Training and Workshops
Training and workshops can be facilitated in a variety of ways. Some sessions are single-session topic based opportunities for raising one’s knowledge level about a particular topic. Other sessions are multiple day series designed for deeper and more immersive learning where each session builds upon the previous. Some of these sequential sessions are pre-designed while in other instances the sessions can be tailored for specific audiences. It is recommended that a person participate in all types of training and workshop sessions in order to broaden one’s personal journey toward creating a campus community that is equitable, inclusive and anti-racist, where all may feel a sense of connection and belonging.
Below are examples of training and workshops available for request. If you do not see exactly what suits your audience, there is always an opportunity to discuss your request with a member of the IMPACT Center team to see what is possible. Additionally, some sessions are offered periodically throughout the year and can be attended as an individual without a request from a department, division, student organization, business, etc.
Single Session Training and Workshops
Allyship Sessions
There are a variety of trainings offered on campus through different offices and organizations that will broaden your understanding of topics and provide you the skills needed to be a better ally to various communities. These trainings are offered through other offices and organizations periodically throughout the year and like any IMPACT Center training or workshop, they can be attended as an individual. However, if you are interested in a tailored ally training for your department, division, student organization, business, etc., you are more than welcome to make that request through the IMPACT Center to help facilitate your unique needs or reach out directly to those facilitating the training or workshop sessions.
Global Zone Training
Green Zone Training
Safe Zone Training
CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) Group Analysis and Coaching
The CliftonStrengths Assessment is designed to help individuals discover what they naturally do best, learn how to develop one’s own greatest talents into strengths, and use personalized assessment results and reports to maximize one’s potential. With the support of a CliftonStrengths Certified Coach your department, division, student organization, small business, etc. can each complete an individualized assessment which will be analyzed as part of the greater group. Your analysis and coaching session will help your group better understand what each person brings to the table and how, as a group, they can reach their greatest potential. Learn how to work better by seeing one another for their true talents and strengths.Sessions can also be tailored to address specific needs such as management effectiveness, team dynamics, conflict resolution, team performance, leadership development, etc. If you are interested in individual coaching sessions or want each member of your group to experience an individual coaching session by a CliftonStrengths Certified Coach, see Individual Coaching for more details.
Each member of your group will need to complete a CliftonStrengths Assessment prior to the group analysis and coaching session. The IMPACT Center is currently piloting this offering and has a limited number of access codes to take individual assessments for free. Once those codes are no longer available, our certified coaches will help groups purchase codes to take the CliftonStrengths Assessment at a discounted rate. If a member of your group has taken the CliftonStrengths Assessment previously, they can furnish their report to the certified coach to have their results included in the group analysis.
Deconstructing Binary Thinking around Gender
The gender binary is a western-centric limiting concept that prohibits freedom of self-expression. Because gender as a binary is a social construction, we can deconstruct and reconstruct gender to be more inclusive. Workshop participants will leave with a new or more complex understanding of gender, including how binary thinking is a relic of colonialism.
From Ally to Accomplice
This workshop will introduce participants to the concepts of actor, ally and accomplice, then lead them through a process (the Cycle of Liberation) to identify areas where they can move from actor to ally and ally to accomplice for self-identified social identities. This workshop will focus and highlight ways to weaponize privilege in areas where participants have agent social identities. However, we will discuss how actor, ally and accomplice actions look different from agent, target and border identities.
Geographic Social Identity Dynamics at SIUE
This workshop offers participants an opportunity to explore the multiple facets of geographic social identity (e.g., seeing oneself as rural, urban, suburban, Illinoisan, Missourian, St. Louisan, Chicago native, etc.). Participants will explore how that self-described identity impacts their experience within the SIUE community and equitable access to campus resources. This has implications for interpersonal exploration of self, allowing individuals to confront and explore the dynamics around how geographic social identity shapes students, faculty, staff, campus institutional identity, cross-cultural assumptions and campus community engagement.
IMPACT Academy Players: Theater for Social Change
An ensemble of professional actors and students write and perform original vignettes on topics such as bias, microaggressions, privilege and anti-racism that can be performed at department meetings, at business retreats, in classrooms or other approved settings. These interactive modules encourage audience participation to deepen the experience of all involved.
