Professional Development
CU Denver is pleased to announce professional development opportunities for teachers, school leaders and district administrators. Not only can we partner with your school or district to offer professional learning for graduate credit, we are also hosting these amazing upcoming learning opportunities. Sign up today!
Training and Retaining Paraeducators
School and district leaders are invited to join this free webinar to learn the latest research in retaining paraeducators. Learn simple techniques, infrastructures, and capacity building methods that will result in increased job satisfaction for these crucial classified employees.
Date: April 1, 2026
Location: Virtual webinar
Time: 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Facilitator: Jody Tucker, EdD
Cost: Free
Location: Virtual webinar
Time: 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Facilitator: Jody Tucker, EdD
Cost: Free
We’re the Unicorns: A Workshop for Women of Color Students for Success, Community, and Empowerment
This workshop will center the social, emotional, and mental well-being of Women of Color (WOC) students. Participants will tap into empowerment of their intersecting identities, shred microaggressions, and apply techniques of resiliency and balance to support academic success. At the end of the workshop, participants will engage in networking and enjoy refreshments. All are welcome.
Audience: Women of Color students
Purpose: Participants will be able to:
- Identify individual and relationship factors that influence social, emotional, and mental well-being in academic spaces.
- Apply three specific grounding practices to support resiliency in academia including community, identity, and mentorship.
- Develop coping and logistical strategies to promote confidence and balance for academic success while navigating systems shaped by power.
- Engage in experiential practices that deconstruct microaggressions and support empowerment as a WOC.
Dates: Saturday, April 4, 2026
Location: In-person at CU Denver
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: Free
Presenters: Dr. Dumayi Gutierrez
Dr. Gutierrez is an award-winning scholar devoted to working with BIPOC sexually and gender expansive communities and Women of Color in academia, with a dedicated focus on Latinx/e populations. She has published and presented nationally on minority stress, intersectionality constructs of self and family systems, intercultural and interracial couple dynamics, cultural resiliencies, and multicultural humble care through an innovative intersectional ecological systems framework.
Clinically, she uses a narrative, experiential, and feminist approach, incorporating techniques of advocacy and empowerment. Dr Gutierrez has served as clinical coordinator and family therapist for the LGBTQ Counseling Clinic in Iowa, and The Gender & Family Project at the Ackerman Institute for the Family in New York City. These experiences and belonging to the BIPOC LGBTQ+ community, have laid the foundation for her interdisciplinary clinical work nationwide.
Dr. Gutierrez is devoted to working with BIPOC sexually and gender expansive communities and Women of Color in academia, with a dedicated focus on Latinx/e populations. She has published and presented nationally on minority stress, intersectionality constructs of self and family systems, intercultural and interracial couple dynamics, cultural resiliencies, and multicultural humble care through an innovative intersectional ecological systems framework.
Dr. Dumayi Gutierrez
Assistant Professor
Navigating Challenging Topics in Teaching: A Faculty Development Series for Confident Classroom Leadership
The faculty development series is designed to support faculty members at various points in their careers who are interested in recognizing and navigating difficult topics in the classroom.
Participants will gain practical tools and evidence-based strategies to confidently address difficult, contentious, or uncomfortable topics with students while staying grounded in the course’s learning goals and objectives. By the end of this event, attendees will be equipped to foster a classroom culture that encourages open dialogue, critical thinking, curiosity, and meaningful civic engagement.
Audience: Faculty members in Colorado at any institution
Purpose: Participants will gain practical tools and evidence-based strategies to confidently address difficult, contentious, or uncomfortable topics with students while staying grounded in the course’s learning goals and objectives. By the end of this event, attendees will be equipped to foster a classroom culture that encourages open dialogue, critical thinking, curiosity, and meaningful civic engagement.
Dates: Monday, May 18, 2026
Location: In-person at CU Denver
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $325 per person. Discount pricing available for teams.
Presenters: Teara Flagg Lander, EdD
Graduate Credits Available: 1*
*Optional graduate credits available at an additional cost
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Teara Flagg Lander, EdD
Founding Executive Director of the Higher Education Shared Equity Collaborative
About the Facilitator
Teara Flagg Lander, EdD, currently serves as the founding executive director of The Collaborative at CU Denver and assistant teaching professor for the EdD in Leadership for Educational Equity in Higher Education in the CU Denver School of Education & Human Development.
