UDiversity Educational Institute, spring 2022

During this quarter, the UDiversity Educational Institute (UDiversity) provided 13 workshops for campus: six for students, six for staff and faculty. One workshop was held for community members. There was a total of 615 participants (495 undergraduate students, 40 graduate students, 27 faculty, 37 staff, and 16 community members). The UDiversity conducted its Building Bridges to Cultural Competency workshops for students and within the LEAD Program, and for faculty and staff campuswide. These workshops examined ways to build cultural awareness and foster inclusivity on campus.

The UDiversity collaborated with Residential Life this quarter to provide a cultural competency workshop on diversity, equity and inclusion in the residential halls as part of its annual resident assistant training. UDiversity provided its diversity education workshop series, Inclusive Organizations, as well. Participants were the faculty from the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies, the Theatre Department and Harpur College faculty and staff. We also curated a workshop on Inclusive Organizations for the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce for this year’s Binghamton Leadership Institute cohort, which included leaders and professionals from across the region. During this series, the participants explored team power dynamics and practices, their influence on organizational culture, and how to create inclusive policies and programs within their respective departments or organizations.

The UDiversity provided training on inclusive pedagogy for this year’s Biology Symposium. This symposium included graduate students from Binghamton University’s Biology Department and from other campuses as well. The coordinators stressed the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in the STEM fields and the need for best practices in the classroom for them as graduate assistants. The education minor also contacted UDiversity to support student efforts in their ongoing journeys to become skilled future educators, requesting training on addressing microaggressions in the classroom. We explored and discussed specific strategies for inclusion and ways to mitigate and resolve issues that may arise in the classroom.

In addition, UDiversity provided training for leadership and teambuilding using the True Colors Leadership Assessment Tool to the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) and Q Center (QC) student staff. The MRC and QC asked us to come in during their retreat to facilitate a discussion about leadership types, supervision styles, and team building. Similarly, one of the Fraternity and Sorority Life organizations APTOK, who centers themselves on friendship, service, and community, also asked UDiversity to continue working with them on leadership development. This is part of the ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion work that the department has been implementing through its collaborations with our many campus partners.

Presentations this quarter are as follows:

January 2022

• Creating Inclusive Organizations: Implicit Bias (community members, one session)
• Creating Inclusive Organizations: Implicit Bias Harpur College (faculty and staff, one session)
• Building Bridges to Cultural Competency RA Training I (staff, one session)
• Building Bridges to Cultural Competency RA Training II (staff, one session)
• Biology Symposium: Inclusive Pedagogy (grad students, one session)
• True Colors: MRC and Q Center staff (staff and grad students, one session)
• Creating Inclusive Organizations: Theatre Department (faculty, one session)

February 2022

• Addressing Microaggressions in the Classroom: Education Minor (students, one session)
• Building Bridges to Cultural Competence I (faculty, one session)
• Creating Inclusive Organizations: MEAMS (faculty, one session)

March 2022

• LEAD Workshop: Center for Civic Engagement (students, one session)
• True Colors: APTOK (students, one session)
• Building Bridges to Cultural Competency II (faculty, one session)