|
Helping the Helpers: The Excellence Through Diversity Institute as an Assessment-Savvy Leadership Development Initiative
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Hazel L Symonette,
University of Wisconsin, Madison,
hsymonette@odos.wisc.edu
|
| Abstract:
The University of Wisconsin Excellence Through Diversity Institute (EDI) is an intensive train-the-trainers/facilitators workforce learning community organized around appreciatively-framed and culturally-grounded evaluation processes. It focuses on generative evaluative thinking and reflective practice for faculty, classified staff, academic staff and administrators. EDI helps participants discover and bring forward their *Best Self* in full voice to do their best learning, their best engaging and their best work so that they can better help others do the same while facilitating the university's development of such transformational processes. As a social-justice grounded leadership development resource for many campus and community initiatives, EDI helps faculty, staff and administrators to expand their diversity-grounded developmental evaluation capacities and their border-crossing bridge-building capacities. EDI remains a still evolving project-in-process as it strives for excellence through cultivating authentically inclusive and vibrantly responsive teaching, learning and working environments that are conducive to success for all.
|
|
The Quality Assurance Team (QAT): Developing Mechanisms for Multiple Voices to be Heard in Transdisciplinary Multi-site Community Research
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Leah Neubauer,
DePaul University,
lneubaue@depaul.edu
|
| Gary Harper,
DePaul University,
gharper@depaul.edu
|
| Audrey Bangi,
University of California, San Francisco,
audrey.bangi@ucsf.edu
|
| Jonathan Ellen,
Johns Hopkins University,
|
| Abstract:
Previous researchers have noted that multi-site transdisciplinary research endeavors present particular sustainability challenges as they attempt to link multiple research centers and various organizations across geographic and cultural settings. As part of a federally- funded multi-site, multi-stage HIV/AIDS community research project, the Quality Assurance Team (QAT) was created to structure and facilitate the inclusion of multiple voices from multiple disciplines. To facilitate this inclusion, the QAT viewed the transdisciplinary research team as an organization, applied organizational development and program evaluation concepts and theories, and created a process-related internal evaluation feedback system which identified organizational deficits and strengths and helped to correct obstacles that could inhibit effective team and project functioning. To achieve effectiveness, the responsive system addressed unequal power structures, pinpointed systems of power imbalance and oppression, and promoted supportive and empowering relationship among members.
|
|
The Role of Evaluation in Advancing Organizational Change: A Case Study in Diversity
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Gwen M Willems,
University of Minnesota,
wille002@umn.edu
|
| Mary Marczak,
University of Minnesota,
marcz001@umn.edu
|
| Abstract:
Organizations are asked to continually evolve in a range of areas. This paper examines the challenges in crafting evaluation methods and questions that effectively examine the gap between where an organization currently is on a topic and where it wants to be.
One of those areas, diversity, is increasingly recognized as critical to strengthening organizations and their culture. Cultural and demographic shifts, along with increased opportunities to tap the contributions of communities of color, are transforming organizational staffing and the needs of constituents. The presenters will share the conceptualization and methods of a case study evaluating the institutional commitment to diversity of 40 service-learning organizations. They will discuss drawbacks and draw generalizable lessons about how to obtain useful data on the discrepancies between current and ideal status in an organization.
|
| | |