SERVICE
My service work during the period under review has mainly focused on the coordination of the International Studies Program and work with the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the areas of LGBTQ+ support and advocacy, and racial justice. My DEI work has centered on intergroup, intragroup, and cross-cultural dialogue and dialogue facilitation as well as anti-racism work. I have also provided dozens of trainings and workshops on LGBTQ+ issues and have trained dialogue facilitators on these issues. First you will find a reflection after which you will find more detailed information, supporting materials, and supporting letters on my service projects.
Service Reflection
"While Michael shines in all areas of scholarship and service, I find that it is in university service and the scholarship of application that Michael excels. I have direct knowledge and experience of Michael’s value to the campus and the college community around the critical and demanding issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Michael applies his academic competence in diplomacy, dialogue, racial justice, and gender justice to the service needs of the campus in these areas."
Dr. Claudia Ford (Chair of Environmental Studies, former CDO)
"Michael’s success in these [DEI] efforts demonstrates his values as a colleague, his capacity as a campus leader of DEI initiatives, and his dedication to the College. Through his outstanding service, Michael has made exceptional contributions to SUNY Potsdam’s fundamental goals and values, as articulated in the Potsdam Pledge, the Potsdam Strategic Plan, and the Potsdam DEI Strategic Plan."
Dr. Jennifer Mitchell (Professor English and Communication, Former Days of Reflection Chair)
"From this work, I can confidently say that, even as somebody who has received a Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, Professor Popovic serves his campus community in ways I simply have never seen before"
Dr. Matt LaVine (Asst. Professor in Environmental/Interdisciplinary Studies, DDEI Analysist
"Most recently, I worked closely with him in my role as a facilitator for Potsdam’s First Year Connect program. Even though I am no longer a student, I am still gaining life-changing learning experiences and personal growth through our continued relationship."
Marie Corriveau
Class oif 2016
"Michael applies his
academic competence in diplomacy, dialogue, racial justice, and gender justice to the service needs of the campus in these areas. Michael is the first person that I called on to assist me as an advisor to the DEI division and the Chief Diversity Officer. Michael has undertaken absolutely essential work in First Year Connect, Days of Reflection, the Office of Gender and Sexuality, PDAM and other DEI initiatives."
Dr. Claudia Ford (Chair of Environmental Studies, former interim CDO)
"I am also pleased to note that Michael continues to engage with the tasks of bringing dialogue and diplomacy – his areas of expertise – to the practical current challenges of racial
and gender justice. Michael’s hands on commitment to this work is confirmation of his ability to recognize when, where and how he can contribute to the campus and community while
simultaneously acknowledging the areas where he is learning and growing. It is not an
exaggeration to say that the community and the society are currently at a crossroads on these
very issues of racial, gender and environmental justice that Michael excels at and is committed to. Michael’s singular contributions to SUNY Potsdam in these areas can and must continue to be acknowledged and celebrated."
Dr. Claudia Ford (Chair of Environmental Studies, former CDO)
This is a reflection on my service overall. You will find more detailed information, supporting materials, and letter of recommendations in the strips right below this reflection. They are organized thematically.
Service constitutes the area to which I currently dedicate the most energy and time besides teaching. At some points, I may have contributed too much to service at SUNY Potsdam but when the need is large and the resources are insufficient, often times people volunteer significant amounts of time to address problems. My most significant service contributions are in the areas of International Studies, the First Year Connect (1YC) program, Days of Reflection: Education for Racial Justice and Equity, and my work in the Office for Gender and Sexuality. Almost all my service work is in an effort to provide inclusive excellence and to promote constructive engagement with difference (immigration status, country of origin, race and ethnicity, religion and LGBTQ+ status) through dialog and engagement. I provided additional service to other programs of DDEI (especially PDAM), in support of Student Life and Residential Life, as well as the CCI and many student groups, such as the Political Student Association. I have also served on additional academic and DDEI committees.
