The SEC has charged a working group comprised of faculty to conduct a preliminary review of the faculty manual language with a specific focus on equity-based and inclusive language. This group is working in collaboration with Community and Belonging and will make recommendations to the SEC by late spring for their consideration.
The Center for Life's Work (CFLW) has created a Call to Action for planning, implementing, and tracking all the department’s actions. Some ongoing and completed goals include collaborating and amplifying diverse voices, participating in team education and training, expanding access and reducing barriers to experiences and resources, and continuing to evaluate and assess work towards improvement.
The Academic Policies and Procedures Committee and Graduate Advisory Council will be reviewing all undergraduate and graduate academic policies and procedures with a lens of equity and inclusion and making adjustments as needed to be included in the 2021-2022 catalogs and beyond.
Health & Human Services has formed a Diversity Committee that is currently working on initiatives associated with its different curricular activities, as well as an overarching strategic plan.
Academic Advisement has been reviewing and updating all undergraduate academic policies and procedures with a DEI lens. Updates will be included in the 2021-2022 UG catalog. Another committee is also conducting the same review for the graduate catalog.
The Center for Civic Engagement is going through the process of redoing the Center's Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) so they align with Community & Belonging's updated language and definitions for diversity, equity, inclusivity, & belonging.
Athletics is promoting awareness with weekly emails about education and activism opportunities. They are hoping to start a subgroup in SAAC in charge of DEI initiatives.
The Library has created an online guide for heritage months and diversity in higher education, highlighted DEI titles in new acquisitions announcements and curated a more diverse leisure reading collection. They are currently examining subject headings in the catalog to update terminology.
The NCAA Diversity & Inclusion Officer is working with Athletics to create a Diversity Ambassador Position. These student-athlete centered roles focus on fostering and sustaining a culture of belonging where individual differences, as well as lived experiences, are embraced and empowered as part of an interconnected, inclusive athletic community
Community Engagement
The Center for Civic Engagement is embarking on an exciting partnership with United Way’s Systems Integration Project. The goal is to streamline and connect existing systems of health, human services, and education to improve the well-being of individuals impacted by poverty in Monroe County.
ODIEE and HR are collaborating with National Association for African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR) WNY Rochester Chapter to provide DEI professional learning opportunities
ODIEE and Health and Counseling Services are collaborating with local BIPOC therapists to provide counseling and group therapy services to BIPOC students called ANCHORS/PILLARS
The Community Youth Development department is sponsoring Latino Migrant Ministry, an interdisciplinary, curricular, and co-curricular collaboration to partner with youth and families to provide intercultural learning and sharing about the importance of community.
With the help of the Hickey Center, The Asian Studies Program with the Religious Studies Department, CIE, and Institution for Research and Assessment, the Konar Center hosted a community event for a discussion on Standing in Solidarity with Our Asian American Pacific Islander and International Community.
The 6th conference by Nazareth College's Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue and the IIIT Chair for Interfaith Studies again bring together scholars worldwide to share research on contemporary issues in religion and social sciences for the 6th International Symposium for Sacred Texts and Human Contexts.
Faculty/Staff Events and Opportunities
Community & Belonging launched its Mobilizing the Mind series in January and will continue to host montly events.
The Shannon Chair and Community and Belonging are hosting a series of events from March 11-12 with Dr. David Karp, Professor of Leadership and Director of the Center for Restorative Justice in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego. His current scholarship focuses on restorative justice in community and educational settings.
Community and Belonging will welcome activist, musician, and storyteller Reggie Harris back to our campus for a weeklong fellowship from March 21 - 25.
ODIEE is facilitating an in-service education session for HHS departments (e.g., CSD, OT & PT) on antiracism in Spring 2021
ODIEE is facilitating Anti-Racism Education with the Student Engagement & Enrollment Leadership Team by delivering 3 in-service education sessions ending in March 2021
C & B, The Konar Center, The Hickey Center, School of Education and H&C have collobrated in a campus wide book club. The club spoke about the book, Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow
The Religious Studies & History Departments offer a Malcolm and Martin class for any student who wants to explore the impact of slavery on the religious, moral, social, and economic conditions of African Americans. The material covers issues of racial inequality and injustices in light of the contemporary BLM movement and suggests reforms for restoring social justice for all.
