Summit Info
Workshops
To download the complete e-program (schedule, workshop descirption and presenter biographies) click here (in Adobe .pdf format). We will not provide a paper copy of this program on the day of the Summit.
10:15 - 11:30 am | 1:15 - 2:30 pm| 2:45 - 4:00 pm| Special Performance
Book Club: “The Medici Effect” by Frans Johansson
Presenters: Dr. Jesus Trevino, Kathleen Nalty
Location: Sturm 186
Description: In the book “The Medici Effect”, Frans Johansson, the author, introduces the reader to the Intersection: a place where diverse ideas from different disciplines and cultures meet and collide leading to an explosion of new ways of thinking, ideas, and extraordinary innovations. Essentially, the book is about using the power of diversity to create, be innovative, and to engender new ways of thinking. By utilizing our differences to create what he calls “the Intersection”, Johannson makes a very practical case for diversity; its value and use in discovering new concepts and ideas. This book dialogue session is designed for participants who have read “The Medici Effect” and would like an opportunity to discuss the book. Participants will also be given an opportunity to simulate the “Intersection” by participating in groups using problem-solving scenarios.
Sponsored by the Colorado Campaign for Inclusive Excellence and the Center for Multicultural Excellence.
From Isolation to Empowerment: Community Organizing
Presenters: Janeth Niebla, Charla Agnoletti, Carmen Medrano, & Melissa Hermillosa
Location: Sturm 187
Description: Metro Organizations for People is a federation of 37 member schools and churches representing over 65,000 people in metro Denver. Our mission is to give individuals the power to strengthen and transform their communities through community organizing. MOP is affiliated with the PICO National Network. PICO represents other organizations like MOP in 18 states and 150 cities across the country. The Engaged Community Initiative is MOP’s local organizing committee at the University of Denver. With the support of the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning, as well as the Center for Multicultural Excellence, ECI has been working to develop strong relationships with members of the DU community by delivering workshops and meetings to improve the campus. As a local organizing committee, ECI is using the community organizing model to address issues on the DU campus.
Great Hope: Changes and Opportunities in Early Childhood Education
Presenters: Marcee Martin & Fisher Early Learning Center
Location: Sturm 234
Description: A small representative panel of Fisher faculty will challenge the audience to consider the contemporary changes and opportunities that exist in Early Childhood Education today. Using an eyewitness approach to describe inclusive practices in early learning, Fisher will provide a look at our Great Hope for the next generation of DU students. After viewing this 11 minute DVD “picture”, an interactive simulation will encourage others to recall their early elementary years and compare them to the community of learning at Fisher Center. How have the demographics of today’s teacher pool changed? How have instructional strategies changed? How does inclusive education prepare children for today’s society? What impact does inclusive early education have on a child’s future success in school?
Promoting Elite Education for Low-Income Children in Colorado
Presenters: Norman Watt, Dianne Lefly, & Hesham Abdelhamid
Location: Sturm 287
Description: The primary aim of this workshop is to outline several new opportunities for PROACTIVE intervention to promote college education of Colorado children that live in poverty. These opportunities include: a) a review of a successful collaboration between the University of Denver, the Denver Public Schools and the Head Start program; b) the introduction of a new collaboration between the University of Denver and the Colorado Department of Education that will target the collegiate education of 1,142 children in Grades 5 through 10 located throughout the State of Colorado, all of whom qualify for federal lunch subsidies, and all of whom have reliably demonstrated Reading Proficiency above the 84th %ile by statewide norms; and c) description and discussion of a nationwide program called QuestBridge, which seeks to provide a college education for “diversity candidates” at 26 elite institutions at an average cost of $200,000, almost ALL of which requires no parental contribution and no student loans. The workshop is intended to invite discussion from all audiences (students, faculty, administrators, staff members, and community activists) of the principal ethical and logistical issues that inevitably arise in any proactive intervention of these kinds: 1) how to protect privacy and parental rights, utilizing confidential school records; 2) how to ensure that society’s resources are most cost-economically deployed in order to achieve optimal inclusion of the disenfranchised children in our population; 3) how to deal with exceedingly controversial civil rights issues relating to so-called “undocumented” immigrants; and 4) how to integrate the University of Denver and evaluate the costs and benefits of such far-reaching interventions.
