The College released the Action Plan for Inclusive Excellence in an announcement by College President Phil Hanlom. The document, compiled by the diversity and inclusivity executive committee comprised of Hanlon, Provost Carolyn Dever, Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Evelynn Ellis and Executive Vice President Rick Mills, draws from the reports of the three inclusive excellence working groups published early this month.
The action plan reaffirms the administration’s 2014 goal of increasing the percent of tenure-track underrepresented minority faculty across the College to 25 percent by 2020. In order to reach this goal, the Diversity Recruitment Fund will be doubled to $2 million annually, while school deans will work with the Office of the Provost to retain key faculty.
Deans at the College will be tasked with reporting to the provost about institutional workload, such as the larger amount of mentorship that faculty of color undertake. These annual reports will be due on June 1, 2017.
The executive committee’s action plan also announced plans to add an additional two-year fellowship in Asian American Studies as well as four new Provost’s postdoctoral fellows in “areas that support diversity.” The César Chávez and Eastman/Marshall fellowship programs’ lengths will be doubled from one to two years.
The document also announced plans to conduct exit interviews with all departing faculty as well as interviews with current faculty to better understand employment factors and climate.
For minority staff recruitment, a working group will be formed by Sept. 15 with the goal of selecting a date by which to increase underrepresented minorities on staff. The group will report by Feb. 15, 2017, the action plan stated.
All senior staff and search committees will undergo implicit bias training. Beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year, all new students, faculty and staff orientation will incorporate diversity and inclusion training. The College’s Board of Trustees will also undergo training on bias and diversity.
The College will publish its first annual diversity and inclusion report by May 30, 2017. The College will also create an external review committee comprised of national leaders in diversity and higher education to report to the Board of Trustees.
