Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement

Diversity: What's in it for me?

Schedule of Events (by room/time)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009

UMC Ballrooms

9:00 a.m.    Welcome by Summit Emcee Michael Roseberry

Opening Remarks
Chancellor Philip DiStefano
UCSU representative(s) Tri-Executive Daniel Ramos
UCSU Diversity Affairs Director Alexis M. Smith
Vice Chancellor Sallye McKee

9:30 a.m.    Keynote Address: A World of Opportunity

Never judge a search engine by its interface. Behind that simple search window is one of the most complex technology infrastructures in the world. And it’s run by an equally diverse group of people. At Google, we don’t just accept difference—we thrive on it. We celebrate it. And we support it, for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community.

Google is not a conventional company, and we don’t intend to become one. At Google, we know that every employee has something important to say, and that every employee is integral to our success. Google has offices around the globe, from Bangalore to Zurich, and regardless of where we are, we nurture an invigorating, positive environment by hiring talented, local people who share our commitment to creating search perfection and want to have a great time doing it.

Google is committed to supporting the innovators of the future who believe in the ability of technology to change the world and are as passionate about their lives as they are about their work.

Presenters
Scott Green is the Engineering Site Director at Google Boulder. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. He was the VP of Engineering at @Last Software, a Boulder-based company that developed SketchUp, a 3D modeling application used by architects, game players, and others. @Last Software was acquired by Google in March 2006. Google Boulder is an engineering center focused on Apps and Geographic software. The office also has engineering staffing, sales, marketing, and support personnel.

Amy Ho joined the Engineering Staffing team at Google in December 2006. She received her M.A. and B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature and B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She currently supports hiring for software engineers for all North America offices.

10:40 a.m.    Break

11:00 a.m.    Intersectionality—Student Panel (East Ballroom)

How do students at CU navigate their multiple and intersecting identities and communities? Questions and conversations about these issues will be explored with students giving first-hand accounts of how their intersecting identities affect their experience at CU. All are invited to attend this inspirational, thought-provoking and engaging panel of CU students from a variety of backgrounds, identities, and communities.

12:00 p.m.    The Interactive Theatre Project presents: Let Me Out!
(Middle Ballroom)

What do you do when you love someone, but you have to hide it?
Join (itp) for a performance and conversation exploring the challenges facing gay and lesbian romances in the United States today.

In (itp), you're a part of the show!
www.cuitp.org

Performers
David Gerhardt
Levi Robinson
Andrew Rosenberger
Priscila Seal
Facilitators
Rebecca Brown Adelman
Trenton Norman

1:30 p.m.    UCB Title IX: Progress and Process (West Ballroom)

In the fall of 2007, CU settled a Title IX lawsuit brought by two CU undergraduate women charging the University had failed to act on their reports of rape victimizations. One component of the settlement was the requirement of a Title IX expert to examine the CU-B campus regarding the safety and equal treatment of women on campus. Nancy Hoggshead-Makar, the agreed upon expert, recently submitted a first draft of her first report which critiques what the University is doing well and where it can still improve in achieving this important goal. This panel will be three CU members' thoughts about the University's commitment to creating an equitable and safe campus for all, regardless of gender or gender expression.

Presenters
Joanne Belknap, Professor, Sociology
Katherine Erwin, Director, Office of Discrimination and Harassment
Davian Gagne, Coordinator, Gender Violence Prevention and Education
Stephanie Wilenchek, Director, GLBT Resource Center

3:15 p.m.    BFA Diversity Committee (Main/Middle Ballroom)

The Boulder Faculty Committee on Diversity is pleased to sponsor a faculty panel as part of the SUMMIT On Diversity. Learn from faculty representatives holding diverse perspectives regarding the climate and environment on our Boulder campus. Perspectives will address strengths, concerns, and challenges regarding diversity. Discussion with panel representatives will follow their presentations.

