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Dear KCU Faculty and Staff,

By now, I am hopeful you have had a chance to read and reflect on Dr. Hahn’s message on June 8 to the KCU Community following recent societal events, noting that KCU strongly condemns racism, oppression and violence. 

As the associate provost for Diversity and Inclusion, I want to echo our president’s words in assuring you that we stand for justice for all people and reaffirm KCU’s ongoing commitment to work towards more widespread racial equity for our campus community and the communities we serve.

Building an inclusive campus that values diversity requires heightened awareness, healthy dialogue, and on-going action by all of us. To that end, I worked with campus partners to develop and implement several steps that will help push our efforts forward.

1.   Generate Awareness: Unconscious Bias Training 
I encourage you all to watch this on-demand  Unconscious Bias course on LinkedIn Learning  (24 minutes). We’re all biased. Our experiences shape who we are, and our race, ethnicity, gender, height, weight, sexual orientation, place of birth, and other factors impact the lens through which we view the world. This course will introduce you to unconscious bias and help you recognize and acknowledge your own biases.

2.   Learn More and Drive Healthy Dialogue:  Invisible Influences Training
Sign up for the virtually-led Invisible Influences training (90 minutes) and equip yourself for real change. We all have invisible influences that impact how we view the world and the people in it. This course raises awareness of these lenses through interactive discussion, debate, practice and application. It is designed to help us “retrain” our brains to become more sensitive and aware of our lenses of bias so that we can more intentionally mitigate them in our lives. 

3. Reflect:  Join me in the Diversity & Inclusion Virtual Room on June 19,  Juneteenth , at Noon
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. It commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a time for reflection, assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future.

To help us recognize this important and historic day, I will be hosting a  Reflection Dialogue during the Noon hour. My goal is to create a safe space for faculty and staff to share their stories, thoughts and experience on the topic of racial equity, and most importantly to listen and learn from each other. 
I encourage you to take the time to reflect, read the Huffington Post column Dr. Hahn shared on Monday, watch the LinkedIn Learning Unconscious Bias training shared above, and join Friday's conversation.

If you are not able to make it on June 19, I am extending my invitation to join me in the Diversity & Inclusion Virtual Room for open office hour every Monday, Noon-1 p.m. , and every Thursday, 10-11 a.m. , as I’d like to continue to create this safe space for transparent and authentic dialogue.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said:  “The time is always right to do what is right.” 
 We have more to do at KCU, in our country and throughout our world to support diversity, inclusion, and racial equity. 

Stay engaged, stay hopeful and – together – we can make meaningful progress.

Sincerely,
Kenneth Durgans, EdD, MA, MS
Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion