Walking the Walk of Diversity

Selfless or Selective, Dancing Toward Victory or Destined for Defeat: Perpetual Barriers to Building Community

• Dr. Belinda A. Dalton-Russell, Associate Vice President of Student Services, Danville Area Community College

Get ready to share your personal insights in this stimulating and interactive session that will keep you up, moving and thinking about how you define and look at community. The importance of community can be eloquently and persuasively voiced with power and conviction. Commitment to community if genuine is inclusive, discretionary, and steadfast. Too often those who lack authenticity in their convictions are vigorously elevated to authority status while those with greater insight and actions are dismissed. The desire to build an inclusive community can be communicated as a shared value yet fall short of execution because of an allusion of acceptance from all stake holders. Personal selection and acceptance of those allowed access into our community can create perpetual road blocks to progress. Selfless inclusion can allow communities to thrive and overcome barriers that impede success.

Diversity Assessment Tool Development

• Anita Kelley, Chair, Harold Washington College Business Department, Vice Chair HWC Assessment Committee
• Dr. Cecilia L. Lopez, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Harold Washington College
• Carrie Nepstad, Assistant Professor, Child Development, Harold Washington College, Chair HWC Assessment Committee
• Keenan Andrews, Assistant Dean of Research and Planning, Harold Washington College

This workshop will show attendees how to develop tools to assess diversity at their institutions. The assessment of diversity is important to learning institutions.  Diversity is one of Harold Washington College's (HWC) General Education Objectives and part of its Mission Statement.  As an urban, multicultural institution, meeting and achieving this objective are critical to the success of the college. HWC developed its own tool to assess Human Diversity.

Getting off Automatic: Initiating Systemic Change in the Workplace – A Pre-Conference Session

• DuWayne Brooks, Director of Multicultural Student Services and Director of African-American Studies, Bradley University
• Rebecca Durkin, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, Rosalyn Franklin School of Medicine

This innovative, Pre-Conference Session will allow participants to explore the different aspects of initiating systematic change in the workplace. “Getting Off Automatic” will challenge participants to change automatic thinking and processes as they relate to institutional change and growth. During this session we will be providing you with tools that will identify the need for systemic change in your organization.  As individuals, we often think that we are alone and can do little or nothing to initiate change.  This session will show participants that we all have the ability to create change.   We will explore concepts that include, but are not limited to, fear, denial, mis-education, ally building, and intent vs. impact.  Participants will be able to leave with some clear cut ideas and suggestions on how to initiate and facilitate change.