The Division of Inclusion & Equity, Office of the Provost, Human Resources, and the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center have collaborated to create a Colloquium Series: Inclusion and Equity Efforts to Elevate Historically Underrepresented Faculty and Staff. Contemporary scholars and practitioners will construct the learning spaces with tremendous insights into inclusion, equity, and social justice in higher education. The series' motivation is employee climate and is a response to ongoing conversations with our affinity groups and campus climate data.  We want to be a place where our historically and structurally underrepresented faculty and staff can thrive.

GVSU I&E Colloquium on Supporting Native and Indigenous Staff, Faculty, Students and Communities

Presenter: Dr. Amanda R. Tachine, PhD, Pronouns: She, her, hers

Dr. Amanda R. Tachine is Navajo from Ganado, Arizona. She is Náneesht’ézhí Táchii’nii (Zuni Red Running into Water) born for Tł’ízí łání (Many Goats). She is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership & Innovation at Arizona State University. Amanda’s research explores the relationship between systemic and structural histories of settler colonialism and the ongoing erasure of Indigenous presence and belonging in college settings using qualitative Indigenous methodologies. She is the author of Native Presence and Sovereignty in College and co-editor of Weaving an Otherwise: In-relations Methodological Practice. She has published in the Journal of Higher Education, Qualitative Inquiry, International Review of Qualitative Research, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and other scholarly outlets. She also has published thought pieces in the Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, The Hill, Teen Vogue, Indian Country Today, Inside Higher Ed, and Navajo Times where she advances ideas regarding discriminatory actions, educational policies, and inspirational movements.

FOR ALL GVSU STAFF & FACULTY
Leadership Session: Dr. Amanda Tachine
MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2024 | 1:00-2:30PM 
Grand River Room, Room 2250, Kirkhof Center
Audience: All GVSU faculty and staff are encouraged to attend.

Light refreshments provided.

This workshop is designed to assist faculty and staff to better serve Native colleagues as supervisors and peers. Learning outcomes are also intended for those with supervisory and management responsibilities. It is designed for university-wide leadership (with an emphasis on those that supervise), though all are invited. Please register here by March 12.

We prefer that you be in person to connect with our presenter.  However, if you can only attend virtually, we are happy to provide a link.  Please let us know when you register.

PRE-READING:
Misplaced Trust 
Native Presence and Sovereignty in College - Introduction                                                                                                     

FOR NATIVE AMERICAN GVSU STAFF, FACULTY & INVITED GUESTS

Native American Affinity Space
MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2024 | 3:00-4:30PM 
North C Living Center, Room 137 NCLC, Allendale Campus
Audience: Invited GVSU faculty, staff, and administrators and community who identify as Native American as well as special guests.

Light refreshments provided. 

This session is designed for GVSU faculty and staff who identify as Native American.  The intent is to connect with Dr. Tachine and colleagues in an informal space to discuss AI+ initiatives, building relationships between institutions of higher education and tribal communities, and supporting future Native leaders. Please register here by March 12.

FOR INVITED GUESTS

Community Dinner
MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2024 | 5:00-7:00PM
Alumni House and Visitor Center, 11150 N Campus Dr., Allendale, MI 49401
Audience: Invited GVSU faculty, staff, and administrators and community who identify as Native American as well as special guests.

Dinner served

Please join us for dinner with Dr. Tachine to foster community and discuss the day's events in a relaxed, welcoming setting. Please register here by March 12.

FOR INVITED GUESTS

Community Breakfast
TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2024 | 10:00AM-12:00PM
Center for Health Sciences, Room CHS 290, 301 Michigan St NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Audience: Invited GVSU faculty, staff, and administrators and community who identify as Native American as well as special guests.

Breakfast served

Please join us for breakfast with Dr. Tachine, colleagues from GVSU and the greater Michigan Native American community for conversations around statewide and regional initiatives related to education, tribal economies and intergovernmental relations as well as a strong focus on future Native learners and leaders. Invitations will be sent to individuals.