Intercultural Development Inventory Group Analysis
The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) is a widely used and effective cross-culturally valid assessment for building cultural competence based on the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC). The IDI assesses intercultural competence – the capability to shift cultural perspective and appropriately adapt behavior to cultural difference and commonalities. After completing the IDI, a licensed IDI Qualified Administrator provides an overview of the IDC and then a group analysis through detailed IDI profile reports. The Intercultural Development Inventory can be used as a framework for divisional, departmental, student organization, or community organization professional development by thoughtfully considering your IDC group results. Using the results can shape what action your group takes to support the intercultural development of your team. Once your group receives a group analysis, you can choose to participate in additional IMPACT sessions to support your goals and learning outcomes. The IDI can also be administered as a pre- and post- assessment as your group enters into a planned professional development series designed to increase intercultural competence. This can be on your own or a plan structured through the IMPACT Center. Once an individual of your group has completed their IDI, their report may be used for the group report, but they also become eligible for an individual analysis by the IMPACT licensed IDI Qualified Administrator. See Individual Coaching for more details.
Each member of your group will need to complete the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) prior to the group analysis and coaching session. The IMPACT Center is currently piloting this offering and has a limited number of access codes to take individual assessments for free. Once those codes are no longer available, our licensed IDI Qualified Administrators will help groups purchase codes to take the IDI. If a member of your group has taken the IDI previously, they can furnish their report to the qualified administrator and have their results included in the group analysis. Please note that individual reports are confidential and while the individual results contribute to a group report, no individual information is shared in the process.
Oppression and Bias in Healthcare Professionals
Healthcare professionals with direct patient and client care responsibilities will learn to foster behavior changes to reduce oppressive practices on individual and systemic levels. Participants will increase awareness of multiple personal identities and the influences/impacts on oppressive practices. They will identify behavior changes to reduce oppressive practices to provide equitable healthcare. Participants will focus on the common goal of delivering quality, equitable healthcare practices as a motivation for behavior change and reducing oppression.
PEN America Sessions
Each semester SIUE partners with PEN America to bring either in-person and/or virtual Campus for All sessions to educate our campus about the basics of free speech and academic freedom and provide tools and tactics on campus for all members of the campus community. Campuses are locations of a variety of speech in many forms and it can sometimes be challenging for our constituents to recognize the difference between free speech, academic freedom, hate speech, etc. Since 2016, PEN America has responded to such challenges by producing go-to resources like their Campus Free Speech Guide and their Campus for All workshops. They work to ensure campuses are open to all ideas and people. In their workshops for universities, and in their advocacy, they encourage campuses to robustly defend free speech and open inquiry at the same time that they advance principles of equity and inclusion.
Sessions highlighted in the Training and Workshop Series descriptions can be offered in single session opportunities or multiple sessions from the series can be worked together for a longer single session as needed.
Sustained Dialogue Institute Sessions
Each semester the Sustained Dialogue Institute offers virtual Sustained Dialogue Training over the course of several weeks which is an in-depth skill series on how to engage in dialogue across differences. This series changes days of the week and times each semester, so be sure to check back on our Sustained Dialogue at SIUE page for updates. The training offered through the Sustained Dialogue Institute itself is free for SIUE campus members, email inclusion@siue.edu for the code to enter when registering.
Additionally, sessions highlighted in the Training and Workshop Series descriptions on this page can be offered in single session opportunities or multiple sessions from the series can be worked together for a longer single session as needed.
Training and Workshop Series
IMPACT Introductory Series
This workshop will increase one’s knowledge of the definitions and concepts surrounding multiple identities, social power, social groups, privilege, target, border and oppression. Through activities and discussion, participants are challenged to increase their understanding of the intersections that occur between oppression and the external manifestations of oppression.
Session 2: Discovering the Seeds of Bias
This workshop is an interactive introduction to one’s unique story of identity and how one’s socialization influences implicit bias. Through activities and discussion, participants are challenged to increase awareness of how the messages of socialization play out for different social identities. This workshop will give participants insights into their own experiences and roles related to oppression.