Embedding Inclusive Excellence in Annual Performance Reviews Using PEDS Competency System
Presenters: Sharon Gabel
Location: Sturm 310
Description: The Inclusive Excellence competency within DU’s PEDS performance management system offers employees an opportunity to focus on diversity awareness and inclusive practices into their everyday work performance. This session will explain the evolution and final form of the Inclusive Excellence competency, engage participants in a discussion of how this competency relates to their work roles and responsibilities, and provide examples and ideas for participants to take away and apply on the job after this session. Audience: DU staff, administrators, faculty supervisors of staff.
Status Report: The Student Perspective
Presenters: Tuyen (Trisa) Bui, Christina Dai, Francesca Becerra, Kenneth Phi, Cecilia Lee, & Philip Trinh
Location: Sturm 312
Description: The University of Denver continues to commit and work toward achieving Inclusive Excellence and has come a long way over the course of the last two years. Its firm belief in great hope and major changes allows room for growth and progression. Although the institution strives for the best and allocates many resources to achieving this goal, there is still a great amount of work that can be accomplished in order to move DU closer to achieving Inclusive Excellence. This workshop will focus on the “spring break” experience of the Asian Student Alliance (ASA) officers, regarding their visit with different student organizations and staff at UCLA and UC Irvine. The student presenters will discuss what they learned from these groups and how it impacted and inspired them to create bigger changes at DU. Furthermore, they will provide a status report from the student perspective comparing DU to the University of California schools, what DU can learn and implement for additional growth and progress, and also provide input into areas in which DU excells. Ultimately, this workshop will serve as the student voice, challenging DU administration to implement changes on this campus in order to create a more dynamic university overall. Moreover, presenters will encourage the student body to have a cohesive voice and identity and actions that will bring about change for the benefit of all students.
No Dreams Deferred
Presenters: Jennifer Gutiérrez
Location: Sturm 333
Description: For so many of us, being able to say the words “President Obama” is like being given permission to publicly pronounce our last names “the Spanish way” after years of pronouncing it the “English only” way. This session will focus on the presenter’s personal journey toward acceptance into DU’s PhD program and will make the argument that, especially within the midst of these harsh economic times, DU’s commitment to inclusive excellence needs to continue to align with the country’s renewed hopes for equality and the good of all. Target audience will be fellow students, in an attempt to illicit enthusiasm and cultivate a unified voice at the student level; staff and administrators, those in a position to preserve the financial commitment of inclusive programs and student funding opportunities; and faculty, those who are in direct contact with those students in most need of support.
The Experiences of Scholars of Color in the Academy: Challenges and Opportunities
Presenter: Fernando Guzman and Myron Anderson
Location: Sturm 253
Description: Understanding the often perilous journey for scholars of color from graduate school to achieving tenure requires an examination of the challenges and opportunities that this group faces as they pursue their doctoral degrees, apply for academic positions, and work toward tenure. The literature is replete with barriers and obstacles that people of color encounter on their way to becoming members of the academy. Many of these hazards work to discourage scholars of color from entering and persisting in academia. This workshop will examine some of the challenges and opportunities related to pursuing doctoral degrees and achieving tenure as well as explore strategies for addressing these issues. This workshop is designed for Deans, Chairs, faculty, and search committee members.
Is Your World Too White?
Presenters: Karen Ashmore
Location: Sturm 379
Description: This session is for faculty and administrators trying to deal with a racist society. Participants will examine 25 different ways that all people, but whites in particular, can examine institutional racism and white privilege and take immediate tangible steps to increase inclusivity at DU and in their personal lives.
“No, It’s Not a Hat, It’s a Yarmulke”: Addressing Microaggressions by Faculty in the Classroom
Presenters: Joel Portman, Jesus Trevino, Tuyen (Trisa) Bui, Karimot Gamu, & Javi Ogaz
Location: Sturm 186
Description: Microaggressions in the classroom against students representing a diversity of groups continues to be a challenge at the University of Denver. Students report that they are often subjected to insults and invalidations by faculty (and other students) based on race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, disability, and other diverse dimensions. It is clear from the literaure that microaggressions are often perpetuated, not by spiteful and bigoted professors, but instead are undertaken at the unconscious level by well meaning and caring professors. This workshop is designed by DU students for faculty to examine microaggressions in the classroom. The session will include a simulation of a classroom in which two students will play the role of the professor teaching the course and faculty will be asked to play the role of students. This will be followed by group discussions regarding how faculty can work towards creating inclusive classrooms free of microaggressions. Target audience: Faculty and instructors.
