2020 Spring Diversity & Inclusion Summit

Kali Fajardo-Anstine, the author of the Campus One Read book, Sabrina & Corina: Stories, will open the summit as the featured presenter. Her collection of short stories, set in Colorado, lean into themes of race, feminism, queerness, and class and explore how societal systems impact the characters in her book.  

Following a review of inclusive staff hiring processes, participants will learn and discuss different types of unconscious bias in the hiring process with examples and mitigation strategies. Additionally, this session will include scenarios and highlight the impact of unconscious bias on each stage of the recruiting process. This session will include best practices for incorporating inclusive excellence throughout the hiring process. Appropriate for all audiences. Those who have hiring responsibilities are highly encouraged to attend.

Gentrification and the effects it has on cultural identity is a prominent theme in the campus One Read, Sabrina & Corina. Today, the Denver and Boulder areas are feeling the effects of decades of gentrification and displacing communities. This panel will feature CU students and community leaders in a conversation about the issues gentrification has caused in our communities, and steps we can take to mitigate harmful effects in order to preserve our collective cultural identities.

In this inspiring presentation, Aaron and Aka Dworkin share their personal story which informed their life of social entrepreneurship and arts leadership including the Sphinx Organization, whose mission is to transform lives through the power of diversity in the arts. They will delve into the important role that diversity, arts, and creativity play in society, as well as their associated value and impact in communities. They will also share strategies surrounding innovative leadership, core skill-sets required for creative careers and the importance of staying relevant in the actively evolving landscape of the arts.

We will start with an overview of inclusive practices for the classroom. Participants will determine the gap between intent and impact by examining written reflections of underrepresented students on our campus regarding campus climate and sense of belonging. Using the student voice as a platform, we will discuss and develop activities that the Center for Teaching and Learning could provide to meet the needs of faculty, graduate students and instructors to become inclusive educators.

In this workshop, participants will learn how to identify exploitative forms of cultural appropriation as they think critically about the term and identify why this phenomenon is a problem that goes far beyond political correctness.

We will explore methods for creating inclusive classrooms for students experiencing mood disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder. Intersectional identities affect experiences of mental health challenges and access to services. This broad spectrum of impacts necessitates diverse supports and accommodations. This workshop provides tools to support students in advocating for their needs and faculty seeking intentional strategies for meeting those needs. It will also be helpful for navigating broader mental health and neurodiversity concerns.

Have you ever thought that either you or your students aren’t reading as well as you might? Do you want to see if listening to written words can reinforce visual reading, or make reading more convenient? At this workshop, you will learn how text-to-speech software on your phone or computer can turn text into spoken words. The workshop will include a special section for faculty on how text-to-speech can make classes more accessible and inclusive.

In this workshop, we’ll explore the notion that every one of us possesses greatness and only by nurturing it can we realize our full potential and power. Recognizing and embracing our unique strengths can lead to self-empowerment, increased personal resilience and even inspire those around us to tap into their potential. Thus, the power of U is the heart that gives life and light to community. Workshop participants will be asked to engage in reflective thinking and group exercises designed to stimulate personal growth and deepen the sense of community at CU Boulder. 

Established by Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano in January 2020, the CU Boulder History Project seeks to communicate to the university community CU Boulder’s rich and complicated history through intersectional perspectives that demonstrate our commitment to inclusive excellence and to the deepening of our institutional memory. This session is designed to engage a faculty panel in a discussion of the project concept followed by Q&A from the audience to enable the project's goals.

Join us for book discussions of the Diversity Summit One Read, Sabrina & Corina: Stories, by Colorado author Kali Fajardo-Anstine. These stories explore gender, race, class, and language. We'll relate the stories to the conference theme, 'Intent and Impact: Humanity in Action' by considering how societal systems impact characters in the stories and consider actions each of us can take. We invite those short on time to read either “Sugar Babies” or “Galapago.” Free print and ebook copies available from University Libraries.

In this panel discussion, international students will share their experiences as members of the CU Boulder community. Attendees will learn about challenges students have faced because of their international status. We will hear from students about the unintentional impact that certain policies and practices have on international students.

Broader Impact (BI) activity unleashes your superpower to benefit society and to advance desired societal outcomes. Join us for a discussion-based workshop that explores, plans, and measures how your teaching, research, and service fulfill these essential criteria for NSF and other funding opportunities.

At this session, we will discuss how Eye to Eye at CU empowers middle school students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD and creates a community of different learners at CU. Participants will see what we do every week by joining us in an art-based activity where we will discuss challenges faced by different learners and skills to overcome them.

CU students who are students in the Performing Voices of Womxn taught by Beth Osnes will express of their support of womxn’s voices through declarations, song, and short scenes based on issues impacting womxn on the CU campus and beyond. We will involve the audience in parts of the process of vocal empowerment for a fuller understanding of how performance-based methods can be used to support womxn’s civic participation.

Following a review of inclusive staff hiring processes, participants will learn and discuss different types of unconscious bias in the hiring process with examples and mitigation strategies. Additionally, this session will include scenarios and highlight the impact of unconscious bias on each stage of the recruiting process. This session will include best practices for incorporating inclusive excellence throughout the hiring process. Appropriate for all audiences. Those who have hiring responsibilities are highly encouraged to attend.

The City of Boulder is working to dismantle institutional and structural racism and set our city on a path toward vibrant growth for all. With the adoption of Council Resolution 1275, city leaders are being explicit about race in a culture of hiding racial inequities behind other words. The resolution acknowledges Boulder’s history of racial inequity while articulating a vision for a more equitable future. This panel discussion with city leaders is an opportunity to understand how leaders feel about the resolution and the city's work ahead.

