Symposium video archives

Colorado State University’s The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) chapter is an inclusive group of BIPOC students and professionals in the sciences dedicated to fostering community and success.

Students have expressed that they often seek and prioritize mentors who share some aspect of identity, whether it is an overlap in research interests or an overlap through racial or gender identity. However, there is a false narrative that BIPOC students who do not share an identity with their mentor will not be as successful and that these mentors are unable to advise them. This expectation may lead to overwhelming expectations for both mentors and mentees, which may affect student retention in the sciences.

SACNAS CSU will discuss aspects of how both mentors and mentees can take the initiative to have honest, successful, effective communication between individuals, regardless of identity. Broad topics that will be covered include building communication skills, self-identity, imposter syndrome, and the challenges with mentorship.

It is a statistical likelihood that someone you know has been impacted by interpersonal violence, which includes sexual assault and harassment, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. This is an unfortunate and difficult reality, especially when violence touches the people we care about. In all of our roles in life, we really want to do and say the right things if a survivor discloses their story to us. And, without training, it can be hard to know what those things are.

In this session, Victoria will talk about the ways trauma impacts people, how we can develop a trauma-informed approach, and the B.E.S.T. ways to support survivors. She will also incorporate survivor stories into the session to ensure attendees don't lose sight of the human impact of violence, and to allow those impacted to lend their voices to our shared space.

This session will include lecture, small group work, and digital survivor stories.

Racial and ethnic demographic data collection is commonplace in higher education spaces, but many who encounter these questions repeatedly ask themselves, “which box(es) should I check?” Folx struggle to answer this question because the boxes and options that currently exist do not and cannot capture the intricacies of their identities and lived experiences.

In this session, we will explore how higher education institutions are required to report ethnic and racial data (IPEDS) and why more expansive racial and ethnic data collection is important. The presenter will also share how CSU’s Asian Pacific American Cultural Center approaches racial and ethnic demographic data collection and how they use the data they collect.

This session will also have space for small group conversations and brainstorming around more inclusive demographic data collection.

Students shifting from a campus to an online classroom environment enjoy the flexibility that asynchronous discussions and environments provide but are challenged with the lack of interaction and engagement from fellow students and instructors, poor online resources, and lack of online expertise demonstrated by their online instructors (Martin, 2020; Savage, 2021; Stone, 2022).

In order to provide DEIB for the online student, it will be important to implement tools and strategies from a curriculum lens that are equitable and inclusive for all students (Crawford, 2021; Devlin & McKay, 2018; Stone, 2017b; Stone & Springer, 2019).

This presentation will provide clear tools and strategies that can start during the course curriculum process to enhance engagement, diversity, equity, inclusion, belongingness, and student success and satisfaction in the online environment. The presentation will begin with defining DEI and will include best practices and strategies for incorporating DEIB from a curriculum standpoint.

Dr. Patricia Vigil, Director of Alliance and University Partnership Relations, will share how youth engagement with CSU can bolster equity initiatives and reduce recruitment barriers when founded on three pillars of a culturally relevant curriculum:

1. Focusing on student learning and academic success
2. Developing students’ cultural competence, which can lead to positive ethnic and social identity development
3. Supporting students’ critical consciousness or ability to recognize and critique societal inequalities

Cheryl Bowker, Director of the STEM Center, will outline available support for summer programs with grant writing and assessment. Anne Van Arsdall, Director of CSU Summer, will moderate an interactive panel of CSU and high school partner staff.

The CSU panel will share program examples offered through the main campus, CSU Spur, and Engagement and Extension year-round, inspiring others to consider youth programming. High school representatives will offer perspectives regarding students’ participation, current and emerging interests, and barriers.

Supporting America's military and their affiliates can and must be a concerted effort in the University system from enrollment to graduation and beyond. At CSU's Global campus, our efforts to re-envision that effort centers around four key audiences: active duty, veteran, military affiliate, and civilian.

Embedded content is introduced in General Education courses in newly revised course offerings including Humanities 101 and English 101. The goal is to carry common themes throughout General Education, ultimately integrating these themes through all Undergraduate majors.

We are creating a strong framework for including military-related issues and pedagogies across our graduate programs.

In this panel, Faculty, Administrators, and Staff from our Global Campus will share and explore the pedagogical underpinnings of this initiative and share tangible tips and artifacts for those willing to join us on this journey — to create a truly inclusive culture for all American military and their affiliates.

Simply … transportation and commuting should not be a reason we fail to recruit and retain the best employees or students at Colorado State University.  We all commute (or telecommute) to CSU daily, yet transportation is often disregarded as an inflexible, sunk cost. Transportation is the ultimate measurement of how welcome a student, employee, or visitor perceives CSU. A brief presentation will share current efforts to engage students and employees when they are recruited and matriculate to CSU.

