Diversity Conference Schedule and Registration

Monday, March 15^th  

12:15 - 1:30 p.m.  Lunch Panel - Diversity Dialogue with New Campus Leaders

2:15 - 3:30 p.m.  Multiple Sessions

Tuesday, March 16^th

10:00 - 11:15 a.m.  Multiple Sessions

12:15 - 1:30 p.m.  Lunch Panel - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leaders Roundtable

2:15-3:30 p.m.  Multiple Sessions

4:00 - 5:00 p.m.  Special Session - Providing Excellent Health Care Regardless of the Times

Wednesday, March 17^th

10:00 - 11:15 a.m.  Multiple Sessions

12:00 – 1:30 p.m  Conference Core

• Welcome and Remarks - President Jonathan Alger
• Keynote and Q & A - Dr. Janice Underwood, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia
• Recognition of Awards  

4:00 - 5:00 p.m.  Special Session - From Theory to Practice: Facilitating a movement, fostering a Collective – JMU's Task Force on Racial Equity

Thursday, March 18^th

10:00 - 11:15 p.m.  Multiple Sessions

12:15 - 1:30 p.m.  Lunch Panel - Task Force on Racial Equity Working Group Conversation: Sharing ideas, perspectives and recommendations that will lead to sustained change and tranformation within our community

2:15 - 3:30 p.m.  Multiple Sessions                                    

Lunch Panel: Diversity Dialogue with Campus Leaders

Afternoon Sessions:

• Adding Mindfulness to Your Racial Justice Toolkit: Practices for Healing, Awareness, and Compassionate Connection

• Allyship in Anti-racist Work

• Ensuring Diversity and Inclusion within K-12 schools by conducting Equity Audits

• Mind the Gap: Bridging the opportunity gap in K-12 schools with college access programming

• Poverty and Power: The Problem of Structural Inequality

• Reclaiming, Renaming, Repairing: How Campus History Advances Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts

Morning Sessions:

• Belonging at Work

• Flourishing Beyond the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender

• Health-I.E.R communities” (I – Inclusion, E – Equity, R – Racism)

• Recognizing and Responding to Microaggressions

• Strategies for Responding to Bias in Your Community

Lunch Panel: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leaders Roundtable

Afternoon Sessions:

• Artificial Intelligence and the Issues of Social Justice, Diversity and Inclusivity

• B(l)ack in theDays: Life at JMU from the African-American Lens

• How a Book Club is Changing the Climate of a Department

• Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in College Recruitment: Tips from Local High School Latinx Students

• Meaning Matters

Morning Sessions:

• The Utility of Critical Race Theory for Framing Organizational Change and Programming

• Transgender Bathroom Rights: What Influences an Opinion? A Mixed-Methods Study

• Using Digital Projects to Engage and Transform Communities and Promote SocialJustice, Diversity, and Inclusion: A Panel Discussion

• Virtual Teaching: A Window to Inequities and Opportunities in Elementary Education

• Voices of Faculty with Disabilities

Conference Core: Welcome and Keynote Address with President Jonathan Alger and Dr. Janice Underwood

Special Late Afternoon Session: Task Force on Racial Equity: From Theory to Practice: Facilitating a movement, fostering a Collective

Morning Sessions:

• Developing Culturally Competent Clinical Faculty

• Provost Faculty Diversity Curriculum Grant Awards - Conversation about outcome

• Reference Letter Writing - Writing about the Individual

• The Need for, Benefits of, and Best Practices for Mentoring LGBTQ+ Students:  Promoting Access, Inclusion, and Social Justice

• Transforming Thinking about Thinking: Designing for Neurodiversity

Lunch Panel: Task Force on Racial Equity Working Group Conversation: Sharing ideas, perspectives and recommendations that will lead to sustained change and tranformation within our community

Afternoon Sessions:

• 6 G's Leadership Experience

• College of Education:​ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Doctoral Fellows Program

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leaders Roundtable

• Diversity Through Internationalization: Fulbright, INU, and More

• Inclusive Teaching for Diverse Classrooms: Beyond the Little Red Teaching Toolbox to Socio-cultural Apprenticeship

The JMU Diversity Conference is pleased to welcome Dr. Janice Underwood as our 2021 keynote speaker. Dr. Janice Underwood, who strongly believes in servant leadership and culturally relevant reform, was appointed by Governor Ralph Northam as the Commonwealth of Virginia’s first cabinet-level Chief Diversity Officer (CDO).  This position is also the first of its kind in the nation. As the Commonwealth’s CDO, she is committed to addressing racial, ethnic, disability, gender-based, and other cultural inequities in formal and informal policies and practices in Virginia state government. As a result, Dr. Underwood is working tirelessly to build the ONE Virginia statewide strategic plan for Inclusive Excellence across over 100 state agencies and with other public and private sectors.  In her short tenure, she has been named one of “20 Women of Change” in 2020 by the Virginia Museum of History and Culture for the accomplishments and impact she has already had on the Commonwealth.   Her goal is to make Virginia an exemplar for the nation, regarding diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence.  

Prior to her appointment, Dr. Underwood served as Old Dominion University’s Director of Diversity Initiatives and as the chair of the President’s Task Force on Inclusive Excellence. She previously served as the Executive Director and Co-Principal Investigator for the Old Dominion University Teacher in Residence master’s program.  Dr. Underwood also served for a number of years as a national board certified teacher for students with exceptionalities in Hampton City Schools. During her time as a classroom teacher, she served for two terms on the Virginia Advisory Board for Teacher Education and Licensure (ABTEL).  As a national expert in the cultural contexts of public education, change management and leadership, and professional development/training, Dr. Underwood works to make the public and private sectors more culturally relevant. In doing so, she prepares professionals from a myriad of fields to meet the demands of working in diverse environments and address difficult truths, such as the school to prison pipeline, the lack of diversity in the workforce, and systemic and institutional bias.

She earned her Bachelor’s (1998) and Master’s (2002) degrees from Hampton University in Psychology and Behavior/Learning Disorders, respectively.  In 2015, she earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Old Dominion University, where her research focused on culturally relevant pedagogy. She is happily married to Min. Johnnie Underwood and together they have two daughters, Jayla and Jordan.

Please register using the provided registration link on this page. You will be prompted to register as a guest on the registration form.

CEUs are available for non-JMU conference participants. Attend any 5 sessions and earn 0.6 contact hours. There is a $25 certificate processing fee payable to JMU. JMU will follow up with you regarding CEUs and payment. Please sign up for CEUs at registration or contact Beth Nelsen for more information.

Register Now

Registration Closes Thursday, March 11th at 8:00 a.m.