The Office for Equity & Diversity (OED) Education Program offers workshops at the departmental level to University of Minnesota departments. We ask departments to highly encourage department members to attend. However, please do not make the workshop(s) mandatory. We also ask departments to reserve a space for the workshop that has both a projector and sound in the room. Due to the structure of our workshops and the importance of confidentiality, our workshops are not available for recording or live stream. We also ask the participants to join us in-person, not through video or conference call. Minimum participation is 20-25 people. Maximum participation is 65-70.
Current Workshops Offered to Departments
Certificate Workshops
- Participants also earn credit towards our OED Education Certificate
- Each OED Certificate workshop is also offered 6 times a year to the general campus
- 2-3 hours long (3 hours preferred)
Addressing Implicit Bias and Microaggressions
The presence of implicit bias and microaggressions are important to address in our classrooms, work environments, and search and selection processes. This workshop will expose participants to the breadth of implicit bias research and will help them recognize shorts cuts that are the result of unexamined bias and how this bias may produce microaggressions that can impact class-room and work environments. Participants will learn best practices and resources for addressing implicit bias and microaggressions on campus.
Facilitating Challenging Conversations
This workshop addresses one of the most ever-present and significant aspects of equity and diversity work: education through dialogue. In each participant’s on-going development as an ally and a leader, they will find themselves in more and more situations that call for careful listening, nuanced language, well-timed questions, and skilled facilitation. This workshop offers each participant an opportunity to develop these educational skills.
My Role in the Work of Equity and Diversity
If “Diversity is Everybody’s Everyday Work,” then where do I fit in? How can I be part of this work if I never thought these issues were “my issues”? This workshop introduces participants to the concept of being an ally. Participants explore how it’s possible, and why it’s necessary, to work toward access, inclusion, and support for marginalized and underrepresented students, faculty, staff, and community members, and for greater equity in all parts of our institution even from our positions of privilege.
Additional Workshops
- Do not count towards the OED Certificate Program
- Targeted towards faculty and staff
- 2 hours long
Implicit Bias in Search and Selection Processes
Departments across the University of Minnesota regularly participate in searches and selection processes. The university is committed to increasing diversity among its staff, faculty, and students in admissions, promotions, scholarship decisions, and other related selection processes. The presence of implicit bias in these processes can inhibit this goal. This workshop will expose participants to the breadth of implicit bias research and will help them recognize shorts cuts that are the result of unconscious or unexamined bias. Participants will learn promising practices and resources for addressing implicit bias in the context of search and selection processes.
Teaching with Intention
Most instructors are adept at handling conversations dealing with their content areas. But when conversations become more challenging, particularly around topics some find controversial and even “off topic,” how can we facilitate in such a way as to increase learning? In this workshop, instructors will learn strategies for addressing issues of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and religion, among others that may arise, in order to support classroom community and promote inclusive teaching.