This course was recently updated in 2020 by the course instructor, Helen Wong Smith, to bring an even more rich discussion/experience around this topic.
Course will run 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. U.S. pacific time, (11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. U.S. central time) in Pasadena, California.
We all would like to believe that we are aware of Cultural Diversity Competency (CDC), but what exactly does it stand for? Helen Wong Smith says it’s the ability to function with awareness, knowledge, and interpersonal skill when engaging people of different backgrounds, assumptions, beliefs, values, and behaviors. In this workshop you’ll be challenged to examine personal perceptions that might surprise you and, you’ll be introduced to strategies that will increase your ability to practice inclusion.
This workshop provides the four skills to employ CDC and the five stages individuals and organizations can implement to improve relations with internal and external communities.
Upon completion of this course, you'll be able to:
- Use the definition of CDC and the three levels of integration to reflect on their cross-cultural interactions.
- Use the five stages of the CDC continuum to reflect upon their strengths and challenges and those of their organizations.
- Employ four key CDC skills in order to improve their cross-cultural interactions.
- Recognize differences in knowledge and sense-making while recognizing indigenous cultures are not homogenous-each is unique, thus the very definition of diversity.
- Recognize where cultural-mindedness can be employed with culturally centered communication skills to form a foundation for contributing to culturally competent organizations, communities, and societies.
Who Should Attend: Archivists, librarians, staff, and managers who provide any type of information services. This workshop also addresses internal relationships.
What Should You Know Already?
No prior knowledge necessary.
About the Instructor:
Helen Wong Smith is the Archivist for University Records at the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) at Mānoa Helen Wong Smith has over 35 years’ experience in library and archival collections in Hawaiʻi. With a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies and MLIS from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UHM), she has held numerous positions including Hawaiian Collection Librarian at UH Hilo, lead archivist for the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and NPS’ Pacific Island Network, and Librarian/Archivist for the State Historic Preservation Division. Elected president of Hawaiian Library Association, Hawaiian Historical Society and twice of the Association of Hawaiʻi Archivists she was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Society of American Archivists in 2016.
Helen has been sharing how cultural competency can advance the archival profession since 2015 across the country including an invitation by Harvard University in November 2019. She and Dr. Rebecca Hankins successfully proposed cultural competency as a new domain to the Academy of Certified Archivist and she co-chairs the Task Force to establish the knowledge statements and recommended readings for this domain. Her “gospel of cultural competency” has extended to the museum sector through a series of webinars for the Hawaiʻi Museum Association.
Registration Fee: Early-Bird / Regular
SAA Member: $219 / $279
Employee of SAA Member Institution: $269 / $329
Nonmember: $309 / $389