![Dr. Damon A. Williams]()
Dr. Damon A. Williams is a visionary and inspirational leader, and also one of the nation’s recognized experts in strategic diversity leadership, youth development, corporate responsibility, educational achievement, social impact, and organizational change.
He is a global thought leader having worked with more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Fortune 100 companies, foundations, and government agencies, as keynote speaker, strategist, educator, and social impact leader.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education (CSHPE), where he specialized in the area of organizational behavior and management. He received his master’s degree in educational leadership and his bachelor’s degree in sociology and black world studies both from Miami University.
As the University of Michigan celebrates her 200-year anniversary, he was recently awarded the Bicentennial Leadership Award, a one-time honor given to 20 trailblazing alumni, who exemplify the best of the academic and leadership values of the Universities 200,000 living alumni. He is also the 2017 recipient of the Western Reserve Academy – Waring Prize, the highest alumni award presented by the prestigious boarding school founded in 1826, to recognize exceptional leadership achievements to improve the human condition.
In 2013, he was awarded the coveted Inclusive Excellence Award of Leadership from the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE), and a leadership commendation from the 13 research universities comprising the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) for his landmark contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy globally.
As Associate Vice Chancellor, Vice Provost, and Chief Diversity Officer, he founded the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and served as a senior leader building the Division of Multicultural and International Affairs at the University of Connecticut, respectively. As scholar in residence for the American Council of Education (ACE) Fellows program and the American Association of Colleges and Universities Greater Expectations Institute, he launched his work nationally, helping hundreds of colleges and universities to transform their efforts in liberal education, STEM completion, improving student graduation rates, campus climate and inclusion, leadership development, faculty diversity, and curriculum reform.
Please RSVP early as many DEI Summit sessions have limited capacity.
Monday, October 26
Open Plenary – From Awareness, to Action, to Innovation: Empowering Leaders through Inclusive Excellence
Dr. Damon Williams, National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Watch the Recorded Presentation
Led by nationally recognized DEI scholar and expert, Dr. Damon A. Williams, and presented via a conversation with President Gnadinger, this session will feature a discussion on Inclusive Excellence, strategic diversity leadership, and the fundamentals of leading effective organizational change. By leveraging national data, introspective stories, and the pragmatic voice that can only come from having led DEI-related organizational change efforts at all levels of leadership, this session aims to empower, educate, and inspire hope in all of those that attend.
Sponsored by College of Arts and Science; College of Health Sciences; Faculty Development; Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; School of Business; Student Senate
Impact of Racial Trauma on Mental Health and Student Learning (60 max. capacity)
Dr. Domonique Pritchett PsyD, LCSW, CSAC, Carthage College
4 p.m. | Faculty & Staff
This interactive session will focus on unpacking concepts related to racial trauma in the educational environment on student learning and mental health. Racism is a contributor of various levels of trauma, oppression and microaggressions. I will utilize my signature Love Method to explore scenarios about student experiences through identifying instances which conscious and unconscious biases impact mental health. Also, we will explore culturally responsive ways that students and faculty can use when faced with racism while working towards diversity and inclusion.
Sponsored by Walter Young Center
Beyond Physical Spaces: Queering the Internet (35 max. capacity)
Cole Pinno, Academic Advisor, Adjunct Faculty, GSA Advisor
7:30 - 8:30 p.m. | Students
In this session, students will learn how LGBTQIA* Identifying Folk can utilize the internet as a Freeing Force. In addition, students will learn how LGBTQIA* Identifying Folk employ the internet as a platform for activism and social change. While discussing the benefits of Queering the Internet, we will also discuss the harms it can cause. Let's dismantle the notion of needing physical space and learn how we can use the virtual world as a Liberating Force.
Sponsored by Academic Advising
Tuesday, October 27
From Bystander to Up-stander: The Ally’s Journey and Breaking the Prejudice Habit (This event is filled)
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
*Eligible for a convocation point
Led by nationally recognized DEI scholar and expert, Dr. Damon A. Williams, this session takes a deep dive into allyship while unpacking relevant concepts such as microaggressions, unconscious bias, and privilege. Dr. Williams will also share simple, yet effective strategies for becoming better allies to diverse and marginalized communities—helping leaders to level-up from bystander to up-stander.
