Margaria Bianco has been appointed to serve on CU Denver’s HSI Operational Team for three years. Specific areas to be addressed by this team are:
1) Supporting our Latinx Students
- Identify proven practices that will advance equity and create a culture of belonging among our students.
- Identify proven culturally responsive practices and academic support to improve student success and decrease disparities in retention and graduation rates.
- Diversify curriculum to include Latinx history and perspectives.
- Identify grant opportunities and realignment of resources to support our students holistically, including equitable access to student aid, access to food and personal hygiene products, technology support, mental health, and other critical needs.
- Identify proven practices and implement programs that provide students with increased access to high impact practices such as internships, research, study abroad and service-learning experiences.
2) Supporting our Latinx Faculty and Staff
- Review institutional policies and procedures to identify barriers to the recruitment, hiring, onboarding, supervision, and promotion of Latinx faculty and staff.
- Build in hiring and performance metrics/data dashboards for campus leadership that advance the hiring, retention and promotion goals for Latinx faculty and staff.
- Consider how we can integrate a demonstrated commitment to support a culturally responsive approach to retain Latinx faculty and staff through faculty and staff performance evaluations.
- Research and identify sustainable plans for an Latinx policy and research center (LRPC).
3) For our Campus
- Identify grants that create opportunities on campus and in online settings for Latinx students, faculty, and staff to discuss challenging issues.
- Recommend culturally responsive professional development for faculty, students, and staff that engages challenging conversations in campus life, classrooms, and the workplace specific to the Latinx community.
- Explore how we can acknowledge, research, and identify the history of the Latinx community at CU Denver, the Denver city and in Colorado in a manner that aligns and furthers our educational mission.
- Institute a process to collect disaggregated data to better serve the diversity of the Latinx population and our campus community.
- Stay informed on the campus climate to address racial bias and experiences of discrimination; ensure that support systems are in place to address the concerns of Latinx community (e.g., reporting, mental health/trauma resources, safety protocols, etc.).