Check out the program and professional development opportunities offered by the Equity and Inclusion Office at Minnesota State. The Office of Equity and Inclusion builds capacity for Minnesota State staff and faculty around policies, practices, and programs for equity, inclusion, and diversity. As part of this work, we design and offer system-wide programs that address competency and skill development focused on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Some offerings are single events, others are ongoing opportunities and are available online. Some are focused on specific groups; others are open to all MinnState staff and faculty. Offerings are provided at no cost. See below for specific topic areas, dates, and registration details.
Minnesota State employees and students are encouraged to SUBSCRIBE to the Office of Equity and Inclusion's MediaSpace Channel to gain access to a repository of recorded trainings and professional development offerings.
Unconscious Bias in the Selection Process
Session Description:
Research on implicit bias demonstrates the many ways people’s actions are influenced by their own personal unconscious biases. In this webinar, we explore the ways in which unconscious bias may affect our decisions as Minnesota State employees. Panelists will discuss strategies and practices that limit the possibility of unconscious bias in the selection process, such as in reviewing proposals for funding opportunities, recruitment and selection, and admissions.
Date/Time:
December 14, 2023 1:00 - 2:00p.m.
Registration:
Register online to attend this virtual session.
Workshop Title: Disability Justice: Why It's Everybody's Business
Workshop Summary: To better grasp what disability justice is, we’ll cover critical moments in disability history that everyone should know. We’ll examine how the past persists in current policies and attitudes today, but also note the wins in disability rights achieved thus far. We’ll also define ableism and provide examples of it. Lastly, we’ll share ways we can challenge outdated ableist assumptions still being made about people with disabilities.
Accessible Session 1 Handout Available
Workshop Title: Racial Justice & Disability Justice: Working Together to Free Our Minds and Bodies
Workshop Summary: We will discuss the compound impact of intersections between racism and ableism within US society and why this intersect is so rarely discussed in social justice. We’ll hear from key figures who work in racial and/or disability justice and think about how their ideas overlap or could overlap. Lastly, we’ll talk about what social justice might look if we listened to (rather than silenced or erased) our leaders with intersectional identities.
Accessible Session 2 Handout available.
Workshop Title: New Ways to Talk about Disability
Workshop Summary: People often talk about disability in outdated ways because they have never had to question it. Such ableist language, however, is rooted in the ongoing trauma experienced by many people with disabilities. In fact, our outdated language grew out of what are called the “pity” and “medical” disability models or frames. This workshop aims to give us a safe space to reflect on what such models did to misshape our ideas about disability and to offer us new models. We will learn from disability activists about new ways to talk that centers disability as a natural part of the human experience.
Accessible Session 3 Handout Available
Workshop Title: Experience Is Our Teacher: People with Disabilities on Allyship, Advocacy, and Pride
Workshop Summary: This workshop aims to teach the audience about the richness and variety in the lived disability experiences and perspectives of people with disabilities (and of their families). We will share their advice on how to be better allies and how to advocate for yourself as well through self-advocacy tools. We will also show what disability pride can look like and sound like across different disability communities. This workshop will highlight the voices and perspectives of MN State students with disabilities.
Accessible Session 4 Handout Available
Workshop Title: From Vision to Action: Let's Create Inclusive Classrooms, Campuses, & Communities
Workshop Summary: This practical workshop will introduce innovative approaches and tools, such as person-centered thinking and human-centered design, that can be used to improve access and meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and others historically left out of systems design. Examples of inclusive design to be shared include an inclusive syllabus template and the story of how schools are opening their doors to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We will end the workshop in small groups to practice applying these new tools to redesign an aspect of a MN State classroom, campus, or community to make it more inclusive of all minds and bodies.
Accessible Session 5 Handout Available
In the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and others, educators are determining options for a thoughtful response. At first, school principals and college presidents responded by releasing public statements to their campus communities. But public statements in and of themselves are meaningless without thoughtful action that addresses the pervasive real and symbolic violence against Black communities. In this webinar, the presenters will address tangible strategies for addressing anti-Blackness in schools, colleges, and universities. All educators and institutions looking for concrete next steps should attend.
To learn more about the webinars hosted by CORA, please visit https://coralearning.org/webinars/
Developing an Institutional Anti-Racist Framework
Date: January 21, 2021
As Minnesota State continues to move towards becoming a more equitable environment, we are committed to incorporating anti-racist ethos on our campuses. This webinar will provide an overview of a framework for our institutions to engage conversations leading to a better understanding of anti-racism. It will highlight a foundational guidance from institutions that have developed frameworks and educational resources for their institutions and community.
