CARE Center Events and Programs

The CARE Center seeks to foster a community of respect and belonging for all members of the CMC community.  CARE programs and events are designed to allow students to engage thoughtfully and effectively in intercultural dialogue, particularly when involving complex and sometimes polarizing ideas and opinions. From its inception, CMC has recognized the vital importance of listening respectfully to each other. This type of engagement fosters increased awareness and identity exploration; it emerges from the cognitive dissonance of contrary ideas and solutions, challenges students to explore their beliefs, values—their selves—and, as they do so, they must also consider this self in relation to others and to the larger society.

CARE, both its space and its programs, provides opportunities for students to develop the capacity to have one's own opinions and assumptions explored and challenged, implicitly or explicitly, by self and others. It works by empowering students to contribute to the pursuit of a respectful and welcoming community, one that allows all members to feel accepted, affirmed, and thrive no matter their background or opinion.  

CARE Center programs include:

Values, Identity, Scholarship, and the Arts (VISA)

In association with the Dean of the Faculty’s Office, the VISA program provides an opportunity for faculty and staff to gather with students and share how their careers choices have been shaped by their identities and life experiences.

Real Talk Series

The Real Talk series is a discussion based program that covers topical issues arising from current events. The program provides an opportunity for students, staff, and faculty to consider questions of identity and expression in contemporary society.

Educational workshops

The CARE Center hosts trainings and interactive workshops to enhance the understanding of, and appreciation for, the diversity that makes up our campus community. Through guided self-reflection, academic exercises, and practice, participants develop behavioral skills that contribute to a more inclusive environment. The CARE Center also provides individually tailored workshops for Student Organizations, Athletic Teams, Research Institutes, Faculty, and Staff as well as for Claremont Consortium partners. A few examples include:

• Training for First Year Guide and Resident Assistant programs expand students’ capacities to communicate across difference and further enhance their ability to work with residents and incoming first years from all backgrounds and viewpoints.
• An intensive orientation programs for incoming students focuses on academic freedom and methods and strategies for effective dialogue.
• Staff Development Workshop on Workplace Diversity at The Athenaeum
• Diversity and Inclusion Workshop for new Faculty Orientation

Partnerships

The CARE Center partners with departments and administrative offices not limited to the President’s Office, the Dean of the Faculty, Research Institutes, CMS Athletics, and the Athenaeum. Intentional partnerships across the campus reinforce shared ownership of diversity and inclusion work and engage a broader range of stakeholders.

Cultural excursions

The CARE Center collaborates with student groups to foster cross-cultural appreciation and meaningful cultural exchange through sponsored off-campus trips most notably a co-sponsored trip to Washington DC to visit the National African American History Museum. It also hosted off campus movie screenings as well as a sponsored trips to see Dear Evan Hansen.