She received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in political science from the University of Central Oklahoma and a Master of Education with a focus on higher education administration from the University of Oklahoma. She earned a doctoral degree in educational leadership with an emphasis in higher education from Kansas State University. Additionally, she holds two graduate certificates in qualitative research methods and social justice education from Kansas State University.
As a scholar-practitioner, Lander has written about and conducted research on the impact of culturally responsive leadership and while upholding best practices for recruitment and retention for students. As a data-centered educator, she aims to help faculty, staff, and administrators understand the role they play both inside and outside of the classroom in supporting all students toward success. In her leisure time, she enjoys being with her family, traveling, and reading.Paraeducator Supervision Academy
Audience: General and Special Education Teachers, School and District Administrators, Related Service Providers
Purpose: Equip participants with the essential knowledge and skills needed to effectively supervise paraeducators. Topics are aligned with the Colorado Department of Education Paraeducator Guidance (2025) and include identifying paraeducators’ strengths, clarifying teacher and paraeducator roles, and establishing systems to support, monitor, and enhance paraeducator performance.
Date: June 3 and July 22, 2026
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: In-person at University of Colorado Denver
Facilitator: Ritu V. Chopra, PhD, Executive Director, The Paraprofessional Research and Resource (PAR2A) Center
Cost: $225
Graduate credits available: 1*
*Optional graduate credits available at an additional cost
The University of Colorado Denver School of Education & Human Development is delighted to invite teacher leaders from around the state and nation to convene for the Teacher Leader Summit. This is an incredible opportunity for the most powerful voices in our schools and classrooms to come together to inspire each other, encourage one another, and learn together.
Dates: June 4-5, 2026
Location: In-person at CU Denver
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $650 per person. Discount pricing available for teams
Presenters: Jody Tucker, Barb Boillot, Pamela Yoder, Arianne Rivera
Graduate Credits Available: 1 or 3*
*Optional graduate credits available at an additional cost
Bigger Than Belonging: The Co-Creation of Flourishing Learning Communities
This transformational two-day workshop is an experiential learning opportunity to explore and create the conditions for flourishing learning communities by blending a rich variety of scholarship and resources. It is designed for educators, leaders, and facilitators of learning of all kinds across a wide range of settings. Participants will deepen their understanding of authenticity, belonging, community, and psychological safety. They will be empowered with a collection of tools and practices to implement in their own contexts.
Dates: June 11-12, 2026
Location: In-person at University of Colorado Denver
Facilitator: Arianne Rivera, EdD
Cost: $650 for individual or $1300 for a team of 2-4
Graduate credits available: 1 or 3*
*Optional graduate credits available at an additional cost
Arianne Rivera
Program Director, Student Success Center
Program Director, Student Success Center
About the Facilitator
Dr. Rivera has over 25 years of experience in PreK-16 Education. She has worked as a teacher’s aide, substitute teacher, classroom teacher, K-6 ESL teacher/instructional coach, K-12 ESL and dual language resource teacher, central administrator, university instructor and program director, and consultant. Her passions are learning and connection. She develops practices and systems grounded in dignity, joy, and multi-directional impact. Her research interests include the phenomenological study of authenticity, belonging, community, and safety within and beyond educational contexts. Arianne currently serves as the Director of Student Success at the University of Colorado Denver School of Education and Human Development.
This two-day workshop brings leading experts in the field of instructional supervision with the latest research on mentoring and teacher development. It is designed for mentors, instructional coaches, school leaders, district administrators, or anyone else interested in improving student outcomes in the classrooms of new teachers.
Dates: July 23-24, 2026
Location: In-person at University of Colorado Denver
Facilitator: Jody Tucker, EdD
Presenters: Stephanie Cavallaro, Allison Johnson, Arianne Rivera, Esther Valdez, Laurie Wretling, and Pam Yoder
Cost: $650 per person. Discount pricing available for teams
Graduate credits available: 1 or 3*
*Optional graduate credits available at an additional cost