May 8, 2024: “DEIA Education and Capacity Building”

To be excellent, we must be diverse. To be diverse, we must be excellent at inclusion. For that reason, DEI education and capacity building has been at the core of the work of the Division of Inclusive Excellence in the last three years. Our focus has been on developing DEIA competencies across the campus in order to elicit and enable the commitment and capacity to achieve inclusive excellence. A level of awareness, understanding, vigilance and accountability is needed to build and sustain an inclusive community. The institution has the responsibility to ensure that students, staff and faculty are provided with the knowledge and skills necessary to carry the institution into the future ahead.

One of the first actions undertaken by the Division of Inclusive Excellence was to establish DEI education for every new student and staff member. As part of pre-orientation, Whitman students complete an online course on Race, Power and Privilege provided by SHIFT, a DEI consultancy founded by women of color. In collaboration with Human Resources, we reviewed a number of online DEI modules for incoming staff and all new employees now complete a course on Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.

Whitman’s participation in the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance (LACRELA) has enabled access to a wealth of DEIA-related content including a series of live webinars offered earlier this year. The Engaging Equity Live series featured Shaun Harper, Executive Director of the USC Race and Equity Center and Provost Professor in the USC Rossier School of Education. Through LACRELA, we also have access to Equity Connect, an online platform where you can access recordings of the webinars and other valuable resources for DEIA education and practice. Follow the link to the registration page and sign up for Equity Connect today. 

Our institutional membership with the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (CFDD) provides the college with resources that support faculty professional growth and skill building. Several dozen faculty have created NCFDD subaccounts and leverage the program’s resources independently. A group of delegates have been selected each of the last three years to attend the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE). Whitman’s NCORE delegates consistently report having a transformational experience at the conference and bring back innovative strategies or approaches to advancing inclusive excellence.

Our DEI education and capacity building efforts also include Community Learning Days (CLD). This professional learning opportunity provides Whitman faculty and staff with access to essential information and valuable learning opportunities prior to the start of each semester. Previous CLD sessions have focused on strategies to create a more inclusive classroom, cultural taxation and systems of oppression, as well as content to help staff navigate professional boundaries and hierarchies from different social identities. The most recent session (Spring 2024) was focused on trauma-informed teaching and the previous CLD program focused on inclusive pedagogy through an Indigenous lens. In 2023, with the additional capacity provided by the IEC, we were able to expand Community Learning Days from once a year to twice a year. Mark your calendars for Monday, Aug. 26 and Tuesday, Aug. 27 for the next CLD opportunity.