Certificate Program – Equity and Inclusion Initiatives

The Augsburg University Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program is an optional program designed to help faculty and staff build the awareness, knowledge, and skills necessary to create more inclusive campus spaces inside and outside of the classroom. While this program is completely voluntary, many employees have found it to provide great benefits.

The Certificate Program offers participants the following key benefits:

Increased Cultural Understanding: Participants gain a deeper understanding of different identities, perspectives, and experiences, helping them interact more effectively and empathetically with all students, colleagues, and communities.
Bias Awareness and Disruption Skills: Through exploration of unconscious bias and microaggressions, participants learn to recognize and interrupt bias in real time, contributing to a nondiscriminatory and respectful campus culture.
Collaborative Problem Solving and Dialogue: The program provides a space for cross-departmental dialogue and collaboration, encouraging participants to share perspectives, troubleshoot challenges, and build community across differences.
Professional Development and Institutional Impact: Completion of the certificate program enhances participants’ professional credentials and supports institutional goals by demonstrating a commitment to inclusion.

Completion Requirements

In order to complete the Certificate Program, participants should complete the 17 credits of training listed below:

Complete Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Process, 4.5 Credits
- Complete the online Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
- Attend an IDI Group Profile Session
- Attend an IDI Individual Feedback Session
- Complete an IDI Intercultural Development Plan
Attend Intercultural Communication and Conflict Style Workshop, 3 Credits
Attend Working Toward Inclusive Spaces Workshop, 2 Credits
Attend Brave Space Training, 2 Credits
Attend Disability as Diversity Workshop, 2 Credits
Attend All About Bias Workshop, 1.5 Credits
Attend From Microinequities to Inclusion Workshop, 2 Credits

Scroll down to view workshop descriptions and to register.

Maintaining Good Standing

After completing the Certificate Program, individuals can maintain good standing by attending 3 inclusion-related events (i.e. workshops, trainings, discussions, panels, etc.) every following academic year during their time at Augsburg University. After completing an event, individuals should email the event name, date, time, and location to inclusion@augsburg.edu so that the event can be recorded.

Obtaining Advanced Standing

Individuals who have completed the Certificate Program may also work towards an Advanced Standing designation. In order to achieve Advanced Standing, individuals should attend 6 inclusion-based events (i.e. workshops, trainings, discussions, panels, etc.), each lasting at least 1 hour, within 1 academic year. Any event listed on the Equity and Inclusion Initiatives Event Calendar (that is not a part of the Certificate Program) can count towards the Advanced Standing designation along with any other off-campus inclusion-based events. To receive credit for event attendance and to have it applied towards the Advanced Standing designation, email the event name, date, time, and location to inclusion@augsburg.edu so the event can be recorded.

Maintaining Advanced Standing

After receiving the Advanced Standing designation in the Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program, individuals can maintain advanced good standing by attending 6 inclusion-related events (i.e. workshops, trainings, discussions, panels, etc.) every following academic year during their time at Augsburg University. After completing an event, individuals should email the event name, date, time, and location to inclusion@augsburg.edu so that the event can be recorded.

Workshop Descriptions

Please Note: Workshop dates, times, and locations subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances and/or low registration numbers. Always remember to check the Equity and Inclusion Initiatives Events Calendar DAY OF for the most up-to-date information.

Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Process

The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) Process includes:

Completing the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a 50-item online assessment that can be completed in about 20 minutes;
attending an IDI Group Profile Session led by an IDI Qualified Administrator;
participating in an Individual Feedback Session with an IDI Qualified Administrator; and
working on an IDI Intercultural Development Plan.

The IDI assesses intercultural competence, i.e. the capability to shift cultural perspective and appropriately adapt cultural behavior in order to effectively navigate intercultural goals.

For more information about the IDI Process, email inclusion@augsburg.edu.

Register for the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Process

Intercultural Communication and Conflict Style Workshop

This workshop makes use of the Intercultural Conflict Style (ICS) Inventory, which describes an individual’s preferred approach or style for resolving conflict by reflecting the individual’s culturally learned patterns for communicating and dealing with disagreements and expressing emotions.

For more information about this workshop, email inclusion@augsburg.edu.

Register for the Intercultural Communication and Conflict Style Workshop

Working Toward Inclusive Spaces Workshop

This workshop will highlight a common ideology, misunderstanding, and behavior that many well-meaning individuals frequently subscribe to that inadvertently sabotage their best attempts to create and maintain welcoming and inclusive spaces at Augsburg.

For more information about this workshop, email inclusion@augsburg.edu.

Register for the Working Toward Inclusive Spaces Workshop

Brave Space Training

This workshop provides participants with the tools, skills, knowledge, and resources to be intentionally supportive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) communities at Augsburg. Additionally, this workshop will help individuals to develop and grow their inclusive understandings of gender and sexuality.

For information about this workshop, email inclusion@augsburg.edu.

Register for Brave Space Training

Disability as Diversity Workshop

This workshop allows participants to explore the concept of ableism and other various models of disability. Additionally, participants will examine disability through the lens of diversity and identify underlying sources of prejudice and discrimination commonly experienced by people with disabilities. Finally, this workshop will share tips and resources for creating spaces at Augsburg that welcome and include people of all abilities.

For more information about this workshop, email Kathy McGillivray at mcgillik@augsburg.edu.

Register for the Disability as Diversity Workshop

For information about CLASS/Disability Resources, click HERE.

All About Bias Workshop

This workshop provides participants with an introduction to understanding and responding to unconscious bias. Additionally, it explores the subtle, often unintentional attitudes and stereotypes that affect our understanding of and actions toward others. Participants will gain insight into how unconscious bias operates in everyday interactions and systems, and how it can impact workplace culture, communication, and decision-making a Augsburg.

For more information about this workshop, email inclusion@augsburg.edu.

Register for the All About Bias Workshop

From Microinequities to Inclusion Workshop

This workshop provides participants with a deeper understanding of the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights or indignities that, whether intentional or not, communicate hostile or negative messages to individuals at Augsburg. Through real-life examples, interactive dialogue, and self-reflection, participants will learn to identify different forms of microaggressions and understand their cumulative impact.