Sponsored by College of Arts and Science; College of Health Sciences; Faculty Development; Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; School of Business; Student Senate
Integrating Inclusive Practices: A Carroll Colleagues Panel Discussion (100 max. capacity)
Annie Aschenbrenner, Director of Traditional and International Enrollment; Callie Barfield, Therapist; Elizabeth Brzeski, Associate Dean of Student Affairs; Letícia Grützmann, D.M.A. Director of Choirs and Vocal Ensembles and Assistant Professor of Music; Cole Pinno, Academic Advisor; Tori Sinclair, Director of Academic Advising; Zachary Staszewski, Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement, Carroll University
4 - 5:30 p.m. | Staff
"It takes a village" Incorporating inclusive practices is the responsibility of all areas of practice on campus. Attendees will learn from selected professionals from around campus who have developed specific plans of education, representation and teaching into their work and how these efforts have benefitted their target audiences.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity 101 for Student Leaders (150 max. capacity)
Christina Parle, Speaker, Consultant, and Instructional Designer for Social Responsibility Speaks, and Director of Chapter Services for Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity
7:30 - 8:45 p.m. | Student Organizations and FSL Leaders
The current climate in our country is calling for change; calling for us to be different. We cannot do that without understanding the foundational pieces that impact our ability to be equitable and inclusive with the hope our spaces will diversify. The college environment tends to offer exposure to difference, but many of us are not equipped with the skills and tools to appropriately interact, be empathetic, and value and respect humans unlike ourselves. Join the presenter in discussing the basics of identity, power, privilege, implicit bias, and the impacts of our language.
Sponsored by Student Activities
Wednesday, October 28
Putting Racial Equity on the Public Health Agenda (100 max. capacity)
Lilliann Paine MPH, Chief of Staff Milwaukee Health Commission
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Watch the Recorded Presentation
In 2019, Milwaukee became the first city in the United States to declare Racism as a Public Health Crisis. Now just a year later, the city is grappling with a pandemic that disproportionately affects communities of color. Join us to learn more about the crisis facing cities across the country and what Milwaukee is doing to address systemic racism through proactive public health policies and programs.
Sponsored by Health Careers Opportunities Program
Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (60 max. capacity)
Dr. Rhonda Collier, Tuskegee University
4 p.m. | Faculty
Drawing on tools and methods from her 2019 book Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (IG Global), Dr. Rhonda Collier will discuss various approaches, methods, and knowledge intended to foster student learning and engagement in environments that welcome students of diverse backgrounds (e.g., students of varied demographic, socio-economic, cultural, linguistic, age, and ability characteristics). This workshop will highlight principles of culturally responsive teaching based on developing an inclusive course climate and teaching, culturally relevant curriculum, assessment, classroom practices, and diversity and inclusion in the classroom. Specific examples, models, role-playing and templates for culturally relevant curriculum and assessment will be presented.
Sponsored by Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Thursday, October 29
Deconstructing the Social Construct of Gender and Gender Pronouns
Dr. Amanda Lee and Dr. Kelly Pinter, Carroll University
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Watch the Recorded Presentation
An opportunity to participate in an open and fluid conversation about the importance of respecting individuals' identities, including gender. Dr. Kelly Pinter and Dr. Amanda Lee will lead you in a conversation about the importance of using correct gender pronouns and how to engage respectfully with everyone in your life, regardless of gender identity.
Sponsored by Academic Affairs
Our Trauma Shall be Viral No More: QTBIPOC Storytelling as Resistance
Noel Mariano, Artist and Activist
4 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Now, more than ever the voices of our QTBIPOC community members are needed to push back against the oppressive narrative that drowns out our stories, our experiences, our representation, and our lives. Discover the tools and methods of empowering ourselves and each other through vulnerable storytelling without succumbing to exploitation of emotional labor and fetishizing voyeurism. Led by a former producer for The Moth: Stories, and community arts activist, this workshop will share successful storytelling examples, and have a generative mini-workshop to help you take agency over your narrative. Share your voice with us. Join the chorus as we become a rallying cry.
Sponsored by Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Residence Life
Women of Color in Media (20 max. capacity)
Kanoe Montaño, M.Ed, Coordinator for Office of Violence Prevention, Carroll University
7:30 - 8:30 p.m. | Students
*Eligible for a convocation point
What do Megan Thee Stallion, the Superbowl, and Serena Williams have to do with Gender-based violence? Research shows that the media which permeates our cultural waters has real implications for our behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and actions. This conversation will unpack the ways that media’s objectification and misrepresentation of black women, indigenous women and other women of color ripples out into actualized violence against marginalized women. Movies, music, the news, and social media all play a role in perpetuating violent attitudes and beliefs about women of color and this conversation will begin to peel back the layers of the problem, celebrate the women who fight against this trend, and give students actionable steps to join the movement to advocate against racial and gender-based violence.
