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Registration Open for The Forum on Workplace Inclusion’s 35th Annual Conference

Logo for 2023 Forum conference reads "Combining Forces (x) 2023" with multicolored hexagons and connecting linesThe last in-person Forum on Workplace Inclusion® conference ended just 24 hours before Minnesota declared a peacetime emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, after two years online, it’s back in-person.

The nation’s premier workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion conference returns to Minneapolis for its 35th anniversary, with a parallel virtual option for global audiences and those who can’t attend in person. “Combining Forces(x): Fueling Our Collective Capacity for Change” will take place March 27-29, 2023, at the Hilton Minneapolis. Registration is open now, including discounted group rates and team meeting packages.

“What happens in society affects the workplace, and what happens in the workplace affects society,” said Steven Humerickhouse, Executive Director of The Forum. “Emerging from the pandemic and racial trauma of the past several years, more leaders and organizations than ever have discovered the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion to their employees, to society, and to their bottom lines.”

Drawing more than 1,000 participants in past years, The Forum’s annual conference is designed to meet people where they are in their DEI development, from beginners to advanced practitioners. Attendees include leaders and managers of diverse workforces; HR and talent acquisition, management, and development practitioners; DEI practitioners; organizational development/effectiveness leaders; and students, teachers, researchers, and scholars.

This year’s conference will open with a 35th anniversary celebration with musical performances at Orchestra Hall. The event will feature Eric Jolly, Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation President and CEO, in conversation with Duchesne Drew, MPR president; Michelle Miller Burns, Minnesota Orchestra CEO; and Paul Pribbenow, Augsburg University president.

More than 90 breakout sessions over three days will tackle topics like religious literacy and inclusion, mitigating organizational biases, why many DEI practitioners are fighting fatigue, and using data to amplify anti-racist practices at work. Other highlights include off-site immersive learning experiences around the Twin Cities, collaborative cross-industry “think tanks” facilitated by innovation expert Ramon Vullings, and popular DEI coaching sessions.

“All of us who lead organizations dedicated to equity and inclusion have benefited from The Forum’s outstanding programming—both at this annual conference and in its innovative ongoing efforts to offer the best thinking and strategies for living out our DEI commitments,” said Augsburg University’s Paul Pribbenow. This conference marks The Forum’s fourth year in residence at Augsburg.

About The Forum on Workplace Inclusion

For 35 years, The Forum on Workplace Inclusion has served as a convening hub for those seeking to grow professional leadership and effectiveness skills in the field of DEI by engaging people, advancing ideas, and igniting change. It is hosted at Augsburg University located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The annual conference is HRCI and SHRM Continuing Education Credit (CEU) eligible. For rates, registration, and full conference information, visit forumworkplaceinclusion.org/2023-conference.

About Augsburg

Augsburg University offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and 11 graduate degrees to approximately 3,200 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and nearby Rochester, Minnesota, location. Augsburg educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings. To learn more, visit Augsburg.edu/about.

Media Contact

Rachel Farris

For media kit, visit forumworkplaceinclusion.org/press/

KARE 11 discusses the legacy of discriminatory housing policies with the Mapping Prejudice Project

Three researchers seated in a long room with file cabinets and tables.
Kirsten Delegard and other Mapping Prejudice researchers talk with KARE 11 about their project.

In a conversation with KARE 11 Reporter Adrienne Broaddus, Kirsten Delegard, Augsburg University scholar-in-residence and director of the Mapping Prejudice project, discussed the lasting impact of historically discriminatory housing policies in Minneapolis.

“People think that because we didn’t have segregated water fountains or waiting rooms that we didn’t have segregation in Minneapolis,” she said, “but racial covenants determined who could live where … We are still living with the legacy of these policies. We can point to all kinds of disparities especially in area of home ownership that we are living with today because of these polices enforced over the last century.”

The Mapping Prejudice project, once complete, will be the first comprehensive map of racial covenants for a U.S. city. Watch the KARE 11 report about the project.

 

Minnesota Daily features the Mapping Prejudice Project’s work to uncover Minneapolis’ discriminatory housing past

Three researchers looking at a paper map of Minneapolis
Researchers in the Mapping Prejudice project review a Minneapolis map. Photo: Minnesota Daily

Under the Mapping Prejudice Project, scholars from the University of Minnesota and Augsburg University have analyzed over 1.4 million historic Minneapolis housing deeds, finding racist language in more 20,000 documents. These racial covenants forbidding the sale of property to people of color are no longer legally enforceable, but researchers hope documenting this side of the city’s history will influence urban planning in years to come.

