University Human Resources has launched a series of diversity, equity and inclusion professional development courses, offered free of charge to U-M faculty and staff campuswide.
In partnership with UHR Learning & Professional Development, Student Life, the U-M Health System Office of Health Equity and Inclusion, UHR Office for Institutional Equity, and the Program on Intergroup Relations, the following courses are now available at no cost:
• Business Case for Diversity.
• Unconscious Bias in Everyday Life.
• It IS All About You: Learning About Diversity Doesn’t Have to be Hard.
• Facilitating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Discussions: The Basic Skills.
• Change It Up!
• Intercultural Awareness.
• Disability Awareness and Etiquette.
Most of the courses are being offered twice per month, with registration required. They are available to individuals, teams and departments. Large departments and teams may request any of the courses to be scheduled at their facilities.
Carmeda Stokes, a project manager in human resources, says the voluntary courses were aligned to reflect the feedback UHR received during the community-engagement sessions that helped shape the universitywide strategic plans.
The goal of the education and training is to create an educational system for diversity, equity and inclusion that is accessible to all staff and units at all locations at U-M. Additionally, she says, UHR wants to expand on its current training efforts and create the opportunity to even broader training offerings in the future.
“We’ve rolled out our first unconscious-bias training class and that was full and well-received. We actually have a waiting list for some other courses and we have requests from some of our core units to bring those services to their departments to provide on-site training,” Stokes says.
Similar to the way the first group of courses was designed, Stokes says future courses will be added and changed to fit the needs of the campus.
- Learn more about available courses and how to register.
- Email questions to Carmeda Stokes at [email protected].
By Jeremy Allen
Public Affairs