What Works in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Full Agenda

All times are Eastern.

Wednesday, June 1

Our conference begins with concurrent 2-hour workshops. Each workshop requires separate registration.

10 a.m.

• "Create a More Inclusive Syllabus." Register here.
  Jedidiah Rex, Instructional Designer & Technologist, Lawrence University.
  Roslyn M. Theisen, Grant Evaluation Analyst & Coordinator, Lawrence University. 
  • This workshop will lead participants in an exploration of what it means to create a more inclusive syllabus and why it is important to do so. Participants will be given the opportunity for structured peer-to-peer discussion.
    
    Workshop participants will review the inclusive syllabus rubric tool, discuss why inclusive syllabi are important, and summarize and compare elements of an inclusive syllabus. Participants will analyze syllabi for inclusive elements and create an evaluation and action plan for making their own syllabus more inclusive.
• "Help Yourself Help Others: Updating Your Self Care Toolbox." Register here.
  Heather Petersen, Sales Floor Manager-Bookstore, LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee member, Campus Mediator, Kenyon College.
  • The premise of my presentation is the importance of self care. In helping and teaching professions, we place a great value on the people we serve. When we remember self care as a first step piece of that process, it becomes a whole experience that benefits all involved. As a holistic practitioner and proud Kenyon community member, I'm interested in introducing simple meditation practices that faculty can use themselves and in their classrooms. I'd like to appropriately, but frankly, address the toll the pandemic has taken on our campus and how gratitude exercises can bring light to our hearts and learning spaces. I'd like to share some tools we can use to daily affirm and lift each other up as a Kenyon community, but in this context, focusing on faculty departments and their support staff. It's important to honor what we have been through and celebrate connection, seeing the unmasked faces of our colleagues again and coming out on the other side of this pandemic. This is a new chapter with exciting opportunity ahead!
• "Landback Acknowledgements as Living Documents." Register here.
  Simon Garcia, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Kenyon College
  Patrick Bottiger, Associate Professor of History, Kenyon College
  H. Abbie Erler, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kenyon College
  Sara Pfaff, Visiting Assistant Professor of American Studies and English, Kenyon College
  Orchid Tierney, Assistant Professor of English, Kenyon College
  • Kenyon's existing land acknowledgment implies engagement beyond inclusion in one's syllabus. This workshop will create a space for participants to seek, share, and develop ideas on how we engage with ‘land acknowledgements’ as ‘landback acknowledgements’. In addition to discussing Kenyon’s land acknowledgement, we hope to learn practices that will normalize these statements as living and changing documents in the classroom and course activities, and for scholarly activities such as conference papers and presentations. Moreover, we will address our various positionalities and the function of a landback acknowledgement in relation to predominantly white institutions and allyship. Additional goals include: (a) exchange feedback and ideas for further engagement with local Indigenous groups and Indigenous students; (b) explore modes of personal and professional engagement (e.g., financial support for AIC fund, reparations, advocacy for new policies, critical review of curriculum).

2 p.m.

• "Help! I’ve Failed a Student! Fostering an Empathy of Failure." Register here.
  Orchid Tierney, Assistant Professor of English, Kenyon College
  Charlotte Woolf, Visiting Assistant Professor of Studio Art, Kenyon College
  Krista Dalton, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Kenyon College
  • “[E]ducation,” as bell hooks claimed, is “about the practice of freedom.” If our classrooms can open up possible futures, what does it mean to fail a struggling student during the global pandemic? How do we balance between empathy, equity, and classroom success? Can an F provide new opportunities for student achievement?
    
    This workshop aims to reorient the conversation about the dreaded “F” and to imagine the enmeshment of failure, fairness, and freedom. The first 50 minutes will focus on discussion and pre-circulated readings that restructure failure to notions of risk and risk taking. The second section of the workshop will focus on skill sharing, problem sharing, and strategy development.  
• "Integrating Emotional Intelligence & Growth Mindset to Create Equity, Empower, Build Self-Efficacy, and Grow Intelligence." Register here.
  David R. Katz III, Professor Emeritus, Mohawk Valley Community College, & Consultant
  • In this multi-dimensional, interactive, experiential, and fun presentation we will learn: teaching equitably is about empowering all our students, and empowering all our students requires positive, safe, connected, and affirming relationships. As educators we have a profound impact upon the emotional state of the students we engage with each day, and the neuroscience confirms that the affective domain powerfully impacts cognition, persistence, motivation, self-efficacy, and performance. We will practice skills that create inclusive, positive, motivated, equitable collaboration. The primary objective is to empower us as educators by wrapping skill around these research based concepts in order to create more equitable and transformational learning environments.

