CONCURRENT SESSIONS
1:45 - 2:45
Workshop 1: Is Your DEI Too Loud? Building the Beloved Community
Description: Part of the work of building a safe and supportive environment for students to study and live in involves building resilience through building community and providing support to overcome challenges that might be linked to discrimination against their identities. While we would hope that changed policy would be quickly enacted, enforced, and result in changed environments, we realize as part of doing this work that systemic change requires both the work of enacting changes in policy and supporting students, staff, and faculty as we work to change the environment in which that policy will live. One of the barriers our Black students faced in gathering in the space that is supposed to be safe and affirming for them has been calls to the city police when they gather. These complaints were allegedly noise complaints because the music was too loud. In thinking about the experience of our diverse students in a very white place and thinking about what we want to do as DEI practitioners, we ask: Is our DEI too loud?
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Facilitator: Laurie Goux, West Virginia Wesleyan College
Workshop 2: Classroom and Work Incivility
Description: Examines the importance of identifying and understanding incivility in the classroom and work environment and how it affects faculty, students, and staff. Identifies strategies to prevent incivility and explores ways to improve civility for a more respectful and conducive classroom and work environment.
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Facilitator: Dr. Tracey L. Boggs, University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College
Workshop 3: “Old-Ish, White, and Woke: How Did I Get Here and How Can You?”
Description: Steeped in personal experiences of survival, acceptance, and inclusion, this unique presentation hopes to encourage individuals of all backgrounds to understand and harness their privilege to catalyze change. It emphasizes the critical role that seemingly conventional figures play in advocating for diversity and inclusion. From experiences in participating in protests and events demonstrating the pressing need for collective voices and supporting societal diversity, this compelling narrative highlights the resilience of the human spirit, the power of empathy, and the influence of global and local events on perceptions. Join us in underlining that love is victorious, and an injustice to one is a disservice to all. Let's work together for a more inclusive and understanding world.
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Facilitator: Professor of Education Warren Howard, Director of First Year Experience, Ashland Community & Technical College
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Workshop 4: Listening/Reflective Circle
This session has been created in acknowledgement of the effect the Supreme Court decision and other actions regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) may have on the higher education community as we as go about our work to intentionally move toward a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable future. In this circle experience, participants will have the responsibility to listen and the opportunity to be heard.
Listening circles have roots in Indigenous cultures around the world, and they provide individuals an opportunity to speak and listen to each other in an atmosphere of safety, decorum, and equality. The goal of this circle is to create space for shared emotional connection about the impact of decisions like Affirmative Action and Race-based Admissions Decisions and the work of DEI initiatives. This circle will provide a space for us to connect, share experiences and look to the future.
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Facilitators: Veella R. Grooms, Ed.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion, University of Pittsburgh; Robert Pleasant, Director, Office of Student Services, Ohio University Southern