Prioritize the Needs of Students with Marginalized Identities – On-Demand Training

Close Opportunity Gaps and Support Student Success

Unfortunately, despite some change, most U.S. colleges and universities maintain systems that privilege students with dominant identities and disenfranchise students who hold Marginalized Identities. COVID has further exacerbated the impact. Are you doing everything you can to support students with Marginalized Identities?

How do you reshape your marketing process to attract students with Marginalized Identities to participate in clubs, organizations and service initiatives? How do you reshape these initiatives to ensure they are safe and culturally appropriate for them?

What would it look like if your most senior staff prioritized working with multicultural groups, instead of devoting so much attention to those organizations made up of mostly students with dominant identities and/or those groups with the most conduct problems?

How can you be more strategic with your time and attention, centering students with Marginalized Identities rather than privileging the already privileged students who already have access to numerous resources to help navigate higher education?

Explore how student affairs can work differently to prioritize the needs of students who hold minoritized identities and reallocate fiscal, personnel, and time resources to close opportunity gaps and support student success. Shifting from a deficit to an asset approach will highlight the strengths these student populations bring to the collegiate endeavor. The discussion will include visible and invisible marginalized populations from an intersectional lens.

Topics Covered

We offer crucial, actionable takeaways that will help you:

• Implement this mindset and approach to specific Student Affairs functional areas including Orientation and Welcome Weeks, Housing and Dining Services, Student Leadership, Student Conduct, Student Employment, Student Government and more – improve access, equity, inclusion and retention across the division.
• Explore asset vs. deficit frameworks – reframe how you allocate your resources to ensure success and potentially transform your campus.
• Discover how the current approach to Student Affairs work perpetuates the privileging of students with dominant identities and marginalizing of students who hold non-dominant identities – change your strategies to increase trust, involvement and satisfaction of a broader cross-section of students.
• Explore ways to shift fiscal, personnel and time resources to prioritize the needs of students who hold Minoritized Identities – get real-life examples so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
• Make changes from a grassroots effort and leadership from all levels – create a campus-wide commitment to change.

Presenters

Kathy Sisneros serves as Assistant Vice President for Inclusive Excellence at Colorado State University. She oversees the Student Diversity Programs and Services that comprise four cultural and three resource centers.
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Jody Donovan currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Colorado State University.
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Dr. Craig Chesson serves as the Associate Dean of Students at Colorado State University.
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