Learn strategies to re-energize the implementation of your existing diversity strategic plan.
Instituting a diversity strategic plan is undoubtedly a difficult undertaking, since it requires leaders to create a culture that fosters meaningful collaboration and input from many people across campus, including students. In addition, successfully implementing a diversity strategic plan demands several critical skills such as strategic thinking, problem-solving, creativity, relationship savvy, effective negotiation, and superb communication.
Join us and your peers from across the nation at this first-of-its-kind conference, designed to offer practical strategies and best practices for pushing through complex barriers—including different levels of resistance—when implementing an existing diversity strategic plan. With the help of our expert speakers, you will:
- Set a clear purpose for instituting a diversity strategic plan on your campus
- Identify on-campus barriers to implementing your strategic plan
- Tackle myths around diversity strategic planning
- Learn practical solutions to address and mitigate resistance on your campus
- Consider ways to effectively gather campus data to inform your plan
- Hear best practices for meaningfully tracking progress and measuring effectiveness
- Discuss tactics for integrating your diversity plan with your institution's overarching strategic plan
- Adopt strategies for overcoming change-agent fatigue in your daily work
You’ll leave this event feeling re-energized and more confident about meaningfully executing your diversity strategic plan on campus. You’ll have plenty of time to network and build connections with your peers who are facing similar challenges.
Who Should Attend
This conference was designed for those diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders charged with executing an existing diversity strategic plan or designated as the primary stewards of developing their campus' plan. Those who wish to receive guidance on and re-evaluate their current approach to their existing diversity strategic plan may also benefit from the rich content of this conference.
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Agenda
12:30 – 5:30 p.m.
While the answer to this question might seem obvious to some, is the value of your diversity strategic plan known to all members of your campus? If not, what needs to change? In this session, our experts will help you establish or re-establish a clear and reasonable purpose for instituting a diversity strategic plan that can be widely shared and supported by many on your campus.
Our expert faculty will ask you to identify your most challenging barriers when it comes to implementing your campus’ diversity strategic plan. This exercise is designed to help you name these barriers as well as identify and share similar challenges or themes faced by other institutions.
There are so many misconceptions when it comes to implementing and sustaining the intended purpose of a diversity strategic plan. To name a few:
- Diversity strategic plans cannot pivot or shift
- All goals will achieve positive or intended results
- Communicating successes and failures is always a good idea
- Social media is an ineffective tool to convey our progress
- Tracking progress is impossible
We will tackle these myths, while offering creative solutions to keep your campus motivated and connected to the progress of your diversity strategic plan.
This informal reception is your chance to decompress, have some refreshments on us, and expand your network of connections. Our programs are intentionally designed for smaller groups, so this is a great time to catch-up with attendees and speakers whom you may not have connected with yet.
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
It is not uncommon for a steward of diversity strategic plans to encounter individuals or groups who regularly resist the implementation of your campus’s plan. Navigating priorities, opposing views, changes in leadership are just some of the real challenges associated with instituting a diversity strategic plan. In this session, our expert panel will offer practical solutions and strategies to address forms of resistance that you can utilize and practice on your campus.
Compiling data is a critical part of designing your diversity strategic plan. We will highlight the numerous ways campuses can collect data (e.g., demographic information, climate surveys, focus groups, etc.) that inform your campus’ specific needs, goals, and priorities. You will learn the necessary tools to effectively collect data and propose goals for your campus’ strategic plan. You will also use this time to assess your current data collection practices and, if necessary, establish new practices.
How are you currently tracking the progress and effectiveness of your diversity strategic plan? Have you established benchmark for success, unique to your own institutional context? As to tracking effectiveness, at what point will you know that it’s time to change gears because the intended outcome is not really making a difference? We will provide you with meaningful insights to consider when it comes to measuring the success of your diversity strategic plan.
Many institutions fall into the trap of separating their diversity strategic plan from their university strategic plan. In fact, they are often not given a choice to combine or align both plans. The intersection of diversity as a discipline and strategic thinking as a necessity is the common denominator between these two plans. We will help you build a case and a solid understanding as to why these two plans should not be separated from each other and why aligning them will ultimately create a win-win situation for most campuses.
8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Change is slow, people are stuck in their ways, and campus culture is an enormous challenge to tackle. Emotional or physical fatigue often settle in for those who battle these harsh realities every single day at work. Our expert panel will highlight effective strategies for mitigating fatigue when it comes to serving as the primary steward or change-agent who strives for inclusive excellence in all corners of campus. We will discuss ways in which change-agents can maintain their enthusiasm and energy while also setting realistic expectations and boundaries when implementing their diversity strategic plan.
In this working session, you will work in institutional teams or with individuals with similar challenges to develop your own 30/60/90-day plans to address some of the barriers that have surfaced when implementing your strategic plan. Our expert faculty will assist groups by providing them with additional tips, tools, and resources. If time allows, groups will have the chance to share some of the ways they will apply what they learned at this conference to their work back to campus.
Speakers
Jacob Diaz
Regional Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs/Student Success & Dean of Students, University of South Florida, Saint Petersburg
Jacob oversees a diverse portfolio of areas including Housing and Residence Life, Student Conduct, Student Outreach and Support, Title IX Services, and the Military and Veterans Success Center. His purpose in our profession is to create a university or college where every student feels empowered to share the fullness of who they are and to help faculty and staff to be more equipped to shape their learning environment so it reflects the institutions aspirations of inclusivity.
Mary Ontiveros
Vice President for Diversity, Colorado State University
Mary reports to the President and leads Colorado State’s diversity efforts. Her duties include leading diversity planning, assessment, evaluation, accountability, and developing strategic alliances and partnerships. She coordinates activities among on-campus units, commissions, committees, and task forces; she also represents the University through networking and collaboration with outside communities, schools, and organizations.
Sheila Radford-Hill
Chief Diversity Officer, Dominican University
Sheila reports to the President and supports Dominican's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Her teaching and scholarship focuses on black feminism and social change from a womanist perspective. She is the author of Further to Fly: Black Women and the Politics of Empowerment and has been an executive in the field of diversity and inclusion since 2003. She also has significant leadership experience with the Illinois State Board of Education and numerous non-profit organizations.
Questions About the Event?
Rabia Khan Harvey
Senior Program Manager, Academic Impressions