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Diversity Resource Advocates

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Grounded in Our Most Important Work, Diversity Resource Advocates (DRA) are VPSA staff members trained to advocate for and help advance cultural diversity, inclusion, belonging and equity (DEI) within their respective teams. Current DEI research and best practices point to the organizational necessity to scale diversity and inclusion efforts across a given institution, creating responsive units where thoughtful DEI work is occurring at every level, on every team. DRA are internal DEI practitioners committed to cultural humility, individual growth, and lifelong learning around socio-cultural difference, diversity recruitment, inclusive practice, and the creation of equitable workspaces. 

To become a DRA, VPSA staff members must complete a series of classes offered by the Office for Inclusion, Belonging and Intergroup Communication and the VPSA Office for Human Resources. To remain a DRA, participants must commit to continuing DEI education, taking two additional DEI class each year.

This could be the program for you if you want to:

  • Connect more effectively with students, faculty, and colleagues.
  • Prepare yourself to engage in diversity & inclusion processes in your future career as a scholar/professional.
  • Explore your own social identities and learn how they relate to larger structures.
  • Feel confident addressing power dynamics in your field.
  • Learn how to respond to uncomfortable comments and situations.
  • Engage in meaningful conversations about and across differences.
  • Communicate productively through conflict.
  • Collaboratively think about ways you can enact positive social change.
  • Get to know a diverse group of scholars who are interested in similar topics!

Our workshops are interactive and engaging. Rather than offering a purely instructional approach, our workshops incorporate experiential activities in small-group settings to engage all participants. Furthermore, participants learn to engage in authentic dialogue, and in the process gain practical skills for transforming their offices, classrooms and student groups into spaces where everyone can be heard and people are able to bring their authentic selves.