One of my biggest accomplishments at SUNY Potsdam is helping to create the new International Studies major and successfully running it the first 5 years until the position of coordinator was cut. Until then, I was able to build a high-quality program, especially considering our limited resources at SUNY Potsdam. By using my professional capital and devoting time and effort, I was able to ensure a solid internship and study abroad structure around the program to all students their Intercultural Experience without significant obstacles. I changed and expanded my upper-division offerings to allow for a solid International Relations and Studies education to set up students for success in graduate school. The program that I have significantly shaped is placing our students in highly prestigious and competitive graduate programs such as Middlebury Institute for International Studies (Alex Dumouza), London School of Economics (Will Rogozinski), Johns Hopkins University (Rama Muhammed), Syracuse University (Tyler Clark, Colby Cyrus), The City College of New York (Ariel Minoso), etc. and they are successfully completing their degrees. I deeply appreciate having been given the opportunity to help positively influence these students lives.
An area where I hope my services has positively impacted our community at SUNY Potsdam is by engaging over 560 individuals in dialogues. Quite a few may have only participated in 1 or 2, but some of our community members participated in more than 40. More than half of our incoming class participated in 4 2-hour intergroup dialogues to allow them to get to know each other and to experience difference positively through facilitation. We can show that even just the 4 sessions they have attended had a measurable impact to their ability to feel empathy and actively listen among a number of other impressive improvements in measures of social connection and feeling of belonging. I think we can make a real difference in how inclusive our community is through programs like 1YC and I hope that we will continue anti-racism dialogues as part of our efforts. Ultimately, I hope we can include other forms of oppression into our dialogue facilitation training program as well, but only after we have ensured the best possible coverage of the issue of race. I sincerely hope we will continue our dialogue efforts on campus.
Due to my longstanding and deep involvement in DEI work in the Division of DEI, I am not the member currently on campus with the longest institutional memory of DEI work from inside of DDEI. Of course, there has been DEI work for many years on our campus before the division existed and many of my colleague have been involved in this work much more deeply and for much longer than me. Most of this often-difficult labor falls disproportionately on my colleagues of color and especially my Black colleagues. I try my best to be an ally to take as much work on as I can. In addition to race, my involvement in LGBQT+ work has been important for the division and campus. Being this deeply involved and working on these issues for this long, I am in a position to be asked to serve on advisory committees for two different interim Chief Diversity Officers. CLAUDIAS QUOTE
Other colleagues underline my importance for DEI work on our campus in both areas of anti-racism and LGBTQ+ support and advocacy. I have been involved in a variety of different initiatives and have tried to help the DDEI as much as possible. I look back particularly fondly on the Potsdam Diversity Ambassadors and Mentors Program that I gladly helped shape through my work on the Advisory Board and the many trainings I supported and ran.
I would like to highlight two more areas where I think my impact has be broad and positive. First, my work for the Office of Gender and Sexuality is detailed below and shows you that my co-coordinator Cailey Underhill and I, did a significant amount of work to make the situation of the very large LGBTQ+ community better on campus. Through trainings, the LGBTQ+ support group, Lavender Graduations, and many other activities, we have concretely, directly, and positively impacted the lives of our community. I am thankful for having had the chance to serve in the roll and I hope to return to it in a renewed Office for Gender and Sexuality.
In addition, as the Coordinator for Days of Reflection from 2018-2020 and as a member of the committee since 2016, I have helped shape and organize the biggest event series on campus that often drew between ¼ and 1/3 campus as an audience and was the largest event during the virtual Spring and Fall 2020 semesters. I have improved and streamlined aspects of the organizing of the events, and I have diversified both the committee members and presenters at the events. These events have impacted campus in many different ways from impacting individuals in their thinking and feeling of belonging to class assignments and discussions on important topics. I hope that were are achieving the title of the event Days of Reflection: Education for Racial Equity and Justice.
In the future, I hope to find a more sustainable balance between service, teaching, and research. This means that I will focus my leadership in service on three roles: international studies and LGBTQ+ support. I would be ecstatic if 1YC dialogues continued on campus and would reevaluate my efforts at that point. I am happy to continue to play supporting roles in other areas, but my efforts will concentrate on these three areas after my sabbatical. I hope I have and will continue to have a positive impact in my community at SUNY Potsdam.
Below are letter of recommendation that primarily focus on or significantly address my service.
"Michael was able to lead a weekly anti-racist dialogue group with the Environmental Studies Department at SUNY Potsdam. As a department we recognized the need to not just embrace diversity, but to actively work to be anti-racist to support our colleagues and students. Michael, through a series of readings, and deeply personal, facilitated weekly discussions over the course of nearly 9 months, led our department to a much stronger and more sustainable group. We were able to continue this work across campus and Michael led similar groups in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. This time-consuming, personal dedication to supporting real change on our campus cannot be overstated – Michael was a keystone in this work."
