Get Involved
Interested in Becoming an IMPACT Academy Trainer?
Applications are available each Fall semester. Faculty at any rank are eligible to apply. Applicants are chosen based on several criteria including: a commitment to building an inclusive campus community and their willingness to facilitate training sessions with other faculty.
If selected, IMPACT Academy Trainers must complete The IMPACT Fellows Training Program (alongside Equity Advisors). The 20+ hour educational experience prepares trainers to design and deliver thoughtful and engaging diversity, inclusion, and equity educational content to others. Training is offered each Spring semester.
What We Offer: IMPACT Academy Training Sessions
The following training sessions are led by IMPACT Academy Trainers. In addition to registering for these workshops when offered, you may also make “on-demand” requests for these training sessions for your department.
You are encouraged to participate in as many of these training sessions as you can. As you grow in your personal journey towards understanding bias and racism, your IMPACT on the campus community intensifies, ultimately leading us to a campus that models true Inclusion, Equity and Social Justice.
After the completion of six of these training sessions, you will receive an IMPACT Certificate that acknowledges that you are committed to furthering your understanding of racism and bias. Certification identifies you as an IMPACT Social Justice Change Agent at SIUE.
New Faculty Onboarding: Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice
Inclusion, equity, and social justice (IEJ) are foundational areas for faculty's personal and professional lives, including our engagements with students, colleagues, our institution, and community, in our curriculum and classroom, as well as in service and research. In this two-part workshop, new faculty will learn about why it is important for SIUE faculty to commit to IEJ, how IEJ applies to their faculty life and about next steps and resources to move forward with addressing IEJ in their faculty role.
Introduction to Understanding Bias
The purpose of this online training is to provide general information that will serve as a starting point if you are new to this work. The training establishes the need for inclusive practices on college campuses by discussing implicit bias with examples of infractions from college campuses across the country. The training is meant to eliminate the need to cover this information in our more specific workshops. The training is designed to help Instructors understand the necessity of inclusivity as well as the negative effects of implicit bias in an effort to increase awareness and reduce instances of bias on our campus.
Unpacking Whiteness, Privilege and Acceptable Responses
This 2-part training covers the history of whiteness and privilege universally and at SIUE. Participants will be led through activities that challenge them to dissect their personal journey around race and to unpack how that influences how they show up in the campus community. Participants will engage in discussions that allow for a deeper self-reflection about what it means to hold privilege based on whiteness. Participants of all races are encouraged to take part in these sessions
Using Communication to Build an Inclusive Classroom Online
As the modality to online teaching becomes the reality for most of us, there may be hesitancy in how to build an inclusive community of learners in this new environment. This training lays a foundation of effective communication strategies that lead to a more equitable environment where students can feel comfortable interacting with each other. Participants are given practical tools for online classroom first day activities as well as skills that will continue to enhance your teaching overall. Participants are invited to a “Zoom and Groom” follow-up with the trainers to further workshop your syllabus and course, paying attention to inclusive language usage.
Strategies for Making STEM Courses and Majors More Inclusive
In this training, the facilitators will identify exclusive and inclusive teaching practices in STEM education and highlight what other STEM programs have done to build a more welcoming major for underrepresented groups. Student engagement and ultimately success can be linked to a sense of right fit, of belonging, of alignment of interests and skills with opportunities and support. The students majoring in STEM disciplines at SIUE are not as diverse as our overall population. This training explores what we can do to make these disciplines more welcoming to underrepresented students and advance equity and inclusive excellence at SIUE.
Acting with HEART
This training guides participants in activities that allow for a heart-centered approach to social justice work. Through mindfulness and theater activities,participants explore where they are on their personal journeys and are introduced to how body awareness impacts their interactions on a daily basis. What does bias feel like? What does oppression feel like? How are these feelings informing how you show up everyday? This training is important for those of privilege or agent as well as oppressed or targeted groups.
Ally is a Verb not a Noun
Sometimes it just takes courage to step out of line and say what needs to be said on behalf of underrepresented people. Sometimes you may want to speak up on behalf of a Black colleague or an LGBTQ colleague but you don’t feel comfortable. This training takes you through physical exercises that give you techniques for embodying allyship.
Coming Soon: Theater for Social Change
An ensemble of students write and perform original vignettes on topics such as bias, microaggressions, privilege and anti-racism that can be performed at department meetings, in classrooms or other approved settings. These interactive modules encourage audience participation to deepen the experience of all involved.