A new series of Equitable Spaces Courses will again be offered in fall 2021. These are one-credit courses that provide entry points for students and speak to the issues of diversity, equity, and/or systemic racism that are defining the public discourse. Descriptions will be provided during the registration period.
Students in the Principles of Marketing courses celebrated Black History Month by learning about African American pioneers, entrepreneurs, and heroes in the field of marketing.
The Center for International Education is offering 3 international credit-bearing classes for undergraduate students to engage with language, culture, history, and marketing/business practices. They are also offering virtual international internships and hope to increase enrollment in internships in the summer.
Financial Friday's is an Instagram Live series on the UA Instagram (@UA_NAZ) hosted by the UA, CFLW, and Student Access and Achievement Programs. Every Friday one of the UA Executive Board members will be discussing a new topic so that the student body can come together to break the barrier of confusion when it comes to financial topics and issues.
ODIEE and Health and Counseling Services are collaborating with local BIPOC therapists to provide counseling and group therapy services to BIPOC students called ANCHORS/PILLARS.
The NCAA Diversity & Inclusion Officer is working with Athletics to create a Diversity Ambassador Position. These student-athlete centered roles focus on fostering and sustaining a culture of belonging where individual differences, as well as lived experiences, are embraced and empowered as part of an interconnected, inclusive athletic community.
The ESports team will host a 24-hour charity stream benefiting the Equal Justice Initiative from 7 p.m. on March 26 until 7 p.m. on March 27.
Alumni Engagement Office is holding an event called Unfolding History: Paper Cranes & Symbolism in East Asia-Post WWII. Nevan Fisher, Ph.D., offers an overview of paper cranes’ symbolism throughout East Asia in the years following WWII. Often displayed prominently where atrocities and incredible acts of destruction were committed, the paper crane carries different meanings for people. Some places long strings of carefully folded cranes as a prayer of forgiveness; others lay paper cranes in hopes of peace and reclaim spaces desecrated by war.
Discussion on Gendered Challenges in Leadership discussed the gendered issues in leadership. This discussion is part of the advocacy project in the Leadership, Advocacy, and Social Change course under the new Equitable Spaces series. Both the WGSSA and the FBLA-PBL Leadership Club have agreed to do this event as a collaborative meeting to discuss a topic closely related to both clubs.
C & B, The Konar Center, and CEE are hosting Professor Lara Schwartz to campus for a keynote titled "Be the Architect of Your Own Voice: A Discussion on Civil Discourse. The event involved dialogue across differences, freedom of speech and dissent, collaborative learning, inclusive pedagogy, dispute resolution, and civil rights.
CFS, the Shannon Chair for Catholic Studies, and C&B welcomed Dr. Hanlon Rubio for “Creating a Welcoming Equity-Minded Campus Community” an event to support students as they collaborate to build welcoming campuses.
Institutional Research is working with leadership to help understand the inequities in the admissions process and student retention.
Academic Advisement and the Registrar's Office collaborated on the Registration Equity Project that would create equitable access to priority registration for all incoming first-year students beginning spring 2021 for fall 2021 registration. Students will be randomly placed in an initial class band based on Nazareth credits earned and then assigned registration priorities based upon their class band.
The ATLAS Center and Diversity Resource Room were established for LGBTQ+ students in Shults 118.
Senior leadership completed a six-part professional development series on diversity and equity in the workplace.
The Diversity in the Curriculum Task Force Report was disseminated; implementation of recommendations in process.
Athletics appointed the first Nazareth College diversity and inclusion officer for NCAA initiatives.
The ACS 101 curriculum was updated for Fall 2020 with an increased focus on DEI.
The Registrar's Office, in collaboration with ITS and C&B, is launching the Pronoun Project in November '20. The project seeks to use existing technology to have faculty and staff submit pronouns through NazNet Self-Service.
The Diversity Scorecard on the Community and Belonging Resources webpage features the College's diversity statistics, national survey results, and 2019 campus climate survey data.
