Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Mission
In order to achieve our institutional goals of educating a diverse student body, producing high quality research, and being a rewarding place to work, we must strive to create and maintain an institutional climate of equity, inclusion and diversity (EID). We must be intentional about EID as seen through commitment and behaviors, including:
- how we teach and train students
- how students live and learn
- how faculty, staff and students interact with each other
Commitment to equity, inclusion and diversity promotes experiences and fuels behaviors that support a welcoming and affirming environment for students, staff and faculty. Whether diversity is based on perspectives, life experiences, cultural backgrounds, social identities or other unique expressions, it makes for a better place to work, teach and learn, conduct research, and engage with our local community.
CHS’s goals closely align with several of VCU's Quest 2025 themes and goals:
- Theme I, Goal I.1: Transform the undergraduate curriculum to ensure we offer a 21st century learning experience.
- Theme II, Goal II.3: Achieve national distinction through our successful engagement with and graduation of diverse student populations.
- Theme IV, Goal IV.1: Advance institutional excellence through a commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity fostered through a culture of appreciation and respect.
- Theme IV, Goal IV.2: Build and sustain the infrastructure to enhance diversity, inclusion and equity at all levels of the university to support teaching, research, scholarship, creative expression and service.
- Theme IV, Goal IV.3: Establish diversity as an imperative in the development and implementation of strategies and policies and in decisions regarding resource allocation.
Short-Term Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Goals
The tables below outline equity, inclusion and diversity (EID) goals for the College of Humanities and Sciences for July 2021 through December 2022. These short-term goals were developed by an ad hoc EID Strategic Goals Committee during the spring of 2021. Their names are at the end of this page.
Goal 1: Increase the participation and accountability of staff, faculty and administrators in EID activities.
| Strategies |
Metrics |
Progress |
| Develop a system in which training and engagement in EID activities among faculty and staff can be reported by 12/2021. |
Reporting system created for EID activities for staff and faculty. |
Items were added for faculty to report EID activities in teaching, scholarship and service on their 2021 annual report. A system for reporting EID activities for staff has yet to be developed. |
| Increase the number of EID committees in CHS units to broaden an understanding of underrepresented minority populations including (but not limited to) groups who are diverse by race/ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, disability/neurodivergent and military status by 12/2022. |
80% of units in CHS will have EID committees. |
17 of the 18 (94%) units in CHS have EID committees. |
| EID committees in CHS will meet regularly during the academic year, beginning fall 2021. |
Regular meeting schedule established for EID unit committees. |
Unit EID committees meet regularly. |
| Increase EID collaboration among units in CHS through units working together and with IDEC (Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee). |
Regular meeting(s) schedule established for CHS EID units and IDEC. |
IDEC and unit EID committees hold meetings (one or two per/semester). |
| IDEC will conduct a brief survey in December 2021 of EID unit-level committees to gather data about unit-level EID events and initiatives. |
A survey administered to unit EID committees in spring 2022 gathered data on activities and progress. |
| At least 25% of CHS units will have collaborated with IDEC or another unit on an EID event or initiative in the past year. |
Units participated in a networking event with IDEC in November 2022. Unit-level collaboration metrics still need to be assessed. |
| Provide funding (from Dean’s Office) for unit EID committees by September 2021. |
EID budget established for each unit. |
A budget that provide funds to each unit was established to encourage unit-level EID activities beginning the fall of 2021. |
| Review chair/director’s promotion of EID metrics in the unit as part of chair/director annual review, for CY 2022. |
Departmental EID metrics will be part of the CY 2022 review and evaluation of chairs/directors. |
Chairs are currently evaluated on their EID activities. Specifically, faculty and staff are asked for their level of agreement/disagreement with the statement, “My chair/director promotes and supports an equitable, inclusive and diverse environment." |
| Include sections on faculty annual review form for faculty to report EID activities in teaching, research and service beginning with the 2021 annual review as a way of tracking and highlighting EID activities. The faculty annual review should also include a section for faculty to discuss/comment on ongoing personal, unit or institutional EID issues that might affect faculty performance (if they choose to do so). Guidelines on reporting EID teaching, research and service activities will be distributed to chairs and faculty by November 2021. |
Guidelines for reporting EID activities completed and distributed. |
Detailed guidelines for reporting EID activities were completed and available online the summer of 2022. |
| Faculty annual report form will contain sections in which to report EID activities in teaching, research and service, along with an additional optional section for comments. |
Faculty annual reports now include sections in which to report EID activities in teaching, research and services beginning with 2021 reports. There is an additional optional section for comments. |
| Complete assessment of racial equity in CHS by November 2021 in collaboration with Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute (GEHLI) leadership team. This assessment will be used along with institutional climate survey to provide baseline information. |
Racial Equity Report received from GEHLI. |
The GEHLI group completed the racial equity assessment, and the Racial Equity Report was received in August 2021. |
Goal 2: Increase faculty’s training and engagement in antiracist and inclusive teaching and learning practices.
