Train the Champion graduates Angela Lowery, Student Service Coordinator for the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning; Stephanie Hall, CWRU Police Officer; and Dan Anker, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Human Resources at the School of Medicine.
Diversity encompasses a variety of areas, from race and ethnicity to gender and age. The Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity is working to spread knowledge across campus about the various dimensions of diversity, starting with its Train the Champion program.
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Foster an environment which is inclusive of dimensions of diversity;
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Assist with retention and recruitment of faculty, staff and students;
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Encourage overall workplace satisfaction; and
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Foster a sustained dialogue on diversity.
For questions, please contact: Robynn Strong,
Manager of Faculty, Diversity and Equal Opportunity
216-368-8877 • Robynn.Strong@case.edu
The Office Of Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity introduced a new diversity training program in 2011. Train the Champion is designed to help faculty and staff learn how to be leaders in creating an inclusive environment on campus. "The Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity sounds the trumpet, but the mission needs to be carried out in the trenches by faculty and staff," says Dan Anker, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Human Resources in the School of Medicine. "Train the Champion will provide tools and perspective that will help make change happen."
Train the Champion aims to foster an environment that embraces diversity; assist with retention and recruitment of faculty, staff and students; encourage overall workplace satisfaction; and foster a sustained dialogue on diversity, with specific focus on issues in higher education and at Case Western Reserve.
Program topics incorporate all aspects of diversity, from disability issues to cultural constructions of race to intergenerational differences. Gladys Haddad, professor of American Studies, says she participated in the program because she believes in its mission to embrace all dimensions of diversity. The promotion
of diversity on campus is critical to the university's success, Haddad says, echoing the views of other program participants.
The inaugural Train the Champion class included 31 staff and faculty members. The eight-month program consists of monthly sessions and additional brown bag lunches to facilitate further, less formal discussions. The inaugural class completed the program in November 2011, and a new cohort started January 2012.
Aarti Pyarti, associate director and training and multicultural specialist in University Counseling Services and a graduate of the program, already had some diversity and social justice training before participating in Train the Champion, but wanted to learn more about specific Case Western Reserve diversity and inclusion issues and how to get the campus community more involved in the dialogue. "An awareness of diversity and inclusion is as important as the awareness that everyone on campus needs to eat, to sleep, to communicate with one another, or any other basic task," Pyarti says.