Be the One: Leadership for Change
Presenters: Karimot Gamu, Elizabeth Booze, Jasmine Bryant, & Deven Swanigan
Location: Sturm 187
Description: This session will include simulations centered on confronting common issues faced by diverse student groups and how they overcome these issues in order to engage with their greater community. This session is targeted towards students at the University of Denver.
One is a Lonely Number: Why Latina/o Students Feel Visible and Invisible on Campus
Presenter: Lisa Martinez and Student Panel
Location: Sturm 335
Description: This session brings to light the experiences of students of color at DU. Specifically, using data from face-to-face interviews, the study explores the direct and indirect ways in which Latina/o students are singled out and made to feel invisible inside and outside the classroom. The session will highlight the most prevalent themes from the interview data including culture shock, experiences with faculty and students, internalized racism and discrimination, and the coping mechanisms students use to deal with these. Following specific recommendations for DU faculty, staff, and administrators, the presenters will open up the session for dialogue around these issues.
Social Justice and Sustainability
Presenters: Lyndsay Agans
Location: Sturm 234
Description: Session participants will learn more about sustainability and the
intersections of social justice, diversity, and sustainability in
particular. This interactive session will offer the opportunity to
understand diversity through a new framework to create change and
bring about equality in society. Attendees will leave with not only an
increased understanding of sustainability, the language of the
movement, but a new approach to furthering diversity in their work and
how to create solutions vis-a-vis the increasing momentum of the
sustainability paradigm.
"I Can Tell the World": A Case Study on Building Inclusive Community
Presenters: Arthur Jones & The Spirituals Project
Location: Sturm 253
Description: This workshop is intended for a broad audience (students, faculty, staff, administrators and people in the community). We will begin with a screening of a new 45-minute documentary film entitled “I Can Tell the World,” which focuses on the work of the multi-ethnic, multi-generational Spirituals Project Choir, and the ways in which the music the choir sings raises awareness about issues of inclusiveness and forges the development of inter-ethnic and inter-generational bonds. Following the screening of the film, we will discuss the film and also engage participants in a brief exercise that explores ways in which the specific inter-ethnic and inter-generational experiences of Spirituals Project Choir members can be shared outside the circle of this circumscribed cultural arena.
Conscious Creativity, Counscious Diversity
Presenters: Judith Cassel-Mamet
Location: Sturm 287
Description: Creativity requires diversity! This is a hands-on workshop exploring the cultivation of creativity and the preparation for what Daniel Pink calls the Conceptual Age (A Whole New Mind, Riverhead Books, 2005). We will explore the paths to finding that personal creative “flow” by using simple art materials in an interactive fashion. This personal expression will set the stage for the cultivation of the broader, cultural creativity necessary for healthy communities.
Mainstreaming Gender: What does it mean?
Presenters: Indrani Sigamany
Location: Sturm 310
Description: The aim of this workshop is to highlight the concept of MAINSTREAMING GENDER, and to examine why it is important. Excluding sections of the population has been detrimental to society as a whole, and the workshop examines how inclusion makes a difference to everyone.
Minorities in the Hospitalities Industry: How DU is Preparing Minorities for the Industry
Presenters: Tim Healy & the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality
Location: Sturm 312
Description: Come listen to members of the DU chapter of the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality (NSMH) discuss how DU is preparing minorities in the School of HRTM for life and work after school. Learn about NSMH’s mission and what they are doing in the community. This session is targeted towards students and faculty & staff.
If We Could Talk About These Walls: Considering Inclusion of Multiple Identities within the Physical Space Design of Educational Environments
Presenters: Stephanie Krusemark
Location: Sturm 333
Description: If buildings could talk, what would they say? “The architecture of a university’s campus is an open book that most of us have forgotten how to read. The ways that buildings related to each other, and to the environment in which they are set, communicate meaning, character, and significance” (Allan Greenberg, as cited by the University of Denver, 2008, p. 31). When we walk along the red brick pathways of the University of Denver campus that lead us to the buildings in which we learn and work within, have you ever considered how you may be perceiving the campus through your multiple identities? As the student, faculty, and staff communities of our institution continues to diversify within the larger context of increasing racial diversity in our nation, it is important to consider how our built environment impacts our educational experience. The workshop will provide an exploration of how we perceive the physical space design elements of our built campus environments through our multiple identities of gender, age, race, country of origin, sexual orientation, religious/spiritual orientation, and able-bodinedness. We will engage in lively conversation and guided visioning exercises to discuss how our campus environment is perceived as inclusive or non-inclusive based upon our personal experiences and stories.