| Strategies |
Metrics |
Progress |
| Implementation and evaluation of CHS’s Leaders in Inclusive Learning Program (LIL) and the HHMI Inclusive Excellence Initiative by 06/2022 (implementation) and 12/20/22 (evaluation). |
Evaluation report(s) completed for LIL program outcomes. |
Data was reported by LIL team: Leaders for Inclusive Learning - Early outcomes April 2022 [Google Doc] |
| Encourage faculty’s participation in training in inclusive teaching sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence and LIL program (ongoing). |
50% of faculty will have participated in training, consultation with LIL or other professional development activities in inclusive teaching by 12/2022. |
73% of faculty reported engaging in at least one teaching-related EID activity on their 2021 annual report. Data could not be disaggregated to specifically capture professional development and training EID teaching activities. |
| Encourage faculty to have a diversity and inclusion statement on syllabus by 12/2022. |
All faculty in CHS will have a diversity and inclusion statement on their syllabi. |
A diversity and inclusion statement is required for syllabi in CHS. |
| Encourage faculty to use an inclusive syllabus by 12/2022. |
50% of faculty will develop and use an inclusive syllabus. |
This strategy is in progress. |
Goal 3: Increase CHS’s climate of inclusivity through more staff involvement in EID training and activities.
| Strategies |
Metrics |
Progress |
| Identify and increase accessibility of brief professional development activities for staff (e.g., topics such as navigating microaggressions at work; etiquette for transgender students/pronouns; implicit bias; diverse underrepresented minority groups) by 12/2022. |
50% of staff will participate in EID training and professional development activities at least once/year. |
This strategy is in progress. Ongoing communications regarding EID trainings and presentations were communicated to staff. However, a system to assess the number of staff participating in EID training and professional development still needs to be done. |
| Provide staff opportunities to engage in EID activities that encourage culture change beginning September 2021. |
Ongoing opportunities for EID engagement and training distributed to staff. |
See the previous comment. |
| Improve messaging within the College to be more inclusive of staff (ongoing). |
Communications (e.g., CHS newsletters, web pages) should include staff unless specific to employees in other positions. |
Communication messages include staff unless message is not relevant to staff. |
Goal 4: Increase students’ ‘sense of belonging’ and engagement in activities on and off campus (including activities with community partners). Activities and engagement should support student’s diverse identities.
| Strategies |
Metrics |
Progress |
| Create opportunities for students to provide feedback on climate and inclusion by having regular CHS student town halls and administering a student survey (in collaboration with LIL) by December 2021. |
Town hall with CHS students once a semester. |
A town hall meeting was held with students in 2022. |
| Findings from CHS student survey administered by LIL. |
A student survey was administered fall of 2022 and analyses are underway. |
| Support (e.g., funding, acknowledgement, recognition ceremony) student organizations and individuals in the College that focus on diversity and inclusion (ongoing). |
IDEC student organization award established, and awarded annually. |
IDEC continues to administer the Rising Star in Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (RSIDE) Student Award annually. |
| Recognition of students’ involvement in EID activities by IDEC through special recognitions and scholarships. |
This strategy is contingent upon IDEC funding. |
| Develop system to track student engagement with local and international communities by December 2022. |
System to track student engagement developed. |
Progress has yet to be made toward meeting this metric. |
| Increase student involvement with local community groups and organizations, especially those that represent underrepresented groups and communities by December 2022. Appoint and provide resources for a staff or faculty to spearhead this initiative; compile list of community organizations with which to collaborate; and develop a plan and provide resources (e.g., transportation) and incentives for students to create projects that center on issues such as social justice, increasing food insecurity, etc. |
Appointment of faculty/staff to lead this effort. |
Faculty Fellow Professor Anita Nadal was appointed as a community engagement fellow fall of 2021. |
| Plan for student, faculty, staff, and community collaboration. |
Professor Nadal engaged several students in CHS drives in response to community-identified needs. These included a coat drive, a food drive and a book drive. |
| Increase in students involved with local community groups and organizations (e.g., volunteering, service-learning classes, research and other internships). See also CHS Strategic Focus Area I, Goal 2, Metrics. |
Professor Nadal worked with VCU Career Services during the summer of 2022. She developed a workshop that addressed working in culturally different community organizations to enhance the experience of students awarded paid internships. She also targeted awareness of VCU’s internships to underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students. Professor Nadal connected several students and community partners for community-based experiential experiences. |
| List of community organizations with which to collaborate. |
The list of community organizations with which to collaborate is in progress. Discussions began in the fall of 2022, and Deborah Butler from the CHS’s advisory committee was charged with developing this list. |
| Develop a ‘student engagement corner’ in the CHS newsletter or other place (e.g., CHS website) to highlight student-led EID engagement activities by March 2022. |
CHS newsletter (or other source) will regularly feature student engagement in EID activities. |
CHS newsletter and newsfeed feature stories with diversity and inclusion themes. |
| Increase opportunities for student engagement in study abroad programs since these programs increase appreciation for cultural differences. |
Track number of students engaged in study abroad programs. |
Progress has yet to be made in meeting this metric. |
| Increase students’ awareness of and participation in campus groups with a diversity and inclusion focus by hosting an open house with EID-focused organizations spring 2022. |
Open house with various organizations that focus on EID efforts. |
Several units held student events that had an EID focus. These include a diversity fair (History), a presentation to cadets on communicating across cultures (Military Science and Leadership) and a workshop on careers in journalism with the National Association of Black Journalists (Robinson School), among others. |
| Establish Latinx student success group in CHS to support Latinx students. |
Appointment of Latinx success group to include faculty, staff and students by December 2021. |
A Latinx faculty and staff interest group was established in 2022. |
Goal 5: Create and implement inclusive recruitment and retention practices to increase the number of underrepresented minority faculty.
