The free, public TEDxUofL 2017: Growth conference is organized by the Planning Student Organization, affiliated with UofL’s urban and public affairs department.

The 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. event at the Red Barn will feature discussions about community, creation and cultural competency through a series of “TED-style” brief talks; the format is modeled on conferences that began in 1984 with one that tied in technology, entertainment and design (TED).

“With creative ideas and a strong sense of community, we can cultivate a world where all cultures are embraced,” said graduate student Nia Holt, a TEDxUofL organizer. “We plan to explore how cultural competency, creation and community could help us improve our understanding of those around us and our surroundings.”

Although the event is free, session space is limited and participants must register by April 6 for each session (cultural competency, community and creation) they plan to attend .��

Scheduled speakers and sessions are: 

• Cultural Competency (10-11:30 a.m.), with Aaron Rollins, UofL public administration; Tony Belak, International Center for Compassionate Organizations; Pradeep Deshpande, Six Sigma and Advanced Control; and Brandy Kelly Pryor, Center for Health Equity.
• Community (noon-1:30 p.m.), with John Hopkins, Center for Neighborhoods; Eric Blair, Kentucky Refugee Ministries; Jessica Pendergrass, Louisville Grows; and Lynn Rippy, YouthBuild.
• Creation (2-3:30 p.m.), with Mark Hogg, WaterStep; Josh Miller, IDEAS xLab; Nat Irvin, UofL business; and Ehren Reed, Louisville Visual Art.

At the 2016 Culturally Effective Care Symposium, nearly 550 students learned about working with colleagues from different disciplines to improve health equity for patients and populations and participated in discussions on LGBT health and barriers to health care issues faced by immigrants and refugees. The day-long event, “Health Equity through Interprofessional Practice,” was coordinated by the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Previously known as Cultural Competency Day, the event was renamed this year to more accurately reflect its mission.

“Through one-day events no one becomes ‘fully competent’ about any culture, including their own, so the name did not reflect the true purpose of the program,” said Ryan Simpson, assistant director of the UofL HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion. “In these symposiums we are trying to provide participants foundational experiences in culturally effective care to equip future health professionals in achieving optimal patient care.��Our planning committee renamed it the ‘Culturally Effective Care Symposium’ to better represent what we are there to achieve.”

Students from all four UofL Health Sciences Center schools, as well as the Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and the UofL Kent School of Social Work participated in the symposium, held at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage in Louisville. Participants included students and residents in nursing, dentistry, dental hygiene, speech pathology, pharmacy, social work, public health and medicine.

UofL’s Patricia Allen Cultural Competency Day was first held in 2006, the result of efforts by V. Faye Jones, MD, PhD, assistant vice president for health affairs – diversity initiatives, and Patricia Allen, administrative associate for the Area Health ����ֱ�� Center program office at UofL, to improve cultural understanding of UofL Health Sciences Center students. The event is named for Allen, who helped lay the groundwork and planning for the event.

Dominique McShan, program coordinator of multicultural programming and organizations, explains that “cultural appreciation” is learning about another culture with “respect and courtesy,” while cultural appropriation is “when a person takes something with cultural significance from another culture for their own, but doesn’t respect or understand the cultural significance that something has.”

“Cultural appreciation is appreciating a certain culture enough to take time to learn about it, interact with people among the culture and actually understand the culture,” he said. “Cultural appropriation is when someone only claims to ‘like’ the culture because of what they can gain from it, and often exploit it.”

This is the first year for the Diversity Dialogue series. Prior to this semester, the Cultural Center organized Cultural Competency workshops which were formal lunch lectures around research and literature reflecting diversity and social justice issues. The original Cultural Competency Workshop Series began in Fall 2014.

The program was revamped this year in an effort to turn these formal workshops into less formal, more conversational dialogues that are inclusive of a larger variety of topics, according to McShan.

“Our hope is that this new approach will provide attendees with an opportunity to be engaged and contribute to these discussions, and consequently gain a deeper understanding from these conversations,” he said.

The Cultural Center will continue its Diversity Dialogue Series Oct. 18 at 12 p.m. with a discussion on “Equity vs. Equality,” presented by Dr. Ahmad Washington, assistant professor in the College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development. This presentation will take place in the Cultural Center.

The series will conclude Nov. 17 at noon with a talk on “LGBTQ Support, Advocacy and Allyism,” by Brian Buford, assistant provost for diversity and LGBT Center director. This discussion will also be held in the Cultural Center.

“We picked these three topics to kick off the Diversity Dialogue series because these topics are diversity issues that affect individuals across many identities, such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, geographic origin, etc.,” McShan said.

The ultimate goal for this first year, he adds, is to increase the cultural competence and understanding of diversity issues among students, faculty, staff and community members.��

For more information on the Diversity Dialogue Series, visit the .