Facilitator: Andriel Dees, Interim System Diversity Officer
The Office of Equity and Inclusion provides a wide-range of professional development opportunities. If your campus or your team is looking for a particular focus areas on advancing equity and inclusion below is a list of available trainings we offer.
- The Role of Intersectionality in Higher Education
- Unconscious Bias in the Search Process
- Inclusive Practices in the Workplace and the Classroom
- Leadership and Cultural Competence
- Becoming a Fluent Leader for Educational Equity
- Equity-minded Practitioners in Higher Education
- Equity-by-Design
- Data-Informed Practices for Student Success
- Frameworks that guide equity & diversity work (Multiculturalism, Social Justice, and Anti-Racism)
- Campus Climate Frameworks and Assessment
For additional information such as scheduling a training, training content and objectives, please contact:
Tarrence Robertson, Project Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
tarrence.robertson@minnstate.edu
(651) 201-1483
Can't find the training you are looking for in the Office of Equity and Inclusion Training Library? Let us know what you need to better serve your campus community. Please allow 48 hours for our office staff to process and respond to your request.
Completed Training Recordings
Minnesota State Equity Scorecard: Overview, Demonstration and Leveraging the Tool
Webinar Description
Bringing about greater equity requires not only understanding the size and scope of inequities but engaging in meaningful consideration and discussion about how our schools and system can strategically work to address equity gaps. The Equity Scorecard serves as a resource and tool to highlight equity gaps and prod consideration of how our colleges and universities can improve the success, experiences and outcomes of our students and employees. During this webinar, we will provide an overview of the Equity Scorecard and discuss key insights for using the tool to prompt inquiry and drive strategy.
Minnesota State employees are encouraged, not required, to access Accessing the Equity Scorecard – “How to” to begin the process of becoming familiar with the tool.
Cultural Awareness Training: Why & How
“Sure, equity and inclusion is important, but it’s not the focus of my job.”
“I’ve been doing things this same way for years and it works well. Those new people should learn to adapt to how we do things here.”
“I just want to do my job and then go home. Don’t bother me with that training stuff.”
You may wonder how to respond to comments like these. As we focus on our institution and system commitments to equity and inclusion, an important step is to provide opportunities for learning and development at whatever point someone may be on the journey. Training can help people be more aware of cultural differences and more skilled at creating an environment where differences are welcome. Join us to hear from campus professionals about how they are building cultural awareness. You’ll also learn about system resources available to help you implement training activities for your campus or work team.
Black Student Unions: Foundation for Student Support, Activism, Consciousness and Change
Born out of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the first organization to call itself a Black Student Union, started at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in 1966. Since that time, thousands of African American students have found refuge, voice, and community within the college setting through their campus Black Student Union/Association (BSU/BSA).
We will hear from scholar practitioners, Dr. Eda Watts, Associate Vice President of Equity & Inclusion, North Hennepin Community College, Alexander Hines, Director of Justice, Equity & Inclusion - MLK/PES Program, College of Liberal Arts University of Minnesota and current Minnesota State BSU student leaders on the:
- History of Black Student Unions;
- Continued and future impacts of BSUs; and
- Supporting role BSUs provide in a student’s identity development and academic success
Minnesota State Equity Scorecard: Overview & Future Directions
Date: November 30, 2021
Equity Scorecard User Guide & Facilitation Tool Available
Description:
Minnesota State Equity Scorecard serves a resource and tool to advance uity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) across our the system. The Equity Scorecard seeks to provide a clear and holistic view of equity gaps for our student and employees stakeholder, in order to inform our approaches and strategies for bringing about greater equity. The Scorecard also provides Minnesota State the ability to demonstrate its commitment to Equity 2030 and eliminating educational equity gaps at every Minnesota State college and university.
During this webinar, we will provide an overview of each Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and highlight our collective progress toward realizing equitable outcomes for all stakeholders. Additional topics will include:
- Equity Scorecard Background, Current State, and Future Directions
- Overview of KPIs
- Use of the Equity Scorecard to prompt inquiry and drive strategy
- Encourage holistic understanding of EDI facets eq
- Connection to Equity 2030
Training Recording:
Data Literacy & Equity Strategies
Date: October 28, 2021
Description:
How comfortable are you with using data to improve equity? The terms “evidence base,” “data informed,” and “data literacy” have become quite common place in higher education discussions, particularly in the context of improving student success and equity. Yet, many of us and our colleagues continue to seek a better understanding of what these terms mean and greater clarity about how to leverage data to improve student success. This webinar aims to increase our colleagues’ comfort in working with data. We will discuss the importance of data in our work and how it can improve equity, as well as key considerations for how to go about engaging your colleagues in data discussions and becoming more data literate.
