Profs & Pints DC: Designing Belonging

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Designing Belonging,” on the messages sent by various institutional environments and how they can be made more welcoming, with Martha Kakooza, research associate in the department of higher education and student affairs at Morgan State University, where she teaches courses on gender, sexuality, and narrative and qualitative research.

Why do some rooms make people relax while others make them stiffen? Why do certain workplaces, schools, restaurants, churches, airports, and waiting rooms seem to say, “you are welcome here,” while others quietly signal “this was not built with you in mind”?

Explore how ordinary spaces shape belonging at a talk that will offer guidance to those seeking to create inclusive environments for students, clients, and customers. Being on hand will help anyone out there sort out why some environments have felt so welcoming while others left them focused on exits.

You’ll learn how a room's layout,…