Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Academic Services

Nov. 10, 2020

Academic Services includes the units and function of: Academic Advising, Academic Fellowships Advising, Pre-Health Advising, the Student Support Services Program (SSSP), the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program (MKTYP), the MLK Fellows, Student Accessibility Support, BUGS tutoring, Roosevelt Fellows, Faculty Ambassadors, and the Gen One Network.

Academic Services Mission

In establishing the Academic Services mission statement in 2016, there was an intentionality of centering diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work, rather than having them as an add-on or afterthought as we have seen with many other mission statements.

Academic Services upholds a culture of inclusivity as we engage a diverse community of students, faculty, and campus partners. We promote the growth of students as scholars and citizens through comprehensive advising and support over the course of their academic journey. We provide resources and opportunities that strengthen students’ ability to define and achieve their academic goals, develop resilience, and lead meaningful lives.

As a team that has changed and evolved over the past several years, we have had an ongoing commitment to these values, and welcome the opportunity to be in conversation with the organizers of the Black Action Plan to hold us accountable to our commitments, and engage in self-examination to move beyond diversity and inclusion to equity for Black students in the Brandeis community.

Below we outline our current actions and ongoing commitment to becoming an antiracist office. We welcome feedback and engagement on all.

We begin by providing the following details responses to the Black Action Plan list of demands for which we do have some agency and resources to affect change:

Black Action Plan Demand	Academic Services Response
Increase Inclusive Mindfulness within Academic Administration & Services	Yes, we commit to increasing our inclusive mindfulness
Lack of transparency with administration and situations with the student body (Lack of accountability)	Yes, we commit to increasing transparency and accountability in our policies, processes, and practices
Hire more Academic Service Counselors/Advisors of Color	Yes, we commit to increasing diversity in our hiring processes
Provide Black and POC students with academic advisors of color to allow them the opportunity to feel more comfortable and prepared when occupying predominantly white classroom spaces and course rigor, while attending a predominantly white institution	Yes, we invite students to work with the advisor who most affirms their identity, and supports their needs
Provide Black and POC students the option to work with various academic administrators of color to make a more diverse, inclusive, and representative academic environment among Black and POC students	Yes, we similarly invite BIPOC students to work with administrators of color to “make a more diverse, inclusive, and representative academic environment among Black and POC students”
Increase the promotion of cultural courses during the student advising process (i.e., Afro and African American Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Language studies, etc.)	Yes, we will explicitly highlight the DJW and DEIS-US requirements as unique to Brandeis and its values, encouraging students to take these early on in their career when advising on course selection
Advisors should encourage engagement in these cultural courses while also informing students of resources that they can utilize to succeed within these classes.	Yes, we will encourage engagement in these courses, and inform students of resources to help them succeed
Prohibit academic counselors from discouraging students from taking courses in departments such as AAAS because of the “challenge”	Yes, we will prohibit advisors from discouraging students from taking courses in departments such as AAAS because of the “challenge,” rather informing students of resources to help them succeed as noted above

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Academic Services Recent Actions towards Antiracism

Over the past several years, many members of our team have engaged in the training offered on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in efforts to increase our individual understanding of, and sensitivities to the challenges facing Black students in the Brandeis community. Below is a list of some we have attended in recent years:

Department-Wide Trainings and Engagement

May 2016: Training on Cultural Competence by Black Women’s Blueprint
July 2016: Department read of Charleston Syllabus
November 2016: “Understanding Intersectionality in Ourselves and our Students,” Training facilitated by Dr. Robbin Chapman, Associate Provost and Academic Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Wellesley College
November 2016: “Science of Diversity and Bias” facilitated by Dr. Sam Sommers, Director of the Undergraduate Program and Associate Professor of Psychology
March 2017: National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Advising and Social Justice webinar
October 2019: Academic Services Directors Training on White Supremacy Culture by Dr. Allyson Livingstone, Director of Programming and Training, Brandeis ODEI
Attended and presented at the National Conference On Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education.
Racial justice dialogues series for faculty and staff led by Dr. Allyson Livingstone
Fall 2019: Training with authors of Centering Women of Color in Academic Counterspaces
Multiple Academic Services Staff have attended Posse Plus retreats, which have included discussions on race and racism on campus, over the years since Posse’s inception at Brandeis (1998)

Trainings Led by Academic Services Staff

Training for MKTYP instructors was enhanced this year to include facilitated discussion on race and racialization in higher education. We plan to have follow-up workshops on critical and culturally relevant pedagogy.
Training for Roosevelt Fellows this summer was updated to include dedicated time/space for reflection and discussion on the role of social identity in the advising relationship. Online readings and role plays were selected to build knowledge and awareness of the diversity of student populations at Brandeis, especially students of color, international students, and first-generation college students. Future training with the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion on antiracist practices for peer advisors is being planned for later this fall.
Summer/Fall 2020: Affinity group dialogues sponsored by ODEI in summer/fall 2020; some staff have been attendees in groups as well.

