OED Education Program Update
Spring ECHO Workshops
This spring, the Office for Equity and Diversity Education Program is continuing to offer our Equity and Diversity Certificate courses online through ECHO (Equity Certificate Hosted Online). Please sign up for our Education Program email to stay up to date on ECHO offerings.
In-Person Workshops Announcement
Following guidance from President Gabel, students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to stay home. To facilitate physical distancing and help slow the spread of COVID-19, we have moved all OED in-person workshops to an online format until further notice.
If you have any general questions or are concerned about finishing the Certificate Program in a timely manner, please contact us at oeded@umn.edu.
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. Currently all trainings are 2 hours long and hosted on Zoom. We work with departments to set the Zoom link up. Due to the structure of our workshops and the importance of confidentiality, our workshops are not available for recording. 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 at least 3 times a year to the general campus
- 2-3 hours long (3 hours preferred)
Addressing Implicit Bias and Microaggressions
The university is committed to increasing equity and diversity among its staff, faculty, and students. This includes supporting people of color, people who identify as women, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA communities and other identities across campus. The presence of implicit bias and microaggressions are important to address in our everyday lives. This workshop will expose participants to the concept of implicit bias and how this bias produces microaggressions that can impact classroom, work, and social environments.
Navigating Challenging Conversations
This workshop addresses one of the most significant aspects of equity and diversity work: navigating challenging conversations. In each of our on-going developmental paths around equity, diversity, and social justice, we will find ourselves in more situations that call for self-reflection, careful listening, nuanced language, and thoughtful questions. This workshop offers an introduction on how to develop skills in the following areas: noticing and naming our own triggers and activation, developing nuance in our understanding of our intentions, and developing empathy and active listening skills when we impact others.
My Role in Equity and Diversity
If “Diversity is Everybody’s Everyday Work,” then what is my role? This foundational workshop introduces participants to the core concepts around equity, diversity, and social justice. Key topics include: foundational terminology, understanding our own identities, exploring bias and oppression, and how to work to be an ally and advocate in this work.
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.