Faculty Presenters
Willie Moers, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Bev Louie, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Adam Bradley, English
Dena Smith, Geology and Museum
Moderator
Jennifer Knievel, Libraries

UMC Rooms 382, 384, and 386

11:00 a.m.    Laotian Film Documentary (UMC Rooms 382-386)

Film: The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Filmed by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

Filmed over 23 years, THE BETRAYAL (Nerakhoon), tells the story of a Laotian family’s epic journey from war-torn Laos to the streets of New York. Nerakhoon movingly chronicles the family’s struggle to reckon with that which was left behind while forging a new and difficult life in a foreign land. The film’s co-director gives a first-hand account of his own boyhood survival of war in Laos, his later escape from persecution and arrest in Laos, his miraculous reunion with his family and their journey to America, and the second war they had to fight on the streets of New York City. His mother also gives powerful testimony of her unflagging efforts to single-handedly raise and shepherd a family of ten amidst almost constant danger. His unforgettable journey reminds us of the strength necessary to survive unthinkable conditions, and of the human spirit’s inspiring capacity to adapt, rebuild, and forgive. 2009 Academy Award nominated documentary and an Official Selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Presenter
Sunnie Gist

1:00 p.m.    Does inequality make us sick? (UMC Room 386)

Does inequality equate to poor health? We often have the idea that as people living in the wealthiest country in the world that we are the healthiest people in the world. We will be using “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick” a new documentary by the California Newsreel to examine health disparities in our society and how social and economic justice, racial equality and caring and connected communities can improve our health and well being.

Community Health, a division of Wardenburg Health Center, is the public health outreach program for CU Boulder. This session will be facilitated by Student Coordinators from Community Health.

2:00 p.m.    SkillPort/SkillSoft (UMC Rooms 382-384)

What is SkillPort/SkillSoft CU online learning and what can it do for you.
The University of Colorado, Employee Learning and Development office provides continuous learning opportunities for university employee groups: faculty, exempt professional staff, classified staff and student workers. The objective is to provide high quality and effective learning programs that maximize employee performance and job satisfaction. That is where SkillPort/SkillSoft, comes in. It is CU’s employee learning management system that can be accessed through the myCU portal. SkillPort/SkillSoft offers a wide array of standard online courses. CU employees will also have access to more than 6,800 titles through the largest online book resource, Books 24x7. SkillPort/SkillSoft educational product model is flexible, allowing you to utilize SkillSoft courses in any of the following areas:

• Staff Training and Development
• Credit toward Undergraduate Degree Programs
• Continuing Education and Non-Credit Certificate Programs
• Alumni Relations
• Executive Education
• Contract Training
• Faculty Adoption
• e-learning Resource for campus Libraries

We encourage all CU employees to explore and take advantage of this value-added training tool.

Presenter
Sunnie Gist

2:30 p.m.    Can and Should I be Here? Gender and Self Efficacy in STEM Education (UMC Room 386)

Come explore, in a minds-on workshop, issues surrounding gender differences in Self Efficacy as they relate to STEM education. How do beliefs in one’s ability to perform impact actual performance? Let’s together explore the research about how gender differences favor men in STEM self-efficacy, and the potential relationship between self-efficacy and probability of success in STEM fields. And, let’s discuss ways that each of us can help develop students’ self efficacy in their pursuit of a STEM futures.

Presenter
Professor Jackie Sullivan

4:00 p.m.    Adult students at CU-Boulder: Benefits and Barriers
( UMC Room 386)

In 2002, the National Center for Education Statistics released a report indicating that forty-six percent of adults ages twenty-five and older were engaged in some type of formal education. According to the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, the enrollment of students in Colorado age twenty-five and older grew twenty-two percent from 2002 to 2005. Nearly half a million veterans are expected to enroll in colleges and universities in the next two years as a result of the new GI bill. The average age of veterans disengaging from the military is twenty-four.

These statistics and others point to one thing – the number of adults returning to or starting college degrees is only growing. This means it is more likely for first-time degree-seeking students to be parents, to be working full-time, and in need of services and support most traditional campuses are now scrambling to create on the fly.

