2021 Virtual Annual Conference Day 5 Detailed Schedule

Workshop Synopsis:‎

This day-long workshop will continue the conference dialogue, by focusing on Inclusion, ‎Diversity and Equity in academia, and in curricula and coursework. Building on the knowledge ‎and skills gained in Sessions 1 and 2 on Unconscious Bias, the final session of the day will bring ‎participants together to collaboratively revise, rework, and adjust interior design course ‎artifacts – like syllabi or project announcements, within the context of the prior presentations ‎and discussions. This active learning session invites all participants to engage in a safe, brave ‎critique of teaching materials to raise our collective awareness about how to evolve an ‎inclusive, diverse and equitable interior design education.‎

The IDE Workshop is generously supported by the IDEC Fellows, and was proposed and developed by IDEC’s IDE Network, co-chaired by Taneshia West-Albert and Roberto Ventura.

Session 1: Uncovering Our Unconscious Bias led by Kate Thornton
Session 2: Addressing Unconscious Bias in Coursework led by Mayuko Nakamura
Session 3: Integrating Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity into Interior Design Coursework led by Taneshia West-Albert and Roberto Ventura

Objective: To collaboratively revise, rework, and adjust course materials to integrate inclusion, diversity, and equity
Session 1: Uncovering Our Unconscious Bias
Facilitator, Kate Thornton, Director of Global Education at Auburn University, offers ‎an introduction of cultural intelligence (CQ) unconscious bias. Cultural intelligence, or CQ, is the ‎foundation and strategic link to inclusion, diversity, and equity (IDE). This session will address ‎managing bias with cultural intelligence, seeing unconscious bias, expanding your perspective of ‎cultural values & unconscious bias, improving decision-making for strategies to disrupt Decision-‎Making Bias, disrupting biased systems and practices and creating your own action plan.‎</p>
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Session 2: Addressing Unconscious Bias in Coursework
Workshop leader Mayuko Nakamura offers a presentation and interactive workshop on ‎making syllabi and teaching materials more inclusive. Workshop participants will ‎analyze examples to uncover unconscious bias, and are encouraged to bring their syllabi/teaching materials to actively rework them to improve inclusivity.‎

Session 3: Integrating Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity into Interior Design Coursework
Coordinated by the IDEC Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (IDE) Network Co-chairs, Taneshia West-Albert and Roberto Ventura. ‎Participants will use the knowledge and skills gained in Sessions 1 & 2 to collaboratively rework, revise, ‎and adjust 2-3 interior design course artifacts to integrate Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity. ‎Sample course work to be collected through a pre-conference call for projects/coursework from any Interior Design topic/course, to be used anonymously for the workshop.

IDEC Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity network channel #idenetwork on the SLACK platform‎

(Left to right: Mayuko Nakamura, Kate Thornton, Roberto Ventura, and Taneshia West-Albert)

Mayuko Nakamura, Coordinator, Faculty Development and Team Leader, Instructional ‎Technology and Media in the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, Illinois State University ‎
Mayuko Nakamura joined CTLT as a coordinator in the fall of 2006. She earned her Master’s ‎degree from ‎Teachers College, Columbia University in 1997 and has been working in higher ‎education for the past ‎‎20 years. Mayuko has a wide range of ‎professional interests including ‎critical pedagogy, equity pedagogy, intercultural learning, cognitive and ‎developmental ‎psychology, online and blended teaching and instructional technology. ‎

Kate Thornton, Director of Global Education, Auburn University
Kate Thornton, Ph.D. serves as the Director of Hunger and Sustainability Initiatives at the ‎Hunger Solutions Institute and the Director of Global Education in the College of Human ‎Sciences at Auburn University. She has a varied background ranging from business to ‎biochemistry and is interested in utilizing her diverse knowledge base to bring sustainable ‎solutions to help solve the major global challenges facing the world today. Thornton is ‎passionate about Cultural Intelligence and mitigating the effect of unconscious bias on our ‎communities. Thornton earned her Ph.D., as well as an MBA and a MS from Auburn University.‎

Roberto Ventura, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of Interior Design, Virginia Commonwealth University ‎School of Arts
Roberto Ventura is Associate Professor and Interim Chair of Interior Design in the School of the ‎Arts at ‎Virginia Commonwealth University. He is focused on addressing issues surrounding ‎diversity, inclusion, and equity in ‎interior design, and believes designers should be in the ‎vanguard of change.‎ Exploring the intersections of multiple disciplines in terms of form, ‎type, ‎process, and communication, Roberto’s academic and creative scholarship has ranged from the ‎curation ‎and design of exhibitions to the introduction of improv performance to design students.‎ ‎He values collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and his project partners have included graphic ‎designers ‎and poets. ‎He holds a Master of Architecture from Miami University and maintains a solo practice, ‎Roberto ventura design studio.‎

Taneshia West-Albert, MFA, IDEC, EDAC, NCIDQ, Assistant Professor – Interior Design at Auburn University
Professor Taneshia West Albert, is an enthusiastic educator and design practitioner. Her ‎research and creative scholarship explores cultural identity, meaning and trauma; diversity and ‎inclusion; and digital literacy. Her design career is focused in design for healthcare ‎environments, corporate interiors, and higher education spaces with a unique background in ‎medical equipment planning and facilities design and construction.‎