The Office of Diversity and Inclusion provides diversity education opportunities and connects members of the Hopkins community to related resources.

ODI Facilitated Sessions

These sessions are led by members of the ODI team. Please fill out this form to schedule a session for your department, team, or group. Sessions must be scheduled at least one month in advance. Most are available for both virtual and in-person options, and can be adapted for student, staff, and faculty groups. Unless otherwise specified, we request a group of at least 15 participants in order to make the discussion worthwhile.

Introductory

• Appreciating Identities: This is an opportunity to consider the different facets of yourself, including race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and more. We’ll discuss the many parts of identity, how they intersect, and what identities we think more about and which ones we think less about. (1.5 hours; best for groups of 30 or fewer)
• Mitigating Unconscious Bias in Hiring: This live, interactive discussion addresses the full cycle of recruiting, screening, interviewing, and hiring. We cover patterns of bias and proactive actions to mitigate bias at each step in the hiring process. (45-60 minutes; best for a full search committee)
• Say Something – Responding to Microaggressions: Do you find yourself at a loss for words when you hear a microaggression? Microaggressions are subtle, often unintentional, behaviors that express prejudice against a marginalized group. In this workshop, we’ll discuss strategies for responding while maintaining your own safety and peace of mind. Participants will have a chance to practice these strategies and will leave the session feeling more prepared to respond in the future. (1 hour)
• Principles of Cultural Humility: Cultural humility (a concept outlined by Tervalon and Murray-Garcia, 1998) asks us to move past generalizations in order to understand the complex intersections of each individual person’s identities. This workshop provides space for reflecting on the principles of cultural humility: life-long learning, recognizing power imbalances, and holding institutions accountable. (1 hour)
• Communicating across Difference: At times, conversations around identity can feel challenging. Join us as we explore the why behind that and practice steps to effectively communicate with identity and context in mind. We’ll also identify possible communication barriers and the ways you can overcome them. (2 hours)

Intermediate

• Knowing Yourself, Valuing Others: We discuss how race, class, sexual orientation, gender, national origin, ability, religion, and other identities shape our campus experience. Participants will also consider how being aware of one’s own privilege can help one support others, both here at Hopkins and in the wider world. And participants will identify concrete steps that we can take to build a welcoming educational environment for all. (1.5 hours)
• Emotional Intelligence and Diversity: This workshop is based on the principle that the better we understand ourselves, the better suited we are to deal with difference. Together, we will discuss a number of exercises designed to examine and strengthen your skills with emotional intelligence and diversity. You will have the opportunity to reflect on your own identity and consider how these identities shape our workplace. EID is a concept championed by Cherbosque, Gardenswartz, and Rowe (2005). They argue that it is possible to use the power of our emotions to make us more adaptable and better able to handle differences. (2 hours; best for groups of 30 or more)
• Exploring the Imposter Phenomenon: The imposter phenomenon (IP), also referred to as imposter syndrome, can leave you feeling like a fraud, impacting your experiences in and out of the workplace. To better understand how IP directly impacts the experiences of marginalized identities, join us as we define it, explore the ways it can manifest, and discuss coping strategies to mitigate it.  (1.5 hours)

Advanced

• Towards Antiracism: As we explore antiracism and its implications in society, we’ll discuss how racism works and intersects with other forms of oppression. We’ll also take time to reflect on the emotions connected with this topic and address fatigue. We’ll conclude this session with discussing ways to continue antiracist practice in your day-to-day experiences. (2.5 hours)

Other Opportunities

Synchronous Sessions

These are opportunities led by partner offices around Hopkins. Please contact the hosting offices directly to learn more.

The Center for Diversity and Inclusion offers a variety of educational opportunities geared towards undergraduate and graduate students. Request a session with CDI using this form.

JHU Human Resources offers a number of instructor-led sessions for staff and faculty. Visit MyLearning to sign up for any of these sessions.

• Diversity and Inclusion: 21st Century Higher Education
• Diversity in the Workplace

The Office of Institutional Equity offers trainings, including a live training on Preventing Discrimination, Harassment, & Sexual Misconduct.

The Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers trainings and hosts speakers.

The Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity at Johns Hopkins Medicine offers trainings, events, and guest speakers.

