Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Tasks

Faculty

• Mandatory equity training for all search chairs and committees; expand to include searches for per-course/part-time faculty
• Maximize opportunities to recruit and hire BIPOC faculty during all steps of hiring process, including outreach to HBCUs, HSIs, and institutions with high percentages of BIPOC PHDs
• Continue Faculty Mentoring Program, expand its support for BIPOC faculty
• Expand Target of Opportunity hires; consider cluster hires
• Partner with IA to seek funds for endowed chairs in AAAS (already underway), AAPI, Latinx studies, WGSS, and other fields likely to recruit a BIPOC scholar
• Consider development of (and funding for) postdoc programs for BIPOC scholars, especially in fields like science where deeply underrepresented

Staff

• Mandatory anti-bias training for everyone involved in staff searches

Students

• Expand outreach, pipelines, partnerships, relationships, and funds to maximize successful recruitment of BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students
• Seek funds to expand support for BIPOC graduate students in DEIS master’s degree and doctoral programs
• Partner with academic affairs and student affairs to add and strengthen cohort programs and ensure every undergraduate student part of some cohort or collective in at least their first year

Criteria

• Representation of BIPOC faculty, staff and students increases by at least 10% from AY 21 figures in next 5 years
• Chairs and committees for all faculty and staff searches are trained
• Support received for at least two endowed chairs
• Every undergraduate student is part of a cohort group in at least their first year
• Annual activities and programs underway to support BIPOC faculty

Tasks

• Implement mandatory anti-discrimination training by OEO for all faculty and staff; develop and offer menu of additional workshops on topics like micro-aggressions, creating an inclusive and anti-racist department climate, etc.

• Center history of BIPOC people and activism at Brandeis in new faculty orientation and new student orientation

Criteria

• 100% of full-time and multi-year faculty, including graduate student TAs, are trained within three years

• Online training modules are developed and implemented for per-course faculty and undergrad TA within next two years, in partnership with OEO

Tasks

• Review and revise course offerings, syllabi, and major/minor requirements to ensure full inclusion of diverse topics, authors, and perspectives
• Ensure courses from all relevant fields included in DEIS-US or DJW requirements of The Brandeis Core
• Examine attrition, persistence, and retention data for certain student groups, gateway courses (in sciences) and majors and devise solutions (like adoption of lower stake assessments) to attract and retain BIPOC students
• Encourage all faculty (including graduate assistants and fellows) to pursue CTL training about inclusive pedagogies
• Urge Provost/CTL to target Teaching Innovation grants to support these initiatives
• Continue to strengthen departments and programs that focus on race and ethnic studies like AAAS, Latinx Studies, AAPI, IMES through faculty hires and additional programming funds
• Consider current offerings of “boutique” courses that attract different demographics of the major as possible entry point for underrepresented populations to the major.
• Move forward with creation of and funding for a Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diaspora studies (title TBD)

Criteria

• The demographic breakdown for all majors and minors is comparable to the overall demographics of the student body and, where data available, greater than breakdowns in peer and aspirational institutions
• Retention rates for all undergrad students are improved, and there is no difference for BIPOC and first-generation students in comparison with the overall institutional numbers
• Courses and requirements reflect full spectrum of topics, authors and perspectives in field
• Majority (51%) of full-time and multi-year faculty trained in and practicing inclusive pedagogies and assessment practices
• Offer new courses to promote inclusion and persistence like Interdisciplinary Science (w/ no prereqs)
• Center for Race, Ethnicity and Diaspora Studies is funded and launched within next five years

Tasks

• Make DEI and anti-racist programming a key criterion in review of requests for A&S Co-Curricular funds
• Seek and distribute additional funds for targeted anti-racism programming
• Encourage departments to ensure diverse representation of scholars in their panels, conferences, and symposia

Criteria

• More A & S co-sponsored events like RaceB4Race, Education Program Lecture Series on race in the academy
• Inclusion of more diverse guest speakers inside and outside of classes

Tasks

School

• Consider hiring/appointing Director for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion for A&S to coordinate initiatives, liaise with ODEI, ensure accountability, and oversee implementation ($$)
• Seek to develop leadership training for and appointment of BIPOC faculty to school and university leadership positions
• Seek resources to encourage and fund division, department, faculty and staff DEI/anti-racism initiatives, including workshops, trainings, and reading groups