This panel presentation seeks to highlight the benefits of being an adult student, as well as the institutional barriers that make continued education so hard-won. We will also look at the benefits a campus enjoys when adult students are more specifically provided for. Joining adult students from CU-Boulder will be a representative from either WICHE or CDHE to discuss adults as learners and the impacts on higher education state- and nation-wide. The panelists will be introduced to the audience and asked a “kick-off” question to get the conversation started. Members of the audience will then be encouraged to ask panelists their own questions.

Presenters
Sally Van Meter, Junior in Film Studies
Gunnar Shroyer, Freshman in Philosophy
Jeffery Willet, Ethnic Studies BA 2008
Demaree Michelau, Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education
Matt McKeever, Colorado Department of Higher Education

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2009

UMC Room 235

12:00 p.m.    Interim Provost Stein Sture

Guest Speaker: John Tayer
What the Heck Does this White Guy Have to Say about Diversity?

John Tayer currently is employed as the Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Roche Colorado, a pharmaceutical company located in Boulder. In this position, John is the first point of contact for citizen and media inquires concerning company activities and guides Roche Colorado’s community engagement efforts.

In his free time, John serves as the elected representative from the Boulder area, District O, to the Regional Transportation District (RTD) Board of Directors. He also is Board Chair for the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, a Board Member with the local non-profit recycling agency, Eco-Cycle, and sits on the community advisory board for Avista Hospital.

A native of Brookline, Massachusetts, John earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the University of Colorado. John currently resides in South Boulder with his wife, Molly, and one demanding feline.

2:00 p.m.    Disabilities and Digital Accessibility

Principles of Universal Design for Learning:
Provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge.
Provide multiple, flexible methods of expression and apprenticeship, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know. David H Rose, Ed. D., Harvard Graduate School of Education.
This workshop will cover what Universal Design is and why to use it, some alternate types of access to information used by CU-Boulder students, and the principles of Universal Design to help reach more people more effectively.
While Universal Design for learning may be a terminology that is new to some, most will recognize it as another name for what they have been doing all along—good teaching.

Presenter
Catherine Stager Kilcommons

UMC Room 325

9:00 a.m.    SkillPort/SkillSoft

What is SkillPort/SkillSoft CU online learning and what can it do for you.
The University of Colorado, Employee Learning and Development office provides continuous learning opportunities for university employee groups: faculty, exempt professional staff, classified staff and student workers. The objective is to provide high quality and effective learning programs that maximize employee performance and job satisfaction. That is where SkillPort/SkillSoft, comes in. It is CU’s employee learning management system that can be accessed through the myCU portal. SkillPort/SkillSoft offers a wide array of standard online courses. CU employees will also have access to more than 6,800 titles through the largest online book resource, Books 24x7. SkillPort/SkillSoft educational product model is flexible, allowing you to utilize SkillSoft courses in any of the following areas:

• Staff Training and Development
• Credit toward Undergraduate Degree Programs
• Continuing Education and Non-Credit Certificate Programs
• Alumni Relations
• Executive Education
• Contract Training
• Faculty Adoption
• e-learning Resource for campus Libraries

We encourage all CU employees to explore and take advantage of this value-added training tool.

Presenter
Sunnie Gist, Facilities Management HR Training Coordinator

UMC Rooms 382, 384, and 386

9:00 a.m.    Lazy Wisdom (UMC Room 382)

This session reflects some ideas of presenting and experiencing the excitement and insights of lazy wisdom. Lazy wisdom does not require students to hold particular shared beliefs on methods of processing daily tasks. Beyond our conventional modes of processing, it enables them to develop techniques to apply their own individual perceptions and beliefs. Can we learn to shut off our rational, analytic minds (“left brain”) and get a little bit lazy? Too often our conventional wisdom can slide too far into a habitual, unexamined mode that is over absorbed in technical fashions of our culture and era.