Dr. Jess Rogers (Environmental Studies)
"He introduced me to the program Soliya and First Year Connect which was very influential to me. I was able to work with people from all over the world and later became a trained facilitator. That program we were able to practice dialogue and teach it to the new generations of students. Things like this and Days of Reflections were greatly beneficial to students like me. As a woman of color having talks and discussions which in a place like Potsdam was helpful. It made me and other students feel like they had a voice. I was proud that he was my teacher, and we could tell how much it meant to him. I am grateful to Professor Popovic for always thinking of others and caring."
Essance Farrell-Artis
Class of 2021
International Studies Advisory Committee
Chair (2016 - 2020)
Member (2016 - now)
I was part of the group that established the International Studies major in 2015. As the Coordinator for International Studies from 2016-2020 I got the major of fthe ground and saw it grow to 33 majors at our peak before overall enrollment at the university declined. I helped design the major and adjusted and expanded my upper-division offerings in a way that I was able to ensure my students the best possible International Relations education within the International Studies major. I restructured the major in 2019 in order to increase our students’ methods and research writing skills and to establish a concentration in International Political Economy and in Culture and History. I successfully integrated the Anthropology program into the IS major. I was able to establish a robust internship structure around the major that has allowed all students to complete their intercultural education requirement. I have guided students studying abroad through administrative and advising support. I believe that we have built quite the remarkable major for SUNY Potsdam. Our offerings, especially our applied learning offerings, are superior to many other programs.
As you see in the student profiles on my advising and mentoring page, our students have been highly successful. As I describe in my longer reflection, the economic component of our major is a central aspect in maintaining the high-quality education we have provided that has allowed dozens of students to be accepted into graduate programs and fellowships, some of which are highly selective, ranked number one in their fields, and highly prestigious. The other aspect that is crucial in allowing our students acceptance into these programs is the manifold applied learning opportunities that we provide our students. Being able to list a UN dialogue facilitator certification, a study abroad semester, an internship at the United Nations, faculty-led travel courses, language skills, on their resumes helps make them stand out. In addition, detailed and very strong letters of recommendation and comprehensive advising and support of students distinguish our students from many others even though they come from a small state school.
The unsolicited letter or recommendation from the director of the Global Engagement Program also underlines how I directly contribute to the International Studies major in ways that produce impressive students.
Here is an incomplete list of graduate programs that our students have been admitted to, are attending or have completed.
In addition to all the aforementioned activities, I also tried to enhance the
major by trying to build a community among students around the major
by providing them opportunities to engage with topics in the international
sphere beyond the classroom. Of the many examples, I want to underline
the World Forum, which I ran from 2016-2018 where I got together with
International Studies students to listen to guest speakers, watch
documentaries, or take a deep dive into current international affairs. The
event series was very successful, regularly attracting 10-20 students with
some events getting as large as 40.
I have several concrete ways in which I am laying the groundwork to more
actively help Dr. Hinckley in running the major after I return from my
sabbatical. I will continue to advocate for a full coordinator position with
a course release for the major, but I also want to lighten the burden on
my colleague and provide the best possible program for our students. I
taught my first course with a COIL component (SUNY’s Collaborative Online
International Learning) with great success. I am now planning to integrate this experience into many of my upper-division courses to allow my students to gather even more intercultural competencies by being able to work collaboratively online on projects with students in classes across the world. I hope that we can carry this great and successful major into a bright future.
1YC List of Accomplished Tasks
"Professor Popovic’s students have always been exceptionally well prepared to participate in the rigorous academic requirements of the GEP. The level of enthusiasm from these students on global affairs were instilled through his teaching."