Departments & Programs

• Add DEI section to annual planning document for departments/programs so they can report initiatives and updates
• Include review of unit demographics (faculty, staff and students), climate (sense of belonging and inclusion) and student program satisfaction in annual planning process
• Review pilot “Equity Liaison” position and program in Sociology for impact; consider expanding to other units or raising function to the level of the school (for scale or cross-disciplinary support)
• Create process and criteria to include a DEI lens in external reviews of departments and internal reviews of programs
• Partner with Academic Affairs and Committee on Teaching, Learning and Assessment to develop and include DEI relevant questions to student course evaluations
• Partner with Academic Affairs and Institutional research to develop and include DEI relevant questions to senior survey and AAUDE exit survey for doctoral students

Individuals

• Require mandatory anti-bias/anti-discrimination training by OEO for all faculty and staff
• Add DEI question to annual Faculty Activity Report (FAR) and consider as part of salary merit review
• Include DEI competencies and goals for all leaders and managers (chairs, Division Heads, Dean of A&S) in job descriptions and performance evaluations

Criteria

School

• Director for EDI appointed, or other mechanism found to ensure support, coordination, and bandwidth of DEI initiatives in the school
• BIPOC faculty are prepared for and well-represented in leadership positions
• At least $50K per year secured to support DEI initiatives within two years

Departments & Programs

• DEI section added to planning documents
• Demographic data collected and shared on an annual basis
• Climate survey developed, implemented, and results shared and discussed on regular basis
• DEI included in department and program reviews

Individuals

• All full-time and multi-year faculty and staff have completed OEO anti-bias/anti-discrimination training within three
• DEI question added to FAR, and included in salary merit review
• Job descriptions for all leaders and managers revised to include relevant DEI competencies and goals
• Annual performance evaluation include review of DEI goals and accomplishments

We will supplement the few existing DEI education and/or training opportunities for academic staff ranks through additional offerings which promote engagement and retention within the Brandeis community. Time spent on DEI education for professional development will be incorporated into administrative duties and should not require time outside of the workday to complete. Managers need to understand and support the idea of professional development in the form of DEI education as counting toward worked time. We suggest using an institutionalized Brandeis agreement which both managers/staff sign. The staff working group is prepared to create this agreement.  

Some examples of the topics we would like addressed include:

• the historical function of racism in the United States political/social systems
• the endemic nature of racism and other forms of discrimination including microaggressions and intersectionality
• ways to proactively challenge and change the system(s) while also recognizing one’s own participation in the system(s)
• how systemic racism shows up in the workplace and what we can do to be antiracist
• how to encourage others to recognize the need for change and what change(s) are needed.

We recognize that this is not an exhaustive list. It is our hope to continually evaluate what topics will be helpful for administrators to learn. Staff will also be provided with a variety of options for DEI education and training that address various learning styles, time restrictions, and overall accessibility.

We propose that once a semester, a required training is scheduled for all administrators (with the hope of offering multiple sessions to accommodate everyone’s schedules). To increase long-term engagement and preemptively ensure that such training is not perceived as performative, participants will have the option of joining follow-up discussion groups or practicing private journaling. Follow-up discussions with managers and other participating staff should also be encouraged. The first steps for this process involve researching the most pressing training topics, identifying trainers or facilitators, and implementing measures to ensure proper evaluation of both the training itself and the knowledge staff members gain by attending. To ensure that the curriculum is reflective of Brandeis’ unique set of needs, we propose that a training curriculum be developed in collaboration with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (and others, as appropriate). We also propose that the curriculum be piloted and evaluated with a select number of groups prior to implementation throughout the Brandeis community.

In addition to the required training, we believe it is important to give administrators additional opportunities to engage with DEI topics. One option we suggest is allowing administrators to take Brandeis courses related to race, racism, and/or anti-racism as part of their work day. Again, this would be on a one course, per semester basis. A list has already been started of potential courses available. Another possibility would be to provide staff with opportunities to participate in small reading groups on various DEI issues (ideally, no more than five individuals each). Options would include engagement with books, podcasts or articles, depending on the needs and interests of each group. Groups would be formed at the beginning of each semester with the option to continue through a second semester, along with inviting new members at the beginning of each semester. For example: A book group reads X, Y & Z and plans to read A, B and C next semester. Invitations to all staff would emphasize the focus on creating an open, inclusive workplace with every employee working to achieve these goals. 

