The Equity and Diversity Certificate Program helps learners develop tools necessary for advancing equity and diversity in all aspects of their personal and professional lives. The program:
- Offers learners a theoretical framework for understanding equity and diversity work
- Helps learners develop necessary skills for equity and diversity work
- Gives learners direct experience working and communicating across differences
University of Minnesota Staff, Faculty, and Students:
The Equity and Diversity Certificate program is free for all current staff, faculty and students on all five system campuses.
External Learners:
The Equity and Diversity Certificate program is available for a fee for external learners. Please find our fee structure below.
- Self-Supporting Individual Bundle Rate : $900.00
- Non-Profit/Government/Non-UMN Higher Education Institution Bundle Rate : $1,350.00
- Business or Corporate Entity Bundle Rate : $1,575.00
We are committed to ensuring that all learners have access to our educational offerings regardless of ability to pay. The Education Program utilizes a need-based sliding scale scholarship program. Please consider paying at the highest rate that you can afford: your generosity supports the work of the Office for Equity and Diversity and the Education Program facilitation team.
Select one of the sliding scale rates below:
- Partial Scholarship: 75% off program fee
- University of Minnesota Alumni and/or Reduced Rate Scholarship: 50% off program fee
- Full Scholarship: $0 program fee
Please let us know which of these rates works for you by completing our google form, and if you have any questions feel free to email us at oeded@umn.edu.
ECHO (Equity Certificate Hosted Online):
The ECHO (Equity Certificate Hosted Online) is the Office for Equity and Diversity's (OED) online Equity and Diversity Certificate program. The program consists of three learning activities: reading materials, watching or listening to video/audio clips, and Group Discussion participation. These activities represent and reflect three ways we can learn and grow in equity and diversity work – intellectual learning, emotional processing, and practicing skills.
ECHO courses are based on the in-person Certificate Workshops and have the same learning topics and objectives. Learners may complete the Equity and Diversity Certificate Program via ECHO, in-person workshops, or a mixture of both. To complete the Equity and Diversity Certificate, you must complete the 10 ECHO courses and/or in-person workshops.
Activity 1: Reading Materials - Each ECHO course will have articles or information for learners to read. This material focuses on an intellectual understanding of the concepts in the learning area.
Activity 2: Video/Audio Clips - Each ECHO course will have videos and/or audio clips for learners to listen/watch. These videos and/or audio clips focus on the emotional and intellectual understandings in the learning area.
Activity 3: Group Discussion - Each ECHO course features a 90-minute online discussion via Zoom that learners are required to join. Group discussions provide opportunities to respond to prompting questions related to the learning areas in activities 1 and 2 and share learners’ knowledge and skillsets.
Content Acknowledgement:
The course materials shared are intended to provide a foundational overview of information and issues related to the topic of this course. We acknowledge that given the scope of the course, we are unable to encompass every experience, identity, and/or issue that is relevant and important to the communities we will explore. If there are additional connections or issues you wish to include, we welcome you to uplift it during our group discussion. Lastly, this curriculum is a 'living document'; we will continue to expand and refine our materials as our learning and awareness continues to grow and evolve. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions at oeded@umn.edu.