Join Dr. Chun for a speaking engagement. For more information on speaking engagements, contact connect@ednachun.com.
Upcoming Keynotes and Events
Next Generation DEI Strategies
PhilD Speaker Series, Indiana University, Bloomington, February 28, 2024
DEIA in the Course Evaluation Ecosystem
Columbia University SPS, June 1 and June 8, 2023
Navigating and Adapting to DEIBJ Transformative Change
California State University, Sacramento, College of Arts and Letters, February 10, 2023
2022 seminars
What’s Next for DEI and How to Get Ready for It
Panel Moderator, DEI Conference, The Conference Board, New York, New York, December 2, 2022;
Panelists: Khemari Cook, Chief Diversity Officer, Red Ventures; Diana Navas-Rosette, Senior Director, Global D&I Communities, Microsoft; George Walker, Chief Equity Officer, Planned Parenthood
Building an Inclusive Learning Community
Lincoln Trail College, April 21 and April 22, 2022
Power and Equity in Workplace Settings
Panel presentation, Columbia University SPS Career Design Lab, April 19, 2022
Dr. Edna Chun, Moderator. Panelists – Dorian Fuller, Director, Head of Diversity Recruitment & Internal Mobility, BNP Paribas; Stephen Grove, Vice President Global DEI, Blackstone; Jessie Lee, Principal Consultant, Better Future Strategies, Lavar Matthews, Executive Officer, US Army https://spscolumbia.campusgroups.com/CDL/rsvp_boot?id=1471436
Conducting an Institutional Diversity Audit
New Jersey City University, College of Education, Community College Leadership Program, April 4, 2022
STEM and Diversity: Overcoming Barriers and Advancing Equity
Panelists: Dr. Jayshree Seth, 3M Chief Science Advocate; Noah Rabinowitz, Chief Learning Officer and Vice President Human Resources, Intel; Supriya Jha SAP, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer; Dr. Olajide Williams, Columbia Medical Center, Chief of Staff, Dept of Neurology; Dr. Eduard Guo, Columbia School of Biomedical Engineering Professor, Moderator: Dr. Edna Chun
2021 seminars
Department Leaders as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champions
University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Department Chairs, December 1, 2021
Managing Up
Student Affairs, Columbia University School of Professional Studies, November 10, 2021
In the Crucible of Change: DEI at the Crossroads
Global HR/DEI Competencies and Building Inclusive Practices in the Technology Industry
Texas A&M University, Institute for Engineering Education & Innovation, January 29, February 5, 2021
2020 seminars
Preparing for an Institutional Diversity Audit
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, October 9, 2020
https://www.skidmore.edu/diversity/init5/index.php
Special Symposium on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Panelist, American Academy of Optometry Annual Meeting, Nashville, Tennessee, October 8, 2020
Preparing for an Institutional Diversity Audit
Leadership in Higher Education Virtual Conference, Fall 2020
Advisory Board Session
Implementing systematic diversity transformation requires embracing all aspects of diversity—gender, sexual orientation, disability, gender identification, and other salient characteristics of difference—as well as race and ethnicity. Based on a newly published book, Conducting an Institutional Diversity Audit in Higher Education: A Practitioner’s Guide to Systematic Diversity Transformation, this session lays out a framework of nine dimensions for systematic and sustained diversity process. This interactive session will discuss the implementation of a progressive, modular approach that will enable campuses to prioritize diversity initiatives, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and create a long-term strategy for diversity transformation.
Building Inclusive Departmental Cultures
Texas A&M University, College of Education and Human Development, July 23 and July 30, 2020
Inclusive Leadership Symposium
California State University, Fullerton, March 4, 2020
This interactive symposium for university leadership titled “Inclusive Leadership and Everyday Practices of Social Justice,” focuses on concrete practices, approaches, and frameworks that will assist leaders in their role as diversity change agents in building inclusive working environments. Through case studies and interactive exercises, the symposium highlights proactive leadership approaches that facilitate organizational and team success through a culture of reciprocal empowerment, equity, and inclusive excellence.