Chains of Privilege
Presenters: Karen Ashmore
Location: Sturm 379
Description: An experience in assessing personal privilege, this session is for a diverse audience. Everyone has some aspect of privilege, whether it is in race, class, religion, sexual orientation, physical ability, language, education and gender. In this session, we will assess our privileges through a creative but structured activity and discuss our roles in perpetuating those privileges. We will conclude by discussing ways we can acknowledge our privileges and help end oppression.
Applying the lessons of the White Privilege Conference at DU
Presenters: Joel Portman & Javi Ogaz
Location: Sturm 186
Description: Two DU students attended the 10th Annual White Privilege Conference in early April. The annual White Privilege Conference (WPC) serves as a yearly opportunity to examine and explore difficult issues related to white privilege, white supremacy and oppression. The WPC provides a forum for critical discussions about diversity, multicultural education and leadership, social justice, race/racism, sexual orientation, gender relations, religion and other systems of privilege/oppression. This workshop will be a discussion of the most important message taken away by DU students and suggestions on their implementation at DU. This workshop is directed towards students, staff, administrators, and faculty.
Racism and Sexism in Queer Culture
Presenters: Christopher Turner and Anna Sun
Location: Sturm 187
Description: This session is for anyone desiring a better understanding of how multiple identities play out in the Queer community. We will focus on issues about the differential treatment directed at people with multiple identities, the concept of choosing which identity to honor, and how stereotypes play out in our main stream conceptions of the Queer community. The goal is to explore examples of racism and sexism in the Queer community and find new ways to address these issues to create more inclusive and engaged communities where all aspects of our identities are accepted and celebrated.
Telling Stories: Access, Education, and Digital Storytelling
Facilitator: Lyndsay Agans
Speakers/Filmmakers: Gerardo Munoz, Michelle Rankine, Janell Lindsey,
Jeff Kenney, Jennie Walker
Location: Sturm 234
Description: Digital stories are brief first person videos created by combining
age-old storytelling narrative practice with modern-day technology and
digital media. Participants in this session will be introduced to the
use of digital storytelling as a pedagogical technique. In addition,
attendees will have the opportunity to dialogue and construct a
digital story treatment for future use. Five digital stories drawn
from the social and political educational autobiographies of graduate
students in the Morgridge College of Education will be presented.
Applying Inclusive Pedagogy Practices to Work Outside the Classroom
Presenters: Kathryn Sturtevant & Sara Springer
Location: Sturm 253
Description: Within the field of higher education, inclusive excellence, inside and outside the classroom, is of the utmost importance. Relevant for student affairs professionals and students, this session will provide an overview of inclusive pedagogical classroom practices. We will then highlight ways in which these ideas and frameworks can be utilized outside the classroom in working with students. This session will include small and large group dialogue in which participants will be able to discuss ways these ideas can be applied to their interactions with the greater campus community. With intentionality, we can work together to build engaged and inclusive communities.
Negotiating common ground and building alliance: Teaching and learning in a Multicultural Context
Presenters: Chih-Yun Chiang, Shahreen Mat Nayan, & BeverlyNatividad
Location: Sturm 287
Description: International students and non-white students tend to bond with the ethnic/racial group with which they identify. While cultural enclaves aid these students’ transition into a different cultural setting and function as a support group, these cultural enclaves are perceived generally by some students in the dominant culture as divisive and exclusive. As graduate students of color and educators-in-training at a multicultural but predominantly white university, we are caught in between the challenges posed by the necessity and cacophony of cultural enclaves. On the one hand, we locate ourselves within our cultural enclave in order to survive graduate school. On the other hand, we strive to foster a learning environment that diverges from racial/ethnic polarization to co-existence. The presenters in this session will facilitate a discussion on the challenges that students and educators face surrounding cultural enclaves as DU continues to maintain inclusive excellence. The presenters will also engage the audience in a dialogue that would focus on strategies from a Western and an Asian perspective that would encourage students from various cultural backgrounds to forge an alliance. The target audience for this session will be students and faculty.
