Faculty and staff are cordially invited to participate in a two-part webinar workshop - "Diversity, Inclusivity & Civility: Developing & Enhancing Students' Cultural Competence." Part I will be offered on Thursday, Oct. 3, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in N-624, and Part II will be offered on Thursday, Oct. 10, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in A-711. Please contact John Hudson, director of the Center for Student Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, at hudsonj@uhd.edu to reserve your seat.

Workshop Overview:

College campuses are places where many people have their first experiences encountering and interacting with a wide range of people from many diverse backgrounds and worldviews. Many colleges strive to educate students to develop an understanding of their personal relationship to the world's social, cultural, political, economic, technological and natural environments. In order to create an environment conducive to student success, faculty, administration and staff must collaborate (literally co-labor) to create a community of mutual respect and understanding.

This two-part workshop will address how developing and enhancing cultural competence must be the primary outcome of diversity/inclusivity programs. Cultural competence is the ability to understand, communicate, and effectively interact with people across cultures. While "culture" is often viewed in the U.S. as being primarily related to race, ethnicity and gender, effective diversity/inclusivity programs must also address sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability/ability, religion, age and other issues that lead to marginalization and exclusion.