Advance Kansas Briefing Booklet

Dr. Kim Krull, Butler Community College president

Since its inception in 2008, Advance Kansas has been instrumental in helping Butler’s leaders create a culture of understanding, awareness and inclusion. It has helped me personally examine my own perceptions about diversity and to think about the skills I have as a leader; what I need to do to be a better leader in our diverse institution; and how I can help those around me do the same. We are surrounded each day with people who have amazing experiences and perspectives, and as we touch lives every day, those unique and valued voices can enrich and broaden our understanding. Fostering inclusivity and promoting a diverse educational experience are essential to helping our students succeed. We constantly think about how we can build a more inclusive learning environment for our students; how we help them learn and grow; how we prepare them to live and work and lead; how we send them into the world to be change agents, not only to change their lives, but also to change others’ lives for the better. The knowledge and insight we gain through Advance Kansas is vital in our continuous drive to embed diversity understanding within our college and educational culture. Butler Community College considers it a privilege to share our resources to host Advance Kansas, and in the course of doing so, to make a meaningful difference within the college and the community.

Ready for Life | About Butler

Butler Community College considers it a privilege to host Advance Kansas and values it as a win-win partnership. At Butler, learning is something we do together, working with our students and communities for a better tomorrow. It’s a relationship that grows stronger through engaging conversations and diverse connections. Butler Community College, with 8,000 students, offers more than 110 degree programs and 30 professional certification programs. The college’s main campus is in El Dorado with centers in five additional communities. For more information about Butler, visit www.butlercc.edu or Facebook and Twitter (@butlercc).

Advance Kansas brings together leaders from all sectors of the community to create and strengthen relationships and to build skills for addressing diversity, equity and inclusion challenges and opportunities.

The leaders invited to participate in Advance Kansas represent a dynamic group of people who are engaged in the community and committed to progress. These decisions makers are influential in their groups, teams and organizations as well as the broader community. In Advance Kansas they learn about the impact of diversity “blind spots,” the importance of suspending assumptions, and the power of leveraging collective objectives to build employee engagement and achieve better results.

Advance Kansas Voices

Successful leaders understand how to leverage the talent and creativity of diverse people to optimize performance and outcomes.

“I learned that it’s okay in a professional environment to call things out when I see them. Advance Kansas really helped me to do that, in a way that was educated and non-offensive.”

A Diverse, Well-Prepared Body of Leaders

Can Make a Difference

Far from a traditional diversity training class, Advance Kansas focuses on equity and inclusion across a broad array of diversity dimensions, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical and mental characteristics, geographical origins, culture, knowledge, experience, perception, etc.

The class consists of five workshop days over a five-month period. Workshop days include class discussions and exercises designed to maximize interactions and facilitate the development of productive relationships. Participants especially value the open and safe environment for discussing, exploring and addressing complex diversity issues.

Meet Our Facilitator

Juan Johnson is president of the Atlanta-based consulting firm Diversity Leadership in Action™. Juan started this venture in 2006, following an extraordinary 21-year career with the Coca-Cola Company. While at Coke, Juan held a number of key management positions in highly visible areas. Highlights of his tenure include being elected a full Corporate Vice President by Coke’s Board of Directors at the age of 35, making him one of the youngest board-elected Vice Presidents in the company’s history; and serving as the Company’s first Vice President for Diversity Strategies, reporting directly to the CEO.

Juan’s business-focused approach to diversity is rooted in his accounting and finance background. He achieved CPA and CMA certifications; holds an MBA from Atlanta University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Southern University. Juan is a senior distinguished fellow of the Richard W. Riley Institute at Furman University, where he also serves as designer and facilitator of South Carolina’s statewide Diversity Leaders Initiative.