Dr. Ş. İlgü Özler, GEP Director, SUNY New Paltz
First Year Connect (1YC) Committee
Chair (2019 - now)
The journey of the First Year Connect Program in my life and professional career has been a long and often difficult one. This program became almost all consuming at the most difficult points during summer 2020 and required an extraordinary amount of resilience, persistence, and flexibility when we reframed the entire program. This has required me to do a significant amount of research and intellectual processing along with deeply emotional learning and reflection. I have significantly increased my facilitation skills in the process and improved my leadership and organizational skills while navigating at times very tense and difficult moments and conversations. I have
invested more time and effort into this project than any
other project during my career in academia so far. I am
providing a detailed list of activities accomplished from 2019
to 2021 and a detailed reflection on approach, implemen-
tation, and results. This is a short video made by Search for
Common Ground (the world's largest peace building
NGO and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee) about 1YC.
I have worked to establish this program at SUNY Potsdam
since 2016 as I believe that facilitated intergroup dialogue
can be transformative when it comes to creating a culture
of true inclusion on our campus. The 1YC committee and
I have conducted significant research to ensure a program
that is based on trauma-informed practices to allow students to fully engage with each other when meeting online for 4 weeks right before the semester starts. 1YC and its associated anti-racism dialogue groups have involved a total of approximately 564 individuals during this pilot. Over the course of the program, I facilitated 118 dialogue sessions in 2020 and 2021. Each session required 1-5 hours of preparation and debriefing. I also chaired the 1YC Committee during this time, which has met weekly, even largely during the summers.
In Jan 2020 President Esterberg asked me
to present on 1YC in front of the SUNY Task
Force on Global Learning for All: Education
for a Sustainable Future
1YC Student Participants
I provide more information on the supporting anti-racism dialogues in the DEI section below.
The program has achieved much of what we had hoped for that can be measured in the short-term, as you can see in the 2-page summary report for Aug 20 and Jan 21 and 3-page summary report for Aug 21. Below you see some of our most important results.
This slide show also provides you with information about the timeline, content, and implementation of 1YC at SUNY Potsdam.
Unfortunately, at this point the program is suspended and it is uncertain if we can reestablish it. If the program were to be cancelled entirely at SUNY Potsdam, I would be truly devastated because I deeply believe in the approach and we have seen such promising initial results. I am providing a detailed reflection that outlines all the steps of the process and explains how challenging it has been. I remain hopeful that we can find a path forward and a transformation will occur on our campus. I am currently completing a report for Dr. Neisser, Officer in Charge, to outline the viability for 1YC at SUNY Potsdam in the future to provide the new incoming president with a comprehensive proposal to advocate for the continuation of the program.
Aug 2020
Jan 2021
Aug 2021
Total
28
133
333
489
1YC List of Accomplished Tasks
“I think this is great way to meet new people before starting the semester. Without this program, I would be arriving to Potsdam knowing absolutely nobody.”
Student – Aug 2020
“I think the most important thing I learned was how to actively listen to others and how that can lead to building upon your own knowledge. I think that the current state of society we are very separated, and dialogue can lead to respectful conversation. At the end of the day, we are all humans and most of the time we have more in common than we realize. Dialogue helps find that common ground so that you can build upon what you know and see things from a different perspective."
Student – Jan 2021
1YC
Detailed Reflection
1YC Committee Charge
“My 1YC experience has made me realize how everyone in society has the chance to be accepting and respectful of one another, but it is a matter of whether or not everyone chooses to do so. I am fortunate enough to be able to say that every participant in my group was extremely willing to listen to each other's stories and hardships when it comes to acceptance in the wider society. My group was incredible, from my perspective, because I think it can sometimes prove difficult to start conversations amongst young adults who have never met each other before.”
1YC Student – Aug 2021
Days of Reflection Committee
Chair (2018 - 2020)
Member (2016 - now)
The Days of Reflection began as a one-day event in November 2016 as a response to a Blackface incident. The organizers were a small group of faculty and staff who had been involved in conversations about race on campus for nearly two years. During that same time, students had raised concerns about racial equity and justice on campus through a number of public forums and protests. Since 2016, hundreds of SUNY Potsdam students, faculty and staff have taken part in Days of Reflection each semester. Days of Reflection is just one of the programs sponsored by the College’s Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Division of DEI has also grown, offering a range of programs such as Potsdam Diversity Ambassadors and Mentors (PDAM), Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT), and Diversity and Inclusion Action Coalition (DIAC).