Training Recording:
Developing an Institutional Anti-Racist Framework
Date: January 21, 2021
Access the training recording on MediaSpace here.
As Minnesota State continues to move towards becoming a more equitable environment, we are committed to incorporating anti-racist ethos on our campuses. This webinar will provide an overview of a framework for our institutions to engage conversations leading to a better understanding of anti-racism. It will highlight a foundational guidance from institutions that have developed frameworks and educational resources for their institutions and community.
Facilitator: Andriel Dees, Interim System Diversity Officer
Equity Lens to Policy Review Refresher
Date: February 25, 2021
Access the training recording on MediaSpace here.
Description: Applying an equity lens to policy review is a process for assessing and understanding how a policy’s design and implementation can disparately impact underserved or marginalized individuals and groups. The intent of an equity-oriented review of policies is to identify and eliminate barriers to access and success of our Minnesota State stakeholders.
Marginalized or underserved groups may include: race/ethnic groups, American Indian/other indigenous identities, religions/religious expression, veteran status, nationality, recent immigrants, marginalized gender identities, non-normative sexual identities, age, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and/or people with apparent/non-apparent disabilities.
During this webinar, we will discuss:
- Importance of policy review though an equity lens.
- Review the previously developed protocol/tool applicable to the key phases of policy making, review, and implementation.
- A protocol for policy review provides a structure for embedding equity considerations into the policy process.
Presenters from System Office:
- Andriel Dees, Interim System Diversity Officer
- Ron Anderson, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic & Student Affairs
- Priyank Shah, Interim Assistant Diversity Officer
- Gary Hunter, System Director for Policy, Procedure, & Intellectual Property
2-Part Series: Engaging Students in these Challenging Times
Part 1: Practical Strategies and Consideration for the Virtual Classroom
Date: March 23, 2021
Description:
During these challenging times, our students are facing numerous obstacles impacting their ability to fully engage in the classroom. Ongoing social unrest, racial trauma, the impacts of COVID-19, and the shift to online/hybrid learning are a few of the many factors impacting student outcomes.
This webinar aims to shift the lens inward to examine strategies and considerations for student engagement in virtual settings. Various Minnesota State faculty will share their best practices and equity considerations for online environments. In addition, we will have a panel discussion with faculty colleagues sharing insights into how equity shows up in these spaces.
2-Part Series: Engaging Students in these Challenging Times
Part 2: Practical Strategies for Academic and Student Affairs
Date: April 29, 2021 Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Employee Recruitment and Retention
Date: May 25, 2021
Access the training recording on MediaSpace here.
Webinar Description:
This webinar will feature innovative strategies to expand recruitment and retention efforts of faculty and staff across the Minnesota State system.
Presentations will discuss:
(1) Recruitment and Retention Strategies of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) in faculty;
(2) The use of Equity Champions in recruitment and;
(3) Social Media as a tool to reach more diverse candidates.
Moving Towards ACTION on Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Facilitator: Josefina Landrieu, Assistant Diversity Officer
Has your organization identified diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of its organizational values? Have you made a commitment to be more inclusive and equitable in your daily practice? Are you looking for ways to move towards action on these commitments? This webinar will explore ways in which you can enact these values and commitments as an individual, within your teams, and across your organization. Facilitators will share examples and practices applicable to higher education environments striving to build inclusive environments and address educational disparities.
*Building Inclusive Teams and Work Environments: Mitigating Implicit Bias
Facilitator: Dr. Clyde Wilson Pickett, System Diversity Officer
Demographic trends have increased the likelihood that we will work with individuals who look, think, and have vastly different backgrounds than us. While research has demonstrated that diverse teams are more productive, more innovative, and more effective; building such teams takes intentionality and commitment as well as time and resources. A critical aspect of building an inclusive team and work environment is mitigating bias. This webinar will provide participants with an opportunity to learn about best practices to reduce the negative impact of bias in the workplace. Mitigating bias is like addressing any other complex challenge; it demands engagement, creative problem solving, and good data. Join us to learn more and build upon your team’s potential.
