Colorado State University’s annual Symposium for Inclusive Excellence took place Oct. 21-25 and was hosted by the Office for Inclusive Excellence. The symposium started as a one-day conference in 2001 and has grown into a weeklong event filled with guest speakers, presentations and numerous sessions anyone in the community is able to join in on.
“This year, we proudly celebrated the 24-year annual Symposium for Inclusive Excellence, bringing together approximately 2,000 passionate attendees for an inspiring week dedicated to fostering inclusion within our community,” OIE Administrative Assistant Amber Sanchez said.
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“Join us next year as we continue to build a brighter, more inclusive future together because every voice matters in our journey toward excellence.” –Amber Sanchez, Office for Inclusive Excellence administrative assistant
This year’s symposium was both held as an in-person and online event, allowing for more attendees. The Symposium for Inclusive Excellence focuses on diversity, equity, justice and inclusion on CSU’s campus and works with a number of groups to make the symposium as accessible and collaborative as possible.
“In a spirit of collaboration, we partnered with the CSU System and the Fort Collins community, featuring presenters from CSU Global, CSU-Pueblo, the Fort Collins (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity) Team and the ACT Human Rights Film Festival,” Sanchez said. “We also prioritized accessibility through language justice initiatives by offering Spanish and ASL interpretation.”
Presentations about the Multicultural Undergraduate Research Art and Leadership Symposium placed emphasis both on the diverse population of students working on research as well as the diverse research topics at CSU.
The MURALS presentation was predominantly led by Jocelyn Lapham, the MURALS program coordinator, and focused on the opportunities given to undergraduates who are historically underrepresented or identify with marginalized identities to participate in a broad range of research subjects.
In the MURALS organization, 68.3% of participants are racially minoritized students, 42.5% are first-generation college students and 75.4% are women. It was also reported that 95% of students who participate in MURALS as first-year students enroll in the following fall semester, compared to 88.9% of nonparticipating students.
Additionally, 81.6% of first-year MURALS participants graduated within six years of starting college compared to only 64.4% of nonparticipants.
MURALS is represented in all eight colleges at CSU and accepts submissions in several categories: creative arts, service learning and leadership, social sciences and humanities, innovation and entrepreneurship and STEMM, or science, technology, engineering, math and medicine.
In her presentation called “A Glimpse of MURALS,” Lapham said “there were over 190 students presenting at MURALS last year.”
MURALS 2024 winners Hannah Gilliard, Yoseline Rivera and Victoria Silva presented a snapshot of their winning research at the symposium.
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Gilliard, the Social Sciences and Humanities winner of MURALS 2024, presented research on measuring and improving undergraduate STEM students’ inclusive science communication skills. Rivera, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship winner of MURALS 2024, presented research on campus safety and new safety applications. Silva, the overall winner of MURALS 2024, presented on mobile home communities’ struggle with contaminants in pipes.
In addition to a diverse student population contributing to research at CSU, there is also research related to the diversity, equity, inclusion and justice happening on CSU’s campus. According to the DEIJ presentation at the Symposium for Inclusive Excellence, the department of health and exercise science is conducting research about health disparities among diverse populations and interventions for people with a wide range of disabilities.
The DEIJ department wants people, whether they identify with a marginalized identity or not, to practice inclusivity.
“These websites are meant for everybody to feel like they have a place to engage,” said Michelle Foster, associate dean for DEIJ and one of the presenters.
The Symposium for Inclusive Excellence is a unique opportunity to showcase the diversity of CSU’s campus along with what CSU is doing to continue supporting diversity and inclusivity.
“Join us next year as we continue to build a brighter, more inclusive future together because every voice matters in our journey toward excellence,” Sanchez said.
Reach Hana Pavelko at science@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
