College Committees – Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion – End of Year Report
Report of the Behrend Committee for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee for the 2022-2023 Academic Year.
Members
Jennifer Lane-Myler (Chair, HSS); Inkyu Kang (HSS); A. Russell and D. Aruguete (SCI); Charlotte DeVries and C. Cao (ENG); K. McAuley and J. Skomra (BUS).
Ex Officio Committee Members:
Andy Herrera
Purpose:
A joint faculty/staff Institutional, Educational, and Diversity Committee to address issues of diversity across the campus. This committee is to include the following voting ex officio members: Director of the Office of Education Equity and Diversity, Director of Student Life, two staff members from the college elected by the staff and the Chair of the Commission for Women. Student representatives from Multicultural Council and SGA. The Committee promotes multicultural and diversity events. An administrative liaison will be appointed by the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Two faculty members will be elected from each School.
Meetings:
- December 5: DEI Council / Chancellor’s Committee
- February 20: DEI Council / Chancellor’s Committee
Required:
Charge 1
(Standing Charge) Promote multicultural and diversity events.
The faculty council was represented on the Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Hanover DEI workshop was held in April with positive turnout from faculty and staff. More emphasis on encouraging students to attend should happen in the future. The data from the community survey was analyzed. A relevant finding is a need for alternative forms of communication for promoting multicultural and diversity events. There was a consensus that email, newsletters, and presentations are beneficial, but not sufficient in supporting and promoting DEI goals.
Charge 2
(Standing Charge) Increase faculty and student awareness of resources for those with physical, cognitive, and other disabilities.
The faculty council was represented on the Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Work was done on analyzing the data that was collected on student and faculty needs as it relates to DEI. This data was collected through the Behrend community survey.
- It was determined that more qualitative data needs to be collected in order to better understand the needs of minority groups and the resources on campus.
- A second interrelated finding was the need for faculty leadership in DEI events, many of the events on campus are sponsored by student groups / are student-driven.
- A third finding was that the college’s website should have a more prominent faculty-focused position on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Although there are student-focused resources the faculty-facing side should improve. More work will be done through the Chancellor’s Council on the website over the summer.
Charge 3
Think of ways for students to connect with international students, students of color, and students from other under-represented groups. Find additional ways for more exchange and collaboration between these groups.
The faculty council was represented on the Chancellor’s Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. More work needs to be done to advance this charge in the 2023-2024 academic year. As the group moves forward with this charge it is important to keep in mind that the ownness for this goal should belong to all students and not disproportionately fall on students of color. The committee should consider the role of faculty in promoting intentional experiences. The Chancellor’s committee identified most DEI events on campus are already student-driven.