Evaluation of the success of education and training will depend on the number of staff members participating in one of the outlined options as well as the percentage of staff participating. An engagement survey at the end of each semester will evaluate which options have been successful by soliciting feedback from staff members while also asking questions that help to identify possible roadblocks to both participation and implementation. We will engage with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to develop survey questions that identify changes in attitudes and behaviors. Staff will also be encouraged to discuss lessons learned with managers and other staff. It is also our recommendation that DEI competencies be added to job descriptions and staff performance reviews in order to demonstrate the dedication that the School of Arts and Sciences has to increase our staff’s awareness of and engagement with these topics.

Within the staff group in the School of Arts and Sciences, BIPOC representation is very limited. Increasing the number of BIPOC individuals at the staff level in the School of Arts and Sciences is imperative to ensuring their voices are represented when processes and procedures are developed and set in motion. Representation at the staff level will position BIPOC community members to move into positions of increasing authority and decision-making power within the Brandeis organization. We believe a variety of actions must be taken to increase BIPOC in these roles. Some of these actions require coordination with Human Resources.

In the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework, we offer these four actions to help with expanding the number of BIPOC staff in the School of Arts and Sciences:

• Work with HR to increase job posting options available for free or at low cost to departments, targeting postings to sites that may attract BIPOC candidates.
• Create language around anti-racism competencies in job descriptions.
• Require anti-bias training for all individuals involved in staff hiring in School of Arts and Sciences.
• Create internships or shadowing opportunities for both Brandeis students and other student populations in the area.

Job Postings

The most common way to advertise for any administrative staff positions in the School of Arts and Sciences is to post recruitment postings on external websites. Currently, HR posts directly onto Higher Ed Jobs and Indeed. Although candidates of color may use these services, it is essential that we target other specific job boards, such as local colleges and universities with higher proportions of BIPOC graduates. The School of Arts and Sciences Anti-Racism working group is willing to work with HR to cultivate a list of these potential sources. The goal of this action is to increase the number of applicants of color, which will hopefully lead to hiring more BIPOC candidates, in conjunction with other subsequent measures.

DEI Competencies in Job Descriptions

Another way that we think will be effective in recruiting and retaining BIPOC staff is through the creation of DEI competencies in the School of Arts and Sciences staff job descriptions. This will show a commitment to all staff working on DEI issues as part of their job responsibilities and will connect to performance evaluations each year. Adding the competencies in the job description and job posting will signal to applicants that diversity, equity and inclusion are central to the work of the School of Arts and Sciences, therefore making these positions more appealing to candidates of color.

Anti-bias Training for Hiring Committees

If we are effective in increasing the number of applicants of color that apply for School of Arts and Sciences staff positions, we also need to ensure that they are given opportunities to secure employment here. As such, we recommend that all individuals involved in the hiring process participate in a mandatory anti-bias training session. This training session would be offered at regular intervals or on an ad-hoc basis, as needed. This action will require collaboration and coordination with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Human Resources.

Similar to the trainings for administrators above, the implementation of this training will be implemented in stages. To ensure that the curriculum is responsive to Brandeis’ unique set of needs we propose that a curriculum be developed in collaboration with Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Human Resources that is appropriate to Brandeis (perhaps by borrowing from another similar institution). We also propose that the curriculum be piloted and evaluated with a couple of groups before being rolled out to the whole staff.

Creation of Undergraduate Internship Program

A longer-term goal to increase the diversity of the staff in the School of Arts and Sciences will be the creation of an internship program for Brandeis and other local college/universities undergraduate students. We will target recruitment for the program to colleges that serve historically underserved populations. The program will be run out of the Dean of Arts and Sciences office and will pair an intern with an Admin “mentor” who will supervise the student. The internships will be one semester or one year and will be paid opportunities for students who rely on jobs to fund their college expenses. This program will allow students to gain real administrative skills that they could include on their resumes. It will also expose students to Brandeis and act as a pipeline to new hires when positions become available.

