DEIB Scholar in Residence Program

DEIB Scholar in Residence Program

Formerly known as the DEIB Assessment and Consultation Program,the DEIB Scholar in Residence Program is an effort to be responsive to the needs of academic and administrative units at Berkeley to meet their diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging needs and goals. The program features professional expert Bryant K. Smith, who will provide coaching, consultation, and training/workshop facilitation for interested units. 

Professional Expert - Bryant K. Smith, “The Human Potential Specialist.”

Bryant K. Smith is a nationally acclaimed and award-winning educator, author, speaker, trainer, and workshop facilitator. He is President and CEO of Smith Consulting and Networking, a comprehensive consulting and training firm that uses lectures, workshops, and personal coaching to examine, interpret and improve people, their environments, and the relationships between cultures and communities. Bryant holds a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication and a Master of Science in Organizational Communication and has spent his entire professional career helping educational institutions and businesses recruit, retain, train, and support diverse students, faculty, managers, and staff. A prolific lecturer, Bryant has been presenting workshops and delivering keynotes at regional and national conferences for more than 25 years. Using his uniquely engaging and thought-provoking style he both challenges and excites his audience with his critical analysis and passionate delivery. “Insightful”, “Engaging”, “Deep”, and “Real” are all words his audiences use to describe their experiences with him.

Services

Coaching and Consultation

  • Audience 1-on-1 or group coaching for employees who have DEIB responsibilities (i.e. Chief Diversity Officers, Equity Officer/Advisor, etc.) within their portfolio.
  • Review and provide feedback and insight to previous and/or current DEIB efforts (i.e. Planning documents, surveys, climate reports, etc.). 

Professional Learning Experiences
There are a variety of facilitated workshops, training, and activities units can access based on their needs and goals. Below are examples of interactive multimedia educational experiences developed and facilitated by Bryant. 

The Franchised Employee Symposium
This experience is designed to shift the company management paradigm in how we manage, evaluate, sustain, and grow an agency or organization utilizing a strategic franchise relationship model.

Shades, Glasses & Contacts: Beyond 20/20 Vision
This is a multimedia experience whereby attendees will examine race through several different lenses with the goal of changing how we see, engage, understand, promote, and respond to being racialized.

Managing Across The Gaps, Understanding Today’s Workforce
Employers, educators, and service providers are faced with a new dilemma. We are now living in a time where in order to provide services to clients you may now have to work with four people across possibly four or five generations. 

The Power of Difference Diversity Seminar
Utilizes research, case studies, and anecdotal experiences to demystify the complex issue of diversity and reduce it to personal and digestible content. This is accomplished by infusing what Bryant has coined as “R.E.A.L. (Recognize Evaluate Ask Learn) Tactic” to help his clients reduce and eliminate their fear of the unknown when it comes to diversity.

Criteria for Participation

For the program to have the intended impact, we invite all interested in engaging to consider the following criteria:

  • Critical Self-Reflection - We ask for openness as we give feedback, ask questions (to get a better understanding of your experience, needs, etc.), and have a mindset of continuous improvement.

  • Practical Application - We ask for your willingness to incorporate counsel provided by program experts.

  • Planning - We ask for your willingness to use the available intellectual, human, and fiscal resources available to actualize DEIB goals.

Process for Participation

We sought out consultation services because we had no idea where to begin with our goal of improving the experience of BIPOC community members. Bryant's guidance gave us a road map that made us more confident about taking action to achieve this goal. The concrete steps we took under Bryant's advice allowed us to create meaningful change.
Last year's participant
Bryant Smith was excellent. He was so helpful to our organization. He's helped with our internal governance, public communications regarding DEIB, and in general, improving all our systems and practices. He is so excellent, and I am recommending him to anyone on campus that inquires.
Last year's participant