Since 2017, I have given three presentations (Immigration and Race, DACA, Diverse Democracy), organized and participated in four panels, and organized multiple dialogue-related individual events. When I took on the position of Coordinator for Days of Reflection in Fall 2018 after serving for a short while on the committee, I was certainly nervous about the high-profile nature of the event and the large crowds it draws on our campus. I very much believe in the importance of the work we are doing here on campus and give it my best. I led the organization efforts for all DoR events between Fall 2018 and Fall 2020 and I hope I have not only continued the success of the events but have improved upon an already strong and important effort. The event has attracted up to 1/3 of the campus community in a few semesters and is by far the largest event series on campus. I resigned from my coordinator position at the end of Spring 2020; however, I continued to serve in the role throughout 2020 because the college had decided not to continue to support Days of Reflection and eliminated all the funding we had for the events. I think that was a catastrophic decision and its effects can be felt all across campus.
Please find a detailed list of the manifold
responsibilities of the Coordinator. Jennifer Mitchell
also discusses in great detail my contributions to the
content of Days of Reflection and its organization
during my time as Coordinator as well as before and
after. I have tried to improve Days of Reflection in a
few ways. I have standardized both the times and
locations of the event to make it easier for the
audience to find us and to know when events are
happening. I have also implemented a mandatory
pre-presentation session for each new presentation,
to allow the presenter to practice in front of a small
audience and allow our students to provide helpful
feedback from their perspective. Our feedback on
these sessions has been overwhelmingly positive
and the sessions have helped us manage potentially
problematic issues before the actual event. Lastly,
I have tried diligently to diversify both presenters
and topics along with membership in the organizing
committee. I am happy to report that we had the
most diverse set of presenters yet this past semester
and that we have an increased representation of people of color on the committee as well. During Fall 2020, we were finally able to get a presentation organized by students, more specifically the Black Student Alliance. The event was amazing and extremely well attended, which was meaningful for both the Days of Reflection Committee and BSA. I hope this cooperation will continue in the future.
Not only this event, but a number of events this past semester were among the best events we have every held. Days of Reflection is such an important event each semester for our campus and I hope that the administration will find a way to continue to fund our efforts. It is my hope that I will continue to work on the Days of Reflection Committee under the leadership of a person of color. I hope to have left behind a program that is well established and continues to be successful on our campus as an important way to sustain dialog about race. I also hope the administration will immediately reinstate funding for Days of Reflection.
“Each of his individual sessions was extremely popular and successful. After intense preparation, he began each session with a substantive introduction to the issues; he moved on to explore critical questions; and he engaged students in reflection through meaningful small-group activities. In every session, Michael’s effective pedagogy and intellectual acuity elicited tremendous engagement among the student participants. In contributing this series of presentations, he helped to forge the success of Days of Reflection – and he demonstrated his characteristic generosity, commitment, and professionalism.”
Dr. Jennifer Mitchell
“As one of the former chairs and the only person to serve on the steering committee every semester of its existence, I can say with confidence that the Days of Reflection ran best under Professor Popovic’s leadership.”
Dr. Matt LaVine
“Michael’s ability to communicate and reach consensus was remarkable. Each Days of Reflection program includes a blend of repeated sessions, new presentations, and events offered by special guest presenters. We believe that the success of the Days of Reflection program hinges upon communicating with presenters weeks or months in advance to create a relevant, powerful, and representative program. This planning includes many nuanced and, sometimes, difficult conversations among the Coordinator, Planning Committee, and Presenters. Michael had a knack for bringing tense situations to a creative resolution. His extraordinary skills in dialogue and diplomacy ensured that this process was conducted carefully and successfully.”
Dr. Jennifer Mitchell
Coordinator for Gender and Sexuality
(2018 - 2020)
“It has been a genuine privilege to work with Professor Popović, and he has made me a better educator and person through his shining example of true dedication, thoughtful compassion, powerful advocacy, and unrelenting commitment to honoring intersectionality and uplifting marginalized voices.”
Cailey Underhill
Coordinator for Gender & Sexuality
“Professor Popović also worked tirelessly to support the holistic experience of LGBTQ+ students through the creation of an LGBTQ+ support group. It became clear in the pandemic that a significant percentage of students were struggling with mental health, and that the need for additional support was particularly acute for LGBTQ+ students. Professor Popović and I collaborated with the Counseling Center at SUNY Potsdam to provide students with a weekly support group to ensure their mental health needs were met. Professor Popović demonstrated an incredible combination of professionalism, respect, compassion, reliability, and warmth that allowed those students to feel safe and seen in these challenging times. Professor Popović’s efforts in this arena were far and away above expectations, and his extraordinary commitment to ensuring that these marginalized students were receiving the support necessary for them to succeed at SUNY Potsdam was simply awe-inspiring.”