What Leaders Should Know and Do: Gender, Race, Culture and the Why, When, and How of Macroaggressions
Purdue University, Susan Bulkely Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, February 28, 2020
Based on a newly co-authored book, Rethinking Diversity Frameworks in Higher Education, this interactive talk examines the current, too-tame language of racial, gender, and heterosexist microagressions and proposes a more frank and reality-based terminology. Using examples from the academic frontlines, it explains how recurring acts of exclusion of nondominant faculty, staff, and students are in fact macro-inequities with long-term career, educational, material, health, and familial consequences. It highlights the day-to-day realities of imposed identity and persistent stereotyping and shares the narratives and coping strategies of women and minorities who have faced significant exclusionary challenges. The talk identifies proactive leadership approaches that will help institutions identify, counteract, and overcome behavioral and process-based barriers to inclusion.
2019 seminars
Building an Inclusive Pedagogy/ Building Inclusive Learning Environments
Texas Christian University, September 13, 2019
The Academic Department as the Engine for Faculty Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The University of Iowa, April 16-17, 2019
Creating a Sustainable Approach to Social Justice Education
The University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, February 21, 2019
2018 seminars
Rethinking Cultural Competence in Higher Education – Advisory Board Session
This interactive workshop explores the role of faculty, department chairs, and academic leaders in building cultural competence in the undergraduate experience. The workshop introduces research-based integrative frameworks that create intentional approaches to cultural competence across multiple dimensions of the campus ecosystem.
Department Chairs as Transformative Diversity Leaders
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, September 14, 2018
Leading a Diversity Culture Shift
Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts, May 22, 2018
Asian Americans and the Model Minority Myth
China University of Politics and Law, Beijing, April 25, 2018
Renmin University, Beijing, April 25, 2018
Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, April 26, 2018
Rethinking Cultural Competence
Leveraging Diversity: The Department Chair’s Transformative Role
Minnesota State University, Mankato, March 20, 2018
35th Academic Chairpersons Conference
Plenary Session: Leading a Diversity Culture Shift: The Department Chair’s Integral Role
The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader
Texas Tech University, January 12, 2018
2017 seminars
Upper Midwest HERC Meeting
“Leveraging Diversity: The Department Chairs’ Transformative Role” Friday, November 17th, 2017, 9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. St. Catherine University Rauenhorst Ballroom, 2004 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN Registration 9:30-10:00, Education Session 10:00-3:00 (Lunch 12:00-1:00) Department chairs are uniquely positioned to impact diversity progress in higher education. As the nexus between faculty and administration, chairs make more than 80 percent of academic decisions. Their influence is key in recruitment and hiring, curricular content, promotion and tenure, and creating welcoming classroom and departmental environments. The importance of partnering with department chairs in the leadership of diversity and inclusion efforts is critical to institutional success. “Leveraging Diversity: The Department Chairs’ Transformative Role,” will be a highly interactive seminar focusing on concrete research-based approaches and strategies to strengthen diversity leadership in the academic department in alignment with institutional mission and goals. Lead by Dr. Edna Chun, the seminar will draw on the research findings of her and Alvin Evans’ book, The Department Chair as Transformative Leader: Building Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education (Stylus, 2015), to share best practices and models that illuminate how administrators, diversity officers, and HR leaders can work collaboratively with chairs in building diversity in the academic department. The seminar will highlight the challenges faced by chairs from non-dominant groups, including female, minority, and lesbian/gay/transgendered individuals who serve in predominantly white institutions. Through experiential exercises, it will explore proactive approaches to building more inclusive departmental cultures and overcoming diversity resistance. Following Dr. Chun’s seminar, a panel of departmental chairs will discuss strategies at their institutions for strengthening diversity in the academic department.
The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader
Worcester State University, August 29, 2017
The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader: Action Steps for Leadership
The University of Dayton, May 17-18, 2017
Spring HERC Meeting, Princeton University
Leveraging Diversity: The Department Chair’s Transformative Role
This highly interactive seminar will focus on concrete research-based approaches and strategies to strengthen department chair leadership in the area of diversity.
