Events, Training, Talks, Workshops, etc.
Faculty & Staff Events
Faculty & staff in WSCOE are invited to participate in the next workshop for the ENgage series, Improving Workplace Climate by Preventing and Responding to Harassment, on Wednesday, March 29 from 12:00-1:30pm (LSC 308-310). The workshop will be facilitated by Melissa Burt and Emily Fischer and based on research from our National Science Foundation grants.
The session will be offered as an in-person workshop only. Space is limited. Lunch is provided. RSVP here.
In this interactive session, we will discuss institutional structures that allow for sexual harassment, bullying, and other hostile behaviors to persist and provides training in personal intervention strategies to protect and support targets of harassment.
As a result of this session, participants will be empowered to:
- Identify different ways in which sexual and other types of harassment manifest in workplace/research environments;
- Intervene safely as active bystanders;
- Foster a culture of professionalism.
This interactive workshop employs a game (based on extensive research) to examine how equity issues can influence promotion in tenure-track academic careers. The workshop is open to all CSU faculty members and will be held in-person in the Lory Student Center.
Register and more information here.
1) Thursday February 23 from 9:30 – 11 AM
2) Wednesday March 1 from 1 – 2:30 PM
3) Monday March 6 from 12:30 – 2 PM
4) Tuesday April 4 from 10:30 AM – 12 PM
Part I of CSU’s DEI Foundations. In this training you’ll learn CSU’s definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); discuss why pursuing DEI is a best practice for any organization; and practice listening and storytelling as skillsets for understanding how we can better support our peers. Register through CSU’s training site.
Thursday, February 2, 2023 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Monday, March 6, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Thursday, March 23, 2023 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Part II of CSU’s DEI Foundations. This interactive session will explore unconscious bias: what it is, how it forms, how it can affect ourselves and our peers, and what we can do to mitigate our own unconscious biases moving forward. Register through CSU’s training site.
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Monday, February 13, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Wednesday, April 5, 2023 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Wednesday, April 19, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Part III of CSU’s DEI Foundations. In this session participants will study the cycle of socialization, investigating how they came to hold certain beliefs about different populations through messages from family, media, and more. Participants will also discuss which social identity groups they are part of and how being a member of these groups impacts their lives. Register through CSU’s training site.
Friday, February 10, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Thursday, April 27, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Part IV of CSU’s DEI Foundations. Building on the content from Social Identities, participants will interrogate how being a member of various social identity groups exposes different people to systems of oppression, benefiting some groups while harming others. Participants will explore the three levels of inequalities: individual, institutional, and structural. Register through CSU’s training site.
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Monday, April 24, 2023 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Tuesday, May 9, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Part V of CSU’s DEI Foundations. In this session participants will learn how to include more inclusive language in their day to day lives, as well as come to a better understanding of what microaggressions are and how we can work to learn more about and limit them in our interactions with others. Register through CSU’s training site.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Monday, May 8, 2023 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Monday, May 15, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Part VI of CSU’s DEI Foundations. In this culminating session of the Creating Inclusive Excellence program, participants will use everything they have learned in previous classes about microaggressions, unconscious bias, identity, and oppression to make an action plan for how to move forward incorporating these learnings into their daily lives, how to keep learning, and others tools for intervening in problematic situations. Register through CSU’s training site.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Thursday, June 1, 2023 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Student Events
For on-campus students from any STEM department: The biology department is running Recognizing and Addressing Oppression in the Sciences (BZ 692A-003, CRN 73890) for only the second time this fall 2023! This course goes beyond the surface level conversations about diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the sciences by taking a critical lens to science history, exploring the epistemological foundations of scientific work, and layering critical theory with scientific concepts.
Read more about the course and graduate student instructors here.
In the meantime, consider signing up for the Employee DEI trainings which are open to graduate students and staff:
Employee DEI Trainings
Want to add these events to your calendar?
Have a talk or workshop we should add?
Let us know in the form below.
Resources
CSU Resources
- Bias Reporting || Colorado State University
- Employee DEI Trainings || Office of Inclusive Excellence
- Educate Yourself Blog || Office of Inclusive Excellence
- DEI Contacts || Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
- Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Module for All Students || Race, Bias, and Equity Initiative @ CSU
- ENGAGE Series || Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
- Student Resources || Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
Accessibility
Higher Ed
- Code-Switching and Assimilation in STEM Culture || Annareli Morales, Curtis L. Walker, Dereka L. Carroll-Smith, Melissa A. Burt
- NSF-Funded Initiatives Promotes Diversity within STEM Faculty Ranks || Diverse Education
- Higher Ed's Most Common Rationale for Diversity Favors White Students More than Black || Diverse Issues in Higher Education
- Ally to Accomplice || Pitt Libraries
- New Approaches to STEM Engage Traditionally Underrepresented Students || Diverse Education
- Decolonizing our Classroom Starts with Us || PBS Teachers Lounge
- Two Hispanic brothers wanted to go to college in Colorado. Here's why only one made it. || Chalkbeat
Mentoring Resources
Have a resource to add?
Let us know in the form below.
2022-2023 Departmental Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
The SE Department’s DEI committee has four working groups, each with the task to focus on an area of DEI progress that aligns with WSCOE and University-level goals. The current working groups are:
- Hiring and Recruitment: Mary Gomez, Steve Simske, Steve Conrad
- Staff/Faculty/Student Cultural Competency: Ingrid Bridge, Dan Herber, Marie Vans, Jim Adams, Erika Miller
- Outreach/Engagement: Thomas Bradley, Janine-Marie Conrad, Deb Dandaneau, Kevin Fleming
Working Group Goals
Engage Systems Engineering faculty and staff in intentional efforts to increase recruitment and hiring of individuals from groups underrepresented in the Engineering field.
Increase cultural competency of all Systems Engineering (SE) faculty, staff, and students to promote and support an inclusive department/research/academic climate with a theme this year of developing an understanding of the importance and potential for incorporating DEI-focused changes in the classroom.
The goal for AY21-22 is to meaningfully engage with new organizations that are not well represented in the Systems Engineering department.
Committee Members
DEI Committee Members
- Erika Miller (committee chair)
- Jim Adams
- Thomas Bradley
- Ingrid Bridge
- Steve Conrad
- Janine-Marie Conrad
- Deb Dandaneau
- Kevin Fleming
- Mary Gomez
- Dan Herber
- Steve Simske
- Marie Vans
DEI Student Sub-Committee Members
- Hugh Nguyen (co-chair) – Distance D.Eng.
- Cailin Simpson (co-chair) – Distance Ph.D.
- Anicet Adjahossou – Distance Ph.D.
- Anmar Al Rikabi – Distance Ph.D.
- Ibtasam Arshad – Distance Cert.
- Basheer Bristow – Distance Ph.D.
- Ahmed Elhadeedy – Distance Ph.D.
- Robert Hawkes – Distance M.S.
- Tim Kemp – M.S.
- Jayesh Narsinghani – M.S.
- Frank Nguyen – Distance Ph.D.
- Raymond Paulson – Distance Ph.D.
- Angie Robinson – Ph.D.
- Aleksandra Scalco – Distance Ph.D.
- Gautham Sekar – M.S.
- Vanja Vlajnic – Distance Ph.D.
- Arthur Worlobah – Distance Ph.D.
DEI Student Sub-Committee Member Profiles