A panel discussion will be held to explore the following learning objectives:

1. How CSU supports employee and student commuters today
2. Understanding transportation barriers to equitable access and mobility
3. The importance of evaluating personal housing and transportation expenses together
4. Inclusive physical design features to support commuters at CSU
5. Actions to improve transportation safety and circulation

This session will explore areas of neurodiversity, peer mentoring, and a study conducted by the Student Disability Center and Master of Social Work students regarding a peer mentoring program through the SDC. This presentation will highlight the students perspectives and suggestions for the SDC's peer mentoring program. In addition, we will discuss how these valuable perspectives were included into the design and implementation of the SDC's peer mentoring program. Finally, we will discuss introductory findings of the program within the first months of it's implementation.

According to the Department of Defense, in 2020, there were 3.5 million military personnel and just over 2.5 million family members also serving their country. Military service members are stationed within the U.S., referred to as CONUS (Continental US), and in other countries, referred to as OCONUS (outside Continental US).

Military service members do not work a traditional 9 - 5 PM job; they often leave for extended training periods and are deployed throughout the world, sometimes at a moment's notice. Meeting the learning needs of the military requires flexibility and awareness that accessing an asynchronous course in theater is not the same as accessing that same course from the comfort of a home office. Actually, flexibility is a non-negotiable when it comes to educating our service members.

Due to security measures, during deployments and certain exercises, service members may not be able to record a video or even an audio recording for an assignment, and group work is not realistic. What is realistic and student/service member-focused is educators providing extensions, alternative assignments, a military-friendly late policy, and having an acute awareness that the military mission comes first.

Disclaimer: Although there is movement to shift towards SWANA a lot of the resources provided is more from a MENA Lens because of lack of resources on SWANA.

We have often wondered why so many students from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are categorized as white in the census. When, this categorization wrongfully describes their lived experience. In this session, we will be learning about the history of MENA in the United States and how the White washing of MENA students has resulted in issues supporting them within Higher Education.

The pursuit of higher education challenges students by engaging them in rigorous academic exploration and courageous personal development. This environment is uniquely impactful on students belonging to STEM disciplines.

The Mentoring Access Platforms in STEM (MAPS) Grant is a Title III, Part F Department of Education HSI STEM program at Colorado State University Pueblo. Our impassioned task is to support low-income, first-generation, Latinx, and historically underrepresented minority student populations in high-impact programming to increase their academic success. This work includes supporting undergraduate students through paid research opportunities, internship programs, professional development, tutoring support, and other programs and resources.

This work also includes holistic student support. As such, The MAPS Center for STEM Support was proudly created to directly address the mental health and wellness concerns of STEM students and advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) efforts in the STEM College.

Through an engaging lecture-style presentation, The Center for STEM Support (CSS) staff will provide detailed information on the development of the CSS, the students we serve, inclusive programming efforts, and more.

Colorado State University has recently just been designated a First-Gen Forward institution, but what does this mean? Come learn about how the first-generation, low-income college student identity shows up on our campus, and nationally, and how you can better serve students who fit into this identity. Throughout this presentation, you will have opportunities to connect with other staff and faculty to explore your own understandings of these identities while also breaking down preconceptions you might have when working with these students. By then end of this presentation, you will be able to gain recommendations on how to better serve these students within your roles both on and off campus.

This session will explore the intersectionality of the disabled and LGBTQ+ identities and communities. Topics covered will include shared experiences, intersectional barriers, and examination of civil rights issues that impact members of these communities. This presentation will also provide information about how to create inclusive spaces for members of these communities.

The Colorado State University System is one of four university systems to be chosen to implement the National Association of System Heads Equity Action Framework to audit structures, policies, and practices to achieve our missions. CSU Pueblo has been an Hispanic Serving Institution since 2005 and CSU Fort Collins is an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution. Through a culturally relevant collaboration our universities are partnering to lead campus-wide strategic planning to center servingness as HSIs.

Attendees are invited to join presenters on a journey of exploration of historical events and personal reflection on self-acceptance and acceptance within society. Black hair is more than just hair. Attendees will gain an understanding of underlying messages that project negative stereotypes and influence the lived experience of people with “nappy” or “kinky” hair.

The natural hair movement aims to encourage people of African descent to embrace their natural, afro-textured hair. It originated in the United States during the 1960s and resurged in the 2000s. After decades of intolerance, The Crown Act was enacted in 2019, making it illegal to discriminate against race-based hairstyles.

Utilizing a developmental framework, presenters will provide their unique insight into detangling messaging of beauty and value placed on them by colonization and white supremacist culture. Black/African American people are now embracing and loving their natural curls and hair texture despite the perceptions of others.

