DEI Programming

Collective learning experiences offer benefits to participants such as deeper contextualization of concepts, identity development, and relationship building. Collective learning experiences around issues of DEI, offer opportunities for participants to process, understand, and evolve in a safe environment to cultivate a personal and professional climate of access and belonging. Each month EHD ODEI engages faculty, staff, and students in programming focused on topics of DEI.

Each year, the Diversity Action Committee (DAC), in consultation with school community members, chooses a book to serve as the Common Read. The Common Read is a signature, school-wide event that provides opportunities for discussion, introduced through an annual fall kick-off event, Common Read overview for all new and returning students at fall orientation, a brief discussion at the annual faculty retreat, and ongoing workshops presented over the fall semester that are open to faculty, staff, and students.

This suite of annual programs, designed and co-sponsored by the Office of DEI and Out and Allied Educators, complements the themes of each year’s Common Read. These programs are a way for our community, in EHD and Grounds widely, to learn more and engage with the topics and issues brought up in each year’s Common Read.

Walter Ridley was the first African American to graduate from the University of Virginia, with a doctorate in education from the School of Education and Human Development. This annual lecture has been created to honor his legacy at the University and his contributions to the field of education.

An opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to share their research while gaining valuable experience proposing, preparing, and presenting their work in a supportive environment. In 2020, the conference was renamed to honor the barrier-breaking alumna, Dr. Louise Stokes Hunter, Educ ‘53. Dr. Hunter was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Virginia.