Pre-Conference

Building a Better Curriculum Through Inclusive and Equitable Teaching Practices

Are you interested in enhancing inclusivity and belongingness in your classroom? Curious about how to assess your inclusiveness efforts? Not sure how to get started in terms of thinking about diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ)? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, this pre-conference workshop is for you!

In this 3-hour session, we will employ a suite of interactive strategies (e.g., large- and small-group discussion; hands-on activities) to engage attendees in discussion around the importance of DEIJ in postsecondary learning environments and its application to their own teaching practice. In this same vein, attendees will have the opportunity to draft a DEIJ “action plan” for one of their courses and to receive feedback on that plan from both their peers and the session facilitators.

More acutely, individuals who attend this workshop will be able to:

• Evaluate current evidence regarding the role and impact of DEIJ efforts in collegiate contexts
• Describe how their own identities, beliefs, and biases may influence their instructional practices as well as their interactions with students
• Identify strategies for addressing DEIJ in their classrooms, including mechanisms for assessing student learning with an equity-minded lens
• Develop and refine a written
“action plan” outlining how they might enhance their curricula to best promote DEIJ
• Contribute to the advancement of DEIJ at UTEP

Jeffrey Olimpo – Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)

Jeffrey T. Olimpo, Ph.D., is a discipline-based education researcher with nearly a decade of expertise in the design, implementation, and evaluation of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). His scholarship focuses on the affective and psychosocial outcomes associated with novices’ participation in discovery-based research opportunities as well as the impact of professional development experiences on the career growth of graduate, postdoctoral, and faculty instructors. Findings from this work have been presented at numerous national and international conferences and have been featured in leading biology education journals such as CBE-Life Sciences Education. At UTEP, Olimpo serves as the Provost Faculty Fellow for Curriculum Effectiveness and Improvement and likewise facilitates coursework on scientific teaching for upperclassmen, pre-service, and in-service teachers. He is currently PI of the Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research (ENCOUR) and Accelerating STEM Success through Experiences for Transfer/Third-Year Students (ASSETS) initiatives and is the Tips & Tools Senior Editor for the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education.

Toni Blum – Vice Provost for Curriculum and Effectiveness and Improvement

Toni L. Blum, Ph.D., manages curriculum and academic policy review, curricular improvement and evaluation, and university accreditation at The University of Texas at El Paso. She works closely with staff and faculty to respond to assessment and evaluation data and to support substantive changes in curriculum. She joined UTEP assistant provost for accreditation and assessment in 2013. Prior to that, she was a tenured faculty member at Stetson University, a small, private academic institution in DeLand, Florida, where she held numerous administrative leadership positions from 1991 through 2013. She has been an onsite reviewer for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and has been a frequent presenter at such venues as the Association of American Colleges & Universities General Education and Assessment Conference as well as the annual Association for Institutional Research conference. She is a member of the board of directors of LEAP Texas. Blum earned her masters and doctorate in Human Experimental (Cognitive) Psychology at The Ohio State University. Her research areas include decision making under risk, metacognition and learning, and psychometrics.

Cigdem Sirin – Center for Faculty Leadership and Development and Professor of Political Science

Dr. Cigdem V. Sirin is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). She received her doctoral degree from Texas A&M University in 2009 and her BA degree from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey in 2003. Dr. Sirin is a recipient of the University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award and an inaugural member of UTEP's Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Dr. Sirin's main areas of interest are international relations and political psychology. Her research centers on examining the microfoundations of interstate and intrastate conflict processes and outcomes. Her publications include articles in Journal of Politics, Political Psychology, International Studies Quarterly, International Political Science Review, and numerous other venues. Her book, co-authored with Nicholas Valentino and José Villalobos, entitled Seeing Us in Them: Social Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy (Cambridge University Press 2021) is recipient of the 2022 APSA Best Book Award, the 2022 APSA Best Book in Experimental Research, the 2022 APSA Best Book in Political Psychology, and the 2022 ISPP David O. Sears Best Book on Mass Politics Award. Dr. Sirin served UTEP as the Director of the Center for Faculty Leadership and Development (CFLD) from 2020 to 2022 and coordinated UTEP’s Support for Online Learning (Sol) initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic.