Inclusive Excellence Training and Development

The Division of Talent and Inclusion is pleased to offer an array of resources, learning experiences, trainings, and modules to assist employees and students with incorporating inclusive excellence, cultural competency, and racial and gender equity into their day-to-day work, research, scholarship, teaching, pedagogy, and personal understanding around the topics of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).
Please browse these offerings to determine what path best suits your needs at this time. If your department or organization wishes to schedule a training beyond what is currently scheduled please select options below.
To sign up for this Spring's offerings, please complete this form: https://forms.office.com/r/4gkucVfyye
Training for Employees
Fostering Psychological Safety
This session is designed with managers in mind to help them take actionable steps to create Psychological Safety and foster inclusion and belonging on their teams and within their communities.
Learning Outcomes:
- Manage and assess your team’s psychological safety.
- Establish a framework for having brave conversations about inclusion and belonging with your team.
- Identify steps to build Psychological Safety on your team to foster inclusion.
Audience: Faculty and Staff
Format: In-person or Zoom
Level: Beginner or Intermediate (adaptable)
Time Length: 30-60 minutes
Fostering Respect & Handling Microaggressions
In this session, participants will be able to explore WPI’s value of Respect and explore the impact of microaggressions. Participants will learn how to respond when they are the target of microaggressions or if they witness microaggressions. Insightful case studies and practical exercises will be explored.
Learning Outcomes:
- Learn about the importance of Respect in the workplace.
- Learn about microaggressions and the messages they send.
- Learn what you can do when you are the target of microaggressions, when you witness microaggressions, or when you are yourself behaving in ways that reflect microaggressions.
Audience: Faculty and Staff
Format: In-person or Zoom
Level: Beginner or Intermediate (adaptable)
Time Length: 60-90 minutes (adaptable)
How To Be A Better Ally
Learning Outcomes:
- Learners will be able to define and explore important terms.
- Learners will be able to identify the risks and the importance of being an ally.
- Learners will learn specific ways to be an ally within the WPI community.
Audience: Faculty and Staff
Format: In-person or Zoom
Level: Beginner or Intermediate (adaptable)
Time Length: 30-60 minutes (adaptable)
Leading a Respectful & Inclusive Community
Learning Outcomes:
- Engage with colleagues to create a shared knowledge around the respectful and inclusive workplace at WPI.
- Generate strategies to improve our environment for greater respect, civility, inclusion, belonging, and engagement.
- Provide an opportunity for open discussion.
Audience: Faculty and Staff
Format: In-person
Level: Beginner or Intermediate (adaptable)
Time Length: 90-120 minutes
Best Practices for Inclusive Faculty/Staff Search
Learning Outcomes:
- Outline faculty/staff search process and committee member responsibilities.
- Explore the do’s and don’ts of interviewing candidates for faculty/staff positions.
- Explore the different resources available to committee members during the faculty/staff search process.
- Develop outreach strategies to ensure strong and diverse pools of candidates and equitable assessment processes.
Audience: Faculty or Staff
Format: In-person
Level: Beginner or Intermediate
Time Length: 60-90 minutes
Confidential Resource Advisor Training
Massachusetts State Law requires all institutions of higher education to designate certain staff and faculty members to serve as Confidential Resource Advisors. These individuals must be knowledgeable about the Title IX and Non-Title IX Misconduct grievance process in addition to being familiar with resources available to all community members.
Learning Outcomes:
- Participants will learn WPI’s grievance procedures for both Title IX and Non-Title IX Misconduct.
- Participants will understand trauma-informed questioning and listening.
- Participants will know the resources available on campus and in the local community.
Audience: Staff and Faculty
Format: In-person and Online
Level: Intermediate
Time Length: 2 hours
Title IX/Non-Title IX Sexual Misconduct Judicial Board Training
The Interim Title IX/Non-Title IX Sexual Misconduct policy includes a formal grievance process with three trained staff and faculty members serving as decision makers. This annual training reviews definitions, learns about credibility, as well as analyses case studies. Members of the Sexual Misconduct Judicial Board need to be trained yearly.
