Diversity Education & Training
Diversity education is an essential component in growing and maintaining communities that are free from harassment and discrimination. Each of us views the world through a lens that has been ground and tinted by our backgrounds and personal experiences. Each of us has biases and prejudices, acquired or learned, conscious or unconscious. Diversity workshops and presentations provide a safe laboratory for investigating the roots of our biases, assessing their impact, and ultimately reconfiguring our personal lenses. An awareness and appreciation of differences does not often occur over night. It is a lifelong journey, and its road map is education.
Each of us has both rights to, and responsibilities for the integrity of the living, learning, and working environments at Appalachian. It is therefore imperative that the university provide training for all its constituents on what constitutes unlawful or impermissible harassment, hostile learning or working environments, and quid pro quo harassment.
The Office of Equity, Diversity and Compliance provides workshops and training programs on request to university units, departments, organizations, and classes. There is a variety of training modules, all sharing as a common theme the importance of creating respectful living, learning, and working environments. These interactive sessions can be tailored to serve the needs of any group. SPA supervisors, traditional classes, Freshman Seminars, student organizations, and residence halls are regular training participants.
Workshops for seminars and classes
- Appreciating Differences in Others
- Stereotypes and You
- The World Works at 4-Way Stops
- Impact of Exclusion/Benefits of Inclusion
- Encouraging an Understanding of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Issues
- Watch Your Language!
- Disabilities Awareness
Workshops for professors and supervisors
- Recognizing and Preventing Unlawful Workplace Harassment
- Sexual Harassment Awareness and Prevention
- Leadership and Team Building in Diverse Environments
- Communication Across Cultures
- Civility in the Classroom
- Understanding Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Issues
- Disabilities Awareness
Off campus leadership
The Office of Equity, Diversity and Compliance is also called on to provide training sessions in community and regional organizations. Workshops have been facilitated for:
- Ashe Alternative School
- Boone Drug Corporation HRS Staff
- Forsyth Technical Community College
- I Have A Dream Task Force
- Lees-McRae College Faculty
- Mars Hill College Freshman Seminar training
- The Mitchell County Employment Security Commission’s Worker Retraining Program
- Mountain Alliance at Watauga High School
- North Carolina A & T University Arts and Sciences Faculty
- Watauga High School Faculty
- Western Youth Network
Susan King is the director of diversity education. She has completed “Developing Diversity Training for the Workplace” and “Teaching Skills and Cultural Competency” with the National Multicultural Institute in Washington, D.C, and the initial level of training with Blue Ridge Mediation Services. Susan had a 22 year career in theatre prior to joining the workforce at ASU in 1998.
