Community College faculty play an essential role in institutional efforts to close equity gaps and achieve student success, yet many campuses struggle to engage a broad constituency of faculty in these efforts, leaving many to wonder, “What is my role and responsibility in advancing equity efforts in my classes and beyond?” Thus, in this address, the presenter will: (a) discuss the role all faculty must embrace to advance and achieve institutional equity and (b) propose culturally affirming teaching and learning strategies that must be employed by all classroom faculty to address inequity and disproportionate impact. The insights of this presentation will be derived from experiences working with community colleges across the United States in a range of equity-related efforts and initiatives.

Target Audience: Classroom Faculty

Classified professionals and other educators who work with students outside of the classroom play a critical role in the success of community college students, particularly those who have been historically underrepresented and underserved in education. The current research on underserved students confirms traditional approaches to out-of-class support must be reconsidered to ensure success among these students. Instead, proactive and culturally affirming practices are essential to close equity gaps and advance student success for underserved students. Thus, in this address, the presenter will: (a) discuss the role classified professionals must embrace to advance and achieve institutional equity and (b) propose culturally affirming advising and support practices that must be employed by classified professionals to address inequity and disproportionate impact. The insights of this presentation will be derived from experiences in working with community colleges across the United States in a range of equity-related efforts and initiatives.

Target Audience: Counseling Faculty;  Classified Professionals; Student Affairs/Services Managers

Although the concepts of “equity” and “equity mindedness” are more widely embraced by educators now than they were a decade ago, closing equity gaps remains an elusive goal at most community colleges. Thus, in this address, the presenter will unpack the myriad of institutional barriers that thwart systematic efforts to close equity gaps. In addition, they will propose intentional strategies to be enacted by community college educators to move equity efforts forward despite these barriers. The insights of this presentation will be derived from the presenter’s experiences in working with community colleges across the United States in a range of equity-related efforts and initiatives.

Target Audience: All College Personnel

While community colleges have served as the primary pathway to postsecondary education for students who have been historically underrepresented and underserved in education, outcome gaps between these students and their peers persist. Thus, improving student success outcomes for underserved students and closing long-standing equity gaps are essential to meeting the nation’s goal of increasing the proportion of Americans who hold college degrees or certificates. This workshop unpacks societal and institutional factors that influence belonging, welcomeness to engage, and success for underserved students. Institutional actions for serving these students equitably and responsibly will be proposed and discussed.

Target Audience: All College Personnel

Recent efforts to identify and examine factors that influence student success for men of color in community colleges have not adequately accounted for the impact of social identities—notably gender—in shaping postsecondary experiences and outcomes. Thus, the purpose of this workshop is twofold: (a) to recognize patterns of male gender role socialization and the ways in which they serve as barriers to student success for men of color in community colleges and (b) to devise strategies community college educators can employ to better account for identity-related conflicts and challenges in their work with men of color. In this workshop, qualitative data collected from community college men of color will be presented to further contextualize students’ perceptions of the role of masculinity in their lived experiences and to highlight intersections with race/ethnicity.

Target Audience: All College Personnel

Minority male initiatives are used routinely as a strategy to redress outcome disparities between men of color and their peers. However, scaling, sustaining, and assessing these initiatives are difficult in most institutional contexts. Thus, this presentation focuses on 10 principles that must be employed to ensure these initiatives are successful.

Target Audience: Program Directors and Coordinators; Student Affairs/Services Managers

In this workshop, the presenter will propose a strategic planning process that prioritizes institutional equity goals. Specifically, the presenter will discuss how to develop equity plans that specify clear goals, objectives, interventions, institutional resources, and assessment measures that can lead to success for disportionately impacted students. The presenter will propose strategies for embedding equity efforts within institutional strategic plans and aligning equity efforts with other institutional reforms. In addition, strategies that can be employed by institutional leaders to make equity plan data actionable will also be discussed.

Target Audience: Managers

Racial microaggressions are commonly understood as racially insensitive snubs, slights, insults, and putdowns that invalidate the experiences and intellectual capabilities of people of color. While some may assume racial microaggressions are harmless, published research on student success confirms the cumulative effect of these behaviors have a deleterious influence on people of color’s sense of belonging, welcomeness to engage, self-efficacy, and success in postsecondary education. Thus, the purpose of this workshop is to introduce participants to the concept of microaggressions, discuss how microaggressions manifest in academic contexts, highlight the most common microaggressions experienced by students of color in education, and highlight strategies that have been proven effective in challenging racial microaggressions in education.

Target Audience: All Campus Personnel; Students

Educators (e.g., faculty, staff, administrators) often exhibit a range of attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions about the role of equity in postsecondary education. While some educators believe achieving equity is an essential component of institutional excellence and student success, others liken equity to lowering rigor and academic standards. Having a keen understanding of educators’ sensemaking about equity is a critical step toward building institutional capacity to serve students equitably and responsibly. Thus, in this workshop, the presenter will unpack disparate perspectives on student equity and discuss implications for effectively engaging campus stakeholders in institutional transformation efforts to close equity gaps.

Target Audience: All College Personnel

Traditional theories of student development and success have had a longstanding influence on how educators teach and serve college students. However, the extent to which these theories are appropriate and applicable to a college student population that represents a range of diverse backgrounds and experiences is questionable. In this workshop, the presenter will critique popular theories and concepts of student development and success, notably student engagement, growth mindset, environmental pull, and challenge and support. In addition, the presenter will share theories and concepts of student success that are aligned with the principle of equity mindedness and discuss why they are better suited for guiding practice in serving diverse college students.

Target Audience: All Student Affairs/Services Personnel

The current research on underserved students in community colleges identifies acute basic needs insecurities as persistent barriers that threaten their health, well-being, and likelihood of success. In this workshop, the presenter will highlight patterns of acute basic needs insecurities (e.g., food, housing, transportation, employment) that emerged from data collected via the Community College Success Measure and focus groups with community college students. Strategic actions that can be enacted by community college educators to support students in meeting their basic needs will be shared and discussed.

Target Audience: All College Personnel

The recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others by law enforcement and vigilantes have sparked a national movement against anti-Black racism. This movement has motivated college and university educators to deeply examine long-standing institutional policies and practices that are rooted in systemic racism and directly contradict diversity, equity, inclusion and similarly espoused values. In this address, the presenter will discuss racism in college and university contexts and propose concrete actions that can be undertaken toward becoming an anti-racist institution.