Diversity Committee Meeting
9/21/2015
Aswad Allen, Amy Boele, Jung-In Kim, Lori Ryan, Allisa Rausch, Luisa Poz
Shared leadership
Solidify vision
Bridges work to school leadership, opportunities to alter the culture of the school
Q-Drive- Diversity Folder
Goals- Spring/Summer 2013:
- Student success
- Improve reputation
- Enhance partnerships
- Support diversity of faculty and students
- Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI)- responsive, efficient, and accountable
Diversity committee came from a place of frustration and a need for transformative change.
Brenda Allen 2013/14
Difference Matters and Communication
(This work on the qDrive)
• Examining the vessels that we enter the world in
• Move to listening and respecting our view
• Make and shifting authentic change
• Implicit Bias Test
• Social identity and dominant ideology
• Communication humanely
Then move to work within the community, establish a degree of expectation within the school.
Politically charged environment that created tension in making change.
Neutralized the political charges and see personal difference that can be made.
Alignment with the SEHD C.I.V.I.C plan—going deeper into community with this.
Building faculty engagement—facilitate ways to embrace the ideal that we hare having challenges with our students and students are part of the answer.
- Younger students
- More diverse students
- More working class students
- New to the higher learning environment
What does a welcoming committee look like? Bring voice from all, examining data, sharing information (Fall 2014).
Learning Commons as physical space to offer-.- What about the more challenging conversations? How do we dig deeper?
Leveraging the work:
- High impact practices (H.I.P’s)
o What is the network of support/infrastructure for students who come here- beyond a professor who cares
o Scaffold support for students.
o Community connections that support students.
o Leadership opportunities.
o Out of class activities that match with academic based activities. - Reframe them to supporting students versus filling in the gaps
- Layer critical pedagogy onto H.I.P’s- what is the lens through which we look at HIPs.
o University is trying.
o Expertise on the mater to push the diversity agenda forward.
o What does this mean for the diversity committee?
o How can we steer this conversation at the school or even university level?
Set the direction and tone for the university to follow.
Expectation of the diversity committee
Positioned as an example for how this work can be approached.
Use HIP to create dialogue and experiences and reflection.
Our work at the diversity community- puts meat on the skeleton of the school-wide plan for scaffolding diversity.
Build on what is currently happening.
Faculty Retreat:
Elevate the conversation to a higher level of complexity.
- Introduce surface level.
- Connect with one or two people outside of program areas
- But work specifically within the content area.
o Demographic Faculty survey
o Preferences/ Threatening/ Fun/Not fun
o Speed dating - New members in the community
- Common experiences to set the stage for looking at HIP’s from a critical lens
- Backward Mapping
o Reframe HIP’s from critical lens
o Know each other better
o Prepare for Dr. Brenda Allen on power, privilege, and micro-aggressions
Plan for 9/30 Retreat:
• Introductions and acknowledge who is here and who has left the committee.
• Allow the major players to tell their history (committee work since 2012).
o Record on a large timeline.
• Capture what the history of diversity has been in the school.
o Add sticky notes from groups to timeline
o Grow timeline out 10 or 20 years- what do you want to see?
o Sharing out.
• Gallery walk and share impressions.
• General directions for the committee.
• Thank you.
Roles for 9/30 Retreat:
o Aswad: Invite individuals around the history and time limits.
o Lori: Design large chart paper years from 2000-2025
o Alissa: Capture the large words that emerge from the history.
o Alissa: Gather sticky notes for all the tables- Becky Emerson
o All: Sit at different tables during he activity.
o Luis: Label chart paper with years.
o Aswad: Tell Dean’s team that we need 30-45 minutes.
Timeframe for September 30
12:00-12:30
1. Introduction of new members (Lori)
Co-chair Aswad Allen
Continuing member: Jung-In Kim
New members: Amy Boele; Alissa Rausch; Luis Poza
2. Reflections of the work of the committee–Aswad invites several colleagues to share history of the SEHD from the perspective of the Diversity Committee (Alissa takes notes)
3. Table discussion and reflection: Jung-In invites faculty to share with one another their perspectives about both the history of the diversity work in the SEHD and opportunities for the future. Please write your thoughts on sticky notes and post on the timeline.