Cailey Underhill - Coordinator for Gender and Sexuality
I was beyond thrilled to be able to provide an educational and support resource for our large LGBTQ+ community here on campus. With the limited time commitment both of the co-coordinators can devote to this job, I think we accomplished significant and important work around campus while the office existed. We have trained a large number of students, faculty, and staff and were actively contributing to a more inclusive environment on campus. Over the years we expanded the services our office provided significantly to meet as many needs of the LGBTQ+ community as possible. Our activities included:
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providing approximately 60 LGBTQ+ trainings and workshops (ranging from 45 mins to 4 hours) to audiences such as
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RAs, PDAM students, Women and Gender Studies students
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Summit Program
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new faculty and new chairs, faculty of the School of Education,
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SUNY Potsdam SOAR adult education program
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leadership at Clarkson University
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local high school teachers such as Norwood-Norfolk;
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establishing and organizing 3 Lavender Graduations (two online) with national guest speakers;
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creating displays for events such as Transgender Remembrance Day;
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holding weekly 2h office hours;
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establishing and facilitating an LGBTQ+ weekly support group with a counselor from the Counseling Center;
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creating the William Dorsey Swann Remembrance Award;
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creating and maintaining a comprehensive LGBTQ+ resource webpage (page was taken down since the office does not exist currently);
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creating and facilitating LGBTQ+ dialogue facilitation specific trainings.
Given the limited resources SUNY Potsdam provided for the Office of Gender and Sexuality, the work that Cailey Underhill, the other Coordinator for Gender and Sexuality, and I accomplished is significant, and it was our impression that our work impacted and educated people. I think we were particularly effective with audiences who were genuinely interested in doing the right thing but just did
not know how. We provided historical and theoretical background that we packed in easy-to-understand formats which we adjusted according to audience and length of training. We also provided hands-on advice and suggested practices to enable audiences to enact what they had learned.
The organization of our first three Lavender Graduations was
truly meaningful and the high quality of speakers and
contributors made these events feel special. Of the many
things we accomplished I may be particularly fond of the
LGBTQ+ support group we established with the Counseling
Center during COVID. We facilitated all weekly sessions with
a counselor, and I continued supporting the group even after
I was not in my position any longer. Maybe the saddest thing
about my work as Coordinator for Gender and Sexuality is the
fact that the office does not exist currently and there are no
immediate plans to re-establish the office in the near future. Due
to the closure of the office, the webpage that Cailey and I had
built over many hours over the course of months was taken
down. This webpage included a wealth of information for the
LGBTQ+ community and provided many local, regional and
national resources ranging from coming out and
healthcare to job market advice for graduating students
to suicide prevention and trans resources. I am in the process
of returning the resources online that are not directly connected
to the office, and I will continue to advocate for the
re-establishment of the office with sufficient funding.
Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Member of the Dialogue Coordinator Committee for Anti-Racism Dialogues (2020 - 2021)
In Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, I facilitated 7 anti-racism dialogue groups (White Unlearning and Anti-Racism Groups) that met weekly for 8-12 weeks each. I facilitated one anti-racism dialogue group for weekly meetings from March 2020 to Dec 2020. Each session requires between 1 and 4 hours of preparation and debriefing. This was both methodologically innovative and extraordinarily difficult work. This work required me to both grow significantly as a facilitator and and engage in deep personal reflection and development. I benefitted tremendously from working with the other coordinators, Dr. Claudia Ford, Dr. John Youngblood, Mary C. Parker, and Dr. Matt LaVine and feel much more prepared to facilitate difficult dialogue surrounding topics of race. Measuring progress in this work can be very difficult in the area of anti-racism work, but we tried to capture some impact through surveys of participants and coordinators. Mary C. Parker combined our findings into a final report on the program, which also includes suggestions for future iterations. I am very interested in continuing this work in the future at SUNY Potsdam and elsewhere because while these dialogue groups produced mixed results like all anti-racist approaches that have been developed so far, I saw more behavioral, consciousness, and intellectual movement in people than in any of the previous work I have engaged in.