A Message from Juan Johnson

For more than 10 years it has been my honor and privilege to serve as designer and facilitator of Advance Kansas. This innovative leadership program is unique in several ways. First, it recognizes and demonstrates how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) drive greater group performance and organizational results. While compliance with laws and organizational values remains the first priority of DEI initiatives, Advance Kansas offers frameworks, tools, and examples that also help leaders appreciate the performance benefits of DEI.

Second, it addresses complex and sensitive real-time issues that organizational leaders are grappling with in the current environment. Employees and stakeholders are increasingly pressing their organizations to engage in issues that are important to them but external to the workplace. Leaders must develop the skills to respond to these new expectations.

Third, Advance Kansas brings together leaders from all sectors of society: business, education, government, faith-based, nonprofit, etc. The diversity of roles, experiences, and perspectives of these leaders provide excellent opportunities for learning and relationship-building across community segments.

I encourage you to consider taking part in this unique and prestigious program.

Juan

To learn more about Juan, visit his website, diversityleadershipinaction.com.

Advance Kansas Objectives

social and economic

Deliverables

• An additional lens through which diversity can be viewed.

• Tools for examining diversity dynamics, diagnosing underlying tension and making effective decisions.

• Frameworks to guide group and organizational diversity management processes.

• An opportunity to build new and deeper relationships across multiple diversity dimensions.

Advance Kansas Voices

“Advance Kansas helped me to understand the business case for diversity and inclusion, and to use that approach when I want to effect change. To look at data and look at statistics, not just my formal stance of what I see, but to actually dive a little bit deeper for greater impact and to increase buy-in.”

“Once you do Advance Kansas, you return to work and look at things from a new perspective.”

“Difficult conversations need to happen. There are areas where people feel uncomfortable, but we have to go there to have a greater appreciation of everyone’s value. Advance Kansas has helped me minimize biases and take a more informed approach.”

A Powerful Network Committed to Progress

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Application & Selection Process

Step One: Review the schedule and clear your calendar to ensure you are available to fully participate in the program.

Step Two: Email advanceks@butlercc.edu to request a link to an online application form and complete the form by Nov. 15, 2022. If you are unable to apply online, complete and return the form in the back of this booklet.

Step Three: Individuals selected to participate will be notified of their acceptance in late November or early December. At that time you will receive instructions for completing the registration process and an invoice for the registration fee.

Registration Fee

Financial and in-kind support from sponsors help keep Advance Kansas affordable for everyone. While the actual cost per person is much greater, the registration fee is $750. A limited number of partial scholarships are available to individuals requiring further financial assistance.

Advance Kansas Voices

“Advance Kansas taught us to don’t just ‘see the shell’ and immediately start considering who people are but to think more about what’s behind the shell. Don’t be so quick to assume. Be totally open.”

As of 2022, 557 leaders from 161 organizations have participated in Advance Kansas