March 30, 2017
The New Talent Management Paradigm: Integrating HR and Diversity Strategy
Thu, Mar 9, 2017 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
“Celebrating 10 Years of Diversity and Inclusive Recruitment in the New England Region.”
(2006-2016)
Wheelock College
43 Hawes Street, Brookline, MA 02446
November 4, 2016
Dr. Edna Chun, author of The Academic Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader: Building Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education will provide the afternoon keynote remarks and we will hold a series of roundtables focused on discussing best practices in the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and staff within higher education institutions. We look forward to seeing you on November 4th!
To register, please click here.
The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader
Northern Illinois University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
September 8-9, 2016
2016 Academic Chairperson’s Conference
February 5, 2016, Charleston, SC
Leveraging Diversity: The Department Chair’s Transformative Role
Join Dr. Edna Chun, Professor Jane Sell of Texas A&M University, and Professor Earl Smith (retired) of Wake Forest University for a Pre-conference Institute at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity Conference in Washington, D.C.
Advancing The Department Chair’s Role in Diversity Transformation
The goal of the institute is to provide campus leadership, faculty, diversity officers, HR professionals, and administrators with concrete research-based approaches, tools, and strategies to strengthen department chair leadership in the area of diversity. Since almost all the research literature is silent in this area and little chair training is provided in the area of diversity both nationally and locally, this workshop will utilize case models, presentations, and vignettes to lay out a systematic approach to advancing the multidimensional role of academic department chairs in diversity transformation. Drawing on extensive research from Edna Chun and Alvin Evans’ recently published book, The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader: Building Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education, the institute shares best practices and models that highlight the role of the chair in building diversity through formal and informal organizational processes; inclusive classroom environments; curricular approaches; mentoring programs that address the identity development of diverse students; and creation of a welcoming and collaborative departmental climate.
A specific focus of the workshop is on the challenges faced by chairs from non-dominant groups, including female, minority, and lesbian/gay/transgendered individuals who serve in predominantly white departments. To illustrate the complex dynamics in institutional power structures, participants will have the opportunity to discuss case studies that illustrate the dilemmas chairs face in their role as diversity change agents and the nexus between the faculty and the administration. In addition, the institute will provide concrete resources that will assist the participants in the development of chair training for diversity on their campuses. As an important takeaway from the pre-conference institute, participants will develop and discuss a customized diversity action plan using conceptual lenses, assessment tools, and guides provided as part of the workshop.
This workshop will appeal to diversity leaders, HR professionals, presidents, provosts, deans, department chairs and faculty in the creation of strategies for advancing diversity in the academic department, college, school, and institution as a whole.
PeopleAdmin’s 12th Annual Client Conference May 13-15 2015, Austin, Texas
Join Dr. Chun for a special seminar and book signing at PeopleAdmin’s upcoming conference!
9:00 am – 10:00 am, May 15th // The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader. Building Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education
With the imminent demographic shifts in our society and the need to prepare students for citizenship in a global, knowledge-based society, the role of the academic department chair in creating diverse and inclusive learning environments is arguably the most pivotal position in higher education today. The department chair represents the nexus between the faculty and the administration and is positioned uniquely to impact diversity progress.
This session examines the multidimensional contributions that chairs make in advancing diversity within their departments and institutions in the representation of diverse faculty and staff; in tenure and promotion; curricular change; student learning outcomes; and departmental climate. The scope and content is not limited to institutions in the United States but is applicable to academic institutions globally in their efforts to address the access and success of increasingly diverse student populations.
2014 Seminars
Racial and Ethnic Studies Institute, 2014-2015 Colloquium Series
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
Advancing the Department Chair’s Role in Diversity Transformation
October 29, 2014, 12:00 p.m.
The National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, Indianapolis, Indiana
Meet the Author
The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader: Building Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education
The academic chair stands at the crossroads of diversity transformation in higher education today. If higher education is to address the preparation of students for citizenship in a global, knowledge-based society, the role of the academic department chair in creating diverse and inclusive learning environments is arguably the most pivotal position in colleges and universities.