Sponsored by Office of Violence Prevention
Friday, October 30
President's Taskforce: Campus Equity & Institutional Inclusion Statement (100 max. capacity)
Dolores Ocampo Brown, Senior Director of Alumni Engagement and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University and Jake Eisch, Director of Student Conduct and Violence Prevention, Carroll University
10 a.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll University is committed to cultivating and sustaining a safe, welcoming, and inclusive living and learning environment for every member of our campus community. Our new Campus Equity Protocol and Institutional Inclusion Statement advances this commitment through support, education and accountability. Join us to learn more about the campus equity process and for an opportunity provide feed-back on our initial draft of Carroll's Institutional Inclusion statement. Statement feed-back will be utilized to create the final statement to be unveiled during our 175th anniversary.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
President's Taskforce: Campus Climate Data (100 max. capacity)
Josh Mitchell, Director of Institutional Research and Vanessa Perez Topczewski, Associate Dean for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University
10 a.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll's Inaugural Campus Climate Assessment went live in March 2020 and asked members of the campus community about DEI experiences, perspectives, policies, and practices. The intent of the assessment was to help guide the creation of the President’s Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion's rolling action plan and serve as a foundation for the on-going conversations among the campus community around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Join us for an opportunity to view some of the initial findings, provide feed-back and discuss next steps.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
President's Taskforce: Campus Equity & Institutional Inclusion Statement (100 max. capacity)
Dolores Ocampo Brown, Senior Director of Alumni Engagement and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University and Jake Eisch, Director of Student Conduct and Violence Prevention, Carroll University
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll University is committed to cultivating and sustaining a safe, welcoming, and inclusive living and learning environment for every member of our campus community. Our new Campus Equity Protocol and Institutional Inclusion Statement advances this commitment through support, education and accountability. Join us to learn more about the campus equity process and for an opportunity provide feed-back on our initial draft of Carroll's Institutional Inclusion statement. Statement feed-back will be utilized to create the final statement to be unveiled during our 175th anniversary.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
President's Taskforce: Campus Climate Data (100 max. capacity)
Josh Mitchell, Director of Institutional Research and Vanessa Perez Topczewski, Associate Dean for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll's Inaugural Campus Climate Assessment went live in March 2020 and asked members of the campus community about DEI experiences, perspectives, policies, and practices. The intent of the assessment was to help guide the creation of the President’s Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion's rolling action plan and serve as a foundation for the on-going conversations among the campus community around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Join us for an opportunity to view some of the initial findings, provide feed-back and discuss next steps.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
Wednesday, November 11
President's Taskforce: Campus Equity & Institutional Inclusion Statement (100 max. capacity)
Dolores Ocampo Brown, Senior Director of Alumni Engagement and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University and Jake Eisch, Director of Student Conduct and Violence Prevention, Carroll University
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll University is committed to cultivating and sustaining a safe, welcoming, and inclusive living and learning environment for every member of our campus community. Our new Campus Equity Protocol and Institutional Inclusion Statement advances this commitment through support, education and accountability. Join us to learn more about the campus equity process and for an opportunity provide feed-back on our initial draft of Carroll's Institutional Inclusion statement. Statement feed-back will be utilized to create the final statement to be unveiled during our 175th anniversary.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
President's Taskforce: Campus Climate Data (100 max. capacity)
Josh Mitchell, Director of Institutional Research and Vanessa Perez Topczewski, Associate Dean for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll's Inaugural Campus Climate Assessment went live in March 2020 and asked members of the campus community about DEI experiences, perspectives, policies, and practices. The intent of the assessment was to help guide the creation of the President’s Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion's rolling action plan and serve as a foundation for the on-going conversations among the campus community around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Join us for an opportunity to view some of the initial findings, provide feed-back and discuss next steps.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
Thursday, November 12
President's Taskforce: Campus Equity & Institutional Inclusion Statement (100 max. capacity)
Dolores Ocampo Brown, Senior Director of Alumni Engagement and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University and Jake Eisch, Director of Student Conduct and Violence Prevention, Carroll University
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll University is committed to cultivating and sustaining a safe, welcoming, and inclusive living and learning environment for every member of our campus community. Our new Campus Equity Protocol and Institutional Inclusion Statement advances this commitment through support, education and accountability. Join us to learn more about the campus equity process and for an opportunity provide feed-back on our initial draft of Carroll's Institutional Inclusion statement. Statement feed-back will be utilized to create the final statement to be unveiled during our 175th anniversary.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion
President's Taskforce: Campus Climate Data (100 max. capacity)
Josh Mitchell, Director of Institutional Research and Vanessa Perez Topczewski, Associate Dean for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Co-Chair of President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion, Carroll University
12 p.m. | Students, Faculty & Staff
Carroll's Inaugural Campus Climate Assessment went live in March 2020 and asked members of the campus community about DEI experiences, perspectives, policies, and practices. The intent of the assessment was to help guide the creation of the President’s Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion's rolling action plan and serve as a foundation for the on-going conversations among the campus community around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Join us for an opportunity to view some of the initial findings, provide feed-back and discuss next steps.
Sponsored by President's Taskforce on Institutional Inclusion