A PHENOMENOLOGICAL CASE STUDY OF TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING IN A NON-TRADITIONAL DIVERSITY TRAINING PROGRAM

Rapidly changing demographics and globalization has spurred a plurality of organizations to invest millions of dollars annually in diversity training, with the primary aim of improving the experiences of underrepresented employees. However, the results of diversity training to date have not proven encouraging. Positive outcomes of diversity training have generally been confined to increased awareness and improved attitudes towards diversity, with implicit and explicit prejudice and behavior remaining unchanged. The aim of this study was to understand the transformational learning experiences of participants in a non-traditional diversity training program and the impact of their transformational learning on their behavior. A phenomenological embedded case study design was employed. Data was collected through semi structured qualitative interviews. A pilot study of two participants was conducted to preview the interview protocol and strengthen the main study design. The main study was conducted with eight participants and also included the two pilot interviews for a total of 10 participants. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyze the data from all ten participants. Results revealed the value of incorporating an interdisciplinary approach and transformative learning design in diversity training in order to impact affective and behavioral outcomes. Findings from the study provided practical implications for diversity and inclusion in HRD and for higher education practitioners, managers, and leaders as they seek to engage and empower a workforce that is global, multicultural, and interdependent. Contributions and implications for theory and future research, drawn from the findings of the study, are discussed

Convening for a Thriving Future: Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Asian American Community

On October 1, 2022, Portland State University (PSU) held the Convening for a Thriving Future for Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Asian American (PIAA) Communities at the university’s Native American Student Community Center (NASCC). This event was part of a series of BIPOC-centered and -led community convenings by PSU’s Global Diversity & Inclusion as one of our action items in the Time to Act Plan for Equity & Racial Justice. PSU contracted with Roxanna Bautista of Rise Up Solutions to support the planning, development, and coordination of this convening, in addition to providing facilitation and contributing to this convening report. In addition, PSU partnered with PIAA communitybased organizations to hold this convening. Those community partners were: API Forward, Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition (OPIC), Filipino Bayanihan Center, and the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO)-Pacific Islander Asian Family Center. The convening was organized into morning and afternoon sessions and breakfast and lunch were provided by Asian owned businesses, Phat Cart and Khao Niew Lao Street Food. The morning sessions consisted of remarks and presentations on data and PSU history from PSU leadership and Global Diversity & Inclusion. After these presentations, the next session featured a panel of PIAA community-based organizations and leaders who responded to discussion prompts, including what they would say a thriving future looks like for PIAA communities. After lunch, the afternoon sessions were composed of four breakout groups, where facilitators guided the discussion through various prompts. The convening wrapped up with report backs from those breakout groups and completion of evaluations. Related Materials: Five affinity-based convenings: Latiné Futures Convening Convening on the Future of Black Thriving & Joy Convening for a Thriving Future for Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Asian American Communities (PIAA) Convening for a Prosperous Future for Middle East, North African and South Asian Community (MENASA) Native Leaders Roundtable Time to Act Events:The Future and Thriving of BIPOC Communities: A Time to Act Macroconvening(Affinity groups met in-person November 2022)Time 2 Act: Continuing Action for a Just and Equitable PSU(Video - Winter Symposium 2021) Time to Act: Envisioning and Creating a Just and Equitable PSU(Video - Virtual Equity Summit, October 30, 2020) Equity Plan: Time to Act: Plan for Equity & Racial Justice 2021 - 2024 (PDF - Report, 2021

Think Out Loud: New Portland Partnership Aims to Help BIPOC Students and College Graduates

First-generation college students and new graduates entering the workforce might not be aware of certain “unwritten rules,” especially if they are one of very few BIPOC employees at a company or organization. Helping people learn that information is the idea behind a new collaboration between Portland State University and the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center. POIC President and CEO Joe McFerrin and PSU’s Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion Ame Lambert join us to talk about the partnership that’s launching this fall

Moving from Rhetoric to Action!