Equity-Minded Strategic Planning
Facilitator: Tarrence Robertson, Project Director of Diversity, Equity and InclusionIf equity and inclusion are to become core institutional values it is because leaders are committed to high-caliber diversity planning and implementation techniques. Undergoing equity-minded strategic planning allows colleges and universities to reaffirm their commitment to inclusive excellence and to operationalize strategies on addressing educational disparities. Webinar participants will review the recently published Minnesota State Office of Equity and Inclusion’s Strategic Plan and accompanying Diversity and Equity Strategic Planning Toolkit to assist them in conducting equity-minded strategic planning on their campuses.
Recognizing that each campus has its own unique mission, culture and community, this webinar will move beyond understanding strategic planning fundamentals and focus on how to ensure your plan, process, and outcomes are equity-minded – thereby aiding colleges and universities to undertake this work.
Target Audience: Campus Diversity Committees, Campus Diversity Officers, Senior Human Resources Officers, Senior Academic Officers, Senior Student Affairs Officers, etc.
Supporting our DACA & Undocumented Students at Minnesota State
Facilitators: Monica Ibarra & Gabi Andersen-Marin, Inver Hills Community College
Building Safe & Inclusive Facilities
Facilitator(s): Dr. Josefina Landrieu, Assistant Diversity Officer
Karen Huiett, Program Manager Design and Construction
Aaron Williams, Normandale Community College, Facilities Management Systems Coordinator
The physical environment of a campuses impacts students, staff, and faculty’s perception of belonging, inclusion, and access. In times of COVID19, how campuses are experienced from an inclusion, health, and safety perspective is utmost important. How space is perceived can have a profound effect on employee engagement and student retention. Thoughtful and intentional design and maintenance of our facilities can help remove barriers, facilitate inclusion, encourage interaction and engagement, and ensure safe spaces. Environments that reduces stress, ease navigation, and foster community, health and safety, are more likely to contribute to positive feelings of well-being.
This webinar presents several design strategies to help build safe and inclusive facilities through the following categories:
- COVID-19 Considerations
- Accessibility
- Safety, privacy, and security
- Wayfinding, language, and graphics
- Appearance and cleanliness
- Art, decoration, and multi-cultural representation
The webinar will show examples of these strategies in collegiate environments.
Target Audiences: Campus Diversity Officers, campus climate action teams, facility directors, etc.
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Accessibility and Accessible Resources during COVID-19
Facilitator: Andriel Dees, Interim System Diversity Officer
This year as we celebrate 30 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Office of Equity and Inclusion is offering a discussion on how our campuses can move from accommodating students with different abilities to a more integrated approach of creating a fully accessible campus. Hear from system and campus perspectives on how we can leverage our resources towards meeting the needs of our students that can lead towards successful outcomes.
Compliance and Title IX Updates
Facilitators: Desiree' Clark, Interim Civil Rights/Title IX Compliance Officer and
Scott Goings, Assistant General Counsel
Part 1: Inclusive Leadership Priorities for COVID-19
The landscape of higher education has fundamentally shifted. Campuses across the country are closing and/or transitioning to operating fully online as a response to slow the spread of the Corona Virus (COVID-19). Institutions are working to address rapidly changing environments all the while working to meet the needs of the most fragile populations including underserved and underrepresented students.
We encourage you to join the Office of Equity and Inclusion for a 3-part webinar series designed to provide resources and equity-minded practices that will assist campuses in navigating this uncharted territory.
Part 1 - Focus Areas:
- Inclusive Leadership Practices
- Assessing gap and needs
- Organizational response messaging
- Virtual Campus Climate
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Part 2: Academic Inclusion Priorities to Respond to COVID-19
Focus Areas:
- Technology: Access, availability, and familiarity
- Culturally responsive pedagogy
- Accessibility and inclusion online
Part 3: Guiding Campus Response to Address Racism and Xenophobia
*Demographic Trends Date: January 22, 2019
Facilitator: Dr. Susan Brower, State Demographer, State of Minnesota
Minnesota State is the fourth largest system of state colleges and universities in the United States, collectively serving more Students of Color and American Indian Students than all other higher education providers in Minnesota combined. Susan Brower as the State Demographer, travels the state talking with Minnesotans about the new social and economic realities that are brought about by recent demographic shifts. Her workshop will provide insight into demographic trends as well as the opportunity to relate this information to our work in higher education.
*Bias Response Protocol Training Date: February 21, 2019
Bias Response Protocol for Campus Use
The Minnesota State community aspires to create an environment that is inclusive and safe for all members of the community. Our campuses will always be places of hope and opportunity where all students - no matter who they are or what community they come from - can feel welcome; safe to learn; and free to express their hopes, dreams, and ideas.
