DAY ONE – JAN. 14, 2021
Foundation Workshops
DAY TWO – JAN. 15, 2021
Dialogue Workshops
Community Learning Days
Community Learning Days provide Whitman faculty and staff with access to essential information and valuable learning opportunities prior to the start of each semester. Community Learning Days (CLD) help faculty and staff prepare for the arrival and return of our students by providing information about the changing needs and demographic profile of Whitman students, while also building capacity to advance inclusive excellence. Previous CLD sessions have focused on strategies to create a more inclusive classroom, cultural taxation and systems of oppression, as well as content to help staff navigate professional boundaries and hierarchies from different social identities.
Nákxtwishana pxwit, wáwnakwshash, ku wak’íshwit
(We are strengthening mind, body and spirit):
Inclusive Excellence Honors Indigenous Education
August 28, 2023
10 a.m. - Noon
Olin Auditorium
Featuring Dr. Michelle Jacob
Dr. Michelle M. Jacob is an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation and earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Jacob is Professor of Indigenous Studies and Co-Director of the Sapsik’wałá Program in the Department of Education Studies at the University of Oregon where she also serves as Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies and in the Environmental Studies Program.Dr. Jacob has won numerous awards for her scholarship, leadership, mentorship, and teaching, including most recently the United Academics Strong Voice Award and the University of Oregon College of Education’s Equity and Inclusion Award. Michelle has published seven books and has numerous articles published in social science, education, and health science research journals. Her research areas of interest include Indigenous methodologies, spirituality, health, education, Native feminisms, and decolonization.
Access Resources Highlighted by Dr. Jacob:
Jacob, M. (2020). The Auntie Way: Stories Celebrating Kindness, Fierceness, and Creativity. Anahuy Mentoring. [Available in Penrose Library]
Q’um Q’um Xiiem [Jo-ann Archibald], Indigenous Storywork
Includes a video on personal work to do before teaching indigenous stories and education about protocols
Smith, L.T. (2021). Decolonizing Methodologies, 3rd ed. Zed Books. [Available in Penrose Library]
Tsosie, R. et al. (2022). The Six Rs of Indigenous Research, Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education, 33(4), https://
Wilson, S. (2001). What is Indigenous research methodology?. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 25(2), 175-179. [A short read that describes ideas about knowledge being relational and about accountability.]
Anahuy Mentoring: Excellence in Indigenous Methods [Jacob's mentoring and consulting work]
The Spring semester began with valuable DEIA learning opportunities. In January of 2023, Whitman hosted two outstanding scholars to provide valuable content and contribute to our collective growth. A special professional learning event with Dr. Rema Reynolds and Dr. Kathy Obear.
Dr. Rema Reynolds holds a Ph.D. in urban education from UCLA, is a professor of education leadership and policy studies at Wayne State University, and serves as the Chair of the Michigan State University system Board of Trustees.
Obear is nationally recognized as a Social Justice expert, training leaders and facilitators to effectively navigate through difficult dialogues and challenging equity dynamics to create lasting transformation and change. She is the founder of The Center for Transformation and Change, where she establish socially just environments where everyone feels valued and respected by way of giving speeches, facilitated training sessions, and consulted to top leaders at hundreds of universities, human services organizations, and corporations across the United States and internationally with a goal to increase the passion, competence, and commitment to create inclusive, socially just environments for all members of the organization.
DAY ONE - January 11, 2023
Session One - Inclusive Pedagogy with Dr. Reynolds
Dr. Reynolds facilitated a morning workshop on inclusive pedagogy that provided faculty with tangible strategies to deploy in their classrooms to advance equity, inclusion, antiracism and student engagement.
Session Two - Boundaries and Bandwidth with Dr. Vassar
Dr. Reynolds facilitated an afternoon session centering the needs and concerns of staff of color. The session focused on strategies for navigating a white-controlled academic institution, with consideration for how BIPOC staff can manage their bandwidth, maintain their boundaries and advocate for the recognition of their full humanity.
DAYS TWO and THREE - January 13-14, 2023
Deepening Capacity as White Change Agents with Dr. Obear
This special 2-day in-person event was coordinated by members of Whitman’s 2022 NCORE delegation and brought a number of faculty and staff together who share a commitment to racial justice and anti-racism. The goal of the session was to provide a space for folks to show up and engage in authentic and vulnerable dialogue in order to do the critical self-work and skill development necessary to shift racist dynamics and create racial equity and inclusion on campus.
Dr. Kathy Obear earned a doctorate in Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Obear is a nationally recognized social justice educator with a reputation for training leaders and facilitators to effectively navigate through difficult dialogues and challenging inequity dynamics to create lasting transformation and change. She is the founder of The Center for Transformation and Change, designed to help people establish socially just environments where everyone feels valued and respected.The 2022 Community Learning Days sessions were facilitated by representatives from Inclusion Design Group, a team of DEIA educators and professional consultants with several decades of experience developing and delivering content that can support organizations in achieving their DEIA goals. Founded by Dereca Blackmon, who coined the phrase, “bias is the water, not the shark,” Inclusion Design Group sessions for CLD were crafted to help Whitman staff and faculty understand and develop an inclusive mindset.
Diversity