Mobile Indigenous People and their Campaign for Inclusion
Presenters: Indrani Sigamany
Location: Sturm 310
Description: The session will introduce the specific differences in the lives of mobile Indigenous Peoples, who are nomadic and transient. They play a very important though unacknowledged role in preserving the fragile ecosystems of the planet, but are subject to discrimination and social exclusion in most parts of the world. We will briefly explore the problems they face living within majority sedentary populations, and their campaign for inclusion on an international level for their subsistence basis, cultural values, spirituality and dignity. This workshop is open to students or professionals, who would like some knowledge of the dynamics of inclusion of minority populations, living with different norms. Participants do not need to have any prior experience in this topic.
Cultural identity and Ally Work in the Community
Presenters: Sheryl Weston
Location: Sturm 312
Description: In this interactive workshop, all participants will look into their own and others’ identities, as a feature of having healthy cross cultural communication and relationships.
Inclusive Excellence from an International Perspective
Presenters: Neivin Shalabi
Location: Sturm 333
Description: Although nation of origin and religion are salient social identities to many individuals, they are often overlooked when discussing the concept of “Inclusive Excellence.” This presentation sheds light on Inclusive Excellence from an international perspective. Specifically, it provides examples of the challenges international students face while pursuing their studies in institutions of higher education. The presentation also offers suggestions on how colleges and universities can help international students have positive experiences while enriching their institutions with their diverse backgrounds. This session is mainly targeted to American faculty members, administrators, and students. This session is also relevant to international students who are willing to share their own experiences in public.
Experiential Education: Activities for Promoting Inclusive Excellence Inside and Outside of the Classroom
Presenters: Beth Walker
Location: Sturm 379
Description: Many educators wish to incorporate experiential education (EE) techniques in and out of the classroom, but are daunted by the task of facilitating effective activities that promote inclusive communities. Additionally, educators are constantly challenged in differentiating between “hands-on learning,” which considers just the action component of learning, and experiential learning which includes briefing, action, processing and transference. In this session we will discuss what EE is, how it can be utilized both inside the classroom setting and outdoors, and why it is an appropriate vehicle for promoting inclusive excellence in a variety of settings. Come prepared to share your stories and experiences in EE. This session is designed for educators or students who may become educators, however, universal aspects of EE will be discussed and therefore is open to anyone interested in learning more about EE. It will be 30% lecture, and 30% experiential, and 40% co-creational.
Special Performance
North Indian Music - Center for World Music and Lamont School of Music
Time: 2:30-3:30pm
Location: Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center
Description: Kartik Seshadri is a world-renowned sitar virtuoso, composer, educator and the foremost disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar.
Free admission and open to the general public.
Performer Biography: Kartik Seshadri is a world-renowned sitar virtuoso, composer, educator and the foremost disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar. Critics and prominent musicians in India first hailed Seshadri as a child prodigy when he began performing full-length solo recitals at the age of six. As a soloist, Seshadri regularly performs in major venues internationally, from Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, Asia Society, Vancouver Jazz Festival, and the Morelia International Music Festival (Mexico), the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music (Bath, UK) to prestigious University series and some of the most notable festivals in India such as the Dover Lane Music Conference, The Music Academy, ITC Sammelan, and Saptak.
Seshadri has also collaborated with artists as diverse as Pandit Ravi Shankar, Philip Glass and the Brazilian group UAKTI in performances at Carnegie Hall, Cevrvantino Festival in Mexico, Ravinia Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and the Melbourne International Arts Festival in Australia, to name but a few. His performances are marked by their expressive beauty, rich tonal sensibility and extraordinary rhythmic intricacy.
Seshadri is also a distinguished composer and educator of Indian music. His composition Quartet for a Raga received its world premiere in Washington, DC under the auspices of the Contemporary Music Forum. He heads one of the largest programs of Indian classical music in the country at the University of California, San Diego. Seshadri’s latest recordings, Raga: Rasa- That which Colors the Mind and Illuminations recently earned the prestigious Songlines Magazine’s (London) “top of the world” list and special acclaim as “sitar at its lyrical best.”