As the first research-based book devoted to the department chair’s diversity leadership role, this book draws upon an extensive survey and interview sample of department chairs throughout the United States to explore the ways in which chairs can influence and promote the success and progress of diverse faculty, staff, and students within the academic department. A particular area of focus in our study is the differential experiences faced by chairs who are members of non-dominant groups in their efforts to promote diversity in a largely white male academic hierarchy. The book provides best practices and concrete strategies designed to assist presidents, provosts, deans, department chairs, administrators, chief diversity officers, and human resource professionals in enhancing the pivotal role of the academic department in diversity leadership.
Sessions
“The Academic Department as the Lever for Diversity Change,” Brody School of Medicine Spring Conference, East Carolina University, March, 2014.
In this keynote address, Dr. Chun discusses the particular challenges women and minority faculty face in formal and informal processes within the academic department and specific strategies that department chairs can implement to advance diversity progress.
“The New Talent Acquisition Frontier” Address to the PeopleConnect Conference, Austin, Texas, May 15, 2014.
Join the Board of Directors of CUPA-HR and PeopleAdmin, the largest provider of Talent Management software in higher education for a discussion of Edna Chun and Alvin Evans’ recent book, The New Talent Acquisition Frontier, at the PeopleAdmin National Conference, Austin, Texas on May 15, 2014. A book signing will follow.
CUPA-HR DIVERSITY PANEL – 12:30 – 1:30, May 15th
“Navigating Talent Management Frontiers: The Successful Integration of HR and Diversity for Recruitment Success on Campus” featuring members of CUPA-HR’s Board of Directors
This keynote session will feature the work CUPA-HR continues to deliver around their diversity efforts, including the contributions they made to the book, “The New Talent Acquisition Frontier” on which this session will focus. Talent management areas that will be addressed are: the framework of systems, processes, workplace climate that support diversity in recruitment, retention and development of employees.
Moderator: Leah Burns – Chief Development Officer for CUPA-HR & Diversity Expert Panel
Also, join us for a meet & greet and book signing with, Edna Chun is Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Alvin Evans Interim Vice President of Human Resources for Kent State University, authors of “The New talent Acquisition Frontier”.
“Meet the Author: The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader,” National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), Indianapolis, Indiana, May 27, 2014
=Join Dr. Chun as she previews her forthcoming co-authored book and shares findings from this first research-based study of the chair’s role in diversity transformation based on an extensive survey and interview sample.
“The Academic Department as the Lever for Diversity Change,” Brody School of Medicine Spring Conference, East Carolina University, March, 2014.
In this keynote address, Dr. Chun will discuss the particular challenges women and minority faculty face in formal and informal processes within the academic department and specific strategies that department chairs can implement to advance diversity progress.
2013
“The New Talent Acquisition Frontier,” Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Diversity and Inclusion Conference, San Francisco, California, September 2013.
In this session, Dr. Chun partners with Dr. Rohini Anand, Global Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President of Sodexo Corporation to discuss the integration of HR and diversity strategy with a focus on practical tools and specific performance indicators to assess integrated HR/diversity planning.
“Meet the Author: The New Talent Frontier,” National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), New Orleans, Louisiana, June 2013.
Join Dr. Chun as she shares ten common themes across the private, public, and higher education sectors that promote the development of integrated and synergistic HR and diversity strategy. In addition, she discusses barriers that impede the development of HR/diversity strategy and provides specific recommendations for overcoming these barriers.
2012
“Building Inclusive University Leadership: Perspectives on Diverse Administrators in Peril,” Keynote address, Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Lecture Series on Equality and Justice in America, Baruch College, City University of New York, November 20, 2012.
The Ackerman Lecture series invites leading intellectuals and public figures to address major questions of equality and social justice. Dr. Chun will share perspectives on building inclusive university leadership based on the first in-depth study of the challenges of minority, female, and LGBT administrators in higher education.
“Sustainable Compensation,” Webinar for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, August 21, 2012.
