AUCD - Diversity Symposium: Motivating, Recruiting, Supporting, and Maintaining Increased Trainee Diversity in the AUCD Network of UCEDDs and LENDs

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Monday, November 18, 2013 8:30 AM - 11:00 AM

Location: Congressional Hall C

Session Description

Increasing diversity and cultural and linguistic competence throughout the UCEDD and LEND networks will require additional strategies and practices to motivate, recruit, support, and maintain an increasingly diverse trainee population. Centers and programs face a number of challenges depending on their state's demographics, their university's admission policies, and the degree to which academic departments reach out to and engage culturally and ethnically diverse populations.

This symposium will provide an array of practices that have been applied by programs to interest youth in health, allied health, and disability related fields, support their successful participation in interdisciplinary training, and encourage their ongoing professional development. Presenters will describe the particular challenges that they faced in their university context, the strategies which they implemented, and the results that they obtained. Each will also discuss the lessons learned along the way and how they will impact their programs' infrastructure to ensure such efforts are sustained in the future. Staff presentations will be enriched by hearing directly from trainees who will provide their own perspective on their overall experience and suggestions for others who may pursue some of strategies presented.

Featured Presenter(s)

Harolyn Belcher, MD: MPH, MCHC/RISE-UP (Maternal and Child Health Careers/Research Initiatives for Student Enhancement - Undergraduate Program), Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute with Alexis Anderson, MCHC/RISE-UP student, Fisk University

Judith Holt, PhD: Co-LEND Director, Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University

Angel Love Miles, MS: Social Work PhD student, University of Maryland

Additional faculty and trainee speakers will be added in the near future

Facilitator: Tawara Goode, MA: Director, National Center for Cultural Competence and Associate UCEDD Director at Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development