Webinar: Addressing Unconscious Bias in Higher Education

APLU, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) are hosting a webinar to help address unconscious bias in higher education. The webinar will be held on Friday, January 13, 2017, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Register here.

This webinar is part of a series intended to stimulate discussion and engage university leaders around topics from the recent report Increasing Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce: Actions for Improving Evidence, supported by the National Institutes of Health. During this webinar, experts on unconscious bias training will share evidence from their research, describe effective models, and discuss challenges for implementation. The speakers will also discuss remaining research gaps that limit the applicability of unconscious bias interventions across different contexts (e.g., admissions) and next steps for expanding the use of this promising practice.

Providing unconscious bias training to faculty and staff may reduce discrimination and mitigate the impact of bias at the university. Although evidence-based training models exist, effective implementation of those models is critical. Some universities have found that mandatory training can incite backlash while voluntary training is unlikely to reach those who need it most. In addition, not all biases can be addressed at once; separate trainings are needed for racial bias, gender bias, disability bias, etc.

Speakers include:

• Laura Castillo-Page, Ph.D., Acting Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Senior Director, Diversity Policies and Programs, Association of American Medical Colleges
• Brian Gibbs, Ph.D., MPA, Vice President, Equity & Inclusion, Oregon Health and Science University
• Janetta Lun, Ph.D., Senior Behavioral Scientist, National Institutes of Health
• Janice Sabin, Ph.D., MSW, Research Associate Professor, University of Washington Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education

Who should attend this webinar? Anyone interested in exploring unconscious/implicit bias training, particularly as a strategy to diversify the STEM and biomedical science workforce. Interested individuals may include university leaders and administrators, deans, chairs of faculty search committees and admissions committees, diversity professionals, and faculty.

Register today