Conferences of Institutional Representatives
CHAS regularly assembles representatives from member institutions, affording opportunities to exchange ideas and information, share best practices, foster collective learning, enhance institutional collaboration, build community, and broaden professional networks.
Typically held at the conclusion of the academic year, and attracting both faculty and staff, our 2022 conference was hosted by Carleton College, in Minnesota, while the 2023 conference site was Goucher College, in Maryland.
In 2024, our gathering will convene at Occidental College, in Los Angeles, California, from Wednesday, June 26th, through Friday, June 28th: CHAS Annual Representatives Conference.
Student Conferences
CHAS student conferences offer safe, supportive spaces for students to discuss openly, honestly and constructively the unique challenges and issues they may encounter as underrepresented students on the campuses of predominantly white institutions, and to collectively brainstorm strategies to create positive institutional change.
Brown University was the site of our 2022 Student of Color Leadership Conference. Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr Colleges co-hosted the 2024 Student of Color Leadership Conference. Skidmore College will be hosting the 2025 Student of Color Leadership Conference, April 4th through 6th, 2025.
Targeted Professionals Meetings
CHAS occasionally hosts meetings aimed at engaging specific groups of administrative personnel whom students routinely encounter upon matriculating on our campuses. For example, past meetings have invited career counselors, athletics directors, and mental health counselors.
The aims of these meetings include fostering improvement in addressing both the needs of underrepresented and/or marginalized students themselves as well as the needs of staff serving in such capacities, through the sharing of best practices and wisdom. In 2023, Vassar College convened a meeting focused on “(Re)Defining Our Leadership: Cultivating a Community of Care.”
Faculty are invited to compete for funds that will allow them to undertake a project to promote intellectual engagement among all students, with an explicit emphasis on promoting inclusion and belonging among underrepresented and/or marginalized students of color. We provide grants for faculty to develop and design initiatives that meet these institutional needs. Faculty members in all disciplines may submit proposals, and the resulting research is presented at a CHAS meeting. Examples of work recently supported by CHAS Faculty Grants include “Researching Diversity at Kenyon College” and the Faculty of Color Network website.