Kaity Werner
Aspiring Student Affairs Professional
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Exemplary 1:
​Internship in South Africa
​
In summer 2012, I interned at the Leadership and Social Responsibility unit at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. This 2-month internship was the most powerful experience during graduate school for developing my competence regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion because it allowed me to actually experience dissonance and challenging perspectives regarding these topics. Interning in South Africa was my first experience living abroad and it was also my first experience living in an area where people of my skin color (white) were the minority. The experience was absolutely amazing; I immersed myself in the culture, explored and experienced a new way of life, and developed an understanding of the culture and context of higher education in another country. I gained the ability to articulate aspects of my American culture to others and to address and reflect on my own fit and dissonance with the South African culture. I spent time considering my privilege as a white person in America and South Africa, and how this can impact my relationship with students of all races. I went to museums and cultural spaces to learn about the history of Apartheid and politics in South Africa, such as the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island and the District 6 Museum. I also met with several student affairs practitioners at the University of the Western Cape to discuss the context higher education in South Africa and their views on diversity. During my second week, I attended a departmental diversity training on what the administrator called 'intercultural bravery'.
In addition to these experiences, my informal and work-related conversations and interactions with students, colleagues, and friends that I made at the University of the Western Cape had an incredible impact on my multicultural development. I co-facilitated an advanced leadership program, with a curricular focus on the influence of power and diversity on leadership development and ability. I also went on a service trip to The ARK, a homeless and refugee shelter, where I learned about the socioeconomic disparity in South Africa and the attitude toward refugees. Through informal conversations, I discussed politics, climate, and culture with individuals, and discussed with some international students from other African countries their perspective on the cultural differences between South Africa and other countries. My internship to South Africa was incredibly beneficial and developmental for me because I was able to experience cultural immersion and truly see the world from a vastly different viewpoint for the first time.
​​Safe Zone Facilitator
​
I have recently become certified by the LGBT Resource Center at BGSU as a 'Safe Zone facilitator', which means that I am certified to conduct Safe Zone training sessions for members of the BGSU community to educate folks about the LGBT community and how to be an effective ally. The Safe Zone Workshop is a program sponsored by the LGBT Resource Center at BGSU and facilitated by the Director of the LGBT Center (Tobias Spears) and other members of the BGSU community who have chosen to attend the facilitator training workshop to conduct workshops as well.
​
The Safe Zone workshop is intended to educate students, faculty, and staff members about the LGBT culture and population on campus. I consider the information discussed in the workshop to be foundational in that attendees are informed about working definitions of the LGBT initialism andrelated terms, as well as basic perceptions/stereotypes/issues related to heterosexism. The workshop utilizes the Cycle of Oppression as a framework; attendees are educated about the Cycle of Oppression and then there is an additional emphasis that allies to members of the LGBT community can begin to interrupt the cycle at the level of stereotypes and prejudice. Beyond this information, there is also opportunity in the Safe Zone workshop to delve a bit deeper into the topic. We discuss the Kinsey Scale, the 'Genderbread Person' created by a CSP alum Sam Killermann, and the concept of cisgender privilege and heterosexism. I have chosen not to include a PDF of the full Safe Zone workshop packet to protect the integrity of the training workshop; as a facilitator, I see great value in attending the workshop to have discussion, participate in activities, and learn together, as opposed to simply reading the packet. Here are a couple images as teasers:
​
​​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Above are images of my Safe Zone Workshop Packet and Facilitators Guide with my facilitation notes.
​
To become a Safe Zone facilitator, I attended 3 Safe Zone sessions and a 'train the trainer' session to learn facilitation skills and expectations. I shadowed one additional Safe Zone session since my certification as a trainer, so now I am ready to facilitate on my own or in a pair. I really enjoy attending the workshops more than once because I still struggle comprehending some of the content. I have struggled to understand bisexuality, to understand and know the definitions of each sexual orientation and identity, and to clearly articulate the difference between gender and sex. Through my practice with Safe Zone training, I now have the skills to articulate these differences and have a more concrete knowledge of LGBT related concepts and definitions. I facilitated my first Safe Zone workshop for a first-year UNIV course in April.
​
​​Conference & Training Sessions
​
A third artifact of my development regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion are the various professional development and training sessions I have either attended or conducted related to these topics.
​
At the ACPA conference in fall of 2011, I attended a session conducted by Kathy O’Bear from the Social Justice Training Institute. In this session, she had us examine our white privilege and confront/admit times that we have individually had biased and/or racist thoughts or actions, regardless of our intention. This experience was one of the first times I ever spent time truly thinking about and unpacking my white privilege times of stereotyping, promoting biases, and acting/thinking from a racist perspective. At the NASPA 2013 conference, I also attended a few sessions that increased my awareness and knowledge regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion. I attended one session about the DREAM Act and how to be an ally in higher education for students who are undocumented. I also attended a session tactics to have effective conversations regarding race, hate, and bias.
​
To see the powerpoint from the DREAMzone presentation I attended, click this:
​
Furthermore, I co-presented two presentations during resident advisor training in fall 2012 with one of my colleagues, Megan Fast. The first presentation was about supporting students of various learning abilities within the residence halls, which included information on catering programs to different learning styles and the different academic resources on campus. The second presentation was about physical ability in the residence hall and how to support residents with differing physical needs.
​
The presentation outline notes Megan and I created can be found here:
​
​​
​​Multicultural Competence Course
The view of the quad and Student Center at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa.
They won glass! :)
The Advanced Leaders Class from UWC visit the Holocaust Museum in Cape Town, South Africa.
The view of the quad and Student Center at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa.
The photos in the slide show at right document different cultural experiences I had in South Africa that were pivotal for my development global awareness while abroad. These images show my attempts to learn about the culture and history of South Africa, and to experience first-hand different aspects of the culture.
​
In addition to capturing photos, I also kept a blog while in South Africa that documented my feelings, experiences, and impressions throughout my journey. This was a joint blog with CSP student Tim Ocskasy, who also interned in South African during summer 2012. You can view my reflections and insights on The Hungry Giraffe blog by:
Lastly, I developed exemplary competence in this area through my experience in the Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs (CSP 6035) course at BGSU. Throughout this course, I read several books regarding privilege, power, oppression, and varying perspectives on racial oppression. I also completed several assignments that helped me examine my assumptions, beliefs, and multicultural development throughout the course.
​
As my final project for the course, I co-created a social justice resource guide with another graduate student, Megan Fast. This resource guide was a compilation of resources that hall directors can utilize to have difficult dialogues and effective conversations around diversity, inclusion, and social justice with RAs. Based upon Megan and my experience in the Office of Residence Life at BGSU, we realized that hall directors are not provided adequate training to facilitate conversations about diversity and social justice with RA staff members. We also learned that may of our colleagues and supervisors did not feel they had enough competence in this area to facilitate these dialogues, which led to anxiety toward such conversations and avoidance of such interactions. Therefore, we met with hall directors, an assistant director of supervision who works directly with hall directors, and the senior coordinator for diversity and retention to garner additional insight on what to include in this resource guide.
​
The completed project was shared with graduate colleagues and members of the BGSU Office of Residence Life staff.
Click the above image to open a PDF guide book of the social justice resource guide Megan and I created.