Building Toward Equity - Racial Equity Workshops, Spring 2023

Spring 2023: Various Dates

The Office for University Diversity and Inclusion (OUDI) and the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) are launching additional workshops Spring Quarter as part of the Building Toward Equity faculty development program. This program scaffolds DEI learning to develop faculty awareness, knowledge, and skills around issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching and learning. A group of eight Faculty Associates for DEI in Teaching collectively designed a Racial Equity Series of workshops that are the core element of this program.

All workshops (unless noted) will be held in-person in Building 35, Room 209. 

Registration

Register to Join Spring 2023 Racial Equity Workshops

The following Racial Equity Workshops will be offered this spring (Note: This list will be regularly updated with additional workshops): 

Linguistic Justice: Myths and Misconceptions of Standardized Language Practices 

Friday, June 2, 9:30-11 am on ZOOM

Facilitators: Dr. Dawn Janke, Dr. Briana Ronan

This workshop invites participants to consider the history and ongoing harm of standardized language expectations and to examine the myths and misconceptions of standardized language practices. By the end of this workshop, faculty will cultivate a student-centered approach to supporting diverse language varieties and practices and recognize those varieties and practices as integral to the community and cultural wealth a student brings into the classroom. All faculty and staff are welcome to attend this workshop, and we see the workshop as particularly useful for faculty with written and oral communication assignments in their courses who would like to challenge their assumptions about appropriate and effective communication and more equitably orient toward students’ language varieties and practices. 

Trauma Healing for Educators of Color

Wednesday, May 17, 4-7 pm

Facilitators: Dr. Susana López, Dr. Joni Roberts, and Dr. Amber Williams

More information and register to join Trauma Healing for Educators of Color

Faculty of color in academia often experience a range of microaggressions, racism, and are overburdened with service and mentorship requirements compared to their White counterparts. This workshop provides a space for faculty of color at Cal Poly to process those experiences in ways that result in healing from those negative, and often traumatic, experiences that are common among faculty of color at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs).  

After this workshop, faculty of color will have built a sense of community with others in the group and learned about putting into practice activities and behaviors that allow them to heal. This workshop aims to help retain and strengthen the BIPOC faculty community on campus and facilitate the development of positive coping skills. 

Though centered on the experiences of faculty of color, all are welcome to attend and participate in this session, which utilizes journaling, meditation, and social identity affinity group caucusing. 

Community Cultural Wealth and Asset-Based Teaching

Wednesday, April 12, 10 am-12 pm

Facilitators: Dr. Amber Williams, Dr. Susana López, and Dr. Sarah Macdonald

Marginalized students have unique cultural strengths that often go unrecognized in typical classrooms; further, these students' behaviors are often seen as weaknesses or shortcomings that need to be changed. This workshop is a 2-hour interactive session that will focus on defining and identifying deficit- and strengths-based perspectives on marginalized students in the classroom. Faculty members will also have an opportunity to modify their syllabi, teaching practices, and/or their assignments to better harness the cultural wealth that marginalized students bring to the classroom.

Equity-Minded Assignments and Assessments

Part I: Equity-Minded Assignment Design 

Friday, Apr 21, 9-11 am

Part II: Equity-Minded Assessment 

Friday, April 28, 9-11 am

Facilitators: Dr. Joni Roberts and Dr. Dawn Janke

The Equity-minded Assignments and Assessments workshop is a two—part series that offers guidance on best practices for promoting optimal learning conditions so that all students can demonstrate their knowledge and skills. The workshop series is designed for educators ready to explore non-traditional assignment and assessment methods that uplift all students and are student centered rather than instructor centered. These sessions may be particularly interesting to those curious about piloting new techniques in their courses. Faculty will be introduced to the history of white supremacy in/through learning assessment and techniques such as anti-racist grading contracts, un-grading, and specification grading. By the end of the workshop series, participants will have a template for updating course materials in line with racial equity in assignment and assessment design.  

DEI/Social Justice in STEM: 'Creative Destruction'

Thursday, April 20, 10 - 11:30 am

Facilitators: Dr. Arnold Deffo and Dr. Michael Whitt

This workshop describes the current status of DEI in STEM by presenting examples of racial and gender disparities using statistics and peer-reviewed studies from science, sociology and business. Conventionally, 'creative destruction' is defined as the dismantling of long-standing practices in order to make way for innovation primarily for capitalistic ends. In this workshop, we will begin to explore how 'creative destruction' can be a strategy 'making way for innovation' in the Cal Poly community and beyond.