DESCRIPTION

What is at stake when our young people attempt to belong to a college environment that reflects a world that does not want them for who they are? In this compelling book, Navajo scholar Amanda Tachine takes a personal look at 10 Navajo teenagers, following their experiences during their last year in high school and into their first year in college. It is common to think of this life transition as a time for creating new connections to a campus community, but what if there are systemic mechanisms lurking in that community that hurt Native students’ chances of earning a degree? Tachine describes these mechanisms as systemic monsters and shows how campus environments can be sites of harm for Indigenous students due to factors that she terms monsters’ sense of belonging, namely assimilating, diminishing, harming the worldviews of those not rooted in White supremacy, heteropatriarchy, capitalism, racism, and Indigenous erasure. This book addresses the nature of those monsters and details the Indigenous weapons that students use to defeat them. Rooted in love, life, sacredness, and sovereignty, these weapons reawaken students’ presence and power.

Please click here if you would like to purchase Dr. Tachine's book

Thursday, September 21, 2023

FOR ALL EMPLOYEES
They Grow Up! Recognizing and Addressing the Needs of LGBTQIA+ Faculty and Staff
8:00 – 9:30 a.m. (breakfast available) – Grand River Room, Room 2250, Kirkhof Center, Allendale 
A virtual option is available. A Zoom link will be sent to those who register on the morning of September 21.
Audience: All employees are encouraged to join. Learning outcomes are also intended for those with supervisory and management responsibilities.

This session invites all employees to learn more about the needs of LGBTQIA+ faculty and staff at GVSU. Many institutions are developing reasonably supportive resources for LGBTQIA+ students. However, similar resources typically either do not exist or are woefully inadequate to meet the needs of LGBTQIA+ employees. It is as though campus leaders neglect to consider or fail to expect LGBTQIA+ young adults to “grow up” and become employees. In this session, supervisors and senior leadership will be challenged to acknowledge and commit to addressing the similar and distinct needs of LGBTQIA+ faculty and staff, specifically focusing on trans and non-binary faculty and staff inclusion and equity. Facilitated by Dr. D-L Stewart. Please register here by September 18.

INTENDED FOR LGBTQIA+ EMPLOYEES
Building Relationships and Developing Strategies with LGBTQIA+ Faculty, Staff, and Administrators
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. – Grand River Room, Room 2250, Kirkhof Center, Allendale
A virtual option is available. A Zoom link will be sent to those who register on the morning of September 21.
Audience: Affinity space for faculty, staff, and administrators who identify as LGBTQIA+

Designed as an affinity space for faculty, staff, and administrators who identify as LGBTQIA+, this session will feature opportunities to craft deeper relationships within and across this group and develop strategies to maintain and build on those relationships in the future. This affinity space is also designed to strategize pathways for developing solidarity within and across other minoritized communities at GVSU and in the local community. Facilitated by Dr. D-L Stewart. Please register here by September 18.

Presenter: D-L Stewart, PhD, Pronouns: He, him his & they, them, their

Professor and Chair, Higher Education Department, Morgridge College of EducationDr. D-L Stewart is Professor and Chair of the Higher Education Department in the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver. His scholarship has focused most intently on the history and philosophy of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education, as well as the institutional systems and structures that affect the experiences, growth, development, and success of racially minoritized and queer and trans* students in settler colonial historically white postsecondary institutions.

Beyond Compliance: Disability and Design Justice for Faculty and Staff

This session will begin with a dynamic review of the research to place disability in context within higher education and specifically through the lenses of faculty and staff.  We will hear from a faculty panel about how to best remove barriers and create access.  Participants will also have an opportunity to engage in case studies to better learn to apply policy and engage in lead practice.

Presenter:  L. Scott Lissner

L. Scott Lissner has served as the Americans With Disabilities Act Coordinator and 504 Compliance Officer for The Ohio State University since January of 2000. An Associate of the John Glenn School of Public Policy and lecturer for the Moritz College of Law, the Knowlton School of Architecture and Disability Studies his teaching and public service informs his work as the university’s disability compliance officer; energizing his role in creating seamless access to all of the university’s facilities, programs, services, and employment opportunities.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

noon – 1:30 p.m. (lunch Included), Holton Hooker

Learning objectives:

• Understand disability as an aspect of individual identity and campus culture.
• Identify facilitators and barriers to access (for faculty and staff)
• Apply policies and develop practices that support seamless access