been working with senior leadership and Community Life to design and implement a Bias Incident Reporting protocol. I have been working with senior leadership, the Board of Trustees, and members of the faculty to establish a DEI task force that will address the key DEI issues facing CA. Also, I am working with the Theater Department around their development of a production aimed at promoting social justice. I am also the faculty advisor to the Black Student Union and the Student Equity Team. This year the BSU is taking the lead to plan our annual MLK Day celebration.

The other half of my job relates to my role as a psychologist. I’ve been working with the Academic Office to begin our implementation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL). I am also a member of the Health Team, and I collaborate with the Counseling Department regularly.

Cheshire Academy is called home by students from 19 states and 31 countries, resulting in a truly diverse community full of different perspectives, opinions, and viewpoints. As director of DEI, how do you ensure that all their voices are not only heard, but appreciated?

While Cheshire Academy is very diverse, I do think that hearing all those voices is something we have to be very intentional about. Having affinity groups is critical to meeting that goal, and our current offerings include the Black Student Union, Diversity Club, Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and Coleman Group. This year, even with COVID and a large portion of our student body being remote, I’m happy to say that our affinity groups are stronger and more vocal than ever. I’m excited to launch the Student Equity Team this year, which will focus on developing student leadership around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Student Equity Team members will learn to advocate for and support students who have experienced bias, racism, and discrimination. Our affinity leaders have already been very active on campus this year, having coordinated a recent Black Lives Matter rally on campus, and BSU has begun planning our annual MLK Day celebration. CA is very proud to be sending a delegation of student leaders to the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, which is part of the annual People of Color Conference hosted by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

This year has resulted in countless societal discussions, conversations, and protests related to equity. How do you plan to continue this conversation at Cheshire Academy this year, and in future years?

CA is committed to DEI, and as such we have several initiatives aimed at continuing the conversations that started this Spring around social justice. This year we have established a Board DEI Task Force that consists of me, Head of School Julie Anderson P’19, ’23, Board members William Ampofo ’92, Drew Kevorkian ’93, Brian Otis ’98, Mark Testa ’68, and Board Chair Jennifer Freedman P’15. One of the goals of the Student Equity Team is to bridge the gap between the student body and this Board DEI Task Force. In addition to our robust student affinity groups, this year we have spoken to several alumni and will launch a Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) alumni affinity group.

While Cheshire Academy is very diverse, I do think that hearing all those voices is something we have to be very intentional about. Having affinity groups is critical to meeting that goal, and our current offerings include the Black Student Union, Diversity Club, Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and Coleman Group.

What role does CA play, or what is CA’s responsibility to its students, regarding DEI? What, if anything, should schools like ours be doing?

When it comes to DEI, all schools are responsible for identifying and addressing barriers to individual student success, as well as helping to create a campus climate where students feel comfortable to embrace and express their identities without bias or discrimination. With the #BlackAt______ movement, CA—and many schools like it— has had to look at how students feel we have failed to meet those goals and/or provide students with an opportunity to report and discuss their experiences. CA is working to ensure that, going forward, we have a bias incident reporting protocol in place, everyone is aware of my office and other supports available on campus to discuss DEI concerns, and that we provide students with opportunities to engage in courageous conversations and listening sessions.

In a year, two years, five years, as you look back on your time at CA, what do you hope you see in terms of the impact and difference you made? How things may have changed?

When I think of my employment here, I believe my first year served as a time to gain a better understanding of the culture at CA and the DEI issues that need to be addressed. This year I’m focused on collaborating with the various stakeholders in the CA community to establish DEI initiatives and change the campus climate, particularly as it pertains to discussing the issues that are important to our students. I would like to see CA become a school where: (1) we have an awareness of the diversity of identities represented on campus (race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, and other identities) and in the world around us, (2) awareness of how our various identities shape our differing individual perspectives of the world, (3) members of our community feel safe to be their authentic selves and express their opinions, and (4) we are not afraid to engage in civil discourse.