This session develops a model for making progress in loosening up our perceptions, to see if we can begin to flush out some old obstructive mindsets while tapping into the additional insights of lazy wisdom. New understanding in how the brain processes and rewires itself supports the concept of engaging lazy wisdom (“right brain”) activities as one way to fully experience what it is to be a truly diverse human. We will address transformational knowledge as compared to informational knowledge and discuss barriers to our awareness. It has been the age of the “knowledge worker”, the “left brain” teacher of expertise. We are entering a new age that is animated by a different form of thinking, “right brain”, and a new approach to life.

Presenters
Professor Melinda Piket-May
Lisa Slezak-Moser

10:00 a.m.    The Center for Multicultural Affairs and ODECE:
Progressing toward Inclusive Excellence (UMC Room 386)

Learn about the new strategic direction for the Center for Multicultural Affairs and the public programming that is being offered for all on the campus. Hear about the academic engagement for students from first-generation backgrounds and underrepresented communities that is being emphasized in the Center. Hear about how this plan/direction articulates with the broader vision of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement—ODECE.

Presenters
Justina Boyd
Jason Luerssen
William Takamatsu Thompson

10:30 a.m.    Engaging Minds, Transforming Communities: The Importance of Service and Civic Engagement (UMC Room 384)

“Democracy is the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people” (Henry Emerson Fosdick, Harpers Monthly Magazine, November 1925).

The health of our communities and democracy depends upon an informed and engaged citizenry. It is incumbent on each of us to be civically involved in some form and contribute to the common good. To look outside our own small world, reach out to help others and add to the vitality and strength of our campus, community, state, nation and world.

CU-Boulder students are increasingly demonstrating a renewed spirit of civic engagement. Come hear and discuss why it is everyone’s responsibility to be civically involved, the multiple benefits of doing so and opportunities to fulfill the civic calling of each and every one of us.

Presenter
Peter Simons, PIIE

10:30 a.m.    Retaining Diversity in the College of Engineering:
What Factors are Most Important (UMC Room 382)

A focus of concern at CU Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science is the declining retention rate of women that has dipped below that of men in the College recently. A survey consisting of 41 questions was distributed to all undergraduate engineering women in March 2009 that incorporates scales from the Assessing Women in Engineering (AWE) assessments and from the Academic Pathways of People Learning Engineering Survey (APPLES). Five research questions were posed in the survey design:

• Do women express a loss of interest during their program?
• Is there a chilly climate for women in the college?
• Do women’s self-efficacy levels change during the program?
• Do academic performance levels play a role in women’s retention in engineering?
• Do women have an adequate support structures in the college?

Presenters
Katie Corner
Professor Bev Louie
Dr. Daniel Knight

11:00 a.m.    Negotiating at an Uneven Table (UMC Room 382)

The definitions of reality with which we operate, both as a species and individually, are largely a matter of social construction. Our frame on reality is a critical dimension in our approach to an uneven table. All negotiation tables are uneven to some degree, although participants may ignore this fact, which only intensifies the unevenness. Traditional ways of responding to unevenness often sustain conflict and are largely manipulative. In this session we will explore addressing the unevenness at a given table constructively and thereby construct new social realities. If we were a social system that enjoyed diversity we might not be so nervous about the new social realities. We are a culture that likes right answers which at some level creates conflict. May the best person win.

Presenters
Professor Melinda Piket-May
Lisa Slezak-Moser

1:00 p.m.    Environmental Inequality (UMC Room 382)

Liam Downey, an associate professor of sociology, will share his research on environmental inequality in the U.S. Professor Downey’s research shows that African Americans and single mothers with young children compose a disproportionate share of the population living in the most polluted neighborhoods in America. His talk will also explain that blacks experience such a high air-pollution burden that black households with incomes of $50,000 to $60,000 live in neighborhoods that are, on average, more polluted than the average neighborhood in which white households with incomes less than $10,000 live. Professor Downey’s research challenges the claim that blacks’ “life chances” are more constrained by socio-economic class than by race.