Thursday, June 2

All sessions on June 2 and 3will use the same Zoom link; please register here to attend either day.

9 a.m.

• "Flipping the Berg: Using the Iceberg Model of Culture to Understand Students"
  Robin Hart Ruthenbeck, Dean of Student Development, Kenyon College
  Marne Ausec, Director of the Center for Global Engagement and Affiliated Scholar in Anthropology, Kenyon College
  • Hall’s Iceberg Model of Culture (1976) is a visual representation of the varying levels of culture. Central to this theory is the idea that there is more to culture (in this case students) than we see on the surface. This panel will explore the various icebergs we encounter in our work with students and will allow participants to utilize this framework to better understand student behaviors and characteristics.

10 a.m.

• "Promoting successful student transitions to college STEM courses with a metacognitive skills-based peer mentoring program"
  Annabel Edwards, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Denison University
  Ayana Hinton, Associate Professor of Biology, Denison University
  Chris Weingart, Associate Professor of Biology,  Denison University
  Cristina Caldari, Assistant Professor of Biology, Denison University
  • All students are vulnerable to “transition traps” as they enter college-level introductory science classes. Deep-seated institutional racism within the US educational system sets up students from historically marginalized backgrounds to be particularly vulnerable, and therefore disproportionately affected by these cognitive “traps”. Careful mentoring and monitoring through this transition is thus crucial for equipping and supporting these students to navigate the transition effectively. Denison science faculty in collaboration with Leonard Geddes from The LearnWell Projects developed a peer mentoring program, the Peer-Learning Strategist (PLS) program, to aid students through cognitive challenges in their introductory science class. This program is aimed at training students to use metacognition techniques in order to adapt more quickly to the expectations of the college classroom and to improve their learning overall. Our presentation will include voices from program constituents including student peer learning strategists and faculty. We will describe the foundations and successes of Denison’s PLS program including our student training curriculum, the logistics of PLS/learner sessions and assessment of the program. We will also include additional plans to sustain the program so that we reach our goal of equipping all Denison students with tools necessary for a successful transition to STEM learning in college.

1 p.m.

• Keynote: "Why Might DEI *Not* Work? Towards Socially Just Care in Institutions."
  Maha Bali, Associate Professor of Practice, Center for Learning and Teaching, American University in Cairo
  • In this interactive session, participants will explore together the ways in which social injustice is multidimensional and multilayered, and discuss particular examples of initiatives meant to promote social justice but don't quite succeed. We will explore ways of conceptualizing and enacting social justice in our practice as educators, particularly moving towards a "socially just care" (Bali & Zamora 2022) model in our institutional planning, and Intentionally Equitable Hospitality (Bali et al, 2019) in our teaching.

2:10 p.m.