Session 3: Bringing Change - Tools for an Inclusive Workplace
Many may ask after the first two sessions, “What now?” This session is designed to furnish attendees with a tool kit for maintaining accountability after completing IMPACT Center training and workshops. It begins with the understanding the Cycle of Liberation for change at the individual level and moves participants towards discussions of equity, belonging, and accountability in the workplace/school to address inclusion at the interpersonal and institutional levels
Session 4: Tailored Session Per Group Development and Needs
At the conclusion of Session 3, your IMPACT Trainers will work with you to decide what the final session should be based on your group's needs and development through the first three sessions.
Dialogue Skill Development Series powered by the Sustained Dialogue Institute
This workshop will help participants recognize the differences between the styles of communication: Debate, Discussion, Dialogue and Disengagement. Participants will have the opportunity to learn the value of approaching one’s communication with the frame of dialogue.
Sessions 2: Re-learning to Listen
In our community where everyone has things to do and places to be, it is not always a place where people feel truly listened to in a present and authentic way. Most of us listen as needed, even to the people who mean the most to us. This workshop is designed to re-learn what it means to actively listen to another person and have time to practice that skill. Mindfully listening to another person can be the difference between adding value to someone or dismissing their value.
Session 3: Thoughtful Engagement Through Questions
When we encounter unfamiliar or difficult moments with those who are different from us, it can be easy to move towards the need to interrogate and ask questions that may not have the goal of relationship building. This session helps participants frame asking questions through the idea of engagement; recognizing that how we frame the questions we ask can help shape the information we gather from the answers.
Session 4: How Who You Are makes an Impact on How You Interact with Others
As individuals we may not challenge ourselves to think about how who we are has immediate impacts on how we interact with others. This workshop gives participants an opportunity to reflect on their own identities and how they become meaningful to them. There is also the opportunity to dialogue about how one’s identities and experiences can create harmony or dissonance with others’ identities and experiences when groups form.
Conflict Management Skill Development Series powered by the Sustained Dialogue Institute
This workshop will help participants recognize the symptoms of dehumanizing behavior and how dehumanization leads to polarization in groups. By recognizing this behavior one can learn the ways to combat it and become more thoughtful in moments when dehumanization and polarization are revealed.
Sessions 2: How to Manage Your Emotions (Practicing Self-Regulation During Conversations)
This workshop is designed to share techniques with participants on how to manage the feelings one goes through when encountering conflict. Handling conflict can be a challenge for many people and often it is because of the emotional toll it can take on a person. The skills learned here will help a person navigate their emotions amidst tense moments in conflict.
Session 3: Skills Practice: Active Listening
Most often people feel they are great at listening and active listening in particular; however that is not usually the case. Most people are trained to selectively listen and are not giving their full attention in times of need. Learn skills to assist in those moments when active listening can be the difference between escalation and de-escalation in conflict.
Session 4: Community Building and Collaboration Skills
Conflict quite regularly can destroy groups and communities. This session will give participants tips on how to engage in community building and collaboration while working through conflict. By using conflict as a starting point for growth instead of destruction, one can change the path of a community.
Recognizing and Understanding Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom Series powered by PEN America
This session is designed to introduce participants to the legal framework of the First Amendment, principles of free speech and academic freedom, and unprotected speech such as harassment or threats. Included is information on the evolving nature of the case law around academic freedom and real challenges universities face in trying to uphold free speech, academic freedom and diversity, equity and inclusion. Participants will leave with a framework for approaching issues of speech on campus without jeopardizing academic freedom and maintaining the values of campus for all.
This session is designed to equip senior leadership, communication teams, campus leaders, faculty, and staff with de-escalation strategies for tense, politicized, or emotional moments that can be unexpected but often need to be addressed in order to maintain an open and respectful campus climate. Tense moments that will be addressed include speakers on campus, fliers/chalking, and hecklers. By the end of the session participants will leave with tools for effective listening and how to respond with effective communications after tense moments occur. Participants will engage with each other through scenarios with guidance from PEN America facilitators.
OR, Session 2: Setting the Stage for Robust Engagement in the Classroom
This session is designed to explain the authority of professors in the classroom to set expectations, community standards for communication, and assessments based on information integrity, disciplinary standards, and learning objectives. Participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences with classroom management and assessment. Concrete tools for classroom activities that can elicit student engagement and open exchange across viewpoints, while also supporting active listening, nuanced dialogue, and community building will also be discussed.
