Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

“Diversity” and “Inclusion” are currently popular buzzwords at most institutions of higher education. However many of us struggle with how to meaningfully embed these principles into our work, as educators, researchers, policy makers, and administrators. The first question to ask is why it is important to concern ourselves with these two different, but related, notions, and only after answering this, consider how we will do so. The directors of programs from two American universities (Florida State University and the University of Virginia) will share the why and how of strategies they have employed to embed diversity and inclusion into teaching, mentoring, research, and policy implementation at departmental and institutional levels. Two specific examples that will be discussed are; a summer experiential learning initiative for underrepresented students, and a grant-based campus-wide symposium and book club for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students that explores why and how to incorporate diversity and inclusion strategies into both teaching and research. The speakers will each present their strategy/example, and attendees will experience samplings of each approach via hands-on demonstrations. The workshop will also include discussion regarding why and how each strategy was implemented, the outcomes, evaluation results, lessons learned, and future plans. Participants will be asked to participate in this discussion, give evaluative feedback, consider how similar approaches may work at their institutions, and share examples of ways they already do, or could incorporate their own strategies for immersing diversity and inclusion at their institutions.