You are invited to attend

Fulfilling the Promise:
Using Multicultural Organizational Development
To Transform Higher Education Institutions

The POD ~ AAC&U Multicultural Organization Development Institute

 Tuesday, January 20^th and Wednesday, January 21^st, 2009
(Full day on Tuesday, half day on Wednesday)

In association with
READY OR NOT: Global Challenges, College Learning, and America’s Promise
AAC&U’s Annual Meeting, January 21-24, 2009, Seattle, Washington

Institute Report

Increasingly, diversity and inclusion efforts in higher education have moved beyond the periphery of the academic and institutional mission of our colleges and universities to form the foundation of a new framework for excellence that integrates diversity and inclusion as a critical component of institutional excellence.  As noted in the Association of American of Colleges and Universities (AACU) initiative on Making Excellence Inclusive, the future requires us to re-envision diversity and inclusion as critical processes through which we envision and create new forms and levels of excellence in teaching, research, learning, student development, workforce development, institutional functioning and more.

For colleges and universities to realize fully our aspirations for inclusive excellence however, we must reach beyond traditional, individual-oriented strategies to models of inclusive leadership and organization development. Multicultural organizational development (MCOD) models provide just such systemic change frameworks for colleges and universities dedicated to fully aligning their mission of teaching, research and service with the imperative to create diverse, equitable and inclusive institutions. 

Flow of events

In this highly interactive day and a half-long institute, participants will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20, 2008 and then again from 9 a.m. until noon on Wednesday, January 21, 2008. In our time together, we will explore the fundamental attributes of a systemic approach to organizational development, how MCOD models can be useful in identifying stages that organizations move through as they become more socially diverse and socially just, and how these concepts may guide strategic organizational planning, assessment, implementation and evaluation plans on our own campuses. Additionally, participants will explore how to promote the interpersonal and group dynamics essential to institutional change efforts that adopt a comprehensive, proactive, systemic planning, assessment, and evaluation process across the institution.  With the use of case examples drawn from higher education institutions that have implemented such efforts, we will identify how such models can help us develop, implement and evaluate campus-based efforts to assess accurately our organization’s current strengths, to plan and implement realistic change goals, and to evaluate and monitor results. Participants will have time to consult with colleagues as they consider how to adapt these frameworks to the unique needs of their own. Finally, we will share resource materials for envisioning, directing and sustaining long-term systemic organization development efforts in higher education with a particular focus on diversity.

Workshop Presenters and Respondents include:

• Linda S. Marchesani is Manager of Workplace Learning and Development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Linda is co-author (with Maurianne Adams) of the article, Dynamics of diversity in the teaching-learning process: A faculty development model for analysis and action. She also serves as a workshop facilitator for Campus Women Lead, an alliance promoting a multicultural women-led agenda for the sustained transformation of higher education for the twenty-first century. An affiliate of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, CWL advances women’s inclusive leadership for excellence through workshops, publications, and a community listserv.

• Leslie Ortquist-Ahrens is founding director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and Associate Professor of German at Otterbein College.  She has worked extensively with faculty learning communities as one vehicle for supporting organization change and development. Leslie currently serves on the board and as chair of the Professional Development Committee of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD).

• Mathew L. Ouellett is Director of the Center for Teaching at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  Matt is most recently editor of the New Forums Press volume Teaching Inclusively:  Resources for Course, Department & Institutional Change in Higher Education. He is past chair of the Diversity Committee and immediate past-president of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD).

• Christine Stanley is Executive Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Professor of Higher Education Administration, College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University. Christine is the author or editor of numerous publications on diversity, faculty development and higher education, most recently the volume, Faculty of Color Teaching in Predominately White Institutions (Anker Press). She is past chair of the Diversity Committee and former president of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD).

• Frank Tuitt, Program Director & Assistant Professor of Higher Education Morgridge College of Education University of Denver.  Frank is a co-editor and contributing author of the book Race and Higher Education: Rethinking Pedagogy in Diverse College Classrooms. He is also serving his undergraduate alma mater, Connecticut College, as a member of its Board of Trustees. Frank currently serves as chair of the Diversity Committee as well as on the board of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD)

• Phyllis Worthy-Dawkins is Dean of the College of Professional Studies and former Director of Faculty Development at Johnson C. Smith University. Most recently she is co-author (with A. Beach, S. Rozman and J. Grant) of the article Faculty development at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs):  Current priorities and future directions. Phyllis serves as Vice President for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Faculty Development Network (HBCU FDN) and is a past board member of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD).

Registration Information

Fulfilling the Promise: Using Multicultural Organizational Development to Transform Higher Education Institutions

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 – 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
and     
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 – 8:30 a.m. to noon

To register for the institute, please click here.

POD members do not have to register for or attend the AAC&U conference to be able to attend the institute and to receive the preferred room rate at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers.

The early bird fee for this day and a half workshop is $175.00. This fee includes continental breakfasts and coffee breaks on Tuesday and Wednesday, Tuesday lunch, and all materials.

Registration will open Monday, October 6, 2008

Registration is limited. Please note: credit card payments may not be charged until after November 1, 2008, but registrants will receive an immediate confirmation of registration.

Hotel Information

Due to special arrangement with AAC&U, POD members will be able to take advantage of the AAC&U conference hotel rates. Please be certain to tell the hotel that you are with AAC&U to receive this special rate. 

Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers
1400 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, Washington  98101
206-621-9000

Located in the city’s vibrant core, the AAA four-diamond Sheraton Seattle Hotel is a gateway to all the sights, sounds, and experiences of the fabulous Pacific Northwest.  The Sheraton is conveniently situated near historic Pike Place Market; the Seattle Art Museum; Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony; and the new Seattle Public Library, designed by Rem Koolhaas, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

The Sheraton’s Health Club, located on the 35th floor, features an indoor heated pool, an indoor heated lap pool, a sauna, and an exercise room.

The discounted rate for AAC&U registrants is $173 for a single or double room.  Please be certain to tell the hotel that you are with AAC&U to receive this special rate.  This conference rate is available only until December 13, 2008, but we encourage participants to make hotel reservations as soon as possible.  Once the AAC&U room block is sold out (which can be one month or more before the cut-off date), the discounted rate will no longer apply.

Club Level rooms (upgraded amenities, complimentary internet, etc.) are available for $206 (single or double).  Deluxe Level rooms (also upgraded and in the Sheraton’s new Union Tower) are available for $186, single or double.

Travel Information

Registrants should fly into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which is approximately 14 miles from the Seattle Sheraton.   The Downtown Airporter is the least expensive transportation between the Sheraton and SeaTac International Airport.  Downtown Airporter prices are approximately $11.  Shuttle vans can be $27 one way; town cars, $30 one way; and taxi cabs, $35 one way.  Airporter schedules are available online.

In association with
READY OR NOT: Global Challenges, College Learning, and America’s Promise
AAC&U’s Annual Meeting,
January 21-24, 2009, Seattle, Washington