Florida State University’s third annual DIRECTO Symposium on Diversity & Inclusion in Research & Teaching will address diversity and inclusion issues in times of crisis.
The global disruption of everyday life caused by the coronavirus pandemic disproportionately strained, as nationwide crises do, the most vulnerable groups in society.
The symposium will consider strategies, challenges and best practices for addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in higher learning environments in the midst of crisis, as well as ideas for keeping issues of diversity and inclusion at the forefront of research and teaching agendas in an increasingly virtual world.
The symposium will take place via Zoom from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, and from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18.
The event is free, and open to the entire FSU and surrounding community, but requires registration. It is sponsored by the FSU President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of the Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, The Graduate School, the College of Business, the Department of Psychology and the Congress of Graduate Students (COGS).
FSU President John Thrasher will give opening remarks at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, followed by Thursday afternoon’s keynote speaker Erin O’Hara O’Connor, dean of the FSU College of Law. Provost Sally McRorie will provide Friday’s opening remarks at 9:30 a.m. Friday’s keynote speaker is Professor Derald Wing Sue from Columbia University’s Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, who is a pioneer of multicultural psychology, microaggression theory, racial dialogues and the psychology of racism and antiracism. He will deliver a closing address at 1:10 p.m. Friday.
Additional breakout and poster sessions will be facilitated by faculty, staff, students, alumni and postdocs from FSU, and the surrounding community. Topics include fostering inclusion in STEM, accessibility in instruction, white fragility, decolonization of classrooms, racism and xenophobia amid the pandemic, addressing racial trauma in the classroom and implicit bias.
To register, visit https://fla.st/34Lopm3. Participants may register for the entire event, or only the portions for which they are available to attend. For more information, visit https://directo.fsu.edu/.
DIRECTO is a graduate student-led organization that was initially conceived in 2017 by members of the Program for Instructional Excellence (PIE), The Fellows Society and Lisa Liseno, assistant dean of The Graduate School. DIRECTO enables ways to incorporate diversity and inclusion in research projects, teaching methods and higher education life at Florida State University.