The goal of this session is to have a community conversation to build our collective wisdom and network of support for undocumented members of our community. Rather than a panel of experts presenting to an audience, we want to draw on a broad range of experiences within and outside of university. This conversation will feature perspectives from faculty, student, staff, and off-campus community stakeholders on how the looming uncertainty of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programs is affecting the lives of students and employees in the university and larger community. We also want to broaden the scope of this conversation to frame undocumented students and employees as whole persons who are members of many different communities, in the hopes that the conversation will extend to life beyond campus. A primary goal for this conversation is to reflect on intentionality - how we can take action and extend support to families in our community who may be further impacted in the coming months.

Critical thinking is at the heart of college education in the western world. Cultivating students’ critical thinking skills is a main learning goal of college writing courses in the US. In order for the critical skills to take root and flourish in students, good critical thinking instruction should include both an affective-disposition dimension and a cognitive-skill dimension. This presentation explores how we can develop more innovative and creative approaches to teaching critical thinking beyond the disciplinary boundaries by augmenting a cognitive paradigm of learning with an approach that embraces the social, cultural, emotional, and existential contexts of the learner.

This session offers principles and practices for engaging diverse students as designers of a more equitable and inclusive campus, helping to ensure that the impacts of new approaches match our intentions. Participants will learn about Research as Leadership, which teaches the fundamentals of research while engaging students in substantive program assessment and re-design. Participants will have time to reflect on their own institutional contexts and challenges, share ideas, and leave with actionable information for their efforts to transform our campus.

When it comes to allyship, it's less about the intent, and more about the impact. I'm constantly asking myself -- am I giving energy to the people part of this group and the cause or am I taking away energy? If you're taking up space with your feelings, you're taking away the space for the group to talk about theirs. Attend this session to learn what it takes to be an effective ally in the educational workplace.

We often take for granted that our day-to-day interactions with colleagues, clients, and students are inclusive and accessible. However, “standard operating procedures” can unintentionally marginalize participants. We will discuss how Universal Design for Learning principles can guide us in making meetings, training sessions, classes, and other collaborative experiences more effective and inclusive for all. After identifying common pitfalls and brainstorming best practices, you’ll develop a personal implementation plan to bring UDL into your daily work.

Playback is a non-scripted, interactive theatre form in which audience members share true stories or experiences from their lives and see them “played back” by an ensemble of actors in ways that encourage insight across chasms of difference. Like a cross between a town hall meeting and an improvisational performance, one actor from the ensemble (“the conductor”) engages the audience in a collective conversation, asking questions that address the specific concerns of the participants, the responses are played back on the spot in non-confrontational ways that build bridges, strengthen social bonds, and lift civic spirit. In this interactive performance/workshop, members of the CU Boulder community are encouraged to share their stories, and actively engage in playback techniques.

This session will provide a brave space in which attendees can learn core principles of creating spaces that are inclusive of gender diversity. To borrow a phrase from Dungeons and Dragons, we will have a meta-gaming discussion about the reasoning behind suggested inclusive practices and how cisgender allies can place greater focus on considering and validating the impact of microaggressions gender diverse individuals experience instead of the discomfort they experience when good intentions do not land in the way in which they were intended.

This facilitated session with CU Boulder leadership from ODECE and Strategic Relations and Communications will challenge participants to consider the intentionality and embedded meanings behind everyday communications. Join us for a session that will focus on listening, sharing personal stories, and working on concrete strategies to improve communications between students and university administration. We will talk about how we communicate about diversity, equity and inclusion as a campus  and what communication strategies are effective at showing care, compassion and values. Conversations will encourage attendees to see themselves as action-takers and change-makers in enhancing campus climate. In a similar format to the previous CU Leadership Unplugged sessions at previous Summits, participants will engage with each other at tables, rotate to speak with a wide variety of people, and record their ideas for group-wide reporting at the end. 

In this workshop, two instructors (from Education and Computer Science) will guide attendees in a conversation about centering intentional language in our pedagogical practices. Intentional language can help us resist replicating pedagogical structures that assume truths about our students (i.e. gender identity, ability status, housing situation, socioeconomic status, immigration status). Attendees will learn to incorporate more intentional language into syllabi, classroom activities, assignments, and interpersonal interactions with students. The presenters will use small-group discussions and role plays to facilitate this learning. By making sure the language we choose resists replicating oppression and marginalization by making assumptions about students, we can build intentional spaces together.

In this session, we will explore moving from bias-free assessment toward assessment for social justice using a framework developed by Dr. Gavin Henning and Dr. Anne Lundquist. We will encourage participants to examine their own assessment practices and how it impacts creating an inclusive student experience.

What is the impact of just one missed person in tallying the 2020 Census? For the State budget, more than you'd think. The 2020 Census is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to shape the future of our country, state, and local communities. From the political power of zoning to federal funding for local programs, the census impacts many aspects of daily life. Yet, in 2010, the area surrounding CU’s campus was drastically undercounted and voices were underrepresented. In 2020, CU Boulder, the City of Boulder, and partner organizations are mindfully collaborating to make sure we get a complete count of our community – join us to take action and ensure that you and your community are included in the 2020 Census!

One in fifty people are diagnosed as being on the spectrum, but for a long time many of these people were invisible or seen as "weird" or "difficult." As we see more representations of self-identifying neuroatypical teenagers and young adults on television, what can we learn to be a more aware, accepting, and accommodating university? I hope to raise awareness about the presence of these students at the University of Colorado as we work toward being a more diverse and welcoming campus for all people.

Join the Center for Inclusion and Social Change for the first annual Black Diamond Empowerment dinner in celebration of Black Excellence Month. The program aims to empower the CU community by highlighting the strength, courage and wisdom of the Black experience. Attendees will be guided through reflective exercises which will facilitate the understanding of how both intent and impact are essential for effective empowerment, community building and inclusive excellence on campus and beyond.