Individual Consultations

The BUILD Program provides consultation services to individuals on all matters related to creating and fostering diverse, inclusive, and equitable environments for students and employees. These services are available to anyone who works (full- or part-time) at Boise State University, including both tenured and contingent faculty, classified staff, professional staff, and graduate assistants. Because we recognize that each individual’s needs and skills are unique, we encourage employees to use these services in whatever ways and timeframes are best suited to their individual inclusion goals.

Conversations are the heart of our consultation process. Our work most often begins with a conversation about where you are today, where you want to be tomorrow, and what challenges or opportunities you’ll encounter along the way.

Consulting with a BUILD consultant is a bit like meeting with a personal trainer at a gym. We’ll discuss your goals, review your familiarity and comfort levels with the tools that are available to you, and come up with a plan–together–to help you move in the direction you desire. Along the way we can provide technical support, guidance on research-based practices, referrals to relevant campus and community partners, and loads of encouragement.

Our conversations may take many forms, and address a wide variety of topics. This list includes descriptions of some of the more common topics of discussion:

• Course Design: BUILD Consultants can help faculty bring an equity and inclusion lens to any step in the course design process–from initial identification of learning outcomes, to implementing inclusive assessment and grading practices, to revising an already established course.
  
• Course Content: Consultations about course content can focus on anything from incorporating specific concepts into a larger course structure, to diversifying course materials, to identifying specific resources on DEI topics (e.g., social identity, patterns of marginalization, systems of oppression, etc).
• Departmental Processes and Policies: University policies and processes play a significant role in creating the Boise State experience for both employees and students. The BUILD program is excited to help departments design and implement policies and processes that contribute to a more inclusive and welcoming Boise State.
• Departmental Culture: Sometimes, an equity goal might be less concrete than a more inclusive policy. Departmental culture describes the broad range of ways that members of a unit act and interact–the social norms, the tacit assumptions, the ways of communicating with each other, and the variety of formal and informal practices that constitute everyday work-life. BUILD consultants can help employees explore challenges and opportunities within their department’s culture and come up with a plan for moving forward.
• Exploration of Emerging Trends: Been hearing a lot lately about trauma-responsive pedagogy? Interested in incorporating pronouns into introductions in your workplace, but unsure how to start? Confused about the impact of HB440 on the implementation of inclusive hiring practices? BUILD consultants can help you to stay abreast of emerging trends in equity and inclusion, as well as assist you in incorporating them into your work.

To request a consultation, please complete the BUILD Consultation Request Form.