Member of the Faculty Advisory Board - Potsdam Diversity Ambassadors and Mentors (2018-2020)
I was able to serve as a member of the Faculty Advisory Board of
the Potsdam Diversity Ambassadors and Mentors after we received
a $208,000 SUNY ODEI grant to implement and execute this
program , which focused both on educating students on the large
variety of DEI issues that exist and empowering them with the skills and
tools that allow them to both advocate for these issues and mentor
incoming students from diverse and marginalized backgrounds to
help them find their way at the beginning of college in a likely very
different environment from the one they encountered in high school.
Besides attending to all my duties as a board member such as
attending meetings, constructing and executing a curriculum,
selecting new participants, and mentoring students, I also provided
training on intergroup dialogue and the LGBTQ+ community and
its history in the United States. In addition, I attended and aided 12
half-day and daylong Saturday training sessions for the students. In
all my work for this program I tried to give students background
and knowledge on important issues, but I primarily tried to help them
apply this knowledge through concrete actions with positive impacts.
When the money for the program ran out, the program came to an end as there was nobody to apply for additional funding.
Member of the Chief Diversity Advisory Committee + Ad Hoc DEI Committee (2020 - now)
After CDO Dr. Tiapo left in May 2020, our new interim CDO Dr. Ford asked me to serve on her advisory board due to institutional knowledge and content expertise. I served on the committee and have now been asked to serve on the Ad Hoc DEI Committee to support the new interim CDO during Spring 2022. It is a sad sign of the state of the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that I am now the individual with the longest institutional memory about the division who is still at the college at this time. In my role on the committees, I also try to ensure that LGBTQ+ concerns and issues are addressed and the community gets the best possible support within our significant constraints.
Presidential Champion for Transformative Educational Experiences and Diversity (2017 - 2019)
In 2017, President Esterberg asked me to serve as one of 6 college-wide champions, paired with a member of President's Council, of initiatives and reforms that were part of the strategic plan of the college. I was the only non-tenured person who was chosen for this position. Unfortunately, none of the initiatives were ever fully implemented and much of the work of the champions went unused; however, together with Dr. Tiapo, we were able to advance fairly far with a needs assessment when it comes to the ability of all students to participate in meaningful applied learning opportunities. We were able to show that there is a significant gap in access to applied learning between BIPOC and white students, mainly due to financial constraints. Ultimately, this problem has potentially been resolved due to a recent large donation to applied learning at the college, which will help students finance these activities.
Racial Justice at Potsdam (POP) Steering Committee (2015 - 2018)
POP was very much my start of doing anti-racist work here at SUNY Potsdam. I had worked on this issues at other places, but my involvement in POP connected me to the community of people that was working on this issue at Potsdam. During my time in POP I supported all activities we engaged in such as four days with guest facilitators on campus, workshops and readings with faculty, and the creation of a faculty working group. I did not assume a leadership position in POP as I wanted to spend a lot of time learning and listening to the people that had been doing this work at SUNY Potsdam for a long time.
Member of the Chief Diversity Search Committee 2021
I only served briefly on this committee. President Esterberg asked me to leave the committee to help facilitate leadership dialogues during Spring 2021. In the short time I served I tried to be a constructive member of the committee and tried to apply my dialogue skills when difficult situations arose.
Member of the Inclusive Excellence Training Committee 2020
At the end of Dr. Tiapo's time at SUNY Potsdam, she wanted to integrate our anti-racism dialogues into additional trainings for faculty on staff and assembled a group of us who would be leading the trainings. I was working with Dr. Sorensen and Prof. Eckert on a training on white privilege and a critique of the common "invisible knapsack" approach to understanding the topics. With Dr. Tiapo's departure, this initiative was not followed through on even though we had created the structure and determined the basic content of the training.
“This reveals what is perhaps Professor Popovic’s greatest strength—his ability to move from the theoretical and abstract to the practical and applied to maximize student well-being."
