Teaching Hub

Crossroads Offers Diversity and Inclusion Workshops

Faculty, instructors and graduate teaching assistants are invited to attend Spring 2017 teaching workshops on promoting diversity and inclusion in the classroom.

At 37,000 students and counting, The University of Alabama may not be the biggest place students will ever live, but chances are it will be the most diverse. UA is home to students from 77 countries, all 50 states and U.S. territories, different faiths, races and ethnicities, abilities, genders and sexual identities — and a steadily increasing veteran population.

So, how do teachers create a welcoming educational environment in diverse classrooms? Faculty, staff and students, working with Crossroads Community Center, and with generous support from the Office for Academic Affairs, want to facilitate substantive conversations about fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion in UA classrooms.

Help welcome students to the biggest small town they will ever call home. Attend monthly presentations centered around the idea of intercultural competency:

Lunch — Friday, Jan. 20, 12-1 p.m.
“Thinking Intersectionally with Disability”
Professor: Nirmala Ervelles
Student panelist: Shaun Castle
Location: 205 Gorgas

Breakfast — Thursday, Feb. 16, 8:30-9:30 a.m.
“Sneaking Diversity into the Classroom”
Professor: Chris Roberts
Student panelist: Mary Virginia Ireland
Location: 205 Gorgas

Coffee hour — Wednesday, March 8, 4-5 p.m.
“Notions of Identity in the Classroom”
Professor: Dr. Utz McKnight
Student panelists: Lizzie Emerson and Andrea Dobynes
Location: 205 Gorgas

Lunch — Friday, April 14, 12-1 p.m.
“The Other Side of the Lectern: Students on Diversity and Inclusion”
Student panel
Professor: Norm Baldwin, facilitator
Student panelists: Katie Jane Childs and Vic Harris
Location: 205 Gorgas

Register online through Skillport to attend one or all presentations by clicking into your Skillport login (your myBama credentials and password), selecting Promoting Diversity and Inclusion (clicking this link will take you to the login screen), and then enrolling in the presentation(s) of interest. You can also register for individual sessions by clicking the links below the workshops. Note: Since sessions are being offered at breakfast, lunch and coffee hours, refreshments will be provided. Please help us manage seating, refreshments and meals by being timely with your registration.

For information on Skillport and registering, see http://hr.ua.edu/learning-development/online-learning/skillport. For information concerning login access in Skillport, contact HR Learning & Development at 348-9700 or HRLearningandDevelopment@ua.edu.

This post originally appeared in UA News.