"A core value of the G. Brint Ryan College of Business is Community, demonstrated by an appreciation and inclusion of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion partnered with us to provide our faculty and staff with bias awareness training to improve our engagement with students and each other. With their guidance, we are making strides towards modeling the business case for diversity and intentional inclusion."

- Dr. Marilyn Wiley, G. Brint Ryan College of Business Dean

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s learning and development offerings are available to UNT students, faculty, staff, administrators and the external community. Our multiple formats – learning and development sessions and series, awareness workshops, identity-based team building, and dialogue-based programming, - are designed to meet your unit’s needs. Each request is followed by a consultation to develop a customized program, and extended assistance is available from our office to help operationalize inclusion and equity.

UNT employees who participate in trainings provided by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion will receive professional development credits through the Learning Management Portal maintained by UNT System Human Resources. These trainings provide an opportunity for employees to address the diversity and inclusion performance standards in the annual employee performance review.

Feedback from our training evaluations:

Overall

     
• Two presenters make it insightful and interesting.
     
• Shani and Teresita are engaging and energetic.
     
• Very engaging, topics were informative and explained comprehensively. Dialogue was facilitated encouragingly, allowing for honesty and open conversation.
     
• As always, I’m super impressed on how Shani can lead difficult trainings with grace knowing that not everyone is receptive to these ideas and answers questions open-mindedly and intelligently. Fantastic job!
     
• Excellent training. Shani was informative, funny, and helpful and provided an avenue for me to think about changes that can be made by myself and in my work environment.
     
• Interactive and informative.
     
• I appreciate your style, delivery, and openness! Very informative and beneficial!
     
• Very informative and reflective in nature, enjoyed exercises and really allowed me to look inward in a different manner.
     
• Love that it’s a safe and brave space. Was clear that it’s okay to mess up.
     
• A very friendly, welcoming, and helpful environment.
     
• This microaggression and inclusive language class was great. I feel that everyone should take this course.
     
• This was a great training. Three hours and I didn’t sleep. Very interesting!
     
• I really like that the training took into account that diversity does not equal “non-white.” Also I thought the training was very open and inclusive without going into extremes.
     
• Wish we had more time for these trainings. Everyone would benefit.
     

Supervisory Building Blocks

     

• I really enjoyed this because it made me more aware of what I need to do to improve myself!
     
• This was my favorite SBB course. Will definitely recommend this course to others in my department.
     
• Upper administrators in leadership positions should take this class. They really need this information.
     
• Very much enjoyed the class. Knowledge is power and this was a great training that really makes one reflect on themselves!
     
• Shani is awesome! Her passion for the subject shows through her enthusiasm for the course and encourages others to be enthusiastic.
     
• This is one of the best trainings I have ever been to. Thank you.
     
• Enjoyed the practical application.
     

Departmental Trainings

     

Athletics

     
• After this, I feel more aware of my privilege.
     
• As a new employee, first day on the job, i appreciate this session; it was a great welcoming meeting. I learned new things about the staff here at UNT and I am even more excited to work here.
     
• I was not looking forward to this session but it was very engaging and informative and I enjoyed the presentation and being forced to think about important issues.
     
• Both facilitators were awesome - engaging and knowledgable. I look forward to seeing this training result in more diversity in Athletics employees in the Athletic Complex (currently mostly white males).
     
• Thank you for making what could be an uncomfortable topic so conversational and easy to share.
     
• Great job managing a heavy topic and allowing us to unpack it in layers.
     
• A main point I would try to put towards coaches is that if they believe they do not have a gay athlete, they are doing their athletes a disservice.
     
• Thank you! A lot of what was presented was new news to me that I was unaware was going on.
     

Psychology Students

     
• Loved the idea of how to internalize in an integrated manner. It gave me confidence to be OK about who I am and dare to advocate for others and incorporate humility.
     
• I absolutely enjoyed and learned from this experience. It added more to my knowledge. It created an environment of cultural humility and provided me opportunity to be better than I am today.
     
• I loved the experiential/interactive stories.
     
• I appreciated the interactive exercises and the facilitator was incredibly engaging and welcoming!
     

College of Business

     
• Great interactive workshop. Honestly could be a day-long training to better unpack.
     
• I really enjoyed the activities throughout the presentation. They kept me engaged with the material.
     
• Great instructor; encouraged participation.
     
• Really enjoyed Shani's energy and approach to the topics which can be uncomfortable. Thank you!
     
• Shani did an excellent job of communicating the information and allowing group discussion.
     
• The facilitator is excellent and very, very energetic. She is very well-informed; knows her job!
     
• I came in with low expectations but this was worthwhile. Facilitator was excellent.
     

Social Work Faculty

     
• Thank you for your knowledge and expertise.
     
• I made changes in my classes due to this training.
     
• Really important opportunity for our faculty.
     
• Definitely student involvement is needed! This is wonderful.
     