OR, Session 2: Showing Up as a Peer Leader
This session is designed to equip students with the knowledge about freedom of speech, but also to consider what it means to support freedom of speech while in a leadership role. This session is designed to help students reconcile their own beliefs while still engaging with those who may not agree with them and equip them with de-escalation strategies for tense, politicized, or emotional moments that can be unexpected but often need to be addressed in order to maintain an open and respectful campus climate. Tense moments that will be addressed include student organization meetings, students in the residence halls, day to day interactions, etc. By the end of the session participants will leave with tools for effective listening and how to respond with effective communications after tense moments occur. Participants will engage with each other through scenarios with guidance from PEN America facilitators.
Session 3: Spreading the Word and Other Practical Applications
This session will help participants understand more thoroughly the PEN America Campus Free Speech Guide and how to apply what they have learned through the series in their day to day activities either as administrators, faculty, staff, or students. The session will also provide an opportunity for participants to work through current situations they are experiencing on campus by collaborating with fellow participants to build action plans and strategies for moving forward in a more informed and practical way.
Individual Coaching
CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder) Individual Coaching Session
CliftonStrengths Certified Coaches can provide individual professional coaching, career coaching, manager coaching, executive and leadership coaching, as well as group coaching sessions (see Single Sessions Training and Workshops). An individual coaching session can be tailored to your particular needs to help you focus on doing what you naturally do best and how that can help you in your work, relationships, leadership, etc.
You will need to complete a CliftonStrengths Assessment prior to the individual coaching session. The IMPACT Center is currently piloting this offering and has a limited number of access codes to take individual assessments for free. Once those codes are no longer available, our certified coaches will help individuals purchase codes to take the CliftonStrengths Assessment at a discounted rate. If you have taken the CliftonStrengths Assessment previously, you can furnish your report to the certified coach to utilize for the individual coaching session. An individual can have access to one free coaching session with unlimited coaching sessions at a rate determined through the IMPACT Center. Rates can be discussed with your certified coach or a representative from the IMPACT Center.
Intercultural Development Inventory Individual Analysis
The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) is a widely used and effective cross-culturally valid assessment for building cultural competence based on the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC). The IDI assesses intercultural competence – the capability to shift cultural perspective and appropriately adapt behavior to cultural difference and commonalities. After completing the IDI, a licensed IDI Qualified Administrator provides an overview of the IDC and an individual analysis based on your results. The Intercultural Development Inventory can be used as a framework for your own professional development by thoughtfully considering your IDC results. The IDI can also be administered as a pre- and post- assessment as you enter into a planned professional development series designed to increase intercultural competence. If you are interested in using a groups’ set of individual results to create a group report and analysis session, see Single Sessions Training and Workshops for more details.
You will need to complete the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) prior to the individual coaching session. The IMPACT Center is currently piloting this offering and has a limited number of access codes to take individual assessments for free. Once those codes are no longer available, our licensed IDI Qualified Administrators will help you purchase a code to take the IDI. If you have taken the IDI previously, you can furnish your report to the qualified administrator to utilize for the individual coaching session.
Train-the-Trainer Sessions
IMPACT Center Train-the-Trainer Workshop
If you are interested in becoming a certified IMPACT Trainer, our train-the-trainer sessions consist of a 100+ hour educational experience which prepares trainers to design and deliver thoughtful and engaging educational content to others. This includes a variety of sessions such as presentation skills, facilitation skills, techniques for questioning, engagement strategies (groups activities, small group discussion, etc.), creating learning objectives, creating content, session management (handling difficult behaviors or disengaged participants), assessment and evaluation and so much more. If you are interested in this session, please fill out this IMPACT Center Trainer Interest Form and an IMPACT Center staff member will reach out about upcoming sessions. Completion of this series results in a digital badge indicating you are a certified IMPACT Center Trainer.
PEN America Train-the-Trainer Workshop
As part of our institutional partnership with PEN America, we will be bringing a limited time train-the-trainer workshop to certify members of our campus community to facilitate PEN America Campus for All sessions to educate our campus about the basics of free speech and academic freedom. This workshop will provide the knowledge and tools to administer specific sessions (for examples, see Training and Workshop Series) on behalf of PEN America for the SIUE community. If interested in this rare opportunity, please email inclusion@siue.edu for more information.
