This one-day conference was held on February 25, 2024, at the end of the APPE Annual Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. The conference consisted of a keynote presentation, three workshop sessions, a working lunch focused on discussion of barriers to change, and a concluding session prompting participants to identify one action drawing on the day’s conversations that they could try at their own institutions or organizations.
Keynote
Dr. Sarina Saturn provided the keynote with themes that included neuroscience; DEI terminology; holistic mindfulness; contemplative resilience, self-regulation and stress; a multi-faceted and grounded attention to well-being; allyship based at least in part on compassion; and, of course, privilege. Dr. Saturn’s presentation also focused on mentorship, particularly reciprocal mentorship, and the difference between cultural competence and cultural humility.
The following notes provide more detail from the presentation:
Saturn noted the difficulty of DEIJ work and the need for self-care. In particular, she developed insights from trauma-informed care and repeatedly stressed the role of well-being in equity – as through attention to protection from harm, creating connection to community, work-life harmony, “mattering” at work and opportunity for growth. These are both concerns and values – things to be honored and worked toward. These aspects of a more holistic valuing were drawn on significantly in later discussions on metrics and learning communities.
Saturn contrasted cultural competence with cultural humility. The former assumes there is an endpoint to your knowledge and can foster stereotyping based on essentialist assumptions about cultures. The latter focuses on self-reflection, personal critique, sensitivity to historical realities, and compassionate listening. It therefore encourages movement from the ability to engage across cultures to dynamic lifelong learning about cultures.
Similarly, Saturn’s presentation of reverse and reciprocal mentorship highlighted the need for attention to non-hierarchical and humble relationships. She advised to seek interinstitutional mentors if there are no good mentors available at your institution. And to seek out mentees; don’t wait until they come to you. Otherwise, you’ll get all the “alphas” who already have opportunity advantages.
Across the keynote, there was a consistent theme - Doing better by doing things differently - that resonated with many. But this thematic unity was grounded in the particular discussions already mentioned and by a consistent presentation of experiences and of more formal resources, such as articles and websites.
For example, while making the opening point that taking stock in local area and history is important, she shared valuable web resources pertaining to Native land. and her discussion of mentoring was linked to references such as,” Peer, reverse and reciprocal mentorship” – Murray, S.A., Hinton, A. Jr., Spencer E.C. (2022, April) and, “Developing cultural humility in immunology and STEMM mentoring.” Trends in Immunology, 43(4):259-261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.it.2022.01.010.
Finally, Saturn’s attention to privilege drew on and extended these themes. She noted that higher ed began as a privileged institution and much of that legacy remains. There is a pervasiveness of privilege, and dismantling it is difficult. It is helpful to think about privilege vs. oppression. Again, she noted orienting articles (“Systemic racism in science” - Fuentes, A. (2023, July 20); “Systemic racism in science: Reactions matter”. Science, 381(6655). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj7675) and highlighted that both individualized and institutional work are needed.
In time and substance, therefore, the keynote provided a welcoming start to our work together.
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