This article describes the methods that the Mapping Prejudice researchers use to conduct their work and discusses the motivations for the project with project director and Augsburg scholar-in-residence Kirsten Delegard.

The research group plans to map Minneapolis by the end of 2017 and all of Hennepin County next year.

Read the full story at the Minnesota Daily News site.

Advisory: Augsburg officially becomes ‘Augsburg University,’ welcomes most diverse class in 148-year history

University’s first-year undergraduate class more than 53 percent persons of color

(MINNEAPOLIS) — As Augsburg celebrates becoming “Augsburg University” on Sept. 5, it also welcomes an incoming first-year undergraduate class of more than 53 percent persons of color.

“As ‘Augsburg University,’ we embrace our leadership role as a university at the forefront of intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Augsburg University President Paul C. Pribbenow.

“We are proud and grateful to welcome to our community the Class of 2021, made up of students of academic ability from an array of diverse backgrounds — including ethnicity, faith, socioeconomic status, gender identity, and more. We know that learning in a diverse community prepares young people to become engaged, thoughtful citizens, and problem solvers.”

The Augsburg University celebration at the Minneapolis campus includes food stations and opportunities for getting an Augsburg University logo T-shirt screen printed on-site, participating in a photo booth, assembling hygiene kits for the Augsburg Health Commons, which serves unsheltered persons who live in Minneapolis, and more. On Sept. 18, the Augsburg University teaching site in Rochester, Minn., will host a special ribbon-cutting to celebrate more than 20 years of providing graduate and undergraduate programs in that community.

PROGRAM and PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

  • 9:20 a.m.: Faculty and staff line up along 22nd Avenue South to applaud students as they process into Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center, for the Opening Convocation.
  • 9:30 a.m.: Opening Convocation in Hoversten
  • 10:30 a.m.: Kick-Off Celebration and Lunch in the Quadrangle
  • 11:30 a.m.:  Augsburg University President Paul Pribbenow formally launches Augsburg University
  • 12:30 – 1 p.m.: First-Year Students Begin Service Projects

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  • Augsburg measures diversity beyond ethnicity and culture and welcomes persons in our community of diverse faiths, gender identities, socioeconomic backgrounds, learning styles, and military commitments. Nearly 10 percent of students self-identify as Muslim. More than 11 percent self-identify as LGBTQIA.
  • On Sept. 5, the Class of 2021 will donate nearly $35,000 in service work at more than 20 locations in Minneapolis.

ABOUT AUGSBURG UNIVERSITY

Augsburg University offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and the Rochester site. Augsburg educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

Star Tribune talks to President Pribbenow about Mapping Prejudice project in South Minneapolis

Map of Minneapolis with color coding for regions with discriminatory residential policies
Screen shot of a time-progression map showing the growth of racially restrictive real estate covenants in the early 20th century.

Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow talks with the Star Tribune’s Randy Furst about how the Augsburg House — and much of South Minneapolis — were once governed by discriminatory housing policies. While the historical covenants are no longer legally binding, Augsburg is seeking a method to nullify the prohibition while still preserving the historical record, “so that we never lose sight of the actions that have segregated and repressed many,” Pribbenow said.

The findings about residential properties in South Minneapolis are part of the Mapping Prejudice project, led by a team of researchers from Augsburg and the University of Minnesota. For more information about the project, see Mapping Prejudice. Go to the Star Tribune article for information about other South Minneapolis homes, a perspective from a Minneapolis real estate lawyer, and an interactive map showing the growth of racially restrictive deeds across Minneapolis from 1910 to 1955.

Star Tribune Editorial Board recognizes Augsburg College’s equity and inclusion work

Minneapolis Star Tribune - logoPresident Paul Pribbenow met with leaders of the Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board to discuss Minnesota’s educational achievement gap among children and youth of diverse backgrounds. The state has one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation, and Augsburg is working to ensure all students of academic ability have access to higher education. The College’s pledge to this work includes limited debt pathways to graduation, setting aside dedicated housing for homeless students, increasing financial aid literacy, supporting faculty in creating inclusive classrooms, and increasing access to course materials.

The College was applauded for this leadership through a compelling editorial, “Augsburg College leads the call for campus equity,” written and published by the Star Tribune editorial board on Aug. 30.