The goals of these actions are to increase the number of BIPOC staff hired into the School of Arts and Sciences. We will first establish baseline data about the diversity of our staff and then assess the data every two years to see if there have been changes in the recruitment and hiring of more BIPOC staff. We will evaluate if the change in the procedures that we have designed helped us reach our intended goal or if we need to re-evaluate.

Retention

In addition to hiring more BIPOC staff into open positions, we want to ensure that there are proper supports in place for them in the School of Arts and Sciences. We see a need to implement regular staff survey mechanisms to understand what is working and not working in relation to staff job satisfaction, paying particular attention to DEI concerns. We also plan to review exit interview data to find out who is leaving and why. If at any point the data we collect indicates that we need to re-evaluate any of our DEI commitments, we will do so through convening of the School of Arts and Sciences Staff Anti-Racism Working Group.

Currently, the School of Arts and Sciences lacks any centralized or standardized onboarding or retention documentation for administrative staff. Many departments and programs within Arts and Sciences have their own materials for onboarding and, while potentially useful, individual approaches to onboarding within various departments come with a potential risk for disparate treatment of BIPOC administrators. To address this risk, we will take the following actions:

• Create a standardized set of onboarding documents which will include:
  • a checklist for prior to the first day and for the first day of hire,
  • a fillable calendar template for the first 10 days of work,
  • a standardized list of pointers and requirements to cover during onboarding
• Create onboarding documents that are department or program-specific to be reviewed and approved by the Dean’s office and to be included in the standard onboarding procedure
• Create an Academic Administrator Handbook with department or program-specific appendices of resources
• Improve upon the Academic Administrator information portal (log-in required) to house resources and information on the School of Arts and Sciences website

As a means for measuring the success of these onboarding materials, we will create and distribute a survey to incumbent administrative staff related to their personal onboarding experience, both prior to and over the course of the years following implementation. Our anticipation is that we will see a substantial (over 25%) increase in onboarding satisfaction, particularly within the BIPOC community.

There are no anticipated costs associated with the standardizing and creation of this documentation and survey, aside from the number of internal hours potentially spent on its creation.

Alongside the standardization of onboarding materials, we will create engagement and retention initiatives geared toward administrative staff, specifically:

• Host a Staff Appreciation event that is specifically geared towards School of Arts and Sciences staff members once a semester, in the form of either a luncheon or a brunch event. This would necessitate stakeholder and manager support, and the financial costs would be minimal, with the refreshments being the main cost.
• Develop a mentorship program in which new employees are paired with an experienced administrator outside of the home department or program. If possible, a mentor would be assigned from within the department as well.

We will measure success of these two initiatives through both the number of attendees and participants in both, as well as an analysis of retention data across a three-year and five-year time period.

While diversity, equity and inclusion are terms we hear often at Brandeis, fostering a true sense of belonging takes the “inclusion” part one step further. Inclusion, while necessary, is not sufficient to promote job satisfaction, engagement, and retention. These desirable outcomes follow from creating a strong sense of community and ensuring that BIPOC staff members are not only included, but also feel that they truly belong at Brandeis.

In a university setting with multiple departments, programs, divisions, and schools, it is easy and probably not uncommon to feel isolated. Research suggests that feelings of isolation in the workplace may be particularly pronounced among racial and ethnic minorities. Creating a sense of community will require providing staff with individual support in the form of mentoring and with opportunities to engage with and get to know their colleagues across departments and divisions. 


Many of the activities proposed in this document (i.e., mentorship program for new employees, staff appreciation event) will help foster a strong sense of community. In addition to these activities, we propose:

• Providing staff with a chance to engage with and get to know their colleagues in other A&S departments and programs. Such activities can take a variety of forms. For example, staff are offered an opportunity to sign up for short one-on-one meetings with other participating members of A&S staff, thus enabling all participants to have brief but authentic conversations at their own pace. Individuals then can reconnect in follow-up activities, as their schedules allow. One potential structuring for such an activity would be to gather participants into a physical space (or Zoom room) and provide breakout groups which rotate tables or Zoom rooms.
• Encouraging and creating opportunities for staff to share and learn about differing cultures, heritages, and identities in the format of an informal extension of the DEI training. One potential option would offer discussion groups based around a book or video, where staff would be encouraged to discuss issues of identity and race with the support of guidelines or guiding questions. The aim is to help staff get to know each other in a deeper sense, to help staff discover commonalities and appreciate differences, and to foster a caring and compassionate community. (Cost = staff time to organize, implement, and promote the activity and the associated surveys)
• Hosting informal coffee hours or regular Night at the Stein events for staff. Such informal events would have a central theme/interest (e.g., favorite book, DEI, volunteering, outdoor activities, the arts). The goal would be to bring people together from different backgrounds for learning and social interaction and build community/sense of belonging through the activity. (Cost = coffee and cookies/snacks.)

As always, evaluating outcomes is important. At the outset and using measurement tools at the International Belonging Research Laboratory, we will create and administer a benchmark survey to determine staff feelings of connection and belonging to the Brandeis community. We will measure the effectiveness of the program with follow-up surveys every year with questions specifically addressing issues of identity and belonging. We also suggest including questions about the community in staff exit interviews to gather important information. Both sets of data would allow us to improve this intervention as necessary.

Currently, there are few clearly stated opportunities for advancement from the academic staff ranks. The staff working group will address growth and mobility challenges by providing clarity around job hierarchy so that staff understand where they lie within the scope of positions. We will clearly define opportunities for promotion and salary advancement and the process to receive a promotion and/or salary advancement. Additionally, we will provide networking opportunities to facilitate career advancement.

We will work with Human Resources to establish a job role organizational chart within the School of Arts and Sciences that clearly states the hierarchy of positions (i.e. entry level position, mid-grade, senior etc.). We will determine the metrics for a promotion and salary advancement with HR. The committee will work with HR to place the job organizational chart and metrics for promotion and advancement in an online accessible format for all employees. This information will be provided to new staff during employee onboarding and revisited with each individual employee during annual performance reviews. Similarly, the staff working group will work to establish and distribute career ladders across divisions at Brandeis so that staff can make informed, lateral career moves and rise into higher grade positions beyond the School of Arts and Sciences. By tracking the demographic data of who is receiving a promotion each year, HR will be able to track over annual, three or five-year increments whether the rates of promotion are equitable across race/ethnicity.

Beyond publishing career ladders, the staff working group will work to provide staff with exposure to career opportunities across the university by inviting guest speakers to the weekly Academic Administrator meetings or through additional events that all staff are invited to. Guest speakers may come from different divisions within Brandeis (i.e. Student Affairs, Intuitional Advancement, Communications & External Affairs etc.), and they may also come from within the School of Arts and Sciences (Chairs of Programs/Departments, Centers & Institutes etc.).

Additionally, the Staff working group will organize networking events for staff to connect with each other and senior management within the School of Arts and Sciences. Through networking, staff may form relationships that can assist with moving into different job positions. To determine whether these networking events are effective, we would send a brief survey after each event asking some basic questions, such as: 1) How many new employees did you connect with? 2) Do you think you will reach out to any of these new connections in the future? 3) On a scale of 1-5, how effective do you think this event was for fostering networking?

We will also encourage networking and building relationships through the formation of an academic administrator group on LinkedIn that will span the various divisions at Brandeis. Staff will have opportunities to think about their career goals and professional development by meeting at least once a month with a more senior mentor outside of their immediate work group. During these meetings, staff develop professional relationships with their mentor and are encouraged to explore growth pathways, including what they envision their work to be one year or five years from now. Staff are encouraged to discuss with their mentor strategies for advancing their career goals at Brandeis and ways to acquire new skills to prepare them for promotion.

Disassembling structural racism at Brandeis and beyond requires the participation of every community member and the staff of the School of Arts and Sciences have a role to play. The working group of staff who created this document acknowledge that this plan is ambitious and will take time, during and after implementation. As such, we would like to continue to work together with stakeholders to identify the best first steps – which of these activities to focus on in the short-term and which are more long-term projects. The working group also recognizes that this document is a work in progress and we look forward to continuing to strengthen our efforts. As we implement these ideas, we know we will uncover more areas of opportunity to address DEI issues. We will evaluate and edit as we continue our path towards creating a more equitable environment for the BIPOC community.