• "Student Self-Assessment of Participation"
  Marie Snipes, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Kenyon College
  • Student participation is an essential component of the classroom environment, but one that is difficult for an instructor to assess. Students often equate frequent speaking in class with effective participation — while asking questions or contributing thoughts to a whole-class discussion are certainly valuable, they are not the only way for students to participate. In this talk, I will describe the student participation reflection activity that I developed for my mathematics classes this year. In addition to providing useful feedback on how my students approach learning mathematics, the activity generated insights for students on the connection between their participation in class and their learning.
• "Rethinking the Bioethics Trigger Warning in a Collaborative Mode"
  Alexandra Bradner, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Kenyon College
  Holly Baker, Associate Director of Counseling, Kenyon College
  Samantha Jones Hughes, Civil Rights & Title IX Coordinator, Kenyon College
  • Bioethics courses that address the ethics of birth, illness, sex, and death cover a number of sensitive topics, including the ethics of abortion, elective surgery, collegiate hookup culture, and assisted dying in persons with mental illness, among many others. The course materials can be difficult for students managing these issues in their personal lives. Professors must figure out how to responsibly teach (at least parts of) the canon without hurting anyone. One way to do this is to make it possible for students to avoid certain topics by offering choices in the assignment structure, not requiring attendance at every class session, and informing students early on about the course content. Faculty often accomplish the last item with some kind of syllabus statement. But such statements are typically brief and written by the faculty member alone, without input from the relevant campus professionals. In this session, we will present the result of a faculty-administrator-student collaboration aimed at producing a more informed and complete syllabus warning, one that meets DEI, Title IX, and counseling center best practices. Our process was an efficient one that faculty members on other campuses might easily replicate. So often, after a harm has occurred, faculty, students, and administrators are pitted against one another. With some pre-emptive collaboration, the hope is that colleges can offer responsible, contentful courses, without damaging anyone.
• "Reflecting and Responding to Case Studies on Diversity!"
  Ronda Gray, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Teacher Education,
  Director, Prairie Area Teaching Initiative (PATI), University of Illinois at Springfield
  • To prepare them for their careers, pre-service teachers reflect and respond to real-world case studies on diversity and social justice. Topics ranged from race, religion, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and culture, sexual orientation, and more. Using case studies promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They see the correlation between these studies and the similarities they might encounter. Classroom discussion is compelling and engaging, as we are eager to share and learn from each other. Although there are no correct answers to each case, pre-service teachers agreed with most solutions. They stated they are becoming more comfortable creating a classroom where they advocate for students who are not in the majority and understand the importance of speaking up. Many pre-service teachers can provide stories. The activity is valuable for students in all programs. It impacts not only the teaching career, but all communities.

3:20 p.m.

• "Supporting Executive Function Skill Development in Neurodivergent and Neurotypical Students For Maximum Academic Wellness"
  Megan Sheldon, Academic Coach and Tutoring Center Coordinator, Champlain College
  • Do you ever wonder why a student can’t just “get it together” and turn in their assignments on time, or why their academic performance varies so widely? It’s all too easy to write this off, but their executive function profile may be playing a role - and it’s developmentally appropriate for many students, including so-called “neurotypicals,” to be refining their EF skills until the age of 25 or so.
    
    Thriving academically at college can be challenging for many students for reasons that have nothing to do with their intellectual/cognitive capacity, the rigor of their preparatory experiences, or their dedication or motivation. When students underperform relative to their cognitive ability, they may be struggling with executive function - a set of learnable skills with significant implications for our ability to prioritize, plan, organize, inhibit our responses, self-monitor, manage the competing demands on our time, and initiate and complete our work in a timely way.
    
    The great news is that executive function is a skillset over which we, as faculty and staff, have substantial influence. And once we learn to see these skills for what they are — and separate them from old ideas about “motivation,” “self-discipline,” or “competence,” we begin to create academic settings where our most creative, divergent thinkers can make their greatest contributions — which is a win for all of us. Let’s do this.
• "Toward More Equitable and Student-Centered Participation Evaluations"
  Ashley Kennard, Assistant Professor of Communications, Ohio Wesleyan University
  