The editorial explained that Minnesota is rapidly diversifying, but increasing student diversity on college campuses involves more than waiting for more nonwhite Minnesotans to enroll. “As Augsburg College is demonstrating, academic institutions can do much to adapt their own policies and practices to educate what previously has been an underserved share of the state’s population,” the editorial explained.

Augsburg has sought to reduce barriers to college success that often impede students of color, and the College aims to not only to enroll a larger share of nonwhite students, but also to see them through to graduation.

WCCO story showcases Augsburg College’s diverse incoming class

A recent report airing on WCCO radio noted that as students of all ages returned to school this fall, “Augsburg welcomed the class of 2020, with staff greeting students as they walked into the chapel for convocation. However, the class of 2020 had a special distinction – they are the most diverse class the college has seen, with more than 45 percent of them being students of color.”

As Augsburg College President Paul Pribbenow explained, “For Augsburg, that means that our commitment to diversity, to inclusion and [our] commitment to justice is actually being lived out by the students who come here to be part of our community,”

Read and listen: Augsburg College Welcomes Most Diverse Freshman Class Ever on the WCCO website.

 

 

Augsburg welcomes most diverse class in its history

Class of 2020 is 45 percent persons of color

EquityProclamation(MINNEAPOLIS) — Augsburg College at 10:15 a.m., today, welcomes it’s most diverse, first-year undergraduate class — with more than 45 percent persons of color. At the same time, the College is announcing its initial equity framework to remove the social, institutional and individual barriers that contribute to inequity.

This important work garnered support from the St. Paul Foundation — a grant of $10,000 and the opportunity for additional funding as the framework takes shape.

“Working to foster diversity and inclusivity has been a cornerstone of the Augsburg promise for many years and is an important extension of our commitment to social justice and equity,” said Augsburg College President Paul Pribbenow.

“We are honored to have the support of the St. Paul Foundation which places high importance on racial equity work. We know, as a democracy college, that Minnesota is strengthened by the diversity of its people and that educating persons of diverse backgrounds who learn at the intersection of differences is what best prepares young people to become engaged citizens and educated problem solvers.”

Since 2006, Augsburg has more than tripled the percentage of persons of color in the full undergraduate student body, growing from 11 percent in 2006 to 33 percent in 2016.

Through this work, the College has earned a leading reputation for demonstrating a unique way of engaging in the work of higher education. Within the Minnesota Private College Council, the overall enrollment average among schools includes 27 percent first-generation students and 20 percent Pell-eligible students. Augsburg leads the state among private, four-year institutions with nearly 50 percent of students who are first-generation and more than 40 percent of students who are Pell-eligible.

Continue reading “Augsburg welcomes most diverse class in its history”

Augsburg’s campus is a fit for incoming student Mark Lukitsch

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Links and tunnels help make Augsburg’s campus more accessible.

A recent South Washington County Bulletin article featured incoming Augsburg College student Mark Lukitsch‘s accomplishments and high school experience. The story describes Lukitsch as one of Park High School’s most well-known students. He has congenital muscular dystrophy, which the article said “limits his fine-motor skills but not his ambition.”

Lukitsch was influential in creating positive changes to a local stadium’s wheelchair-accessible seating options, and he chose to continue his education at Augsburg College, in part, because of the urban campus features tunnels, above-ground links, and a wheelchair-friendly layout that make it more accessible. He plans to pursue a communication studies degree and will continue to study alongside Avery, his service dog who can open classroom doors and perform other tasks that allow him to live more independently.

Read “Park High School graduate profile: Mark Lukitsch ready to move forward” on the Bulletin website.

KARE 11 story showcases Augsburg College’s diverse graduating class

kare 11 - logoA recent report airing on KARE 11 television noted that, “Augsburg College is located in the heart of Minneapolis in one of the most diverse zip codes in the city.” And, the College’s graduating class reflects that diversity.

As the story explained, “Under President Paul C. Pribbenow‘s leadership, the college has more than tripled the percentage of minorities in the full undergraduate body. In 2006, there were 11 percent compared to 33 percent in 2016.” The traditional undergraduate graduating class of 2016 is comprised of more than 42 percent students of color — a record achievement for the institution.

Pribbenow said Augsburg has been committed to attracting and supporting students from minority populations for more than a decade and has partnered with college readiness programs to achieve its success.

The broadcast report also included an interview with Robert Harper ’16, an alumnus who described why he values his college experience and the diverse makeup of his graduating class.

Read and watch: Augsburg graduates most diverse class in history on the KARE 11 website.