Bias incidents undermine our system's efforts toward equity and inclusion. They limit: (1) our community's ability to excel in our teaching and learning, and (2) our service to our communities and state. They also impede free and open discourse and our ability to know and learn from one another. Biased and hateful expression causes harm and creates fractures within our communities that must be addressed.
Target Audience: Campus Diversity Officers, members of Bias Response Teams, Chief Student Affairs Officers, Chief Human Resource Officers and their staff.
*Sexism in Higher Education Date: March 22, 2019
Objectives:
- Explore the language of sexism, gender discrimination, and their impact on gender
inequality. - Bring awareness to the language, behaviors and attitudes of sexism and how they
manifest in academic settings. - Answer critical questions about sexism including 1) What are the warning signs of
sexism and gender discrimination? 2) What does sexism look like/feel like to those
impacted by it? And 3) What strategies can higher education leaders employ to
address sexism and create inclusive environments?
Target Audience: Campus Diversity Officers, Academic and Student Affairs professionals and administrators, Academic Deans and Faculty, Coordinators and Directors of Accessibility, Multicultural Affairs, LGBTQ+, and other targeted campus services, and Human Resource Officers.
*Equity Minded Language Training Date: April 19, 2019
Facilitators: Dr. Clyde Wilson Pickett and Dr. Josefina Landrieu
As higher education leaders, we invite you to join an interactive learning opportunity titled “Equity-minded language: A tool for culturally relevant leadership”. Do you wish to build stronger communication skills as an inclusive and equity-minded leader? An inclusive leader is someone who communicates in an effective and authentic way in both formal and informal settings using various methods appropriate for the message (e.g., public statements, social media), as well as demonstrating comfort and confidence in writing, speaking in public, and using inclusive language to communicate. Language plays a central role in the way human beings behave and think and educators can actively build inclusive learning and work environments by understanding the critical role language plays in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Target Audience: Campus Diversity Officers, Academic and Student Affairs professionals and administrators, Academic Deans and Faculty, Coordinators and Directors of Accessibility/Multicultural Affairs/LGBTQ+ and System Office Staff.
*Refresher ADA Accommodations Date: September 19, 2019
Facilitator: Andriel Dees, Title IX and Compliance Officer
The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the many federally-mandated laws for which we must continue to examine best practices. Administering the ADA is complex. This webinar will provide a refresher on:
- Basic requirements
- The ADA Reasonable Accommodation Requirements
- The Interactive Process around Reasonable Accommodations
- Interaction of ADA with other laws
- The ADA and mental disabilities
- Emerging topics (e.g. service animals)
Target Audience: Accessibility Directors, Campus Diversity Officers, Title IX Officers, Student Affairs personnel, and Human Resources professionals.
*Equity Lens to Policy Review Date: October 08, 2019
Guidance: Applying an Equity Lens to Policy Review
View Recorded Training on Mediaspace HERE
Facilitator: Josefina Landrieu, Assistant Diversity Officer
An equity lens is a process for analyzing or diagnosing the impact of the design and implementation of policies on under-served and marginalized individuals and groups, and to identify and potentially eliminate barriers. Such groups may include: race/ethnicity, religious expression, veteran status, nationality, including underrepresented groups and new immigrant populations, people who identify as women, age, socio-economic, people with both apparent and non-apparent disabilities, people of various gender and sexual identities and expressions, American Indians and other indigenous populations.
During this webinar we will share a proposed protocol and tool to implement during the policy making, review, and implementation phases. A protocol for policy review provides a structure for institutionalizing the considering of equity in the process of making, implementing, and reviewing policy.
Target Audience: Campus Diversity Officers, policy review committees, Academic and Student Affairs leaders and practitioners.
*Campus Climate Assessment Date: November 21, 2019
Facilitators: Director of Equity Assessment and Assistant Diversity Officer
Is your campus getting ready to assess campus climate? Are you ready to implement an assessment process and enhance your employees and students’ experiences on campus? This webinar will provide an in-depth overview of campus climate assessment and action planning (process and recommended activities for campus teams to implement). Participants will have the opportunity to learn about strategies and concepts related to how higher education institutions can build and maintain inclusive campus climates as a strategy to ensure student success, employee recruitment and retention, and organizational effectiveness.
Findings and lessons learned from the Minnesota State campus climate pilot teams will also be shared during this webinar. There is always an opportunity for Q&A!
Target Audience: Campus Diversity Officers, campus climate action teams, Academic and Student Affairs leaders and practitioners, Human Resources professionals.
