A Call to Collaborate: the Diversity Educators Summit

On Feb. 21, the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will host a free workshop for all University of Alabama faculty and staff who teach diversity, create diversity initiatives, host diversity professional development workshops, or who have an interest in doing so.

The Diversity Educators Summit will be held at G-55 Rose Administration Building  from noon to 3 p.m.

Dr. G. Christine Taylor, vice president and associate provost of the division, said the workshop is an important initiative for the Capstone in its evolution as a more diverse, equitable and inclusive campus.

“We are a learning organization and have to always be engaged in the process of learning more and sharing what we have learned in terms of best practices,” Taylor said. “In the words of my beloved Maya Angelou, ‘when you know better, do better.’

“But if you don’t have that access to information it’s difficult to really be more effective with the things that we need to know about, particularly as they relate to issues with diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Taylor said the workshop serves as an opportunity to bring the campus community together to collaborate and create a standardized series of diversity, equity and inclusion tools that the University can use for students, for faculty and for staff.

“We want to know, No. 1, what are you doing? What are your experiences in? What do you sense we need to do more of so that we can begin to fill those gaps?

“There are glossary issues terms that people need to know. What does a certain word mean? There are resources that we can share on the campus. This is a way to really pull together a group of people who have been doing this kind of work, or who have identified the need to do this kind of work in their area, so we can all get on the same page.”

Taylor said this is the first of several workshops she’d like to make available to campus faculty and staff in the near future.

Direct questions or comments to the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at diversity@ua.edu.