Diversity workshop trains trainers from across the nation

Diversity training
Lindsay France/University Photography
Vivian Relta of the Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble facilitates a discussion about diversity.

For several years, Cornell’s Center for Teaching Excellence has been inundated with requests – and at least one plea – from universities around the country, asking for help with incorporating diversity into their classrooms.

The center has become well-known in college circles for its innovative Faculty Diversity Institute, which it has run since 2008. Three times a year, the institute brings groups of Cornell faculty together for three days to discuss the complexities of diversity and to create or revise syllabi with diverse perspectives and experiences.

“Universities across the country are being called to ‘do something’ about diversity, and one area that can be particularly effective is when faculty integrate diversity into their classes,” said Theresa Pettit, the center’s director.

Pettit and Kimberly Kenyon, the center’s associate director, answered the call for help with a “train-the-trainer” version of the Faculty Diversity Institute, July 13-15. More than 30 representatives from institutions including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stockton and Iowa State universities attended; 22 more are on the waitlist for next year’s workshop.

“Just hearing how often they do this on campus for Cornell faculty has us scratching our heads and thinking, ‘We wish we could do that for our faculty,’” said participant Jennifer Frederick ’93, executive director of Yale’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

A year in the making, the workshop was a version of the same institute Cornell faculty experience, but modified with pauses in the action aimed at the participants, who hope to re-create similar programs at their own campuses.

Modeling best practices for engaging faculty in diversity discussions, the workshop offered a step-by-step framework, rationale and benefits, best practices for inclusive teaching, common pitfalls and lessons learned, and assessment methods for determining the workshop’s impact.

The Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble played a key role. Actors portrayed a scene in which a student, Maia, reveals to her adviser, Hal, that she’s experienced behavior that made her feel demeaned in her class with another professor, who is one of Hal’s research partners. While Hal’s tone is supportive and his intention is to help, his suggestion for Maia to “hang in there and be tough” leaves her feeling unsupported and vulnerable.

Afterward, workshop participants talked with the actors in character. Then they participated in a facilitated discussion to share their thoughts.

The discussion is the most important part of presentation, said Dane Cruz, the ensemble’s director. “This may be the first time someone actually has an opportunity to talk about the issue. So if we don’t allow them to say what they’re thinking, they may never move beyond that thinking,” he said. “The idea is to open the door for allowing someone to see their point of view and then hear someone else’s, and hopefully those points of view influence each other.”

Vivian Relta, the ensemble’s consultant and facilitator, led the discussion. She provided participants with useful strategies for facilitating difficult conversations that can happen when diversity issues are confronted. Relta emphasized the importance of inviting participants to share their points of view and validating what they’ve said.

“When you say, ‘Thank you for saying that,’ you’re demonstrating the very principles of this work. We’re trying to teach people to hold respect for every human being,” she said. “You’re holding the space for whether people are going to feel respected or not. It has to come from you. The group follows your lead.”

Later, a panel of three students who identify as underrepresented minorities talked about how professors at Cornell had – and hadn’t – created an inclusive and welcoming classroom. Ebony Brittany Cadet ’17 recalled an animal genetics professor who said during their first class that she had struggled with that subject as a student and never imagined she would teach it. That personal touch made the professor seem approachable, Cadet said. “That was one of the few instances when I felt I could go to office hours and ask any question I had on the subject, because she established that level of comfort at the beginning of the semester,” she said.

Gilbert Brown, associate provost for diversity at Missouri State University, picked up several ideas for his university’s efforts to retool its frameworks for inclusion in the classroom. “I saw this as an opportunity not to have to reinvent the wheel. It was well worth my time and the institutional resources to get me here,” he said. “Faculty members who are fair and have an open heart can draw in a lot of this information, and that will enhance their capacity as a faculty.”

Yale’s Frederick said the workshop made her realize she would like to see more difficult dialogues about diversity on her campus. “We don’t do enough of that with our faculty. I think the inclination is to either ignore or simplify these issues, and neither one is sufficient,” she said. “A conversation allows us to see different sides of things and if it’s really well facilitated, like we saw today … broadening your perspectives by hearing what others think can be really valuable.”

Some diversity professionals have asked Pettit why she would give away all the information and strategies she and Kenyon have developed over the years of running the institute.

Pettit said it was a personal and intentional decision.

“It’s our way of helping make the change that needs to occur in our culture,” she said. “We’re committed.”

The Center for Teaching Excellence operates under the auspices of the associate vice provost for academic diversity and the vice provost for undergraduate education.

Media Contact

Daryl Lovell