Professional Development

Mission Statement

In alignment with our division mission, the professional development committee for the Division of Student Affairs is devoted to finding avenues to empower our staff. The committee seeks to strengthen engagement by attending to wellness, community and skill development, career advancement, and mentoring.

Committee Members

• Brie Escobedo, Student Services Senior Professional (Interim Committee Chair)
• Alana Moran, Bookstore
• Heatherlyn Hoffman, Health and Wellness
• J.B. Belzer, Intercollegiate Athletics
• Katie Engler, Family Development Center
• Whitely Hadley, MOSAIC and LGBTQA+ Center
• Yvonne Weeres, Academic Advising
• Corinne Butler, Ent Center for the Arts

Please send any questions, comments, and/or concerns to sa-pdc@uccs.edu

The Division of Student Affairs is rolling out a new Diversity Training Program. The Diversity Training Program is aimed at broadening awareness of topics related to Diversity Equity and Inclusion across our division. The program will require that each UCCS university staff or classified staff employee in the Division of Student Affairs attend one training per academic semester totaling two trainings per calendar year per employee. The Professional Development Committee for the Division of Student Affairs will be gathering and sharing information about available events using the Student Affairs Website throughout the year.  

It will be each employee’s responsibility to attend two different events and record the events using a form on the VCSA website. An order for an event/training/program to qualify as a DEI training it must focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and have an interactive discussion component. Each employee will have a meeting with their supervisor to discuss the event(s) so that the event may be considered at the end of the employees evaluation cycle.

The form below is a guide for those supervisor meetings.  

Below you will find resources and questions to help guide your conversation with your employee. Please reach out to the Student Affairs Professional Development Committee for any questions or additional resources.  

Tips for Supervisors for Creating a Safe and Collaborative Conversation:

• Always keep your personal bias in check, your employee’s experience may be different from yours.  
• Remember this is a learning experience, it is a process and a long-term conversation.  
• This is also an ongoing conversation; the goal is for this experience to be the start of a conversation. Communicate that you are open to more conversations.  
• Be aware of your own limitations and refer your employees to campus and community resources.  
• A great resource to start with is the MOSAIC Office and Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.

DEI Professional Development Training Form

DEI Event Suggestions

Questions, Feedback, and Resources for the PDC – email sa-pdc@uccs.edu

Pronouns 101

Date: Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Time: 10-11am
Location: MOSAIC and LGBTQ+ Resource Center

In this 1-hour workshop, we will introduce the concept of inclusive pronouns, how to use them correctly, how to best practice proper usage, and expand a bit on the notion of gender diversity.

Registration: Pronouns 101 - Mountain Lion Connect (uccs.edu)

Shifting the Lens

Date: Thursday, February 8, 2924
Time(s):

• Session One: 1:40-4:30pm
• Session Two: 4:45-7:20pm

Location: Ent Center for the Arts

In partnership with the Ent Center at UCCS, the Youth Documentary Academy presents a day of film that addresses the critical issues of our time: destigmatizing mental health, colorism, immigration, intergenerational trauma, toxic masculinity, and transgender lives. Curated by the UCCS Social Work Club, these short documentaries inspire intergenerational dialogue and will be followed by discussion panels with the now-young-adult filmmakers, faculty of the social work school and moderated by the director of Pikes Peak Suicide Prevention Partnership. Conversations will continue in the lobby, facilitated by the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UCCS, offering the audience an opportunity to share thoughts and connect over snacks.

Palestine/Israel Teach-In Histories, Rights, Global Perspectives

Date: Thursday, February 8, 2024
Time: 6-8 pm
Location: Berger Hall

The 2-part Engaging Palestine/Israel Teach-In recognizes loss of life, not loss of life of one group. The teach-in participants and faculty supporters commit to providing a space to process reactions, responses, and emotions as part of intellectual work. This program is not designed to react to the immediacy of events unfolding in Palestine/Israel. Instead, the teach-in attests to the mission of the University of Colorado as a “transformative public university,” which “promotes the interchange of ideas in the pursuit of truth and learning, including diversity of race, culture, geography, political, intellectual and philosophical perspectives.”

Registration: Palestine/Israel Teach-In Histories, Rights, Global Perspectives - Mountain Lion Connect (uccs.edu)

Inclusive Belonging Spotlight Series with the Matrix Center

Date: Friday, February 9, 2024
Time: 8:30-10 am
Location: Virtual

The Division of DEI Presents: The Inclusive Belonging Spotlight Series. This series explores the impactful DEI efforts of UCCS departments, individuals, and organizations in Colorado Springs. Learn more about the DEI work that is happening and engage in insightful conversations on creating a deeper sense of inclusive belonging at UCCS. 

Join the Office of DEI Education & Outreach as we hear from Dr. Abby Ferber, Director of the Matrix Center on the staff and faculty training program The Knapsack Institute.  

Registration: Inclusive Belonging Spotlight Series with the Matrix Center - Mountain Lion Connect (uccs.edu)

Chinese Queer Activism

Date: Friday, February 16, 2024
Time: 2-4pm
Location: Dwire Hall Room 121

Speaker Andrew M. Carruthers is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of Pennsylvania. 

Undocumented immigrants are generally assumed to exhibit clear and present signs of their so-called “illegal” or outsider status. In the absence of such signs of categorical outsidership, however, how is the “illegal immigrant” made legible or policed? How might migrants negotiate their statuses as objects of state surveillance by exploiting their similarities or affinities with the citizens, state agents, or otherwise inhospitable hosts who seek them out?  

This talk explores these issues in the east Malaysian state of Sabah, an island setting haunted by a legacy of maritime violence and piracy, a scene of some of the largest clandestine cross-border flows in the world, and a place where migrants are widely assumed to look, talk, and otherwise behave like locals.