Dr. Matt LaVine
“Working with Professor Popović remains one of the greatest privileges of my career, and learning from him remains one of the greatest honors of my life. Over the entire course of my own education and my own work as an educator, I never learned as much about race and racism as I did when I learned to dialogue around these issues thanks to his incredible instruction. It quite literally changed lives. He took a passionate and caring group of educators and taught them how to examine racism within themselves and our larger society, he gave them the tools to begin to dismantle it, and he gave them an opportunity to apply what they learned to their experiences with their students through facilitated dialogue. He held us accountable, even when it was hard. Especially when it was hard. He believed in our capacity and gave us the support we needed to reach the bar he set. Because I had an opportunity to learn from him through this process, I have a window into the experiences of his students. It is no wonder that he has won so many awards from his students and his colleagues. He is one of most exceptional and caring educators I have ever known."
Cailey Underhill, Dialogue Participant Fall 2020
“Michael’s contributions were invaluable, and his positive personality helped to galvanize the team as we managed this large project."
Dr. Jennifer Mitchell
Chair of POP
Additional Committee Service
Member of the Diversity Attribute Review Committee (2022 - now)
After the cancellation of 1YC and the closure of the Gender and Diversity Office and my upcoming sabbatical I was looking for a useful way in which I could still help DEI initiatives on campus. Interim CDO Dr. Ford asked me if I could serve on this committee and I decided this would be a good way to still be helpful without potentially hindering the progress of a bigger project through my sabbatical absence.
Member of the First-Year Student Experience Task Force (2019 - now)
In order to help fully integrate the First Year Connect (1YC) Program into the college's orientation, I became a member of the First-Year Student Experience Task Force. My work in this context mainly centered around communication and coordination of activities and the timing of 1YC. Before 1YC in summer 2021 I worked with the Orientation Coordinator to ensure enrollment of students in 1YC.
SUNY Albany Combined BA/MIA Faculty Advisor (2018 - now)
Since the establishment of combined BA/MIA with SUNY Albany I have been the advisor to this program, while Dr. Hinckley is the advisor for the BA/MPA program. Since we have not had a student apply to the program, I have not performed those required actions. We have been successful with students successfully applying to the programs in Albany, but the student who have gone did not take advantage of the combined program because they decided too late in their studies. I will continue to help with the organization of informational and recruitment events with SUNY Albany.
Member of the Council of Chairs and Program Directors (2015 - 2020)
As the Coordinator for International Studies I served on the CCPD ex officio. I attended most of the meetings and tried to be a constructive member of the Council. I never assumed any leadership position in this work as I was one of the most junior members of this large group. As the Coordinator it was useful for me to attend these meetings as they kept me well informed about the academic division of the college.
Member Middle States Inclusive Excellence Working Group (2020)
During Fall 2020 I served on the Middle States Self-Assessment Inclusive Excellence Working Group and helped collect information to substantiate the arguments we made about the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion at SUNY Potsdam. In order to collect information, I gather documents and evidence along with interviewing campus members such as President Dr. Esterberg and Dr. Mitchell.
Applied Learning Think Tank (2016 - 2017)
The Applied Learning Think Tank has been replaced by a different organizational structure within applied learning. While it existed, I attended meeting and contributed to the work we were doing, which included aspects of funding, compensation, and organization of applied learning experiences.
Additional Service
I provide service to the college in countless other ways. Given my significant service contributions in the areas provided above, I will keep my description of my additional work short. I have contributed to advancing pedagogy on our campus through sharing my experience with First Year students on two CCI panels. I have contributed in other ways to CCI as well and have taken advantage of their offerings, especially when trying new technologies for teaching and administration.
Additionally, I have been contributing to Student Life and Residential Life through proving trainings, participating in panels, and organizating events such as election night viewings for interested students. I have trained RAs on LGBTQ+ issues and have helped them through teaching them some dialogue tools that are useful in addressing potential interpersonal conflicts. Every year I have participated in 2-5 other Student Life related events ranging from orientation to student club events. Upon invitation I have supported student efforts in a variety of ways, for instance, facilitating dialogue on difficult topics such as the 2nd Amendment and gun control and work frequently with the Political Student Association (PSA).
Furthermore, I have provided service to the college through active engagement with the tutoring program, especially for my POLS 140 Introduction to International Relations course, on campus and I have participated in Summer Advising from 2012-2019 in 1-6 sessions.
There is additional service I have provided and I am happy to discuss it if you want to see further details of how I contribute to the college.