By: Branden Largent

After more than a year of offering diversity training workshops for University of Minnesota students, staff and faculty, the Office of Equity and Diversity is still working to expand its reach.

Since its creation in spring 2012, more than 800 people have attended Equity and Diversity Certificate Program workshops, said OED Director of Education Anne Phibbs.

The full certificate programs includes 10 workshops lasting three hours each on topics like race, disabilities, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity.

“One of our central frames is that diversity is everybody’s everyday work,” Phibbs said.

At the workshop, participants develop skills to work and communicate across differences, Phibbs said.

Workshops are offered year-round and continue to fill up, Phibbs said.

“The fact that people continue to register tells me that we’re doing something good,” Phibs said.

She said although many faculty and staff attend the workshops, OED is working to improve student turnout.

“We’re trying to get more student voices into the workshops,” Phibbs said. “We would love to see more graduate and undergraduates involved.”

One of the ways they’re reaching out to more students is by creating workshops tailored to students — like providing training to all 2013 Welcome Week leaders in April.

One challenge for students who want to attend is the difficulty sparing a three-hour chunk of time for the workshops, Phibbs said.

Workshop sessions were originally two hours long, but Phibbs said most participants who attended wanted more time for discussion.

Since the program is still relatively new, trainers continue changing the way workshops are run based on participant feedback, said Kimberly Hewitt, director of the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action — one of the program’s 15 trainers.

“Our world’s changing,” Phibbs said. “We need leaders who can deal with that kind of diversity.”