  • It is well established that meaningful participation in the classroom is linked to greater learning outcomes (e.g., Ko et al., 2016; Wilson et al., 2007). Rogers (2013) found that roughly 75% of instructors report including participation in their final grades. Often, these grades are subjectively calculated at the end of the semester, leaving them vulnerable to instructor bias. Additionally, participation grades are often operationalized as vocal contributions made during class discussion, exposing the possibility for a scenario in which students’ nonverbal contributions are overlooked (Chessey, 2021). Whether or not a student participates often and/or verbally may be rooted in differing intercultural limitations and/or expectations (Ko et al., 2016). More engaged pedagogies evaluate and provide feedback at midterms, while others suggest abandoning instructor-assessed participation grades and doing peer-assessments instead (Arnold, 2021). However, as Chessey (2021) acknowledges, this method is still problematic in terms of the potential for implicit and explicit cultural biases. Additionally, these methods may be cumbersome to execute. Others suggest abandoning participation grades altogether (Gonser, 2021; Lang 2021), which may present challenges of motivation. I am in the process of developing a student-centered approach in which students self-evaluate course participation and report feedback periodically throughout the term. This method is proving to be more transparent and negotiable, as well as more equitable. In future installments, students will actively participate in drafting the rubric and determining how participation will be quantified. So far, this approach has resulted in increased participation, both synchronously and asynchronously, as well as online and in-person.
• "You Never Even Call Me By My Name"
  Marne Ausec, Director of the Center for Global Engagement and Affiliated Scholar in Anthropology, Kenyon College
  Rebecca Eckart, Associate Director of International Students & Scholars, Kenyon College
  Yegor Sorokin, Program Coordinator for International Students and Scholars, Kenyon College
  • In 1975 David Allan Coe wrote a song lamenting that one of his sweethearts had never even called him by his name. The last line is "Why don't you ever call me by my name." In true country fashion, this is a cause for much lamenting. In a different genre, Shakespeare implied that names were not particularly important. This may be true for inanimate objects, but for people, names-their meaning, pronunciation, order, can have deep meeting. A name is a part of a person's personal, familial, and cultural identity. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough. As Warshan Shire wrote "My name does not allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right." While names may seem difficult to pronounce correctly, doing so creates a classroom space where students can thrive. This presentation will showcase a number of students saying their name, the way they would like it to be said. There will be time for a short discussion so that participants will walk away with resources to begin conversations about names in their classrooms.

Friday, June 3

All sessions on June 2 and 3 will use the same Zoom link; please register here to attend either day.

10 a.m.

• "Intersectional Identity & Neurodiversity in a Higher Education Environment"
  Cory Davis, Director of Community Standards, Champlain College
  Ian Fournier, Assistant Director of Housing & Residential Life, Champlain College
  Faith Yacubian, Assistant Professor of Education & Human Studies, Champlain College
  Megan Sheldon, Academic Coach and Tutoring Center Coordinator, Champlain College
  
  • This panel explores the intersectional identities of working with college students in the 21st century. Presenters will share their important impacts of neurodiversity and personal identity in looking to create welcoming and inclusive environments for students. Emphasis will also be focused on promoting how faculty can better understand and acknowledge the lived experiences of their students to promote their successful retention and persistence in a collegiate setting. This session will help inspire attendees to understand why knowledge, appreciation, and actualization of these identities can lead to greater student success, achievement, and satisfaction.

11:10 a.m.

• "Finding What Works in Faculty-to-Faculty DEI Development"
  Caroline Toy, Learning Experience Designer, Champlain College
  Elizabeth Allen-Pennebaker, Assistant Professor, Core Division, Champlain College
  Tarn Foerg, Associate Professor, Education and Human Studies, Champlain College
  David Mills, Dean, Core Division, Champlain College
  Rebecca Mills, Director, Center for Learning and Teaching, Champlain College
  Rowshan Nemazee, Associate Professor, Core Division, Champlain College
  Kerry Noonan, Associate Professor, Core Division, Champlain College
  Van Dora Williams, Associate Professor, Communication and Creative Media, Champlain College.
  • As awareness of the need for meaningful DEI action increases, colleges must balance multiple priorities: creating and filling leadership roles, hiring for equity, establishing community norms and policies, supporting students who are minoritized, and training employees, to name a few. What, in this field of work, is the role of faculty? Some faculty have no formal training in inclusive pedagogy, anti-racism, understanding gender and sexuality, and other DEI-relevant topics, while others are experts in these fields. How can faculty who are committed to their own knowledge, growth and integration in the work, model and call-in their peers to work collectively towards better, more inclusive experiences for ourselves and our students?
    
    In this session, Champlain College faculty and staff who have organized and led various peer education projects will share their experiences. The audience will hear from faculty who have facilitated workshops on White-centrism in higher education, organized small anti-racist discussion circles, led faculty reading groups on anti-racist works, produced self-education materials on recognizing and accommodating students’ religious practices, developed faculty connections with local Indigenous communities, and more. Panelists will discuss the process of creating and executing these projects, the feedback they have received, and the impact that these peer education programs have had on participants’ teaching. The panel will also discuss the benefits of faculty-led initiatives as compared to development opportunities sponsored by Champlain’s Center for Learning and Teaching and official college DEI training requirements.

