Ideas for Engaging in Inclusive Excellence, by level

Early                          Intermediate                        Advanced                          Chairs and Other Administrators
Go to the Reading and Film Ideas page        Send Deb a suggestion        Inclusive Excellence Postings
Go to the IE Self-Developer (records your strategy for your own records, and helps us know what's needed)
                     useful for instructional staff                              useful for non-instructional staff

Go here to record your plan for your department or unit. Use the IE Self-Developer to record your personal plan.

Early

Read about an underrepresented population from that group's own perspectives
Discuss with colleagues the implications of your reading on the kinds of interactions you have with students and colleagues. One possible place is the group called Teaching For Diversity (mostly instructional staff, but also some Student Affairs colleagues). The schedules are flexible, so you can bring your ideas to the group. Email Deb if you'd like to be added to the TFD email list. Or start your own! Deb can help -- let us know what you need -- just email Deb
Attend events about populations unfamiliar to you. A Diversity category in the new electronic calendar helps you identify campus events (you might need to check the Diversity box on the list at the lower right).
Attend training to enhance your cultural competence or knowledge of issues -- Watch for the "Open Door" workshops, coming Spring 2010 (currently designed just for instructors and academic chairs and program directors) The HUB site lists possibilities for training too.
Read a study on educational equity issues
Discuss the implications of such studies or training with colleagues. Teaching For Diversity is one possible place for this. The schedules are flexible, so you can bring your ideas to the group. Email Deb if you'd like to be added to the TFD email list. Or start your own! Deb can help -- let us know what you need -- just email Deb
Review your course materials to ensure that a wide range of people are represented, or that issues of difference and inclusiveness are addressed.
Make a recruiting call to a student from an underrepresented population.
Serve on a committee or community organization that deals with diversity or equity issues
Test your awareness of disability rights in higher education: select from the menu here (note: the password for the "In Their Shoes" training through Penn State is ACCESSUWL).
Test your knowledge of sexual harassment law as related to higher education
Identify your unconscious biases Go here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/ These tests measure not how racist (or sexist, homophobic, etc.) you are, but rather the extent to which the messages of our culture reside in your sub-conscious. Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (NY: Little, Brown, 2005) explores why unconscious bias matters.
Complete training on how to respond to disability rights in higher education: select from the menu here Go here for accessibility training in online courses
Complete training on how handle sexual harassment reported to you (especially important for department chairs): start here first; for more info contact the AAO
Supervise an undergraduate research project with students historically absent from your field: here's a resource for research on the LGBT population

Intermediate

Develop solutions to educational equity problems evident from the literature in your field or in Equity Scorecard or assessment findings
Attend at least one conference session on educational equity
Attend at least one conference on educational equity
Integrate assignments that reflect diversity into a course
Incorporate cross-cultural and cross-group assignments and experiences into a course
Experiment with pedagogies that consider group and individual differences
Learn about Universal Design and begin implementing it
Attend advanced training to enhance your cultural competence or knowledge of issues: Watch for the "Open Door" workshops, coming Spring 2010
Read studies that examine which pedagogies work well for whom and why
Redesign a course around more equitable pedagogies Email Deb for a consultation
Read critiques or revisions of knowledge construction in your field from diversity perspectives and responses to them
Attend a conference session examining the construction of knowledge from such perspectives
Discuss the implications of such critiques with colleagues
Attend a conference on the transformation of knowledge from such perspectives
Redesign a course to respond to such critiques Email Deb for a consultation
Research teaching and learning issues related to diversity Email Deb for a consultation
Mentor a new colleague from an historically underrepresented group
Complete advanced training that deals with diversity or equity issues Watch for the "Open Door" workshops, coming Spring 2010

Advanced

Attend advanced training to enhance your cultural competence or knowledge of issues: Watch for the "Open Door" workshops, coming Spring 2010
Conduct training for colleagues Contact Deb if you'd like to brainstorm
Continue reading studies of theory, method, or the construction of knowledge in your field from feminist, multicultural, LGBT or queer theory, international, or other diversity perspectives
Develop a new research question or methodology informed by such analyses Email Deb for a consultation
Implement Universal Design across your courses Email Deb for a consultation
Teach students these new perspectives Email Deb for a consultation
Teach students how to use these perspectives and methods, and how to ask their own new questions Email Deb for a consultation
Conduct research or create art that considers such analyses
Lend your expertise on such issues to a board, organization, or committee
Develop solutions to equity problems in an organization
Teach such problem-solving to your students

Work to implement such organizational change
Study a new language

Chairs and Other Administrators

Initiate a self-assessment of your department. Here are two links to identical processes: http://www.chr.wsu.edu/Content/Documents/chr/self-assessment%20tool_all.pdf (Washington State University) and http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/facultydiversity/self-assessment-tool.pdf (U of California System) Not all of this applies to the department level, but much of it does.
Review and revise bylaws, mission statements, policies, procedures, student learning outcomes, and websites to promote equity, inclusivity, and collaboration
Measure the extent to which diversity infuses the course content of your programs Contact Deb for help
Measure the extent to which diversity informs pedagogies and graded assignments across the curricula Contact Deb for help
Develop a plan (such as a faculty development program) for your unit to enhance inclusiveness: Contact Deb for help
Complete training on how to respond to disability rights in higher education: select from the menu here
Complete training on how handle sexual harassment reported to you: learn where to report here; for training, start here first; for more info contact the AAO
Assess initiatives that impact the diversity of your unit: contact the AAO
Assess courses and programs with specific attention to historically underserved student populations: Contact Deb for help
Respond to assessment, Equity Scorecard, or Campus Climate findings on inclusivity, equity, and civility Contact Deb for help
Respond to Campus Climate and other survey findings on status issues within the university (i.e., faculty and/or supervisor treatment of classified staff; staff and faculty treatment of students) Contact Deb for help
Seek training for yourself on the interpersonal aspects of being a supervisor: Watch for the "Open Door" workshops, coming Spring 2010
Identify opportunities for classified staff to enhance their skills
Identify opportunities for classified staff to enhance their learning on diversity
Aid staff in your unit to attend a program on inclusivity in the workplace or educational environment
Discuss with your staff how social group identification shapes people, organizations, and institutions
Work to make interpersonal interactions in your unit more supportive and respectful of historically marginalized groups or people with different political or religious views Watch for the "Open Door" workshops, coming Spring 2010
Thank your staff for their efforts to ensure equity and inclusiveness in your unit
Hire faculty, staff, or student workers from an historically underrepresented population or AA group (i.e., women, veterans, people of color, LGBT): contact the AAO

Grants: McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program UW-L Mentoring Opportunity Program
Related Sites: UW-L Diversity Hub Site Multicultural Student Services Pride Center Campus Climate and Diversity Disability Resource Services

Inclusive Excellence Postings

Have ideas for this list postings? Send them to post@uwlinclusiveexcellence.posterous.com

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