• The facilitators are very knowledgeable about equity mindedness and inclusive excellence. This was not new material for me but engaging with other colleagues was very helpful.
     

Social Work Students

     
• This session was the most beneficial to me as a future social worker than ANY other exercise or class I’ve had throughout last semester and this semester.
     
• Thank y’all SO much!
     
• Love love love the energy level! I feel moved to really make changes.
     
• Thank you for going over group guidelines. The personal stories were very vulnerable and I appreciate that from both facilitators.
     
• Very engaging. Topics were informative and explained comprehensively. Dialogue was facilitated encouragingly, allowing for honesty and open conversation.
     
• I really enjoyed doing the Harvard IAT at home. It opened my eyes and showed me where my mind is really at.
     
• I enjoyed how examples from your real life were used because it's important to acknowledge how real bias and socialization are.
     

Jazz Studies

     
• I appreciate the effort that went into tailoring this presentation to Jazz Studies. 100% of it was useful.
     
• Thank you for a well-organized and thoughtful presentation. Positive changes will result.
     
• That was good – reflective but not condescending.
     

Housing and Residence Life (Socioeconomic Status Training)

     
• I thought this was a good evaluation. It made me re-evaluate my bias that I have (and did not realize) against wealthier folks. Or maybe not bias but stereotypes.
     

Unlikely Allies in the Academy: INTRAgroup Dialogues

     
• As a participant, the INTRAgroup Dialogues were such a powerful opportunity and I am so grateful for all of the super important, hard work that you all do! Being able to discuss with individuals with experiences that were both similar and different from mine was something that I found to be extremely enlightening. It helped to be able to process with others in a smaller group setting that felt safe and comfortable for me to be able to be open about my own thoughts.
     
• It has been meaningful to me to re-engage with these topics and find that others on campus have shared experiences. It reduces the feelings of isolation.
     
• I think the articles, videos, websites, discussion topics and questions, organization of the Unlikely Allies INTRAgroup modules, and the leadership of the facilitators was all carried out really well. It was very helpful to have "homework" before getting together and having an agenda basically because we could've easily gone off topic for too long!
     
• Although we belonged to a certain (racial) group, we expressed varying viewpoints which lead to an open and informative dialogue.
     
• I think it was helpful to have a group of white allies of POC get together like this because we could deal with some of the white guilt/white tears without silencing POC in a dialogue about racism. This was very beneficial to do before we get together with the INTERgroups because hopefully all that stuff is out of the way for us. It was actually nice to be with other white people experiencing white guilt so we could work through it together.
     
• It was amazing meeting other employees on campus and building strong relationships that are rooted in authenticity.
     
• I'm soooooo happy the Unlikely Allies in the Academy program was created. This should be continued!!!
     
• The INTRAgroup conversations allowed us to support one another, find shared experiences, and recognize the strengths and challenges we face as a group. More than anything, I found these conversations to be an opportunity to build relationships and identify things on campus that are better than I sometimes expect, because feeling like the only voice or the only one who faces some of these (race) challenges is so isolating that it starts to feel like it's my problem rather than a systemic issue.
     
• The Unlikely Allies in the Academy INTRAgroup dialogues was amazing. I absolutely loved it. It was like a group therapy session.
     
• Thank you for providing this platform of self-reflection and opportunity to learn from each other on how to be better so that we can take what we learn and ripple it through our sphere of influence.
     

Unlikely Allies in the Academy: INTERgroup Dialogues

     
• It was a great and enlightening experience.
     
• Getting to know passionate people on this campus. What a gift!
     
• I loved this series! It helped me see other points of view.
     
• Hearing other ethnicities talk and discuss their different perspectives was impactful.
     
• The INTERgroup series was a great opportunity to engage with a diverse group of employees. Great to know that I’m not alone.
     
• Being able to sit with a diverse group and openly discuss comfortably and safely was most impactful for me in the INTERgroup dialogues.
     

Inclusion, Equity, and Community Building Series

     

General

     
• I loved the whole IECB series.
     
• I was colorblind when we first started the IECB series. Now I have a gift in my hands and am willing to make changes.
     
• The IECB series was incredibly informative and actually life changing. I learned so much that I wasn’t even aware I didn’t know.
     
• Sharing examples was very helpful in this series.
     
• The IECB series was so very helpful and thorough.
     
• Awesome! The microaggression module should be mandatory especially for people that are in authority. I learned a lot of ways how my language and workplace communication can approve.
     
• I liked the variety of activities and the opportunity for participation.
     

Housing and Residence Life IECB Participants: Winners of the Inclusive Excellence Award

     
• Awesome training...as always, you always manage to get our group to "come alive". Much appreciated.
     
• Liked the one on one talking. I'd like more one on ones in small group (three people) discussions. With these discussions, I've been able to find more common ground.
     
• Really enjoyed connecting with different and alike backgrounds and having candid discussions with a driven topic.
     
• Presenter was engaging, open, and energetic.
     
• Felt comfortable to share, enjoyed the experience. I am looking forward to the next session.