Faculty, Students Present at PAASHE Diversity Conference

CU faculty, staff, and students presented at the PAASHE Diversity Conference held in the fall.

Four participants of the Emerging Scholars Program, an academic, cultural, and social support program presented a workshop titled: “The Role Community Can Play in Helping Students Achieve Success.” The workshop focused on how the components of the Emerging Scholars program, including small group discussion, study hall, journaling, and tutoring positively impacted the academic performance of the presenters. The presenters also focused on how the program worked to build community and how that sense of community positively impacted their persistence at the university. The students were Paige Sevrain, Ariya Hansen, Brianna Yearde, and Jose Ferrufino.

Four students enrolled in the Black Studies Minor presented a workshop titled: “Pragmatic Talk in Everyday Life.” The workshop focused on how to engage in difficult in-class conversations from an academic perspective. The presenters encouraged those in attendance to remove emotion from difficult conversations and instead engage in these conversations from a fact-based and pragmatic approach. The students were Kyla Parks, Kayla Parks, Jeremiah Saunders Jr., and Kaya Brownlee.

Kerrie Devries, associate professor of psychology, and Ralph Godbolt, director of diversity, retention, and outreach, presented a workshop, “The Purposeful and Intentional Intersection between Student Success, Community Engagement, and Diverse Curriculum." 

The workshop focused on the intersection between out-of-class programs such as Emerging Scholars and Out of the Classroom: Into the Community, and race-based curriculum, such as the courses offered within the Black Studies Minor. 

Student Evelyn Spade presented a poster presentation, “Curriculum Helps Retention: The Impact of Race-based Curriculum for College Students of Color.” The presentation focused on the findings of a large-scale research project that analyzed data from 19,000 students over six academic years. The data demonstrates a positive correlation between Race-based curriculum and student retention. 

The Emerging Scholars program is an intensive academic, cultural and social support program. Components of Emerging Scholars includes small group discussion, study hall, community service, and journaling. During the spring 24 semester, 92% of students who were required to participate due to a concern about their academic performance demonstrated a higher semester GPA in spring 24 compared to the fall of 2023. All of these students returned to CU for fall 2024.