The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences has convened a faculty working group that is exploring potential modules/certificates in CAS connected to D&I areas. The group, led by Dr. Yamuna Sangarasivam, is tasked to explore possibilities for small interdisciplinary clusters of courses that we might call modules to serve as something standalone, or as an IS cluster, and/or to create certificates, that specifically engage D&I outcomes, topics, and issues.
The Administrative Council was charged with completing the CUPA - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Maturity Index as a preliminary measure of Nazareth's progress towards creating an equitable campus community.
Community Engagement
The Center for Civic Engagement's annual Social Innovation Hack-A-Thon 2020 taught participants how to be inclusive changemakers and social innovators.
The Hickey Center is sponsoring a Listening, Learning, and Healing series of dialogues centered on topics of racism and social justice.
ODIEE facilitated a professional learning opportunity called Combatting the Erasure: Exploring Black & Latinx LGBTQ+ Activists/Leaders in Civil Rights Movements for the Ibero -American Action League in October 2020
ODIEE presented a professional learning opportunity at the Interrupt Racism Summit for the Urban League of Rochester called Adjust Your Tone, Fix Your Face, and Other Unspoken Rules of Engagement for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Officers in October 2020
Faculty/Staff Events and Opportunities
The Undergraduate Association conducted a BIPOC faculty and staff interview series.
Community and Belonging held an anti-racism-themed college-wide Assembly Day in fall 2020 including a 5 Day mini equity challenge.
The Center for Spirituality received the 2020 Racial Equity & Interfaith Cooperation Award from Interfaith Youth Core.
The Center for Service Learning has hosted an antiracism-themed event titled: Critical Service-Learning Using an Anti-racist Framework.
All ACS instructors have been encouraged to participate in the Cornell EdX course "Teaching and Learning in the Diverse Classroom" and to participate in weekly discussion sessions throughout the course.
The college held its 4th annual diversity summer book read for faculty and staff and extended it to alumni and students.
DEI initiatives are being created within each of the academic units (CAS, HHS, SBL, and SOE).
Faculty and staff group initiatives were formed to address DEI-specific priorities (e.g. Association of Faculty and Staff of Color, Emergent Strategists-Changemakers Group).
The Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship (DIF) was created by the Teaching Integration and Innovation Lab. It is intended for a faculty member who will work collaboratively with colleagues in Community and Belonging to identify faculty needs and faculty development projects in this area.
ODIEE facilitated an in-service education session for Campus Safety on antiracism in December 2020
Student Events and Opportunities
The College's 4th annual diversity summer book read for faculty and the staff was extended to alumni and students.
Health and Counseling hosted a six-week DEI program titled, Unmasking Whiteness: Moving from Actor to Ally.
The Academic and College Success (ACS) curriculum was expanded to include targeted DEI student learning outcomes (SLOs).
There is an increased focus and call for DEI-related clubs (new additions: El Barrio and Naz Drag Aura).
The Office for Diversity & Inclusive Excellence Education (ODIEE) Heritage Month Programming includes Latinx, Black, APIMEDA, Women's, LGBTQ+, & Native American.
The Center for Spirituality and ODIEE provide weekly professional development and programming opportunities.
The Center For Life's Work and Alumni Relations are establishing strategies to engage diverse alumni and current students in establishing personal and professional connections through FlyerConnect.
The Center for Civic Engagement is offering co-curricular programming with specific DEI-related student learning outcomes.
The Center for International Education (CIE) is working to integrate international students into the campus community and highlight the rich diversity and distinct contributions that international students bring to Nazareth. CIE is also applying for a US Department of State IDEAS grant to increase and diversify our students who participate in study abroad programming. IDEAS is designed to increase and diversify American student mobility in support of U.S. foreign policy goals.
Equitable Spaces courses are one-credit offerings that speak to a range of contemporary issues of diversity, equity, and/or systemic racism that are defining the public discourse. Four faculty and staff-generated proposals were accepted and will be delivered in spring 2021.
What else?
Please share DEI initiatives with Community and Belonging so we can keep this page updated. Submit here.