Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Academy

 

DILA provides an immersive experience through the integration of competency-building seminars, applied learning, and critical dialogue.

 

About DILA

The Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Academy (DILA) provides transformative leadership development where participants will understand and strengthen their own leadership identity, skills, and competencies to value, build, and lead diverse and inclusive teams. The academy features workshops and experiential learning activities for participants to build their capacity for effective, inclusive leadership.

Designed exclusively for campus leadership, DILA introduces participants to the attitudes, knowledge, and skills effective for leadership in an increasingly diverse campus.  Upon completion, participants can incorporate these newly developed competencies into their leadership toolkit and contribute to driving inclusivity into our campus culture.

 

Program Structure

DILA provides an immersive experience through the integration of competency-building seminars, applied learning, and critical dialogue. 

Applying content learned in the eight sessions, participants will leverage the support of their peers to solve a leadership challenge they are facing in advancing equity in their respective units. As the capstone project of the program, each participant will present a plan to address their leadership challenge, while also sharing insights and lessons learned. 

The academy will meet regularly throughout the spring semester for 1-hour content presentations, followed by 30-minute critical dialogue sessions with alternating small groups to discuss the content.

There is also the required attendance in the annual Inclusive Leadership Symposium.

 

Core Competencies

• Intercultural Conflict Management
• Social Identity Self-Awareness
• Cross-Cultural Communication and Difficult Dialogue
• Dimensions of Diversity

 

Academy Facilitators

 

Dr. Ding-Jo Currie, Distinguished Faculty, Higher Education Leadership, College of Education

Dr. Ding-Jo H. Currie’s career includes 30-plus years in the California Community College system with eight additional years in the California State University system. Ding-Jo retired in 2011 from Coast Community College District where she served as Chancellor. She also served as President of Coastline Community College prior to her Chancellor role.  Currently, Ding-Jo is serving as Distinguished Faculty at CSU Fullerton and devotes herself to full-time leadership development work.

 

Dr. Charles Dorsey

Reverend Dr. Charles Lamont Dorsey is a locally and nationally known dynamic leader.  Rev. Dr. Dorsey is an accomplished author, vocalist, and speaker including more than 300 speaking engagements. Dr. Dorsey recently launched his firm, The Dorsey Group, LLC., focused on individual and organizational performance improvement. Among other responsibilities, Reverend Dr. Dorsey serves as an Adjunct Professor at a local university. His academic record includes a Master of Divinity from the Claremont School of Theology, Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of California at Irvine, and a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University.