In fall 2008, two major campus bodies (consisting of administrators, staff, faculty, and students) were created to help design and shape the Inclusive Excellence/Diversity Master Plan -- the Inclusive Excellence/Diversity Master Plan Design Team and the Inclusive Excellence Fellows Program.
In June 2008, a Presidential Inclusive Excellence/Diversity Plan Design Team, composed of 50 campus members (faculty, staff, students, and administrators) was appointed. This team is charged with designing creative action plans to implement sustainable diversity efforts across the university.
Beginning in fall 2008, the IE Design Team met twice a month to work on shaping together the IE/Diversity Master Plan. The team was divided into three (3) smaller mini-teams, each one focused on a specific goal area and objective for the Diversity Master Plan.
The following three objectives emerged as significant areas that needed to be addressed from the Inventory and Mapping of Diversity Efforts and Courses conducted in summer 2008 (include the link here to this).
This mini-team concentrated on the following goal area and objective:
Objective #1: To recruit and hire a high-quality, diversified tenure-track faculty across all colleges, with a particular focus on African American, Latino/a, and other underrepresented (e.g., disabled, LGBT, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander, among others) faculty members in respective disciplines, consistent with the available pool.
Needed Areas of Focus:
Recruitment and Outreach: (Getting Diverse Individuals Interested and Applying to Our Posted Jobs)
Of 1st/2nd/3rd Year Ph.D. Students
Of 4th Year Ph.D. students/ABDs/Recent Graduates
Search Process: (Broadening Our Applicant Pools)
Best practices to broaden faculty applicant pools
Training for department chairs and faculty search committees (faculty are the best recruiters)
Creative strategies in context of Prop. 209 restrictions
Requiring diverse applicant pools (accountability)
Point of Offer; Getting Faculty to Accept Position Offers
Start-up packages for all colleges
Incentives
Research funds
Specific members of Mini-Team #1 include:
This mini-team concentrated on the following goal area and objective:
Objective #2: To create a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive campus climate in which there is a pervasive ethic of intercultural caring and valuation for all members, identities, and perspectives at SJSU.
Needed Areas of Focus:
Treatment and Environment (the Care of Campus Members)
Re-creating Relations That Have Been Damaged/Tainted
Preventive Measures Against Intercultural Hostilities and Cultural Isolation/Alienation
Proactive Measures To Establish Healthy Intercultural Relations Among Groups
Strategies targeted for:
Students
Staff
Faculty
All campus members
Women
Disabled campus members
GLBT campus members
African American campus members
Latino/a Campus Members
Making Our Campus More Welcoming and Supportive for Campus Members
Physical Safety Issues
Recognizing and Valuing All Cultures, Experiences, and Perspectives
Safe Spaces
Creating an Intercultural Community
Specific members of Mini-Team #2 include:
This mini-team concentrated on the following goal area and objective:
Objective #3: To establish a stimulating, dialogic environment at SJSU that engages ALL campus members and advances knowledge and understanding of issues and perspectives associated with diversity (i.e., proactive, positive engagement around diversity).
Needed Areas of Focus:
Intercultural Learning and Engagement (Proactive and Inspiring – Not Guilt-Based – Engagement of Diversity) for All
Stimulating, intellectual environment
Getting the campus excited about diversity and learning more about it
Personal and Professional Development for Staff and Faculty
Intercultural Understanding
Intercultural Competencies (Skills Development)
Social Justice and Critical Perspectives
Specific Strategies for:
Students
Staff
Faculty
Linking Diversity with Global/Internationalization Focus – As Integrated and Important Together
Difficult Dialogues
Intercultural Interactions (for Students, Campus Members)
Specific members of Mini-Team #3 include:
All mini-teams needed to design, and draft action steps related to their objective by early December 2008. Each mini-team had to create action steps that addressed the following areas: a) description, b) rationale and extent of impact potential, c) assigned division/unit/owner, d) collaborating units/divisions, e) timeline, f) cost-effective funding and resources needed for essentials (preferably low to no-cost; if substantial, delineate an investment timeline, g) assessment plan, h) plan for making the action step sustainable and continuous, and i) campus buy-in.
On December 5, 2008, each mini-team presented their action steps to the entire IE/Diversity Master Plan Design Team. Together, the mini-teams presented 30 action steps in total
During December 2008 and January 2009, Halualani and her team reviewed, evaluated, and revised all of the action steps. In February 2009, Halualani shared her ideas for revision on the action steps with each of the mini-teams. She will also share the action steps and collect feedback from the president, president's Cabinet and campus leaders. In spring 2009, Halualani will be working to set all action plans in place with assigned owners.
In fall 2008, Halualani selected and appointed eight (8) full professors, one from each of the academic colleges, including the University Library, to serve as the Inclusive Excellence Fellows. This team of fellows will design the best ways to engage the different academic colleges (and encompassing departments) on the notions of diversity, interculturalism, and inclusive excellence. This team will serve as "change agents" and "connectors" in their respective colleges to identify optimal ways to infuse themes of diversity, interculturalism, and inclusive excellence. Moreover, these fellows will seek out, investigate, and identify ways to infuse these notions in the following areas: a) curriculum (or curricular units and competency objectives) across the college; b) teaching approaches of college faculty; and c) research projects across the college (allowing for the creation of college faculty teams to write grants, develop research projects around the notions in relation to their fields of study). Halualani convened this team this past fall 2009 and will continue through the spring semester of this academic year. For this appointment, each of the fellows was awarded a .2 reassigned time (vacant rate) for fall 2008 and spring 2009. These meet every other week and had an all-day retreat in January 2009.
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| Inclusive Excellence Fellows with Rona Halualani: Noni Mendoza Reis, Joyce Osland, Patricia Backer; Alejandro Garcia, Jennifer Rycenga; Kathryn Blackmer Reyes; Kathleen Roe; Maria Alaniz, Rona Halualani. |
The Fellows were selected based on the recommendation of their college dean as well as a) their commitment to and expertise with the notions of diversity and interculturalism; b) their experience in curricular development in their college; c) their record of excellence in teaching and research; and d) their well-established reputation in their college.
This Diversity Master Plan effort will also be aligned with the work of existing campus efforts and groups.
The Academic Senate Faculty Diversity Committee will assist with the IE Design Mini-Team Objective #1 of "Diversifying Our Faculty" by focusing on strategies for improving retention practices for faculty at SJSU. This committee will also help monitor SJSU's performance in diversifying and retaining our faculty.
The Campus Climate Committee, which reports to President Whitmore, will assist with the IE Design Mini Team Objective #2 of "Fostering an Inclusive and Supportive Campus Climate" and serve as an assigned owner and implementer of several of the action steps.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Faculty and Staff Association will assist with the IE/Diversity Master Plan's strategies and action steps to help serve the needs of LGBT campus members.
The extant Faculty and Staff Associations (Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, African American Faculty and Staff Association, Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Faculty and Staff Association) have joined together to form a UNITY Council (one of the first already implemented action steps of the IE/Diversity Master Plan), convened and facilitated by Halualani, to work together on campus unity and community issues and help build intercultural alliances for campus members.
A newly established Active Duty Students/Veteran Students Task Force, developed and led by Jonathan Roth, professor of History, and Halualani, will assist with the IE/Diversity Master Plan's strategies and action steps to help serve the needs of active duty and veteran students at SJSU.
More to come here – stay tuned . . .
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