1 p.m.

• Keynote: "The Promise and Practice of Inclusive Teaching"
  Bryan Dewsbury, Associate Professor of Biology, Florida International University

2:10 p.m.

• "Dialogue Across Difference: First Year Seminar"
  Luisa Bieri, Associate Professor of Cooperative Education, Community Arts & Performance, Antioch College
  Kevin McGruder, Associate Professor of History, Antioch College
  • In 2017, we formed part of a small working group of Antioch College faculty to design and implement a new, required first year seminar to build skills of intercultural dialogue and address ongoing issues of campus climate. The course, Dialogue Across Difference has now been offered to all incoming new students since the 2018-19 academic year. It is designed to give students an introduction to the history, theory, and practice behind effective intercultural dialogue and an opportunity to practice skills associated with dialogue across difference, recognizing a multiplicity of viewpoints and engaging different ideological perspectives. It engages an intersectional approach for deepening an understanding of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion and national origin. The course is designed to be highly participatory and practice-driven. In this session, we will share some of the highlights and lessons learned from teaching and learning of Dialogue Across Difference at Antioch.
• "A Return to Humanity in Teaching"
  Stephanie M. Foote, Senior Associate Vice President for Teaching, Learning, and Evidence-Based Practices, Gardner Institute
  • This session will explore ways to return to the humanity in teaching by understanding ourselves and our students and using these collective understandings to create inclusive and responsive learning environments, regardless of course modality.
    
    The session will begin with a focus on “understanding ourselves” because to create learning environments that are truly engaging, inclusive, and equitable, we must reflect on the influence of our own identities and values. Following this reflection and conversation, we will explore ways in which we might use this personal understanding to humanize our pedagogy.
    
    Then, we will explore strategies and approaches that allow us to develop a deeper understanding of who our students are and how they identify. Examples of beginning of course surveys and short reflective activities will be shared, and then we will consider how these course micro data can be collected and used in the design and delivery of our own courses.
    
    Next, we will focus on ways in which we can apply our learnings to our courses, focusing on small changes that are evidence-based and applicable across the disciplines and course modalities. Specifically, we will emphasize two critical aspects of inclusive classrooms, communicating belonging and designing for access and inclusion.
    
    Finally, we will reflect on and commit to ways we can incorporate the strategies, approaches, and ideas from the session into our own teaching practice. To this end, participants will leave with a plan to employ small course changes with the goal of communicating belonging and designing for access and inclusion.
• "Reframing Deficit Thinking: Possibilities for Asset-Based Course Instruction"
  Michele Nobel, Assistant Professor of Education, Director of Elementary, Inclusive Elementary, & Special Education Programs, Ohio Wesleyan University.
  • Deficit thinking or negative mindsets can be a barrier to inclusion and student success. Particularly in small college classrooms, these barriers could be more pronounced. Classes are intentionally smaller to capitalize on relationship building and to allow for more student engagement. If professors are unaware of their own deficit thinking or the ways it could be present in their courses, it is likely there will be negative effects on student relationships and/or performance.
    
    This session will explore how one professor challenged deficit thinking in course design and delivery to promote more inclusivity in the college classroom. Intentional use of language, universal design for learning principles, and utilizing a variety of methods for students to demonstrate acquisition and mastery of content can provide a more asset-based approach to instruction. In this presentation, deficit thinking and asset-based instruction will be defined and principles of universal design for learning and before-and-after changes will be shared. Examples include: syllabi policy language, course activities, and student assessment of learning.
    
    This session seeks to provide professors teaching undergraduate courses at small colleges the opportunity to consider how their courses or instructional practices may unintentionally perpetuate deficit thinking models. Participant outcomes include increased awareness of deficit versus asset-based thinking and applications to their own courses. Discussion regarding these successes and challenges may allow for shared experiences to further leverage strengths-based approaches in undergraduate courses.