4. Gallery walk (Luis and Amy invite faculty to read what others have written)
5. Aswad concludes…
In the spirit of working toward a healthier work place…the committee will take into consideration all contributions made here. Perhaps share our emerging possibilities for the year?
Next steps:
o Vision of where we want to come in the spirit of a healthy workplace and supporting all- We want to consider power an privilege, microagressions, and the workplace.
o Collective vision for the future.
Next meeting:
o Diversity Committee 9:30-11:30am Room LSC 603 October 5
Meeting Notes from October 5, 2015
Agenda Items
Reflect/examine faculty voices and collected feedback
Undergraduate symposium- HIP and equity
Demographic Survey- Nancy Commins/Aswad
Use the above items to project 2015-2016 goals and work plan
Reflections on History/Timeline collected from Faculty
at September 30 SEHD meeting
Prior to 2005
- 2 powerful comments demonstrating frustration and lack of change.
2006-2011
- Frustration shared on part of the staff
- Context for some of the comments on competency- support was in question and alignment with how new members came in and interpersonal relationships were managed.
- Tension prevails and little change noted.
- Relationships not fostered and developed.
- Demographic survey considered based on this feedback.
- Course syllabi where examined at this point in terms of equity and social justice.
- Questions arise about how diversity is defined and who has the power to define it.
- Many leadership changes caused conflict that was sometimes overt and in plain sight.
- University moved to a R1 university and this raised questions about how contributions of faculty are managed and acknowledged.
o Office of Diversity and Inclusion started.
o Change defined as slow and leadership would be distributed among many- i.e.: diversity committee.
o This is likely due to non-confrontational culture.
o Broad engagement in varying levels to more intimate interactions and work at program level.
2012- Present
- Diversity is more comfortable.
- History doesn’t matter.
- Some need to clarify certain items.
2015-2020
- Consistent message that people want more.
- Formalize informal authentic smaller discussions.
o Provide opportunities to capture this and report out at meetings. - Provide shared knowledge- reading or something to frame around this.
- Can these conversations and retreats happen outside of the LSC right now?
- Exploration of new spaces to have these conversations.
- Theatre-like experiences to play out micro-aggressions perhaps within Santa Fe arts districts.
Report to Dean’s Team-
- Within two weeks, share with Dean’s team about how this committee would like to use the March retreat.
- Aswad to share information with Dean’s team.
Future Meetings:
- Use the November 2nd committee meeting to prepare for possible presentation to faculty on November 18th.
Demographic Survey
- Lori to draft message to Rebecca and send draft to everyone- include request for time in November meeting and in March retreat
- Aswad to share Excel sheet
Teacher Education Work- Lori, Amy, and Luis
- Work at curriculum level looking at syllabi for equity and social justice focus
- Curriculum mapping
- This work can be shared with undergraduate and graduate programs as we build.
- Can this work be shared through the diversity committee?
o Facilitate moving the individual programs into the curriculum mapping space
o “Usher” the process for programs forward.
o Visible at faculty meetings- honor colleagues work, connect the dots
Diversity Committee
November 2, 2015 Meeting Notes
Report out from Aswad re: Dean’s Team
- Dean’s team was pleased to learn more based on the comments from the sticky note activity
- Questions about how much and what should be shared broadly, in print etc.
- Needs to be shared and wrapped up with faculty but some comments are sensitive. What do we share and how do we share it?
- Rough qualitative coding for time periods with examples of challenges, barriers as well as
- Defining narrative from past and carried into a work in progress story.
- Develop Excel sheet with all comments
o Scroll on screen- not print
o Identify themes from within each time
o Neutral position- i.e.: inclusion and support - Honor the history- let it speak for itself and then you move forward
o Represent the whole of the data in order to reduce it.
o It was a public process- the community deserves to hear what ws reported on sticky notes - Do we need to interpret anything or should the data speak for itself?
o Share what was shared with us with the lens toward moving forward
o Do not need to be shared or defined by us - Next steps (November faculty meeting):
o Look at the post it notes and thematic generation
o Share at the next faculty meeting
o Allow those from 2015-2020 drive the agenda for the March meeting- generally digging deeper, examining micro-aggressions, understanding as a professional community
o In concert (at March retreat):
Curriculum mapping
Develop trust base
Make tangible contributions that parallel reorganization across the school
o Meeting in December for Diversity Committee to determine what could be planned for March retreat.
Please click below to view the PDF for the given meeting minutes: