Symposium video archives

Michael Martin is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and specializes in agricultural literacy. Michael teaches undergraduate courses in agricultural education and agricultural history as well as graduate courses in Extension education and agrarian ideology. His research interests include teaching effectiveness as well as whiteness, agricultural history, and values. In particular, his expertise is how agricultural ideologies and identity impact society and agriculturalists. Mike will be speaking about "Whiteness in Agriculture - Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow".

Patricia Mestas Vigil, PhD, serves as the Director of University Partnerships and Student Success and Director of the Alliance Partnership University Relations at Colorado State University. The Alliance mission is to foster a college-going culture with ten Colorado high schools mainly composed of historically underrepresented, low-income, first-generation, and racially and ethnically diverse students.

Dr. Vigil, a psychologist in the Counseling Center for several years, was also the Associate Director of Onboard Life and the Director of the Counseling Center aboard The ScholarShip, an ocean-going university where over 200 individuals from fifty different countries built a transnational community through relationship development, goal collaboration, and development of intercultural communication skills, while exploring ten different countries.

Dr. Vigil is a Fellow for the Executive Leadership Academy at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley, an American Psychological Minority Fellow, and a founder of the Colorado Coalition for the Educational Advancement of Latinx. She chairs the CSU Multicultural Staff and Faculty Network, teaches Psychology of Diversity and Chicanx History and Culture, and provides training in diversity, equity, inclusion, and Restorative Justice at the local, national, and international levels.

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This session will cover current research on gender inequity in U.S. workplaces, including differences in parental leave, discrimination against trans* folx, and the gender pay gap. We will also examine how women with intersecting marginalized identities experience these inequities differently and simultaneously.

We will discuss multiple compounding reasons and theories for workplace gender inequity and invite participants to share their personal experiences. Lastly, we will offer tangible resources and engage in a group discussion on what we can do to minimize gender inequity in our current and future places of work.

This session focuses on diversity and inclusion through the lens of deaf culture and sign language acquisition. As knowing multiple languages becomes an increasingly coveted skill, educational institutions ought to consider how deaf education not only promotes learning of course content but also how a bilingual deaf education might promote teaching multiple signed languages and increased deaf world awareness.

This session uses the current case of the Uruguayan education system’s exploration of introducing American Sign Language as an alternative to English for all deaf students to help us begin to notice the potential knowledge and practice gaps in our US institutions and start addressing them.

A special Q&A session with the CSU Inspire speakers.

This presentation will focus on the experiences of transgender individuals who are assigned female at birth and the unique challenges that they face in navigating reproductive health care systems. It will include a nuanced discussion about the difficulties of reforming reproductive health care to be more inclusive to trans-masculine individuals.

Brian Jones is a Master Instructor in the Physics Department and the Director of the Little Shop of Physics program at Colorado State University. He is co-author on one of the leading textbooks for the College Physics course, and has presented workshops on effective science instruction all over the United States and in more than a dozen countries. In 2011, he was awarded the Millikan Medal by the American Association of Physics Teachers for creativity and excellence in physics education. The focus of his work is to make science, and science education, more engaging, more accessible, and more inclusive. Brian will be speaking about "Reaching Outward and Looking Inward".

This session unpacks the complexity of identifying as Jewish at the present moment in the United States, and specifically at CSU. Introducing multiple perspectives from Arab, African, and European American Jews, we aim to sketch the dynamic but fragile status of American Jewish identities and discuss experiences of pride, fear, shame, community, and longing unique to our membership in the CSU community and Fort Collins, and broadly.

Multiple issues and perspectives will be discussed, such as intersectionality and simultaneity, negotiating if, when, and how to reveal Jewish identities, acceptance and neglect, feeling invisible, the status of Jews of Color, white privileges, intergenerational trauma, myths and stereotypes, and Judaism as religion vs. ethnicity and culture.

This session will discuss the intersections of race, the criminal justice system, and career. We will look at how interactions with the justice system affect career prospects & outcomes, how the economy interacts with prisons, and how racial bias and discrimination compounds these negative impacts, specifically for black people in America. We will share current research based heavily on the work of Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson, among other scholars and activists, invite participants to share personal experiences and knowledge, and discuss possible action steps moving forward.

In this interactive session, we will provide participants with a deeper understanding of how becoming an entrepreneur can be a powerful way to build wealth and enact social change within marginalized communities.

We will first unpack what it means to be an entrepreneur and give participants a basic understanding of how businesses work and how profits are made. Next, we will provide historical context on how entrepreneurship has worked in marginalized communities and show how businesses can create safe spaces for vulnerable communities.

Finally, we’ll show how collective buying power can be leveraged to support minority-owned businesses and demonstrate new business models that create social and environmental change, as well as provide a new stream of wealth for individuals and their communities.

Any session participants interested in exploring this topic further will be invited to work with the Institute for Entrepreneurship within the College of Business to begin their entrepreneurial journey.

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and over 16 million people act as unpaid caregivers, estimated at 18.6 billion hours of care. Caregiver investment is associated with personal and relational benefits, but there are also much higher emotional, financial, and physical costs for these caregivers as compared to non-caregiving populations. Online advice is one type of social support that can enhance everyone’s well-being. We offer communication advice for nonprofessional caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, as available online in 2019 and related to caregiver self-care, relational well-being, and physical well-being.

The body is a powerful communicator. Gestures, timing, and movement dynamics can speak volumes. Husband and wife co-choreographers bring awareness to body language with an opportunity to view and react to recorded dance works. Between each carefully curated excerpt, participants are guided to respond with their impressions and interpretations.

Providing space for viewers to express their perspectives allows for dialogue to emerge, which acknowledges diverse identities, and compels reflection on how one’s own body might communicate racial biases. Session will begin with gentle movement activities designed for in-home participation and will end with an open Q&A.

Whiteness, white supremacy, and racism are systems that impact how people differently experience daily life in a racialized society. This session features three presenters who have experienced these systems from three different racial identities. The presenters will use an autoethnographic approach to share their personal experiences in their race and how these systems have impacted their experiences from a personal and theoretical standpoint.

Participants will leave this session with a deeper understanding of the complex effects whiteness, white supremacy, and racism have on different individual experiences and how to be conscious of how these differences develop.

Join staff from Conflict Resolution Services at the Student Resolution Center to discuss ways to overcome barriers in conversations about race between white people. With a combined 15 years experience working in Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice, the facilitators will offer strategies to interrupt and challenge racism based on their daily work with conflict coaching, mediation, and group communication.

To effectively support CSU students who are undocumented requires awareness of the many contributions they make to the campus and their unique and powerful stories. It also requires knowledge of the challenges they face in the broader socio/political context including how they have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and resources that are available to support them while at CSU and when considering their transition to career opportunities. In this interactive session that encourages questions, hear directly from students who are undocumented as well as receive specific information regarding how you can be supportive.

This presentation will introduce rhetorical empathy, a new theory put forth in Dr. Lisa Blankenship’s 2019 work, "Changing the Subject: A Theory of Rhetorical Empathy." We will discuss how teaching this concept in classrooms across disciplines can help create more equitable learning environments.

Our live presentation will include break-out sessions to identify marginalized populations within various disciplines and discuss how we can communicate across differences using the strategies of rhetorical empathy. When taught in various classrooms, rhetorical empathy strategies can help enhance the Principles of Community and promote allyship among faculty, students, staff, and our overall campus culture.

Recent national data shows approximately 40% of college students experience food insecurity, and nearly 20% experience homelessness. At CSU, data shows 58% of our students experience food insecurity, housing insecurity, and/or homelessness.

Hosted by an inter-departmental working group, this one-hour Basic Needs Seminar will explore the data and examine resources being offered on campus and in our community. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of CSU’s current support systems in addressing basic needs, and their input will be invited as we imagine and co-create CSU’s best response to this issue.

This session presents critical ways to understand whiteness and white privilege on personal levels – how it shows up in thoughts, actions, and beliefs – and what to do about it. More than just fragility and defensiveness, whiteness distorts how many people understand themselves in relation to others and systems of oppression (even, at times, among those who may identify as people of color). Learning how to identify the depth and layers of whiteness is critical for challenging its influence over how we know ourselves and show up for social justice.

Racism and environmental pollution are inextricably linked. We will review the state-of-the-science regarding the disproportionate environmental health risks faced by Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Adjusting for race/ethnicity in epidemiology, though common practice (as opposed to characterizing social position, material resources, experiences of racism), can perpetuate harmful narratives around the biological basis of racial differences in health.

The environmental justice movement seeks to address the concerns of communities exposed to myriad pollutants. We will discuss the role of epidemiology within environmental justice, including the integration of research methods to help promote data quality and support community mobilization.

The need to evaluate and explore our role in sustaining systems of oppression in the workplace is a necessity. We must truly shift our narrative and purpose to center the most underrepresented population experiences to truly create an equitable and inclusive workplace that upholds the CSU Principles of Community.

A goal of the graduate school is to develop intentional initiatives that promote equitable mentoring and professional development experiences. Diverse students experience more isolation and less access to quality mentoring than their non-diverse peers (Girves; Blake-Beard, 2001; Ellis, 2000). This is especially concerning as these relationships are critical for career development, job market preparedness, and subsequent job management (Girves).

Positive mentoring experiences include both career development and strong personal relationships (Vance, 2002). Therefore, graduate school programs aim to provide the competencies and training required to effectively mentor students, with a specific emphasis on mentoring diverse and multicultural individuals. They also strive to create an environment where these positive mentoring relationships can thrive. This includes helping guide, protect, and support graduate students by developing policies, providing resources, and implementing best practices.

This session will provide a discussion about the Graduate School resources produced to remove barriers that hinder success and enhance the graduate experience, especially for underrepresented and marginalized individuals.

The first half of this session will provide a brief overview of Colorado State University’s student conduct process. We will explore the identities and experiences of students who come through the process using both quantitative and qualitative analysis.

In the second half of the session, we will engage the audience in a discussion about the student conduct process, including the Student Conduct Code, perceptions of the student conduct process, the role of the criminal justice system (law enforcement and the courts) in the student conduct process, and any other related topics that audience members wish to discuss.

Historically, our society and educational systems have promoted privileged boys rather than girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. These actions have negative ramifications for all girls but are especially detrimental for minoritized and economically disadvantaged girls.

Our research and outreach work focuses on empowering girls from marginalized populations in STEM academics and careers. We argue that promoting young minoritized and economically disadvantaged girls in STEM dilutes educational inequality, giving girls from marginalized populations opportunities to gain academic skills, meaningful STEM learning experiences, and the confidence to be successful in STEM academics and careers. Furthermore, especially important in the current atmosphere in the United States, our work aims to break down racial barriers and systemic racism that prevent young women from achieving and forming positive identities in STEM.

This workshop will highlight this work and discuss implications for socially just educators by focusing on three potential outcomes: individual, sociological, and economic benefits of empowering marginalized girls in STEM.

This session will focus on the importance of serving students in a holistic manner to aim at closing the achievement gaps for underrepresented students. We will provide an overview of the CSU’s Community for Excellence program and the historically underrepresented student population it serves (first generation, low income, students of color, ect.). We will discuss the impact of collaboration across departments, Scholar Contact’s holistic mentoring, and retention efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will drive deeper into the questions of “who are we serving, who are we not, and who could we be serving?”.