| Strategies |
Metrics |
Progress |
| Develop and implement faculty recruitment guidelines for unit leaders to use for inclusive recruitment by August 2021. These guidelines will work in concert with VCU’s Strategic Recruitment Plan to produce a more inclusive pool of underrepresented minority faculty during the recruitment process. |
CHS faculty recruitment guidelines approved and distributed. |
CHS faculty recruitment guidelines were developed and made available online for search committees and others involved in recruitment and hiring. |
| Require all unit leaders to participate in inclusive search procedures training (note, currently, all search committee members are required to participate) beginning fall 2021. |
All chairs/directors will engage in Inclusive Search Procedure Training prior to initiating a search in their unit. |
This strategy is in progress. |
| Develop and disseminate guidelines for retaining underrepresented minority faculty by March 2022. |
Guidelines on how to retain URM faculty. |
This strategy is in progress. |
| Training provided to unit leaders and other stakeholders on how to retain URM faculty. |
This strategy is in progress. |
Goal 6: Create and implement inclusive recruitment and retention practices to increase the number of underrepresented minority staff in leadership positions through promotion in place and staff hires at equitable rates.
| Strategies |
Metrics |
Progress |
| Collaborate with CAPS council to include items related to equity and inclusion on staff surveys. |
Questions about equity and inclusion on CAPS staff survey. |
There is no progress toward meeting this metric. |
| Appoint more staff on CHS committees unless the committee is specifically charged with faculty beginning 01/2022. |
Increased staff on CHS’s committees. |
There is staff representation on committees throughout the College. |
| Develop and implement mentoring and personal development opportunities targeted at underrepresented minority staff starting spring 2022. |
Personal development opportunities identified and disseminated for underrepresented minority staff. |
Progress toward meeting this metric has yet to be made. |
Goal 7: Create opportunities for faculty to engage in collaborative scholarship around race, racism, and antiracist research.
| Strategies |
Metrics |
Progress |
| Create a race and racism learning community of faculty interested in race, racism, and anti-racist scholarship in the College by November 2021. |
Identification of leadership and members of the learning community. |
A race, racism and social justice interest group was formed in 2021. Co-chairs were appointed. |
| Regularly scheduled meetings. |
An email listserv was developed; communications have been primarily through this listserv. An interest and needs assessment survey was administered. |
| At least one talk, seminar, roundtable per year in CHS on race, racism and anti-racism. |
CHS hosted one talk on anti-racist research in spring 2022. |
Overview of Progress in Meeting CHS’s Short-Term EID Goals
The ad hoc committee identified seven short-term goals and strategies to advance equity and inclusion in CHS. The majority of EID goals and strategies were met with some progress being made in others, and progress yet to be made in a few. Overall, goals for faculty (e.g., recruitment, report of EID, diversity syllabus statement) were more likely to be met than those for staff. Accomplishment of student goals were mixed with some being met (e.g., connection of students with community partners) while others were in progress or not made (e.g., track student involvement with international and local communities). Additional collaboration and planning with human resources and student engagement personnel is needed to address unmet goals for staff and students.
Committee Members
- Anita A. Nadal, School of World Studies
- Bernard Moitt, Department of History
- Charlene Crawley, Department of Chemistry, Interdisciplinary Science and IDEC
- Fernando A. Tenjo, Department of Biology
- Levi Burton, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
- Lucy R. Hudson, Department of Psychology
- R. Lee Franco, Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences
- Faye Belgrave, ex officio, Dean's Office
