Diversity and Social Justice TrainingBackground and PhilosophyMy philosophy in developing and implementing diversity and social justice seminars comes from the wide range of experiences I have had over the past 20 years in higher education. I have facilitated seminars ranging from 1 hour to 45 hours spread over 15 weeks. Participants have included professional staff, administrators, faculty, support staff, and, of course, students. I have also had the opportunity to facilitate seminars in various regions of the country. Though there are common experiences among individuals and groups, I have found that institutional culture and regional culture impact how a skilled facilitator should approach diversity and social justice issues. I co-authored the chapter, Educating for Social Justice: The Program on Intergroup Relations Conflict and Community at the University of Michigan, in Schoem, David & Hurtado, Sylvia (Eds.),Intergroup Dialogue: Deliberative Democracy in School, College, Community, and Workplace, The University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor (2000). As a consultant to The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at The University of Texas at Austin, I provided training to faculty members participating in a Ford Foundation Grant focused on bringing difficult issues to the forefront of classroom discussion. After establishing Intergroup Dialogues at The University of Texas at Austin, I joined and participated in the Multi-versity Research Team, which conducted a multi-year, multi-university research project on the impact of the curriculum across 10 universities in the United States. I continued to represent The University of Texas at Austin as a consultant with the research consortium. Because of my experience, I am comfortable handling conflict and disagreement. Facilitating dialogue and discussion on diversity and social justice issues requires the ability to hear and bring forth a wide variety of viewpoints and experiences. A fundamental part of the learning process is creating the opportunity for individuals to look at themselves in relationship to the world around them, including those who have similar and different social identities. Curriculum DevelopmentIn developing the seminar curriculum, I first work with you to develop learning goals that meet the needs of the participants, the organization, and the institution. I work collaboratively with you over several meetings to develop a curriculum that will help participants reach the learning goals we have established together.I have used a wide variety of experiential exercises over my 20 years in curriculum development and facilitation and can thus tailor the activities to meet the learning needs of the participants and the learning goals we have established. I am also able to draw upon my past facilitation and curriculum development experience to anticipate issues and concerns that may come up for participants. As a facilitator, I will work with participants to establish a learning environment that meets them where they are at and that challenges them to move forward in their learning, while supporting their process. The curriculum I develop will be experiential and offer time for reflection and dialogue. In developing the curriculum, it is important to attend to both content and process goals, as well as be aware of both cognitive processes and affective processes. Below are some very basic questions that we would begin with in attending to both the content and process goals of the seminar. Content Goals Process Goals Cognitive and Affective ProcessesA critical aspect of facilitating the seminar is engaging participants at both a cognitive level (often linked to the content goals) and at an affective level (often linked to the process goals). For seminars around diversity and social justice to be effective and transformative, participants need to be engaged in both. Facilitators also need to be comfortable with this duality. Depending on the background of the facilitators, they may tend to focus on one aspect to the exclusion of the other.The integration of cognitive and affective process is critical to move participants forward in their learning process. It also allows participants with different learning styles to enter the material in different ways. Although participants may enter the material though one or the other “pathway” it is important that they engage at both levels. For example, if a particular participant consistently engages the material at a cognitive level and avoids the affect (or feeling), it can be useful to the learning process to help that individual move out of their comfort zone and fully engage all aspects of the process. Given the breadth and depth of my experience, I am comfortable engaging both content and process in order to provide a holistic, transformative experience for your participants.
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