Colorado University Athletics
Diversity Expert Conducts Athletic Department Workshop
September 24, 2015 | General
BOULDER - It's not often that a university's athletic department is seen as the perfect avenue to effect positive change in the world of higher education.
But when it comes to improving diversity and inclusive excellence on a college campus ' and in the surrounding community ' an athletic department might actually be the perfect place to start.
That was the message delivered to the CU Athletic Department on Thursday by Dr. Brenda Allen, Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at CU-Denver and a nationally recognized expert on the subject.
"The fact that the CU Athletic Department is poised and prepared to make these kinds of changes is exciting," Allen said after her workshop. "There's so much positive potential here. You have people in position of leadership not only on the campus, but in the community. You have students who are in positions of leadership around the campus and who are in the position to implement change. It's a chance to make a major difference."
Earlier this year, CU formed the Athletic Department Diversity and Inclusion Executive Committee and Council. Since then, the committee has been developing ways to help the department become a more diverse and inclusive group. Allen's workshop was the first of a number of planned events.
Allen, who worked on the CU-Boulder campus for more than a decade before making the move to Denver, spoke to a large crowd of athletic department staffers in the Champions Center auditorium. Her topic, "Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity" addressed a wide range of strategies and techniques.
She noted that higher education is the source of constructing much of an individual's identity, and warned against valuing "diversity by the numbers." But encouraging diversity is important because persistent inequities won't self-correct, populations trends will require that it occur and it offers a chance for positive change.
"The athletic department has the chance to be the model," Allen said after her presentation. "It's a place where it could set a great example for an entire community."
Medford Moorer, the athletic department's assistant director for academics, is the chair of the Diversity Council.
"We want to have an environment that is inclusive and responsible, and one that gives everyone an opportunity to excel in whatever they choose to do," Moorer said. "We'd love the athletic department to set a standard and be leaders in that regard. We want a respectful, responsible environment that encompasses our student-athletes, our staff and our community."
