JMU - Engagement and Inclusivity @ JMU
Engagement and Inclusivity at JMU
Course# TD1620
Note: The series is capped at 16 participants.
Categories: Diversity
Level: Intermediate
Type: All Inclusive Series
To maximize the collaborative learning, please review your calendar before registering to ensure you can attend all sessions.
Certificate: Participants will receive a certificate of completion if they attend all sessions.
Total Series Time: 15 Hours (Five 3-hour sessions)
Make-Ups: Make-ups may be available for this series. Please contact Suzanne Vance (vancesn@jmu.edu or 8-4101) to check on availability of make-up sessions.
Pre-requisites: None
Target Audience: Individuals wanting to engage in diversity conversations and develop strategies for continued engagement and inclusion of diversity at JMU.
Series Description: This intermediate diversity series will challenge assumptions and encourage participants to engage in diversity dialogue while focusing on inclusivity.
Presented by: Judy Rannow, Professional Development Specialist
Session Information:
Note: The series has been postponed. Watch for additional details and new schedule.
Employees interested in this series can submit a request here
Session 1: Village of 100
Workshop Description: What if we were to take the entire world’s population and reduce it to 100 people – what would that look like? In this session participants will see what that would look like and then learn what JMU would look like if it were made up of 100 people.
Participants will then be able to:
- Recognize the sixteen dimensions of diversity.
- Understand the dimensions of diversity at JMU.
- Understand how diversity impacts the JMU culture.
- Identify how they can encourage “diversity” conversations at JMU.
Session 2: Diversity and the Brain
Workshop Description: Our brains are designed to work as efficiently as possible. Because of this, the information we receive through our senses can often times be separated into categories that were determined in a previous situation. This phenomenon, while it saves our brain’s energy in the short term, can lead to stereotypes and unwarranted assumptions about people. This workshop explains in detail this phenomenon, as well as how to give each person you encounter a chance to break the mold.
Participants will then be able to:
- Understand how the brain operates and organizes new information
- Recognize how and why vision and sight impact their perceptions of people
- Learn how to prevent fitting people into a previously created mold in their brain
Session 3: Unintentional Intolerances
Workshop Description: According to Dr. Steve Robbins, Mindlessness + Multiple Redundant Messages = Unintentional Intolerance. Not being mindful of what is happening in the moment can lead to unintentional displays of intolerance. There are many negative effects of these displays. This workshop identifies these effects, provides ways to prevent unintentional intolerance, and gives suggestions for maximizing positive outcomes through reframing the perceptions you have of your world.
Participants will then be able to:
- Understand mindlessness and the role it plays in creating unintentional intolerance
- Recognize the triggers and outputs of unintentional intolerance
- Learn to combine knowledge and perspectives to reframe their world and create more positive outcomes
Session 4: House of Privilege
Workshop Description: Participants will experience the House of Privlege and then participate in diversity conversations.
Session 5: Strategies for Engagement and Inclusion
Workshop Description: No one is immune from bias. We all perceive the world through our own filters of past experience and knowledge. “Micro-inequities” are the subtle, usually subconscious messages we send that can devalue, discourage and ultimately impair performance. It is often these small slights, subtle discriminations and tiny injustices that can add up to big problems in the workplace. These little negative gestures happen every day and can poison the workplace. How do we eliminate a “poison” that is not delivered in a bucket, but takes its toll drop by drop?
This session will focus on how individuals can impact engagement and inclusion of diversity at JMU.
Participants will then be able to:
- Identify personal biases.
- Identify micro-inequities and raise awareness that they exist.
- Listen, empathize, and follow the “platinum rule” by treating others as they would like to be treated.
- Value the talents each person brings to the table regardless of race, religion, culture, or age.
- Be open to information about different cultures, customs, and perspectives.
- Communicate with kindness and clarity.
- Engage in meaningful “diversity conversations”.
- Develop strategies for inclusion of diversity at JMU.
