Faculty, staff say Haven helpful in addressing diversity on campus

 Faculty and staff at Sam Houston State University say the Haven training was helpful in recognizing and addressing diversity among students on campus.

The Counseling Center collaborated with the Department of Residence Life to host Haven training for a group of 25 faculty members to help them know how to provide resources and support to the university’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) population.

Erin Cassidy, assistant professor in the library, thought Haven did a great job of making faculty aware of diversity among students on campus.

"Haven is a really wonderful training program that increases awareness and acceptance for the diversity that takes place among students on the campus," Cassidy said. "The program is beneficial for not only the professors and faculty, but also for the students as well."

Thomas Cox, of the history department, attended Haven for the first time and was pleased with what the information in the session. Cox felt the training addressed some important issues on campus and was very productive for those in attendance.

Maryim Ilahi, Ph.D., one of the training leaders for Haven, was pleased with the reaction from faculty and staff in attendance.

"I was pleasantly surprised by how much knowledge the faculty already had of the issues we discussed," Ilahi said. "I think what we shared with them was very well received."

Nancy Baker, assistant professor in the history department, was pleased with the program as well, and added that the training session gave her just what she needed to answer the questions students bring to her.

"In the past, I have had a few students come to me with problems, but I just didn’t have the information I needed to be able to answer their questions," Baker said. "This program helped tremendously with answering my questions and now I have resources I can give to my students who ask. It definitely makes me feel more prepared."

Lisa Shen, assistant professor and reference librarian, thought that the program was very insightful to those able to attend, but suggested that the program be available to more people in the future because she knew colleagues who wanted to attend but could not due to limited spaces.

Haven will hold a student training on October 27 in the LSC. The session has already been filled.