Learning Outcomes:
- Participants will learn WPI’s grievance procedures for both Title IX and Non-Title IX Misconduct.
- Participants will understand trauma-informed questioning and listening.
- Participants will be able to make judgements based on a preponderance of evidence standard.
Audience: Staff and Faculty
Format: In-person and Online
Level: Intermediate
Time Length: 2 hours
Deputy Title IX Coordinator Training
The University has designated at least three trained Deputy Title IX Coordinators. These individuals must attend an annual training and be current with the latest regulations and best practices. The role of the Deputy Title IX Coordinator is to fill in for the Title IX Coordinator at times and to facilitate the grievance process. More members of the community are invited to apply to be Deputy Title IX Coordinators.
Learning Outcomes:
- Deputies must be fully knowledgeable about the grievance process at WPI.
- Deputies will learn how to support both Complainants and Respondents going through the process.
- Deputies will learn how to facilitate an informal resolution process.
Audience: Staff and Faculty
Format: In-person and Online
Level: Advanced
Time Length: 2 hours
Recognizing and dealing with Microaggressions
Create a more inclusive and respectful workplace for everyone!
This training will equip you with the knowledge and skills to identify and address microaggressions, subtle yet harmful behaviors that can create a hostile environment for marginalized groups.
Learning Outcomes:
- Learn about the importance of Respect in the workplace
- Learn about Microaggressions
- Learn what you can do wen you are the target of microaggressions, when someone else is the target of microaggressions, or when you are doing microaggressions
Audience: Staff and Faculty
Format: In-person and Online
Level: Beginner or Intermediate
Time Length: 45 minutes
Universal design in the workplace
What is Universal Design?
“Universal design for learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn” (CAST, 2011).
Universal design has been implemented with much success in the academic classroom setting and many of the principles can be applied to other functional areas within the college or university setting. This workshop will explore how to implement some aspects of UD in your work environment.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
- Learn how UDL can improve teaching and learning for all people.
- Explore how UDL can be applied in different functional areas within a college or university setting.
- Gain practical skills and strategies for implementing UDL in your work environment.
- Become familiar with resources and tools for supporting UDL implementation.
Audience: Staff and Faculty
Format: In-person and Online
Level: Beginner or Intermediate
Time Length: 1 hour
Understanding Unconscious Biases
This session delves into the different types of unconscious biases and how they impact our interactions. Through self-reflection and practical strategies, you'll gain awareness of your own biases and learn how to mitigate them. Build stronger relationships, make fairer choices, and contribute to a more inclusive world.
Learning Outcomes:
- Enhance understanding of the role unconscious biases play in the day-to-day and in the workplace.
- Identify practical techniques and strategies to mitigate the impact of unconscious biases.
Audience: Staff and Faculty
Format: In-person and Online
Level: Beginner or Intermediate
Time Length: 1 hour
Morgan Teaching & Learning Center
Teaching in WPI’s innovative project-based curriculum––and within our distinctive calendar and balance between teaching and research––is deeply rewarding, challenging, and motivating, through all stages of a faculty career. The Morgan Teaching and Learning Center maintains and strengthens instructional effectiveness, student learning, and faculty learning by offering evidence-based training and development programs, services, and resources for faculty, staff educators, and for student teaching assistants.
Conferences
- National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Racial Equity and Social Change Conference
- National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL)
- National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE)
- National Diversity Congress (NatDC)
- Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Inclusion
Associations
- National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE)
- American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU)
- Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
- College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR)
- National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)
Institutes/Centers/Councils
- American Council on Education (ACE)
- Boston University Center for Antiracist Research
- Bridgewater State University Racial Equity and Justice Institute
- HERS Leadership Institute (HLI)
- National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
- National Science Foundation's (NSF) ADVANCE Equity in STEM Community Convening
- Nellie Mae Education Foundation
- Social Justice Training Institute (SJTI)
- State University of New York Student (SUNY) Conduct Institute
- The Privilege Institute (TPI)
- Visions, Inc.