DEI Council Meeting Summary December 2020

DEI Updates

President’s Committee

The President’s Committee was developed to work on expected outcomes of a) increasing enrollment of students from marginalized backgrounds, b) increasing the 4-5 year graduation rates of Black and Latinx students and c) increasing job placement after graduation for students from marginalized groups

Deliverables:

i) Increase enrollment of students from Black, Indigenous, and Latinx
communities at all campuses – focus on undergraduate population

ii) Identification of potential donors and funding resources for funding for Black and Latinx students

iii) Developing a transparent and equitable process for allocating existing funds

iv) Develop and expand degree to career employment pathway programs for marginalized populations – working with Disability Resource Office, increase employer engagement with the PATH program participants to increase internship opportunities, and develop undergraduate research opportunities for students

If you have any contributions, please send to mcphersonp@rowan.edu or tallarida@rowan.edu

DEI Certificate

• Save the Date for the Spring 2021 DEI Certificate sessions, registration will be available soon.
• DEI can provide training to your department or unit specifically, need minimum of 25 participants (can combine with another department or unit to reach the minimum number, if needed)

Rowan’s Theatre and Dance

‘Small Gifts’ production on racial injustice, December 3 – 6th, 2020 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZzAmMDGBnEPGOTIqwo_w5dN8
wxcnA5lv/view
Link to register:
https://cpa.rowan.edu/theatre_dance/production/smallgifts.html

Police and First Responders and Community Members Group

• working on establishing relationships between police and community, starting at Rowan but also includes nearby towns and cities in Southern New Jersey
• centered on a space for activists, police, faculty, community members, etc. for professional development, grant opportunities, community engagement
• If you would like to be a part of this work, please contact shealey@rowan.edu or mcphersonp@rowan.edu

Divine 9

• Advancement is working on a white paper to solicit funds for Divine Nine
• structure, only one in New Jersey and possibly the only one in our region
• Plot will be located between Engineering and Business and will include information about each organization including unique information about the history of each group and their impact on civil rights

DEI Department Updates

ASCEND and CHAMP

• Creating the development of the Camden Launchpad with a goal to create intentional pipelines, existing MOUs with Camden school district and LEAP academies, will lead them directly to ASCEND
• Upward Bound – falling under the International Center, primarily located on Camden campus, will fall under umbrella of Launchpad and ASCEND and CHAMP

OSEC

• Collaborated with HR to provide training, all employees will receive email on 12/7/2020 with information and the following week will receive an email for how to complete training – February 28 deadline
• OSEC looking for employees to serve as advisors to support parties and provide advice on procedural matters as well as conduct cross examination during hearings – if interested in volunteering in that role, email princilus@rowan.edu.

SJICR

• Developed a Cultural calendar which is available on SJICR website- https://sites.rowan.edu/sjicr/culturalcalendar.html
• SJICR is moving into beginning stages of assessment cycle, will be doing focus groups with undergraduate students, if there are any students who haven’t been connected but might be interested please send them to SJICR

SOM

• Completed DEI self-assessment and listening sessions
• Goals – subcommittees currently working on
  (1) Improving affordability and increasing enrollment of in- and out-of state minoritized medical students, with a focus on improving competitiveness in recruitment and enrollment (2) strengthening academic and social support for students, addressing campus culture and accommodations for students with disabilities, including non-discriminating vs. affirming
  (3) Engaging a wider array of faculty and staff in DEI professional learning to assist with the culture change
• (4) Looking at how we are preparing future physicians to serve the needs of diverse patients, specifically how we align learning around racial health disparities and meeting the needs of transgender and intersex patients
• SOM will be hosting documentary screening of Black Men in White Coats from February 24 – February 26, panel will take place to discuss on February 27th

Strategic Priority Committee (SPC) Updates

SPC1 – Creating a more inclusive and equitable campus community

• Reviewed DEI Audit findings to synthesize trends and recommendations
• To contribute to the DEI Blog, please complete this form.
• Nominate a Rowan community member to be featured on the DEI Blog.
• Developed and contributed to  SJICR’s multicultural and religious holidays calendar. This is a great resource for departmental planning.

SPC2 – Recruiting, retaining and supporting a more diverse campus community

• developing a data dashboard
• discussed a viral video on BLM using a monopoly analogy

SPC3 – Promoting and Supporting Inclusive Teaching, Scholarship and Professional Development

• Considering new initiatives, including collaboration with SPC 2
• Working on an programming in April for National Financial Literacy Month with a theme of Social Justice
• Developed a Faculty Hiring Toolkit, with the purpose of recommending practices to achieve DEI goals and to address historical marginalization in the areas of recruitment, hiring, and retention; awaiting approval from HR.
• Proposed, pending approval, DEI recommendations for Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion work is being valued and rewarded as part of the professional responsibility of every faculty and staff member at Rowan University
• Developed a list of funded and proposed research for DEI related topics, can now tag sponsored projects with a DEI focus – report available on Cognos.Rowan.edu (request account, for accessing off campus go through VPN or Citrix). Once on Congos, go to Rowan Office Reporting, Cayuse Reports, Cayuse Public Reports
• Developed a list of DEI funding opportunities through pivot, accessed at https://pivot.proquest.com/curated_opps/6323

Professional Development

What are we changing as a result of two pandemics…COVID-19 and Systemic Racism?
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-pandemic-and-racial-turmoil-are-changingcurricula-heres-how