The next event, “Working in Diverse Teams,” will focus on developing interpersonal skills to work productively and collegially with individuals with different identities and life experiences. It will be held Oct.18 from 1:30-3 p.m. in the CALS Zone, 112 Mann Library. The final event of the semester, “Ask a Grad Student,” will take place Nov. 15 from 1:30-3 p.m. in the CALS Zone, 112 Mann Library. In this workshop, students can network with graduate students and discover more about their individual journeys and career aspirations. Registration for both workshops is open and monthly workshops will continue in the spring.
“We’re excited to offer this semester’s Inclusive Leadership Series because we know that future leaders will need to know how to work with and supervise increasingly diverse teams,” said Corrie Moreau, CALS’ senior associate dean of access & community empowerment and professor of entomology. “Our goal is to provide tangible skills and learning and networking opportunities to strengthen all participants’ competency in engagement and leadership.”
Last year ACE offered a Gender Inclusive Leadership Series that sought to uncover and dismantle the sometimes hidden biases that women and gender-expansive people experience in attaining and being successful in leadership positions.
“I thought it was a really great way to connect with a lot of the gender-diverse leaders on campus, and I think it was a really great resource for people in general to see the paths in academia and the kind of jobs that are available,” said Abigail Grassick, a second-year computational biology Ph.D. student. Grassick aspires to be a professor in a male-dominated field, and she found the Gender Inclusive Leadership Series to be a uniquely tailored experience that affirmed her career choice.
ACE seeks to expand its reach through the Inclusive Leadership Series further, by opening doors for students who may not otherwise know where to go or feel comfortable seeking advice about developing their personal and professional skills.
Nitya Parida ’25, a policy analysis and management major who joined the ACE team last year, applies time management techniques she gained at last semester’s workshop to prioritize her personal time while maintaining a busy schedule with classes and extracurricular student clubs. In her role with ACE, Parida works with the student team to facilitate workshops and activities.
“What our team works specifically to do is view these things through an equity lens,” Parida said. “Some of the workshops you can go to on campus will be really good but might not work for everyone. We hope that our workshop offers some sort of flexibility, and we always are seeking feedback to improve them and satisfy the needs of whoever is attending.”
Yolanda Stewart is a freelance writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
