Effective DEI Committees: Sharing and Refining Key Practices

This workshop is intended for faculty, staff, and students engaged in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work within their institution. It will build on participants' experiences in other collaborative or committee-based work and on participants' experiences with DEI. The goal of the workshop is for attendees to learn, both from the organizers and from one another, key practices for leading effective DEI activities and committees. To facilitate this discussion, the facilitators will provide a list of ten challenges faced by DEI committees: (1) recruiting and motivating contributors, (2) training contributors, (3) working with narrowly focused committee members, (4) responding to department members who resist DEI, (5) prioritizing DEI activities, (6) discovering problem situations, (7) responding to problem situations, (8) navigating power dynamics, (9) operating within legal and political constraints, and (10) running effective meetings. Participants will be invited to identify other challenges as well.