CASA & Dash To Success
Light to Inspire
Join us on an inspiring journey to foster an equitable and compassionate environment at Butte College!
Discover the power of experiential affective-based professional development offered by Diego Navarro, designed to empower educators to create a culture of dignity and belonging. A series of professional development workshops and an institute will be offered in the Fall 2023 - Spring 2024 to help you amplify a culture of dignity on campus.
Learn more about Diego Navarro, watch the PBS Documentary Featuring ACE On-Boarding & Needs of Students of Color.
Diego's Professional Workshop Series Brochure provides an overview of the offerings.
Light to Inspire
Professional Development
FELI Description
In order for faculty to understand the experiential pedagogy of the Foundation Course, they need a hands-on experience of the content because faculty’s formal education doesn’t usually include experiential pedagogy. The Faculty Experiential Learning Institute (FELI) is a five-day version of the Foundation Course curriculum designed for community college faculty, staff and administrators. Teachers who go through the FELI find the skills they learn there useful not only in the classroom, but in their personal and broader professional lives as well. The theme of the FELI is “Reconceptualizing Education.”
"The FELI was transforming, exhausting and enlightening. It took my communication skills and my leadership skills to the next level". –FELI Faculty Participant
"After the FELI I was more willing to take chances in the classroom, and be more vulnerable to students. It helps me connect to the students, to put myself out there, and expose myself in terms of humanity so they show more of themselves".— FELI Faculty Participant
Five-Day Experiential Learning Institute (FELI):
There is no prerequisite.
In Person Institute on Campus: 5/28-6/1, 9:00-5:00
*Flex or Stipend will be offered for faculty, including associate faculty
Previous Events
Workshop Series 1: “Constructs For Creating a Culture of Dignity”
Three On-Line Workshops, 10/13, 10/27 & 12/8 2024, 12:00-4:30
Community of Practice Meeting: 11/17/2023 12:00-2:00
Participate: Spring FLEX Session: TBA
Registration Closed
Workshop Series: 2 “Developing Gravity and Glue to Empower Student in the Classroom & in On-Boarding”
Prerequisite: Culture of Dignity
Three On-line Workshops, 1/18, 1/19, 1/26 2023, 12:00-4:30
Community of Practice Meeting: 3/1/2024, 12:00 -2:00
Creating a Culture of Dignity
Our students come to us with many experiences wondering if our college will be a safe environment. Many of our disproportionately impacted students have shaming experiences in their encounters with education prior to coming to our college as well as at our college. These experiences for many are still alive in them when they arrive at our college or in our classes.
To counteract our student’s hyper-vigilance and their experiences of indignities in their education there are two ways to address these issues:
Creating a secure container — “what we call the glue” and
Developing the capacity of embodied interactions which deepen student’s insights — “what we call the gravity.”
Diego Navarro
Hear a recent interview with Diego Navarro about his work creating cultures of dignity on Dr. Al Solano’s podcast.
Diego Navarro
He currently serves as a Coach in the Aspen Institute and National Center for Inquiry and Improvement implementation project serving 11community colleges, 5 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and 5 public four-year Hispanic Serving Institutions. He also serves on the selection committee of the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.
Content Editor:
Amanda Montgomery
530-879-4119