Training

The idea of inclusive excellence, as developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, is a way to embrace this growing diversity at UAH and goes beyond a checkbox or changing demographic percentages. It is a multidimensional process that achieves excellence in learning, researching and teaching, employee development, community engagement, and more. We can reach this excellence through community commitment and offering professional growth opportunities like this course. The framework of inclusive excellence outlines four key elements, which include intellectual and social development, development and utilization of organizational resources, cultural awareness, and creating a welcoming community. These elements are woven throughout this certificate course in a myriad of ways.

For this certificate, I have used the framework, Diversity = equity + inclusion to organize 15 DEI topics.Each topic is a single module which is organized into one of three branches: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Diversity branch will provide the foundation for DEI topics and is required before moving on to the other two branches. The Equity branch will discuss the forms of systemic oppression such as racism, sexism, and socioeconomic status. The third branch, Inclusion, explores the concept of identities such as sexuality, age, and religion.

There are two levels of completion for this certificate. The first level is completing all 5 modules within the Diversity branch of the framework. In doing so, you will earn the DEI Foundations certificate which indicates that you have earned the Diversity badge and 1.0 Continuing education units, if that is important to you for certain professional associations or membership requirements. Once you have completed all 3 branches of the framework, you will earn an Inclusive Excellence Certificate and 3 CEUs. If you only plan to complete the Foundations, you will need to submit the DEI Foundations Certificate Verification quiz found in the Course Wrap-up module. If you plan to complete the entire certificate, you must complete all 15 modules and submit the Inclusive Excellence Certificate Verification Quiz found in the course wrap-up module. Once you have completed a verification quiz, ODEI will verify your performance and issue your certificate within 5 business days.

To reiterate, the purpose of this certificate is to increase inclusive excellence by strengthening your intercultural competence. What does this mean? It’s your ability to perform effectively & appropriately. The course assignments and discussions are a GREAT opportunity to practice what you’re learning. The activities for each module will vary, but most will have you spending some time self-reflecting. We’ve also included optional additional activities or challenges. These are not required to complete the module but challenge you to dig a little deeper. Each module will have a discussion board and a prompt for students to contemplate. The discussion thread will become available to you after you have posted your own response first. Once you’ve posted your response, we encourage you to read at least two other learners’ responses and provide additional perspectives, encouragement, or advice. All activities are challenge by choice, so please feel free to go as shallow or deep as comfortable for you. I do encourage you to lean into the discomfort and not just blow through the assignments to quickly finish the course. Just remember to be respectful and appropriate during your time in the course!