Zoom links can be found next to each session title. Hover over and click “Zoom Link”
Session 2 – 11:45 am-12:35 pm
FRCC’s Equity Academy for Instruction | Zoom Link
Dr. Krishna Pattisapu, Front Range Community College
This session will provide an overview of FRCC’s Equity Academy for Instruction (EAI). This teaching development series supports faculty from a variety of disciplines in reflecting critically on the identities and experiences that inform their teaching. With a focus on fostering more inclusive and equitable student experiences, faculty co-facilitators lead sessions on inclusive curriculum design and pedagogical techniques. Participants complete an action-based equity project following their completion of the training series.
Dr. Krishna Pattisapu (they/them) is Executive Director of Equity and Inclusion at Front Range Community College. They earned their Ph.D. in Culture and Communication with a focus in Queer Pedagogy from the University of Denver in 2014. They have taught college courses in Multicultural Leadership, Intercultural Communication, Inclusive Pedagogy, Public Speaking, and Writing.
Engaging Students – Cooperative Learning Strategies and Brain-Friendly Teaching | Zoom Link
Justin Davis, CCCOnline
This session is designed to emphasize the teaching power of cooperative learning structures in the post-secondary classroom to promote student engagement, retention, and inclusion! Participants will have an opportunity to examine student engagement through a learner-centered lens that will work for any instructional setting, regardless of content. At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to articulate the key differences between cooperative learning and group work and will have access to immediate, effective, and high-yield engagement strategies.
Justin Davis holds a Ph.D. in Education and Human Resource Studies through CSU and an MA in the Humanities through California State. He has taught Humanities for CCCOnline for over five years, and began teaching Humanities as an instructor at Pueblo Community College in 2006. He is currently an Instructional Coordinator coaching and supporting teachers and administrators for Westminster Public Schools, where he has also served as a principal and an administrator overseeing the arts program for the district. He is a certified cooperative learning trainer through Kagan © and is passionate about student engagement.
The Colorado Paradox: DEI Case Studies in the Classroom | Zoom Link
Dr. Candace Ruiz, Community College of Denver and Cristin C Tarr, University of Denver
Colorado Paradox is the disparity between Colorado enjoying economic growth while ranking 37th in the US for racial disparities. Colorado Commission for Higher education’s goal is to narrow this equity gap by 2025. How can community colleges and faculty participate in creating a more inclusive curriculum? Dr. Candace Ruiz, Community College of Denver, and Cristin Tarr, University of Denver will guide participants in developing a DEI case study including implementation and outcomes.
Dr. Candace A. Ruiz, is a business owner, speaker, corporate training, and an adjunct professor of Business in the Colorado Community College System and Colorado Mesa University. She’s a member of the American Marketing Association and Academy of International Business. She co-founded Business Service Corps and handled operations. She is a business and education consultant and assists small business owners with marketing and sales guidance. In 2007, she earned an MBA with an emphasis in International Business from Regis University, Denver, CO, and received her Doctor of Business Administration with an emphasis in Social Impact Management at Walden University in March 2017.
Cristin Cornell Tarr, MBA is a teaching assistant professor in marketing and an affiliate professor teaching marketing in the MBA@Denver program, and she is the founder and president (as well as marketer, speaker, trainer and corporate social responsibility specialist) at BSC Group. BSC assists companies with brand management strategies and high-impact community engagement programs. Its client portfolio includes—but is not limited to—financial, education, construction, health care, hospitality and nonprofit organizations.
Teaching, Learning, and Engaging Latino/a/x/Hispanic Students | Zoom Link
Dr. Elsa Dias, Pikes Peak State College
This presentation will address the need to be intentional in engaging Latino students in the classroom and in the college. The spirit of servingness (Garcia) must engage students from the point of entry, the door, to the chair in the classroom. It is important that faculty strive to understand this demographic and create spaces where gaps are treated as opportunities. Service learning opens educational doors to all students and Latino students strive when these opportunities are provided. Hispanic students are an asset to the institution and to the classroom. It is important to create Latino enhancing spaces across the higher education particularly in the classroom.
Dr. Elsa Dias — Ph.D. in Political Science from Purdue University, Faculty at PPSC, co-chair of the HSI task force (ended May 2022); Member of HIPs Team at PPSC. I am a member of the American Political Science Association where I was a founding member and chair of the Committee on the Status of Community College Faculty in the Discipline, Founder and Organizer of the Mini-Conference for Community College Faculty at the Western Political Science Faculty, Organizer of the Community for Community College Faculty at the Western Political Science Faculty.
From Alignment of Outcomes to Infusion of HIPs: Implementing a Cultural Competency Requirement at CMC Part II | Zoom Link
Dr. Abby Crew and Karla Hardesty, M.A, Colorado Mountain College
Promoting inclusive strategies within the Colorado Mountain College a Cultural Competency graduation requirement was added in 2016 to ensure all students recognize and understand multiple cultural frameworks, values and norms. Through pilot assessment reporting, we learned pedagogy was a missing component of this graduation requirement. We have enhanced CC courses to include High Impact Practices along with course learning outcomes that map to our Global and Diversity institutional learning outcome. In this presentation we share a protocol that considers both content and pedagogy in a Cultural Competency graduation requirement to encourage diverse perspectives within and beyond the college environment.
Dr. Abby Crew is the Assistant Dean of Academic Planning, Assessment, and Improvement: Curriculum Review and Innovation at Colorado Mountain College. She also served as a Department Chair for Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Humanities for nine years while an adjunct instructor. She earned the distinguished honor of adjunct faculty of the year in 2021. She has an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Humanities from New York University.
Karla Hardesty, M.A., is the Associate Dean of Academic Planning, Assessment, and Improvement at Colorado Mountain College. Karla has 20 years of experience in higher education, much of that from Adams State University, also a Hispanic Serving Institution. Her background is in assessment, enrollment management, DEI advancement, accreditation, project management, and strategic planning. Karla has a Bachelor of Science degree from Colorado State University in Human Development and Family Studies and a Master of Arts in Postsecondary and Adult Education from the University of Wyoming.