Asynchronous Sessions

We encourage you to take advantage of asynchronous learning options. Consider inviting your team to participate in classes and then come together to discuss the course.

JHU Human Resources offers a number of electronic courses for staff and faculty. Visit MyLearning to sign up for any of these sessions.

• Managing Bias
• Managing Diversity
• Diversity: Inclusion in the Modern Workplace

Members of the JHU community have access to LinkedIn Learning, accessible through MyLearning and then through your LinkedIn account. LinkedIn Learning offers many diversity-related courses, including the Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Learning Path. Here are a few courses to consider:

• Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging: Diversity is having a culture that values uniqueness: people of different backgrounds, cultures, genders, and races. Inclusion means inviting diverse groups to take part in company life. But there’s a third critical piece: belonging. It’s belonging that makes each individual feel accepted for who they are.
• Discussing Racism with Dr. Christina Greer: An engaging course intended to show that conversations about race and racism can be healthy, productive, and impactful. Christina delves into important topics such as the reasons people may be uncomfortable talking about racism, best practices for speakers and listeners, the real-life impacts of racism, and how conversations can lead to action.
• Creating Psychological Safety for Diverse Teams: Today’s workforce comprises multiple generations, cultures, and ways of working. By creating a culture of psychological safety—in which team members feel comfortable taking risks—you can lead these diverse teams to greater success.
• Recruiting Diverse Talent as a Hiring Manager: Workplace diversity and inclusion is a key priority area for organizations large and small. Hiring managers need to be able to locate, hire, and onboard diverse candidates in order to succeed. This course is a guide that can help you develop a diversity hiring strategy, increase your candidate pool, and remove bias from your screening and interview process.

The Office of Institutional Equity offers online asynchronous trainings, including a session on Skills for Collaboration in the Workplace and a session on Managing Bias in the Workplace.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity offers Diversity University, a repository for recorded lectures and educational opportunities.

JHU Events

Groups across JHU regularly host educational sessions, lectures, and cultural events. Consider attending an event as a group and then scheduling a discussion afterwards. Check out the events calendar on the HUB.

External Consultants

You may also want to consider hiring an external consultant to lead your departmental education process. We are working on generating a list of resources for possible speakers, educators, and consultants. Email us at odi@jhu.edu to learn more.

Principles for Diversity Education

Hosting a Successful Educational Session

When hosting diversity education for a team or group, you want to do everything you can to ensure that the content is accessible and appropriate. Here are a few things to consider:

• Plan ahead. Scheduling can be complex, so ensure that your facilitators and participants are all available long in advance of the planned date. Choose a time and date when everyone is able to focus. Avoid conflicting with major religious observances.
• Emphasize accessibility. How can you ensure that every member of your group is able to participate fully? This may mean live captions, audio descriptions, or large-print materials. For more information about planning accessible events, visit the Accessibility at JHU page.
• Consider appropriate content. Find content that is appropriate for the current cultural competency level within the group. Choose topic areas that they are likely to find useful and applicable to their work. How does the content fit with the mission, values, and goals of your group?
• Be clear about goals. Ensure that facilitators and participants are all clear about the purpose of the session.
• Create community norms. The team leader or the facilitator should set norms or ground rules that help ensure a productive dialogue. Here’s one way to go about setting these agreements.
• Look to the future. Don’t allow the session to become a one-time engagement. Revisit the content in future group gatherings. Encourage the group to turn the new knowledge into action.

Choosing an Educator

Not all diversity education is appropriate for all audiences, and not all educators are a good fit for all audiences. Here are a few things when considering asking someone to lead diversity education for your group.

• Examine their background. What theoretical approaches, certifications, past experiences, and skills do they bring to the session?
• Consider their approach. Some facilitators prefer lectures while others use discussions. Some use more technology than others. Consider what methods are a good fit for your group.
• Reflect on identities. If you are hosting a session focusing on a particular identity, ensure that targeted identities are reflected among the facilitators. For example, a session on combatting anti-Asian bias should include at least one facilitator who identifies as Asian.
• Ask for references. Who else has this educator led sessions for? Are you able to connect with those other groups to learn about their experiences? Ask about assessments or feedback they have received.