DEI Mindful Communication Workshop

University of Washington Tacoma’s strategic priorities are anchored in its institutional commitment to inclusive excellence, that is, building and nurturing beloved communities where all students, staff, and faculty feel welcomed and supported so that they can bring their authentic best selves to the campus and community and realize their academic, professional, and personal goals.

This institutional commitment seeks to address UW Tacoma’s most recent Campus Climate Survey results and recommendations highlighting the need to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment that fosters a stronger sense of belonging, as well as make meaningful progress in pursuing the six goals articulated in the UW Diversity Blueprint 2022-2026 that centers actions toward access, inclusion, and equity.

Building beloved communities requires that individuals and groups demonstrate capacities to engage with one another across difference, including having difficult conversations that are essential to deepening mutual understanding, healing fractured relationships, and doing so with civility and empathy.

All members of the executive leadership team and Chancellor’s Cabinet engaged in the workshop, demonstrating that we are united in living our institutional mission that centers community and inclusive excellence.

Participants in this professional development workshop enhance their capacities to:

  1. Reflect on how their own intersectional identities and life experiences shape how they show up in academic, professional, and community across cultural contexts.
  2. Practice the art of listening.
  3. Understand the intent and impact inherent in all communications.
  4. Express empathy.
  5. Engage in authentic relationship-building.
  6. Practice mindful inquiry to build bridges across conversation parties.