Two years ago, the Office of Diversity and Equity piloted a program called the Advanced Cultural Competency Certificate. The program aims to foster and promote multicultural awareness within faculty and staff and has currently included 50 employees.
The ACCC is roughly a 20-hour commitment with a retreat at the beginning and end of each semester, according to chief diversity officer and co-developer robbie routenberg.
“The program began with a few conversations that all expressed shared interest in really providing cultural competency as a piece of professional development for our employees,” routenberg said.
The pilot ACCC group began with 20 faculty and staff members. Since, the program has grown to accommodate the 36 people who are currently participating, according to professor of psychology and co-developer Monica Schneider.
“It is everybody’s responsibility, knowingly or unknowingly, to play a role in shaping our campus climate,” routenberg said. “We wanted to really give people some informed ways of understanding the issues at hand, their role in those issues and some tangible ways to improve our campus.”
David Parfitt, director of the teaching and learning center and one of the many who helped design the ACCC, said that the program’s success has grown by “leaps and bounds” since it was piloted back in 2018.
“There is something really special about the Geneseo community and the fact that, for as long as I know, inclusion has been a part of our core values and what we stand for as an institution. So, it has not been hard to get people to engage in this program,” routenberg said.
One of the key elements of the ACCC is inclusivity, according to Parfitt.
“We have reached people in cabinet level positions and presidential cabinet level positions to custodial staff when recruiting faculty and staff for the program,” Parfitt said.
Application is another crucial component of the program, according to an article published by The Lamron on Nov. 22, 2019.
Schneider said that the program is very much designed to focus on action plans. When developing action plans, faculty and staff are encouraged to analyze their different spheres of influence and evoke concrete strategies for change.
“It is not just the traditional stuff you would think, you know, they do not come up with an assignment that has cultural components in it, they’re rehashing and rethinking their role and the structure and culture of the classroom,” Schneider said.
Professor of geological sciences and chair of the college senate Amy Sheldon participated in the 2018 pilot group. She said her experience with ACCC is reflected in her classroom.
“Some of the changes I have made are very simple, like including pronouns on my syllabus,” Sheldon said. “On a larger scale, I have also learned how to approach proctoring exams in a manner that provides everybody in the room with a more equitable chance to succeed.”
Sheldon said that the College Senate is where she tries to apply her ACCC knowledge the most. She did this by implementing the use of microphones to help those who are hearing impaired be fully engaged.
Assistant director of the financial aid office Megan Kennerknecht went through the program last fall. She said that applying what she’s learned has raised her awareness of others’ differences and power dynamics that would otherwise go unnoticed.
“The program motivated me to take a step back when talking to a student to really try and understand what they are going through and the experiences they have had. I now avoid a dominant narrative when communicating with students,” Kennerknecht said.
Kennerknecht said she is so motivated by the program that she decided to become a facilitator herself this semester to try and “keep pushing this program forward” considering its informative and inspiring nature.
“One of the most rewarding parts for myself is watching folks develop action plans where they look at their spheres of influence and come up with really concrete strategies for change. The things that have been coming out of those action plans have been extraordinary,” Schneider said.