This webinar (www.aashe.org/files/documents/STARS/aug_webinar_ppt.pdf) is sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and Dr. Chun and Trey McDonald, Sustainability Coordinator, discussed the University of North Carolina’s award-winning sustainable compensation practices.
“Meet the Author, Diverse Administrators in Peril,” National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), New York City, June 1, 2012.
“Conducting a Strategic HR Efficiency Study,” College and University Professional Association Southern Region Conference, Savannah, Georgia, April 2, 2012.
Dr. Chun leads a panel from the Human Resources Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to discuss how to develop a strategy Efficiency Study and shares the processes, data, and tools used by the department to implement a comprehensive study that supports continuous improvement.
2011
“Recruiting and Retaining Diverse Faculty and Staff,” North Carolina Diversity and Inclusion Partners Conference, Durham, North Carolina, December 2, 2011.
2010
Bridging the Gap between Diversity and Inclusion in the Academic Workplace, East Carolina University, November 3, 2010.
Join Dr. Chun as she discusses best practices for building inclusive workplaces in academia at a half-day diversity seminar hosted by the Office of Equity, Diversity and Community Relations unit at East Carolina University (ECU). This seminar is designed to educate faculty and staff about the difference between being a diverse workplace and being an inclusive workplace and will include a plenary panel.
Strategies for Inclusion,The Florida College System College Equity Officers Technical Assistance Conference, Orlando, Florida, October 27, 2010
2009
Bridging the Diversity Divide: Building a Concrete Action Plan for Inclusion, CUPA HR National Conference and Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 19-21, 2009
Learn how to build an action plan for diversity and inclusion based upon research findings and best practices. This workshop will include concrete tools, measurement strategies, and organizational learning initiatives that will help institutions of higher education transform institutional culture and bridge the diversity divide.
Overcoming Barriers to Diversity through Improvisational Theater, CUPA-HR Southern Region Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, May 19, 2009
American Association for Affirmative Action National Conference, April 1, 2009 in Lincolnshire, Illinois
Building a 21st Century Accountability Model for Diversity
2008
CUPA-HR National Conference, October 13, 2008 in St. Louis, Missouri
Drama and Diversity: Illuminating Behavioral and organizational Barriers to Diversity
Florida CUPA-HR, April 14, 2008 in Orlando, Florida
Overcoming Behavioral and Organizational Barriers to Faculty and Staff Diversity
CUPA Southern Regional Conference, June 9, 2008 in Charleston, South Carolina, Bridging the Diversity Divide: Cultural Change Strategies
In this session, Chun and Evans engaged participants in the development of strategies designed to overcome organizational defensive routines and promote cultural change in support of diversity. The session drew upon research findings presented in the co-authors’ forthcoming book as well as related insights from their earlier book, Are the Walls Really Down?.
2007
CUPA-HR National Conference, Nov 9, 2007 in Baltimore, MD
Overcoming Contemporary Behavioral and Organizational Barriers to Diversity
Chun and Evans relate insights and research findings drawn from the newly published book: Are the Walls Really Down? Behavioral and Organizational Barriers to Faculty and Staff Diversity. Participants defined and studied behavioral and organizational workplace barriers in the higher education workplace that can impede the progress and success of minority and women faculty and administrators.
American Association of Affirmative Action National Conference, April 2007 in Austin,Texas
Overcoming Behavioral and Organizational Barriers to Diversity
This session shared strategies in overcoming behavioral and organizational barriers to diversity and provided the participants with key terminology pertinent to forms of twenty-first century discrimination. The session drew upon research findings to discuss how to formulate a successful institution-wide diversity initiative.
CUPA-HR Southern Region Conference, March 2007 in New Orleans, Louisiana
Building and Sustaining an Institution-wide Diversity Initiative
This session focused on how to build and sustain a progressive, institution-wide diversity initiative and discussed stages of diversity development, barriers to diversity progress, and provided a framework for building a workplace of inclusion through reciprocal empowerment. The seminar discussed key elements of diversity strategic planning and drew upon participants’ experiences at their campuses and the specific insights gained from these best practices.