Last semester, hundreds of students, faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison took action in response to racially charged events in Ferguson, Mo., Staten Island and elsewhere.

Catalyzed by these events, UW-Madison will explore how responses to national and international events fit with last semester’s organizing efforts and the university’s evolving Diversity Framework. Chancellor Rebecca Blank joins Lori Berquam, vice provost for student life and dean of students, and Patrick Sims, interim vice provost and chief diversity officer, to facilitate the conversation.

The core of this effort involves continuing dialogues for engagement. These dialogues begin on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 3 p.m. in Union South’s Varsity Hall. All are welcome. Blank and Sims will offer opening remarks and encourage discussion along several themes.

At each table, facilitators will introduce specific questions at an individual level and encourage a takeaway: What can each participant do today to improve the campus climate? Through these coordinated sessions, the university’s efforts will feed into the short and long-term implementation plans of the Diversity Framework.

“Great universities depend upon an open exchange of experiences and ideas,” says Chancellor Rebecca Blank. “We are most successful when each member of our campus community feels that their role in this exchange has value. I invite everyone to join us in these important discussions.”


More information on this event, along with an updated listing of future events during the spring semester, may be found at a new website, http://voices.wisc.edu.

Submitted by Academic Affairs on January 16, 2015

This article appears in the categories: Announcements