This session stems from my research exploring the ways science education has accustomed womxn of color to the isolating, competitive, and exclusive culture of the professional STEMM disciplines. After sharing the many ways we have been broken down by this oppressive culture, I asked a simple question: Why? Why do we continue to do it? What's the reward that we get at the end of the day? At the end of a career? In this interactive session, I offer the same question to you and an opportunity to press pause. Come prepared to be in community with other womxn of color in STEM disciplines to explore the following questions:

• How might I have internalized a "you have to work twice as hard to get just as far" mentality?
• How might I be perpetuating an isolating, competitive, and exclusive culture in my area?
• What cool, amazing, refreshing ideas could come from your discipline if we had the liberty to be creative in our disciplines?

The CSU Pride Resource Center is celebrating its 25th year on campus! Join the Pride team as we look back at our history and the queer and trans movement at CSU. We will discuss the current political realities for our LGBTQIA+ students and employees from a national and local context, and offer tangible, actionable resources for participants to help us invest in queer futures and our vision to create a campus climate in which all LGBTQIA+ people can thrive.

As the CSU community extends through Larimer County, the Thompson School District Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion will share how TSD is embracing EDI through policy and practice and seek feedback and involvement from our CSU neighbors.

This session will cover how to make PowerPoint presentations inclusive using accessible templates, slide layouts, and unique slide titles. Additional topics include color contrast, reading order, alternative (alt) text for images, audio quality, video recommendations, and electronic handouts.

Join Nadia Ali and Sydney Jackson-Clockston in a workshop designed to enhance leadership skills and promote Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEI). Session topics include trust-building, radical empathy, power and privilege.

Providing mutual aid and approaching community resiliency with an equity-first approach are cornerstones within the field of social work. Utilizing music as a community connector strengthens relationships between individuals who represent unique forms of intersectionality through their own lived experiences.

This presentation will review the process of creating a community-based music therapy program informed by conceptual frameworks learned through a Master of Social Work curriculum to bridge gaps in the community of Pueblo, CO. There will be a combination of a lecture and experiential elements with interwoven discussion prompts.

The lecture will primarily focus on the development of the program, how it was implemented, and the status of the program at the time of the presentation. The experiential element will provide an example of a music therapy intervention utilized in the program setting.

The facilitator will illustrate how both music therapy theory (Resource Oriented Music Therapy) and social work theory (Solution-focused Approach and Systems Theory) are applied within the community. Prompts to encourage discussion and time for closing reflection will be included to foster conversation within the group.

The systems of harm that inflict violence on the land through industrial agriculture, fossil fuel extraction, and the colonial perception of human dominance over other beings are the same systems that create and perpetuate gender-based violence. As an ecologist and survivor advocate, I see that not only is the source of harm the same in both ecosystem degradation and gender-based violence, but that healing needs to happen concurrently as well.

In this workshop, I will articulate the root of these harms and offer strategies for healing from them simultaneously. I will demonstrate that to be in a healthy relationship with the land, we have to be in healthy relationship with each other. I will guide participants through ways to offer verbal, resource-based, and embodied support, particularly to survivors of gender-based violence.

I will offer both epistemological and methodological contexts for healing and will guide participants through grounding exercises for ecological embodiment.

Meetings are the bane of many employees' work days. However, what if there are strategies you can use to promote better participation and inclusivity in meetings while also bolstering your meeting facilitation skills? Join this session to learn about and practice inclusive meeting facilitation techniques applicable to your work, school, and home environments.

Using interactive presentation materials, I will host a workshop discussing strategies for meeting facilitation that promotes participation from diverse meeting participants. These skills are universally useful for anyone who has to run meetings for their work.

Proposed Schedule:

• 15 Minutes - Basics of Inclusive Facilitation (presentation and group discussion of basic meeting skills while reflecting on inclusivity topics)
• 25 Minutes - Making Facilitation Inclusive (presentation and group discussion on making traditional meeting tools and strategies inclusive)
• 20 Minutes - Practice Inclusive Facilitation (Participants are grouped and provided instructions to practice applying inclusive facilitation techniques with my support)
• 30 Minutes - Q&A, Examples from Meetings

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Colette Sterling (She/Her/Hers) is a current graduate student in the Student Affairs in Higher Education program at Colorado State University. She is a graduate assistant for Parent and Family Programs and a Chapter Graduate Advisor for Fraternity and Sorority Life. Colette is also an alum of CSU, having graduated in 2019 with her BA in Communication Studies and a minor in Business Administration.

Over the past four years, Colette has been visibly outspoken and sassy about the needs of the trans community at CSU and in higher education more broadly. She uses her lived narratives to humanize the struggles and joys of being trans and queer, sharing her experiences on public platforms like this one.

Colette is inspired by the potential of merging trans and queer activism with intersectionality contextualized around higher education. She incorporates healthy doses of sarcasm to help envision new possibilities for transgender and gender expansive peoples. Colette will be speaking about "Leading While Trans: Thriving Beyond the 'Cis'tem."