Colorado State University’s 25th annual Symposium began Nov. 3 and concluded Nov. 6, featuring an array of lectures and workshops aimed at addressing important topics in higher education and shining a light on all the initiatives taking place across CSU campuses. Most of the events and lectures held were either hybrid or completely virtual, allowing people to attend in person or watch from home.

This year’s themes included Opening Doors: Access in Higher Education; Reimagining Success: Opportunity, Engagement and Growth; and Community in Action: Centering People and Building Resilience. Proposals by planning committees and community members that address these themes are invited to come and take part in The Symposium each year.

“Be the engineer and the architect of the impact for your people, for your community, for this generation and the ones waiting for us to arrive.” -Michael Benitez, vice president for Diversity and Inclusion at Metropolitan State University

The event kicked off in the Lory Student Center University Ballroom with a keynote by CSU President Amy Parsons and a discussion with former members of the Peace Corps, an independent U.S. government agency that sends volunteers to help communities around the world. The dialogue highlighted how human connections and positive leadership can change communities at CSU and locally.

“We have to believe that our actions matter and that those individual actions add up to something bigger than ourselves over time,” said Carol Spahn, former Peace Corps director and current presidential executive-in-residence at CSU.

CSU graduate student and attendee Ian McKinzey said the talk helped broaden his understanding of the program.

“When you know someone who’s been a part of (Peace Corps), you really just widen that perspective,” McKinzey said. “I thought it was really an impactful talk.”

Michael Benitez, a nationally acclaimed educator in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion who works at Metropolitan State University, highlighted the importance of making change and serving the community in his opening keynote for The Symposium.

“Be the engineer and the architect of the impact for your people, for your community, for this generation and the ones waiting for us to arrive,” Benitez said.

Benitez called for CSU students and employees alike to be the change they wish to see while navigating the current moment, and he said they can do this by looking at the ways ancestors and elders powered through history and how they created spaces of liberation. He said being a good instructor and teacher requires focusing on who is served and how to better serve the community.

Another annual highlight of The Symposium was CSU Inspire, a hybrid event that invited seven speakers to raise awareness about initiatives happening on campus and within communities that center on access and success.

“I was thrilled to talk about how the CSU System — through fostering collaboration across CSU Fort Collins, CSU Pueblo and CSU Global — is opening doors to higher education and reimagining student success,” said speaker Roze Hentschell, chief academic officer of CSU System and CSU professor of English.

Hentschell highlighted an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, which was used to create a centralized data system for better collaboration between the three CSU campuses and improve faculty interactions at the classroom level.

“These efforts reflect The Symposium’s themes and demonstrate how public higher education can be both inclusive and transformative,” Hentschell said.

Maggie Hendrickson, director of the Pride Resource Center at CSU, was among The Symposium speakers. Hendrickson has spent seven years at CSU and expanded the PRC mission from solely focusing on LGBTQIA+ education to a broader goal of student thriving.

“Thriving means our students are whole, happy and healthy: scoring goals on their intramural team, doing undergraduate research and having plans after graduation,” Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson has collaborated with the PRC to create initiatives like the Pride Leadership Collective, a program for students to come together and learn about advocacy and leadership on campus. Hendrickson said the program encourages LGBTQIA+ students to take on leadership roles, as research shows these students are often overlooked for leadership positions.

“One out of two of our students felt like they did not belong in 2019,” Hendrickson said. “In 2023, only one of eight students who are LGBTQ said they felt like they don’t belong.”

Additional speakers included Associated Students of CSU President Jakye Nunley; CSU communication studies Professor Eric Aoki; Assistant Provost for Student Success at CSU Pueblo Abby Davidson; and counselor and CSU Director of Specialty Counseling Christopher Leck.

“Students will only succeed when the institution succeeds at its responsibility,” said Coronda Ziegler, the senior student success manager at CSU.