Dr. Ame Lambert, Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion for Portland State University, shares how the responsibility of equity and inclusion work belongs to everyone. At Portland State, she is developing a 12 to 18 month plan to build the thread of racial equity throughout students, faculty, and staff. You will also hear about the ways to engage children in difficult conversations about race. Whether talking with children or co-workers, she urges you to lean into the conversations and work. One of the ways to do this is by ‘expanding your capacity for discomfort.’ And for your playlist… Dr. Lambert suggests adding ‘Glory’ by John Legend and Common. And for your reading list… books by Beverly Jenkins. Host: Kent Wyatt, Communications Manage

Time to Act: Plan for Equity & Racial Justice 2021 - 2024

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Leadership & Infrastructure (LI)Coordinate organizational change to support our diversity goals, create a structure that supports the implementation of diversity and inclusion goals and the achievement of desired outcomes, and set PSU on the path for becoming a model of sustained success in the areas of access, racial justice, inclusion and equity in our region and among our peer and aspirational institutions. Initiative 1: Build an Equity-based budget. Initiative 2: Address cultural taxation, invisible, and emotional labor. Initiative 3: Evidence based decision making and Data-driven racial justice interventions. Initiative 4: Center BIPOC voices and needs. Initiative 5: Embed racial equity in community engagement activities. Campus Climate & Intergroup Relations (CCIR)Develop a shared and inclusive understanding of diversity by creating a welcoming campus climate that is supportive of all students, and that fosters positive and meaningful interactions across different cultures. Initiative 1: Regular campus-wide climate surveys. Initiative 2: Create a shared language to promote justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Employee Access, Success & Equity (EASE)Recruit and retain a diverse workforce, and ensure equitable outcomes for all employees. Initiative 1: Trauma-informed care practices at PSU through an equity lens. Initiative 2: Targeted Talent Development and Mentorship Program. Initiative 3: Create an infrastructure that recruits, retains and advances diverse faculty and staff. Education, Scholarship & Service (ESS) Develop a curriculum that fosters domestic and international cultural competencies through curricular and co-curricular content and experiences, with an emphasis on experiential learning. Ensure that students and employees become literate in their own, and other cultures, and experiences, and are competent in interacting across difference. Foster cognitive complexity and critical thinking in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Initiative 1: Support pedagogical innovation. Initiative 2: Enrich student learning environments. Initiative 3: Celebrate creativity and research. Initiative 4: Expand faculty ability to support equitable student success. Student Access, Success & Equity (SASE) Recruit and retain a diverse student body, and ensure equitable outcomes for all students. Initiative 1: Student Communication Equity Framework. Initiative 2: First-generation student training for staff. Initiative 3: Expand capacity-building experiences for BIPOC students. Initiative 4: Expand culturally specific supports to increase the retention of BIPOC students

Reset PSU

Our panelists explore how PSU can reset the narrative in a time of national reckoning around issues of race.https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/at_this_moment/1006/thumbnail.jp

Time to Act: Envisioning and Creating a Just and Equitable PSU

A virtual equity summit that discussed the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Portland State University

