The IDEA Team, which is tasked with advancing the Denison Forward plan, hosted a mini-conference on Wednesday, Nov. 30, to engage divisional teams from across campus. During the six-hour session, the teams participated in trainings and discussions, and began planning goals and strategies for their divisions.
About 75 people, representing every division on campus, gathered to listen and respond to thought-provoking speakers who challenged assumptions, and laid the groundwork for creative and open-minded ideation.
“This is the first time we assembled all the teams,” said Director of Denison Forward Ayana Hinton. “We felt it was important to give them opportunities to build trust as a team and to examine their own viewpoints to energize their ideas and plans for their divisions. The energy in the room was palpable. We are looking forward to their feedback and the ideas they put forward to address inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism. We want these ideas to cross-pollinate the entire campus.”
Two presenters offered interactive keynotes. Janine Watkins, associate vice president for People and Culture and CHRO, offered You’re Welcome, Am I?, a deep dive into understanding how easily we make cultural assumptions often based on biases, and shared ways we can become more aware of these to counteract them.
Brianna Davis Johnson, chief diversity officer/dir. of DEI at The Ohio State University at Newark & Central Ohio Technical College, presented Dialogue Through Difference, during which the teams learned about different methods of communication, and practiced ways to deepen relationships and understanding through open-ended questions.
Divisional teams were given time to begin planning to address a specific area from one or more of Denison Forward’s six over-arching goals:
- Increase recruitment and retention of a diverse community of students, faculty, staff, trustees, and alumni volunteers
- Infuse professional development with opportunities to increase the intercultural knowledge and antiracism competence of Denison staff
- Embrace inclusive pedagogy as core to our academic enterprise
- Leverage our residential community to provide students with the opportunity to learn how to live and engage within a cross-cultural cohort
- Strive to ensure that all of our students have access to and opportunities to explore different career paths and to launch into their chosen careers
- Connect Denison’s financial decisions to our IDEA values
As divisional teams begin to plan and implement their self-assigned tasks, the IDEA team will convene another opportunity for the Denison Forward divisional teams to gather and learn from one another in spring 2023.
