January 31, 2022
Dr. Pamela Klena, visiting assistant professor of music at Oakland University, recently earned a Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Certificate from Cornell University after completing an intense, eight-week course.
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| Elaine Carey |
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| Glenn McIntosh |
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“The course was a transformative experience,” said Klena, whose participation in the course was sponsored by Glenn McIntosh from Student Affairs & Diversity and Dean Elaine Carey from the College of Arts and Sciences. “
“Through extensive testing, I uncovered many of my own biases,” Klena said. “More importantly, I learned how to recognize these biases and more fully foster a psychologically safe space for my students.”
The course consisted of four topics:
• Improving Engagement
• Counteracting Unconscious Bias
• Diversity and Inclusion at Work
• Fostering an Inclusive Climate
“Since completing my doctoral dissertation, ‘Toward a More Inclusive Profession: A Qualitative Study of Female Wind Band Conductors,’ I have been interested in further study and research regarding discrimination, bias, and the movement toward inclusivity in the field of music,” Klena said.
“This course, generally focused on companies (not education), was extremely thorough and insightful,” she added. “I received many helpful tools that can both be used individually or with a group (students or colleagues) for communicating inclusion standards and confronting someone about non-inclusive behavior. Additionally, I was very intrigued with the strategies learned for facilitating trust in groups, so of which I have already begun implementing in my education courses."