Process Updates

Updated our feedback process for the Committee on Academic Standing review to explicitly include space for students to share whether the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and subsequent examinations of racial injustice adversely affected their academics in the Spring 2020 semester.
Fall 2019: Academic Fellowships Team consulted with Dr. Allyson Livingstone, Director of Programming and Training, Brandeis ODEI to examine outreach strategies and look for opportunities to remove implicit bias from campus processes
Since Mark Brimhall-Vargas’ hire as chief diversity officer in 2017, various offices have collaborated with his office to promote university-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Academic Services Current Actions toward Antiracism

Pre-Health Advising seeks to support all students and alumni in meeting their goal to attend a health professions program. Our motto is that the door to a career in health care is never closed unless the student wants it to be. We seek to help students overcome barriers to achieving their goals and map out a pathway for them to be successful.
Pre-Health Advising collaborates with ODEI each year to offer a workshop on diversity, equity, and inclusion within healthcare for applicants to health professions programs
Pre-Health Advising offers specialized workshops for students underrepresented in healthcare, such as a special session on summer internships. We have also collaborated to offer outreach sessions for the Galaxy Program, Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students, and Posse.
Pre-Health Advising runs the Brandeis Summer Shadowing Program, which gives priority to students who do not have connections to shadow physicians
Pre-Health Advising is continuing to build our Pre-Health Alumni Mentorship group on LinkedIn so that students can find mentors that utilize our Alumni LinkedIn Group to help students connect with mentors that share their identities
Academic Fellowships is raising awareness about specific opportunities that intentionally seek out typically underrepresented applicants, including Pickering, Rangel, Ford Foundation, Gilman, and Udall, through its weekly list-serv and social media channels
Academic Fellowships actively seeks out a broad range of students to promote through our weekly Scholar Spotlight series on Instagram and Facebook by collaborating with campus partners in SSSP, Posse, MKTYP, AAAS, LALS, WGSS, and others to identify and connect with students of all backgrounds engaging in research and creative work
Academic Advising is creating an advising syllabus for the Brandeis community. This document will help to bring greater transparency to the advising process, sharing the unit’s mission, expectations for advisors and advisees, learning goals, and academic resources. The Academic Advising unit reaffirms and values the unique backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences that Brandeis students bring to the advising relationship and to their individual academic paths.
In the current search process for an academic advisor, Academic Advising is mindful of the need for greater representation of social identities within the advising team.
Academic Advising hired two new staff members in June 2020, one of whom is a man of color (a first for the Academic Advising Team, which was established in 2006).
Academic Advising invites students to share (as they are comfortable) how current incidents of systemic racism in the Brandeis community and nationally are impacting their academic engagement. The team seeks to actively work with students and faculty to access support and flexibility, where possible.
Students not in a cohort-based advising program are assigned an academic advisor based on their last name; however, all such students are invited to work with the advisor on the Academic Advising Team with whom they feel most comfortable. We are mindful of accounting for redistribution of advising load, so that providing such support to students does not inadvertently overburden advisors of color.
Academic Advising wishes to stay current (and visible, where appropriate) with campus resources/events/spaces specifically designed for BIPOC to make referrals and attend where appropriate (BCC Groups, ICC/GSC events, Dean of Students Open Mic Nights, events held by academic departments such as AAAS).
The MKTYP:
- Continually conducts open forums to discuss the BLM movement, racial justice, and anti-racist resources
- Incorporates mindfulness practices as coping strategies to support students in addressing microaggressions
- Sponsors events centering around identities and intersectionality
- Provides professional development training for our instructors and staff
- Advocates for university-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
Student Accessibility Support (SAS) practices mindfulness regarding the prior schooling experiences and environments from which students are coming with regard to access to testing and accommodation services. We know that these resources are inequitably distributed with BIPOC students often having less access to these supports. SAS also supports students in accessing financial support for pursuing access to testing if needed.

Additional Plans toward Antiracism in Academic Services

Establish an Academic Services Student Advisory Committee to advise Academic Services on program and support offerings for students that is representative of the undergraduate population, with a critical mass of students representing the Black, and other marginalized populations of students.
Continued ongoing Professional Development for all staff in Academic Services on racial injustice and antiracism.
Employ alternative methods of outreach to students who are unresponsive to email outreach. We acknowledge that by activating wellness checks via DCL on behalf of advisors looking to connect with unresponsive students, we have caused unintended harm and made students of color feel surveilled on campus.
Pre-Health Advising staff will attend the National Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference in October 2020.
Pre-Health Advising will highlight stories of alumni from diverse backgrounds in our newsletter. We will aim to integrate at least 3 alumni profiles into our newsletter this year.
Academic Fellowships will continue to review and revise processes to lower barriers to learning about and applying for fellowships, auditing our materials to screen for implicit bias and increasing our collaborative networks to reach more students and ensure all students are treated equitably throughout the application process.
Academic Fellowships will host or promote a webinar/info session connected to the Fulbright Diversity Initiative, highlighting Brandeis/Fulbright alumni of underrepresented or marginalized identities.
Meetings of the Committee on Academic Standing, and its Executive Council regularly include conversation about whether there has been equitable interpretation and enforcement of academic policies.
Academic Advising will update their website to better articulate, simplify, and make visible engagement with academic policies and procedures.
Academic Advising will prioritize professional development spending on opportunities that increase awareness, knowledge and skills around diversity, equity and inclusion (books, outside speakers, conferences).
Academic Advising will prioritize DEI training and inclusive hiring for leadership groups like the Roosevelt Fellows and BUGS.
After the initial intake student-staff interaction about accommodations, Student Accessibility Support (SAS) staff will purposefully ask the student if he/she/they would like to opt to work with another SAS staff member or continue with the initial staff member who has responded to the request for services.
When presented with the opportunity to fill department position vacancies, Academic Services will utilize HR resources and Professional Associations to more effectively reach a diverse pool of applicants, particularly BIPOC professionals.
Student Accessibility Support will continue ongoing Professional Development for all staff in SAS on racial sensitivity and awareness utilizing professional organizations that work with students with disabilities (e.g. - AHEAD).
Student Accessibility Support will work with Institutional Research to understand the retention rate of BIPOC students who receive academic and non-academic accommodations with SAS with the goals of implementing targeted strategies to improve persistence and academic goal success.