UCCS to host CU Diversity Summit

UCCS will host the annual system-wide diversity summit next month, offering faculty, staff and administrators an opportunity to learn best practices and strategies they can implement on their campuses.

The theme of this year’s summit is “Fostering a Culture of Inclusion: Modeling Systemic Change.”

“One of the most important elements of the diversity summit is the system’s commitment to continue the conversations, work and charge of being one of the most diverse and inclusive spaces in the state at such a time as this,” said Stephany Rose, associate professor, Women’s and Ethnic Studies. Rose is chairwoman of the summit planning committee.

“Many of our colleagues, students and community constituents find themselves in volatile positions right now where their identities and social locations are under attack; but the care that has been put into creating systemwide inclusion reflects that the University of Colorado leads the way in valuing all people,” she said.

The summit will be 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. March 6 in Berger Hall. Click here to register.

Sarah Willie-LeBreton, professor, Sociology Department, Swarthmore College, will deliver the morning keynote address. Willie-LeBreton studies higher education and teaches courses on African-American culture, politics, race, racism and social inequality. She is the author of “Acting Black: College, Identity and the Performance of Race.”

The summit’s schedule includes sessions on cultivating inclusive leadership, confronting sexism and LGBTQ discrimination, inclusive and accessible teaching practices and navigating difficult conversations on diversity and inclusion.

“This is an opportunity for people from all of the campuses to find out the best of what’s going on our campuses and discuss the challenges we face in fostering inclusion at the University of Colorado,” said Kee Warner, associate vice chancellor for inclusion and engagement, Academic Affairs.

Warner will be part of the panel discussion “Now More Than Ever, Moving Forward in These Times: A Conversation with CU Chief Diversity Officers.”