Hugh Nguyen (co-chair)
Current Residence: San Diego, CA
Education: B.S. Electrical Engineering, UCSD; M.S. Electrical Engineering (SDSU); M.S. Systems Engineering (CSU)
Employment: 22 years in engineering (10 years in private sector, 12 years in Government)
Previous DEI experience: Asian and Vietnamese Student Associations at UCSD and SDSU; student member in SDSU Admission Advisory Committee; chaired the Culture Advisory Board at Northrop Grumman; member of First Line Supervisor Council at Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific
Hobbies: Gardening, fixing stuffs, hiking, traveling

Cailin Simpson (co-chair)
Current Residence: Minneapolis, MN
Discovering Systems @ CSU: I met Dr. Ron Sega through networking and he introduced me to the program and Dr. Simske.
Why a Ph.D.? I have always enjoyed solving problems by looking at the “big picture” and how things should work together to achieve the “big picture” – I had no idea that is what SE was. But once I found out, I was hooked!
DEI: I am passionate about representation of people that come from different backgrounds in engineering. It is important to have true diversity of thought when solving the world’s most intricate problems.
Hobbies: I love spending time with my partner and dogs by doing activities outdoor like hiking, canoeing, and sailing.

Anicet Adjahossou
Current Residence: Denver, CO
Discovering Systems @ CSU: I attended a UN conference in Seattle Lake City where I learned about many discoveries, leading to solutions to global challenges in infrastructure, water, health, energy and the environment, made at the CSU, and then I contacted Professor Neil who introduced me to the CSU’s SE Department.
Why a Ph.D.? What inspired me to pursue the Ph.D. program at CSU is to learn about new applications of systemic processes in society that improve the world we live in.
DEI: What motivated me to be a part of the DEI student committee is to contribute to creating environments conducive to feedback, supporting diversity and being open to student humanity. Volunteering my time to help others in need, enriching diversity and inclusion in order to reduce redundancy and conflicting thinking within the community.
Employment: I work in UN humanitarian operations and help refugees and people in need. In addition, humor, telling stories of the great kings of Africa and their contributions to the development of the continent.

Frank Nguyen
Current Residence: Orange County, Southern California
Why a Ph.D.? What inspired me to pursue the Ph.D. program at CSU is the need to integrate the multiple disciplines into a unique system to solve the complex problems.
DEI: What motivated me to be a part of the DEI student committee is because of the great value of diverse team that everybody can share and learn from each other in order to grow stronger together.
Hobbies: I play ping-pong and guitar at home when I do have free time.

Aleksandra Scalco
Current Residence: Charleston, SC
Discovering Systems @ CSU: Professional mentors introduced me to the CSU SE department
Why a Ph.D.? What inspired me to pursue the Ph.D. program at CSU is the need to solve a real-world problem.
DEI: What motivated me to be a part of the DEI student committee is a natural extension of the joy of witnessing and supporting everyone in realizing their individual gifts, particularly when it comes to STEM (but whatever they chose to pursue in life). I am also a member of the Executive Diversity Council (EDC) at my workplace.
Mentorships: I actively mentor young adults (high school – college) who are developing their own life’s journey and careers. This is either by formal internships or actively engaged (e.g. weekly touch points by telephone, email, or Zoom meetings).