Applications are currently being accepted online for the NCAA’s advanced diversity training series.

Free of charge and open to institutions and conferences that have completed the fundamental diversity education workshop at least once, participating schools and conferences may choose from among three advanced sessions that focus on race, gender and sexual orientation. A fourth workshop on organizational culture and climate is offered as a follow-up for institutions that have finished one or all three of the other advanced courses.

The application deadline is November 15.

While a key end goal continues to be to provide diversity training that specifically meets the needs of participating schools and conferences, all four advanced diversity education sessions have been updated in time for this academic year.

In addition to making each workshop more specific to college athletics and including case studies that incorporate both student-athlete and athletics administrator perspectives, Jenny Withycombe, a former Willamette rower and the diversity consultant responsible for revamping the sessions, said that the revised workshops are all built on the assumption that every participant has some degree of bias.

“Research shows that most people hold both conscious and unconscious biases,” said Withycombe. “So rather than arguing whether that is true, the workshops come from a perspective that accepts that as truth and moves forward from that point.”

Withycombe, a sport psychologist and educator with a doctorate in exercise and sport sciences who also has experience in women’s, race and cultural studies, will be facilitating the workshops, which will feature a mix of theory, discussion, video, case studies and goal setting activities.

The action planning component in each workshop also has been expanded. Participants will create action plans for how to address diversity issues specific to their campuses or teams. In addition, they will be invited to a Web cast hosted by Withycombe three to four weeks after their workshop to reinforce concepts, address additional questions and discuss any new challenges that may have arisen since the initial training session concluded.

Ultimately, Withycombe hopes that participants walk away not only recognizing how race, gender, sexual orientation and culture intersect in an individual’s identity but also understanding that sport can be a powerful tool in promoting change.  

“Sport can be used as a vehicle for reinforcing or disrupting the status quo and we need to find ways to disrupt the way things are when it’s not, in a sense, healthy for our organizations, student-athletes or employees,” she said. “The best way to create success is to communicate and work well with others. You can’t do that if you can’t understand where someone else is coming from. If your goal is success, you’ll want to have this kind of training.”

For more information on NCAA diversity education, visit the diversity and inclusion Web page under the “About the NCAA” tab at www.ncaa.org or contact Ira Childress, NCAA assistant director of diversity and inclusion, at 317/917-6222.