Time 2 Act: Continuing Action for a Just and Equitable PSU

Time 2 Act: Continuing Action for a Just and Equitable PSU is a follow-up to the Virtual Equity Summit: Time to Act held by Global Diversity & Inclusion during fall term. Severe weather and power outages impacted many in our campus community in mid-February leading us to make the difficult decision to cancel the February Winter Symposium and to reschedule for April 15. All PSU community members, including faculty, staff, and students, were invited to attend. Since the fall summit, the work has been organized into five task forces according to the five-dimension framework, and since February, the work has continued. The campus community was been invited to review the Acting on Equity and Racial Justice webpage (https://www.pdx.edu/diversity/equity-and-justice) to explore the task forces\u27 recommendations and to provide feedback before the symposium event. A recording of the event and additional event details can be found on the Time 2 Act event web page hosted by Global Diversity and Inclusion. AGENDA 8:30am Event Welcome Susan Jeffords, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs 8:35am Our Journey Toward Racial Justice and Equity Stephen Percy, President, Portland State University 8:45am Panel Discussion: The History and Future of DEI Efforts at PSU Roberta Hunte – Assistant Professor, School of Social Work (Panel Moderator) Carlos Crespo – Professor, OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Steve Percy – President, Portland State University Darrell Grant – Professor, Jazz Studies Toeutu Faaleava – Director, McNair Scholars Program and Assistant Professor, University Studies 9:20am Breakout Sessions - The History and Future of DEI Efforts at PSU Event guests are randomly assigned to join panel members in break out rooms to further discuss PSU DEI efforts. Panel members will ask guests one or more of the below listed questions in their breakout rooms. During your time and engagement with justice and equity work at PSU, what are the peaks and valleys that have most stuck with you? What lessons do those provide as we deepen our commitment to the work now? What must we do differently now to ensure sustained success/get to transformation? In what ways have you seen PSU have a shared reality around this work? In what ways do we need to? What will it take for us to do this? Psychological safety is required for transformation. Yet it is fraught in this work, because of our different positionalities, experiences, and power. What do we do about this? Where do you find yourself getting stuck in this work? Where do you fight hopelessness? What do you do when you are in that place? What advice do you have for those in that place? Where do you find hope? You are welcome and encouraged to provide your responses to these questions via the breakout discussion form. 9:50am Breakout Room Report Outs - Event Guests Rejoin the Main Event Panel members report out on the larger themes discussed in their session 10:10am BREAK (15 minutes) 10:25am Update on the Equity Summit Taskforce Outcomes and Next Steps Ame Lambert, Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion 10:40am Framing the Conversation: Living our Values as we Make Challenging Decisions Stephen Percy, President 10:50am Breakout Group Discussions: Living our Values as we Make Challenging Decisions Event guests are randomly assigned to breakout rooms to discuss the following questions: There are major headwinds impacting all of higher education, especially access and opportunity institutions like Portland State University. The headwinds mean we will be making the difficult decisions required to address structural issues that impact our financial health. From your perspective, what does it look like to lead with racial justice and equity as we make these difficult decisions? Dig in on this question: What does it really look like in practice? The President has set achieving racial justice at PSU as his highest priority. What will it take for us to be a racially just PSU? What will it look like and feel like if we successfully lean into this work? What questions do you have as we prioritize racial justice at PSU? You are welcome and encouraged to provide your responses to these questions via the breakout discussion form. 11:40am Breakout Report Outs and Questions Breakout group hosts report out on the larger themes discussed in their sessions. 12:05pm The Journey Ahead Ame Lambert, Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion 12:25pm Event Wrap / Report Out / Next Steps Ame Lambert, Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion 12:30pm Event End MEET THE PANELISTS Roberta Hunte Assistant Professor, School of Social Work (she/her/hers) Roberta is a Black Feminist scholar, mother, facilitator, and cultural worker. She is an Assistant Professor at Portland State’s School of Social Work and is an affiliate faculty in Black Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her academic areas of focus include reproductive justice, women of color feminisms, and cultural work for social change. She is particularly interested in how people of color talk about their lived experiences with systems of oppression coupled with their survival strategies and their recommendations for equity; areas of focus include Black perinatal health and racism related stress, higher education access for adult learners, and Black tradeswomen in construction. Carlos Crespo Professor, OHSU-PSU School of Public Health (he/him/his) Dr. Crespo is a Professor in the Oregon Health and Science University and Portland State University Joint School of Public Health, and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Training in Biomedical Research at Portland State University. He graduated from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, and has a Master of Science in Sports Health from Texas Tech University and a Doctor of Public Health in Preventive Care from the Loma Linda University. Previous work experience includes working for CDC at the National Center for Health Statistics, and as a Public Health Analyst for the National Institutes of Health. His main area of research involves the epidemiology of physical activity in the prevention of chronic diseases, and research on minority health issues. Stephen Percy President, Portland State University (he/him/his) Now in his fourth decade as an educator and leader, PSU President Stephen Percy has dedicated his career to fostering vibrant connections between universities and the communities they serve. An expert in public policy, administrative ethics and urban politics, Percy is known for his ability to advance civic engagement and create innovative solutions by linking the skills and capacity of universities to the knowledge and energy of communities. President Percy has worked extensively with diverse, urban-serving universities, which knock down historical financial, geographic, and socioeconomic barriers to education for students who are low-income, first-generation, and from communities of color. Darrell Grant Professor of Music (he/him/his) Professor of Music Darrell Grant is a creative artist who harnesses the power of music to create change. Whether through performing, composing, teaching, or organizing musical initiatives around community, sustainability or social justice, he seeks to leverage a deeper level of engagement and connection. Grant was inducted into the Jazz Society of Oregon Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2011, he was the first recipient of the Kamelia Massih Outstanding Faculty Prize in the Arts from Portland State University, He has been named Portland Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalist Association, and received a Northwest Regional Emmy. He is an Associate Director of the School of Music and Theater and directs the co-director of The Artist as Citizen Initiative in the PSU College of the Arts. Toeutu Faaleava Director, McNair Scholars Program and Assistant Professor, Univ. Studies (he/him/his) Toeutu Faaleava is the director of the PSU McNair Scholars Program, and an assistant professor in University Studies. He co-chaired the Asian American, Asian and Pacific Islander (AAAPI) Task Force. Faaleava earned his MPA2 from Harvard University, JD and PhD in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He specializes in capacity building for community development, self-reliance and resilience. He helped create multiple Samoan and Pacific Islander community organizations, one of the first “one-stop-shop” programs for the homeless in CA, a drug rehabilitation program, a church and a ministry. He is also a US military veteran who deeply appreciates PSU’s special connection with veterans