Presenter
Professor Liam Downey

1:00 p.m.    Laotian Film Documentary (UMC Room 386)

Film: The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Filmed by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

Filmed over 23 years, THE BETRAYAL (Nerakhoon), tells the story of a Laotian family’s epic journey from war-torn Laos to the streets of New York. Nerakhoon movingly chronicles the family’s struggle to reckon with that which was left behind while forging a new and difficult life in a foreign land. The film’s co-director gives a first-hand account of his own boyhood survival of war in Laos, his later escape from persecution and arrest in Laos, his miraculous reunion with his family and their journey to America, and the second war they had to fight on the streets of New York City. His mother also gives powerful testimony of her unflagging efforts to single-handedly raise and shepherd a family of ten amidst almost constant danger. His unforgettable journey reminds us of the strength necessary to survive unthinkable conditions, and of the human spirit’s inspiring capacity to adapt, rebuild, and forgive. 2009 Academy Award nominated documentary and an Official Selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Presenter
Sunnie Gist

2:30 p.m.    Licensing Partnerships—Grass-Roots Minority Recruitment Efforts (UMC Room 382)

This session will describe Vamos Bufaloes, developed through a recognized high school need and the desire of a licensee to bring a brand to life. Thus, students who typically would not consider themselves as the CU-Boulder students and members of the campus visit the University, experience the dormitories, meet professors, and tour the campus. Students then learn and understand how they can become members of the CU-Boulder community.

Presenters
Joan Jahelka
Mike Novick

UMC Rooms 415-417

9:00 a.m.    How to become an Ally

Anyone can be an Ally, as we all possess areas of privilege; however, the title of Ally is not one to be taken lightly. This program seeks to provide some basic definitions (diversity vs. social justice, privilege/oppression) on which to build the foundation of what an Ally is and what it takes to be one. The majority of this workshop focuses on interactive activities to help participants with the first step to being an Ally: to be educated about your own personal reality.

Facilitators
Michele L. Richey and Colleen M. Schmidt

11:00 a.m.    Sometimes I feel like the enemy: Facilitated Conversations

If you have not usually considered yourself as a diverse person, it can be
intimidating and sometimes difficult to begin the process of education
enrichment that comes with being an ally. There many difficult hurdles
and uncomfortable questions to ask on the path to understanding your
own personal reality. You may even feel that because you have not
experienced oppression and inequality that you may not have the ability to understand the problems or ways to address solutions.
These breakout conversations, facilitated by many of our campus
leaders, will seek to encourage you to be a partner in diversity and
inclusion by exploring the issues of race, identity, sexual orientation,
sexual identity, and gender; and how these elements of personal identity
and various accumulated personal advantages can be utilized as tools to
further our university and nation’s goals toward an inclusive society.

There will be several different breakout sessions for each topic, followed
by a simple reception.

Algunas veces me siento como si fuera el enemigo: Conversaciones en grupos
Si usted, por lo general, no se considera o ha considerado como una persona diversificada o diferente, esto puede ser intimidante y algunas veces difícil para comenzar el proceso del enriquecimiento de la educación que se obtiene cuando se es un(a) aliado(a). Existen muchos obstáculos difíciles y preguntas incomodas de hacer en el camino para entender la realidad de su propia personalidad. Usted inclusive podría hasta sentir que debido a que no ha experimentado opresión y desigualdad pensaría que no tiene la habilidad para entender los problemas, o la manera para buscarle la solución a dichos problemas. Estas sesiones de conversaciones, ofrecidas por muchos de nuestros líderes de la universidad, buscarán la manera de cómo animarlo(a) a ser una persona que forme parte de la diversidad y la inclusión al explorar los temas sobre la raza, la identidad, la orientación sexual, la identidad sexual, y los géneros; y cómo estos elementos de identidad personal y las múltiples ventajas acumuladas pueden ser utilizadas en un futuro como una herramienta para avanzar en nuestras metas de la universidad y la nación hacia una sociedad inclusiva.

Habrá varias sesiones por separado para cada tema, seguidas por una recepción.

1:00 p.m.    How to become an Ally

(See description above)

3:00 p.m.    Sometimes I feel like the enemy: Facilitated Conversations

(See description above)

4:30 p.m.    Reception for Summit participants, presenters, and community