We are excited to announce that OCCE is offering four specialized professional development tracks designed to help faculty, staff, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students develop key cultural competencies. These programs support Michigan Engineering’s ongoing commitment to fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive community.
Each track offers various components comprising virtual and in-person synchronous workshops and asynchronous learning opportunities delivered by our expert team and university partners.
Collect your digital badge!
Once you complete a track, you can apply for a track completion digital badge that you can use for your email signature, LinkedIn posts, etc.
Take your First Step!
Before beginning a track, please fill out an Intention to Complete Form. It’ll help you clarify your goals and interests and help us track participation and provide support for your DEI journey. You can register for any offerings once you complete this form.
How do I register for a component?
Each track has a variety of components to choose from. Explore each learning objective below to get an understanding of each track. Each component is arranged by the following developmental levels:
- Introductory level – Learning the fundamentals of DEI
- Intermediate level – Building upon existing knowledge and practicing skills
- Advanced level – Leading and modeling DEI skills and behaviors
Once you’ve selected a level, use the drop down feature to explore the available components and register.
If you have any questions, concerns and/or suggestions, please email Program Manager Zhanar Tuleutayeva.
Professional Development Tracks
Building Intercultural Competence
Learning Objectives
Interacting effectively across cultural differences and similarities are skills essential in a multicultural world. This track provides a solid foundation in the skills and attitudes needed for intercultural competence and will guide you to practice self-exploration, self-reflection and action planning.
By the end of this track, you will be able to:
- Identify your own IDI developmental orientation.
- Define intercultural competence and its significance in a globalized world.
- Identify key components of intercultural competence, including knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors.
- Recognize and respect the complexity of your own and others’ cultural identities.
Introductory Components
- Understanding intercultural competence – Online synchronous – Register here
- Cultivating Cultural Competence and Inclusion (LinkedIn Learning) – Online asynchronous – Register here
Intermediate Components
- Exploring my cultural identity and intersectionality – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
- Taking the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessment – Online synchronous – Register here
Advanced Components
- Engaging in self-reflection and action planning – Online synchronous – Register here
Approaching Intercultural Conflicts
Learning Objectives
Conflict happens in our personal lives and our professional lives including the workplace, classrooms and lab spaces. Did you know that conflict can be rooted in cultural beliefs, values and behaviors? This track approaches interpersonal conflicts from an intercultural perspective, and it provides you with foundational knowledge of unconscious bias, microaggressions, intercultural conflict styles and more.
By the end of this track, you will be able to:
- Act with empathy and compassion when addressing harm resulting from cultural conflicts.
- Demonstrate an understanding of unconscious bias and microaggressions in personal interactions and systemic structures.
- Apply critical thinking to recognize and mitigate unconscious bias within AI and technology.
- Employ effective communication and conflict resolution strategies across cultural divides.
Introductory Components
- Recognizing unconscious bias- Coming Soon – Coming Soon
- Disrupting Everyday Bias for Leaders (Led by Organizational Learning) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Addressing Microaggressions – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
Intermediate Components
- Recognizing unconscious bias in AI and creating inclusive prompts – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
- Understanding intercultural conflict styles – Online synchronous – Register here
Advanced Components
- Addressing and responding to harm compassionately (Led by Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX) – Online synchronous – Register here
Understanding Disability & Accessibility
Learning Objectives
Promoting a culture of accessibility is paramount to ensure inclusion and equity for people with disabilities. This track connects the basics of ableism, accessibility and disability justice with practical skills for improving accessibility for events, the classroom, and the digital realm.
By the end of this track, you will be able to:
- Gain the knowledge and skills required to advocate for disability rights and to support self-advocacy among individuals with disabilities.
- Gain a deep understanding of key concepts such as ableism, neurodiversity, body diversity, and the social model of disability.
- Identify specific strategies to create inclusive learning and working spaces.
Introductory Components
- Understanding Ableism – Online synchronous – Register here
- Exploring Neurodiversity and Neurodivergence – Online synchronous – Register here
- DEI Lecture Series: Disabusing Disability: Demonstrating That DISability Doesn’t Mean Inability- Online asynchronous – View here
- Exploring Body Diversity and Sizeism – Online synchronous – Register here
- Digital accessibility basic training (ITS Canvas course) – Online asynchronous – View here
- 10-week Accessibility Challenge (Led by Michigan Engineering Accessibility) – Online asynchronous – Register here
- 10-week Accessibility Challenge LIVE (Led by Michigan Engineering Accessibility) – Online synchronous – Register here
Intermediate Components
- Accessibility Essentials for Digital Documents (Led by CAEN) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Accessibility Essentials for Canvas (Led by CAEN) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Beyond plain text: Strategies for creating accessible STEM documents (Led by CAEN) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Enhancing video accessibility: Adding captions and transcriptions to live and recorded videos (Led by CAEN) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Practicing digital accessibility: Websites and social media – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
- Make your canvas course accessible (ITS Canvas course) – Online asynchronous – Register here
- Utilizing Accessibility Checkers in Software – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
Advanced Components
- Advocating for Disability Justice – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
- Advocating for digital accessibility – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
Advocating For Equity
Learning Objectives
A culture where identities do not predict outcomes is achieved through equitable behaviors, practices, policies and systems. This track equips you with the knowledge and skills needed to address and advocate for equity. The components of this track include topics that focus on pronouns, allyship, anti-racism, bystander intervention and making institutional change for equity.
By the end of this track, you will be able to:
- Understand the intricate dynamics of systemic oppression and advocate for equity and systemic change.
- Recognize and value individual and cultural differences and promote a culture of inclusion.
- Develop allyship habits that lead to substantial and ongoing support for marginalized groups.
Introductory Components
- Introduction to LGBTQIA2S+ Communities and Identities (Spectrum Center web course)- Online asynchronous – Register here
- Pronouns 101 Workshop (Led by Spectrum Center) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Towards Solidarity: Allyship in Action (Led by Spectrum Center) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Supporting Muslim Students and Colleagues During Ramadan: Etiquette for Inclusivity – Online synchronous – Register here
Intermediate Components
- Change it Up! to Stop Anti-Black Racism (Led by Office of Student Affairs) – Online synchronous – Register here
- Anti-Racism Primer – Coming Soon – Coming Soon
- Facilitating Inclusive and Effective DEI Conversations – Online synchronous – Register here
Advanced Components
- Understanding Systems of Oppression, Power and Privilege – Online synchronous – Register here
- Making Institutional Change: Equitable Policies and Practices – Online synchronous – Register here
Background
This decision was informed by feedback from our community, a thorough review of DEI 2.0 Listening Sessions data and a comprehensive needs analysis conducted in Fall 2023. We surveyed Michigan Engineering staff, faculty and postdoctoral fellows to understand the support they receive in their units for pursuing DEI professional development, along with their interests, motivations, preferred formats, frequency and developmental needs. More details on the survey findings can be found in this Professional Development Needs Assessment Survey report (pdf).