OEOC Presents Conversation Series: Religious Inclusion in the Workplace Webinar

The Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance and the Walton College of Business Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace are pleased to host a Conversation Series: Religious Inclusion in the Workplace on Sept. 1, 2021, via Zoom. The meeting will take place from 9 - 10:30 a.m.

Please register by Aug. 29. The autumn session will include new observances not previously discussed in the series.

Supervisors, managers and the campus community play a role in ensuring that all individuals, no matter their background, feel welcome and that no aspect of their identity will mean that they feel as though they aren't included. The university strives to encourage an environment where employees bring their "full self" to work, where they feel comfortable, willing and able to talk about what is most important to them. As such, the workplace can play a critical role in breaking barriers and encouraging increased intercultural understanding and communication.

The autumn presents a wonderful opportunity for us to better understand the diverse faith perspectives represented in our U of A community. This conversation series will briefly explore some autumn events that many of our fellow faculty, staff and student body celebrate and help attendees feel more comfortable engaging in conversations regarding religion and spirituality in the workplace and educational environment. The majority of the webinar will include a discussion with Rabbi Sam Radwine. Rabbi Radwine will present on the Jewish High Holy Days and answer questions. Please note that this event is part of a series and will include new and different information from past sessions.

Recordings of past sessions in this series can be found on the OEOC video page.

Speaker Bios:

J'onnelle Colbert-Diaz serves as the associate director/accommodation and accessibility coordinator for the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance. The accommodation and accessibility coordinator is responsible for monitoring compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as state civil rights requirements regarding discrimination and harassment based on disability. The 504 coordinator oversees the university's prevention and education efforts, implements the institution's accommodation procedures, responds to reports and complaints, conducts inquiries and investigations, identifies and addresses patterns, and assesses effects on the campus climate to address issues that affect the wider campus community.

Dr. Denise Breaux Soignet is the director of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace and an associate professor of management in the Walton College of Business. She earned a Ph.D. in organizational behavior and human resource management from Florida State University and is a certified professional for the Society for Human Resource Management. Soignet develops and delivers innovative courses and executive education on workplace faith diversity and inclusion in her role as director of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace.

Rabbi Sam Radwine was born and raised in Taylorville, Illinois, and grew up in the Springfield, Illinois, Jewish community, where he was president of his Temple Youth Group. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he majored in instrumental music education, or what we refer to today as a "band geek!" After several years in public school music education, he attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music, in New York City, where he was ordained as a cantor in 1981. After a student pulpit in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, he served the United Jewish Center of Danbury, Connecticut, as cantor and director of education. Radwine came to California in 1986, where he served Congregation Ner Tamid of Rancho Palos Verdes until 2012, and continues as cantor emeritus. Additionally, he has served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles, and on the faculty of the Cantorial and Rabbinical Schools of the Academy for Jewish Religion/California. In 2009, Radwine and Wade Sisco were married on the bimah of their Conservative Synagogue. Sisco is a native of Rogers, Arkansas. Radwine now serves as religious leader for Congregation Etz Chaim (Northwest Arkansas).