AGCO • Air National Guard • Airbus Americas • Allen, Gibbs & Houlik • American Red Cross • Andover Public Library • Apples and Arrows • Ascension Medical Group • Bank of America • BKD CPAs & Advisors • Black Hills Energy • Bombardier Learjet • Bothner and Bradley, Inc. • Boy Scouts • Boys & Girls Club of South Central Kansas • Brecko Construction Company • Building Controls and Services • Business Education Alliance • Butler Community College • Butler County • Capitol Federal Savings • Cargill • CASA of Sedgwick County • Catholic Charities • Central Plains Health Care Partnership • Central Star Credit Union • Children’s Miracle Network • Cities of Andover, Arkansas City, El Dorado, Newton, Rose Hill, Wichita • Communities in Schools MidAmerica • Complete Exteriors • CORE of Wichita • Cornejo & Sons • Cowley College • Cox Communications • Cox Machine • Credit Union of America • Cross Cultural Institute • Davis-Moore Auto Group • Decide Your Legacy • Dellrose United Methodist Church • Delta Dental of Kansas • Diggs Construction • Diversity Kansas • Dress for Success Wichita • EmberHope • Emporia State University • Empower • Emprise Bank • Envision • Equity Bank • Evergy • Exploration Place • Farmers Insurance • Fidelity Bank • First National Bank of Hutchinson • Foulston Attorneys at Law • Frederick Plumbing & Heating • Friends University • Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland • GLMV Architecture • Good Life Company • Greater Wichita YMCA • Habitat for Humanity Wichita • HealthCore Clinic • High Touch Technologies • Hinkle Law Firm • Hunter Health Clinic • Hutchinson Community College • Hutton • Hyatt Regency Wichita • IMA Financial Group • Insights Career Consulting • Inter-Faith Ministries • Intrust Bank • iSi Environmental Services • JR Custom Metal Products • Junior League of Wichita • Kansas Agri-Women • Kansas Department of Children & Families • Kansas DUI Impact Center • Kansas Gas Service • Kansas Health Foundation • Kansas Hispanic Education & Development Foundation • Kansas Leadership Center • Kansas Turnpike Authority • Kennedy & Coe • Keycentrix • KL Connections • Koch Industries • KWCH • Leslie Rudd Investment Company • Manpower • Martin Pringle Attorneys at Law • McConnell Air Force Base • McNay & Voth Coaching Services • Mending Place at South City • Meritrust Credit Union • Mid Kansas Community Action Program • MidAmerica Minority Business Development Council • MKEC Engineering • Newman University • Nonprofit Solutions • Numana • Polston Tax Resolution & Accounting • Prairie View • Progressive Missionary Baptist Church • Rainbows United • Real Men, Real Heroes • REALTORS of South Central Kansas • Rise Up For Youth • Saint Mark United Methodist Church • Scholfield Corp.

Sedgwick County

Southwestern College Professional Studies

Spirit AeroSystems • Starkey • Sunlight Children’s Advocacy and Rights Foundation

Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital • T-Mobile • TCV Publishing

TECT Aerospace

The Coleman Company

Textron Aviation

The Arnold Group

The Bill Guy • The Boeing Company

The Independent School

The Kansas African American Museum

The Knight Foundation

The Pando Initiative

The Wichita Eagle

Thomas Grey Interiors

United Methodist Open Door

United States Air Force

United Way of the Plains

University of Phoenix • US Small Business Administration

USD 259 Wichita

USD 266 Maize • Wells Fargo • Wesley Medical Center • Wheat State Distilling

Wichita Children’s Home • Wichita Collegiate School

Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center

Wichita Community Foundation

Wichita Festivals

Wichita Independent Business Association

Wichita State University • Wildcat Construction

Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce

Women’s Initiative Network

Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas • WSU Tech • Young Professionals of Wichita • Zernco

Application

To request an electronic application, please email advanceks@butlercc.edu. This form is provided for those who are unable to apply online.

Name: Company: Title Mailing Address: Email: Office Phone: Cell Phone:

Briefly tell us about yourself. Include highlights of your work, professional and community involvement, and personal information you wish to share. (1500-character limit)

Please explain what you personally hope to gain by participating in Advance Kansas and how you believe your participation will benefit your organization and/or the community. (1500-character limit)

I have reviewed the program’s scheduled dates and am committed to attending all of the class sessions. (please check below)

q Yes

q No - please explain conflicts

REGISTRATION FEE:

$750 — A limited number of scholarships are available. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship, please indicate by checking this box. q

You will be invoiced for the registration fee upon acceptance to Advance Kansas.

Please do not send payment with this application.

Return form by November 15 to: Trisha Walls, advanceks@butlercc.edu, Butler Community College, 715 E. 13th St., Andover, KS 67002 • Telephone: 316-323-6355

ADVANCE KANSAS brings together people who are already leaders from across the community to create and strengthen relationships and acquire skills for addressing diversity challenges and opportunities in businesses, organizations, and in the community.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about this unique and prestigious community initiative, call 316-323-6355, email advanceks@butlercc.edu, or visit www.butlercc.edu/ advance-kansas.

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