UDiversity Educational Institute, fall 2020

The UDiversity Educational Institute provided 13 workshops with a total of 566 participants (391 undergraduate students, 101 graduate students, 30 faculty, 43 staff and one community member). This number does not include the number of participants for pre-recorded workshops. The institute facilitated its first Building Bridges to Cultural Competency Phase I workshop for the fall 2020 semester Sept. 22. This workshop examined ways to build cultural awareness for faculty and staff on campus.

The institute collaborated with both campus and off-campus partners on new initiatives this quarter. UDiversity developed and provided the State University of New York (SUNY) Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) with a cultural competency workshop. This workshop was integrated into EOP’s student leadership development series as part of its summer educational program. Workshop participants included EOP students and staff from across SUNY campuses statewide.

UDiversity also initiated an inaugural dialogue series with the Psychology Department and Residential Life focused on inclusion and equity for their faculty, staff and students. This series includes discussions focused on active listening, social identity development and culture, and incorporating anti-racism, racial healing, and equity framing and approaches to their work.

UDiversity provided training on the art of facilitation to support faculty/staff from various departments that participated in the Binghamton Common Read Experience Initiative (2020). This training assisted faculty and staff at Binghamton University in the facilitation of dialogue for first-year students living in residential life communities around the film 13th and the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. In addition, UDiversity is currently providing its Inclusive Pedagogy workshop as part of the newly mandated professional development requirement from the Division of Academic Affairs for new faculty.

Furthermore, the UDiversity Educational Institute launched its first 2-credit CDCI internship for students at Binghamton University. The goals of the UDiversity internship are to a) foster cultural competency, b) enhance self-awareness around identity and c) provide facilitation skills for students to engage in dialogue around diversity, equity and inclusion. Student interns assist UDiversity professional staff with communications and marketing, coordination of workshops/events and analyzing collected data from workshop evaluations.

Presentations this quarter were:

July 2020

• Creating Inclusion at Binghamton University (first-year students, one pre-recorded session)
• Inclusive Dialogue: Active Listening (faculty, one session)
• Inclusive Dialogue: Active Listening (students, two sessions)

August 2020

• Ensuring Inclusion in Res Life (students, one pre-recorded session)
• Creating an Inclusive Residential Community (students, one pre-recorded session)
• The Art of Facilitation: Facilitator Training for the Common Read (faculty and staff, two sessions)
• Cultural Competency Workshop for Harpur College Teaching Assistants (students, one session)
• Cultural Competency Workshop for Harpur Edge student leaders (students, one session)

September 2020

• Inclusive Pedagogy: Faculty (faculty, one session)
• Active Listening: Residential Life Professional Staff (staff, one session)
• Ensuring Wellness for All Patients: Decker School of Nursing (students, one session)
• Building Bridges to Cultural Competency Phase I (faculty and staff, one session)
• Reimagining Inclusion: Residential Life professional staff (staff, one session)