Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Reporting line for the Steering Committee on Diversity shift to the interim president; after hiring, the committee will report to the CDO

• Status: Immediate; Point Person: President

Diversity Steering Committee will identify a search firm and a search committee of faculty, staff, and students

• Status: January 2016; Point Person: President

Fill position reporting line to the President

• Status: December 2016; Point Person: President

CDO hired

• Status: January 2017; Point Person: CDO

Establish interim ombuds role to create independent, neutral and confidential place for students to discuss academic issues and concerns:

• Status: Spring 2017; Point Person: Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

• Interim role in the Office of Academic Services

• Longterm role/structure in the Office of the CDO

On-call ombuds hired

• Status: December 2016; Point Person: Provost

Half-time ombuds hired

• Status: December 2017; Point Person: CDO

• Works with two “oncall” ombuds (who are full-time faculty and staff at Brandeis)

• Ombuds function now services entire campus

Evaluate part-time ombuds for efficacy and use by the campus over a period of at least one year (and no more than two years)

• Status: December 2019; Point Person: CDO

Progress Toward Faculty 2021 Goal / Staff Progress

• Status: July 2018; Point Person: Provost and Academic Deans, VP of HR

• Baseline Instructional Faculty Data: As of 2015, Faculty by race:

  • Black/African American=14

  • Latinx = 15

  • Asian American = 31 

• Current Instructional Faculty Data: As of 2018, Faculty by race:

  • Black/African American= 20

  • Latinx = 17

  • Asian American = 37

• Black and Latinx Faculty 2015 -18 5 

  • 29 to 36

• All Faculty of Color 2015 -18 

  • 60 to 73 

• Baseline Staff Data: As of 2015, Staff by race:

  • Black/African American = 31

  • Latinx = 91

  • Asian = 73

• Current Staff Data: As of 2017, Staff by race:

  • Black/African American = 48

  • Latinx = 101

  • Asian = 84 

• Black and Latinx Staff 2015 - 18 

  • 122 to 149

• All Staff of Color 2015 - 18

  • 195 to 233

Institute of Faculty Target of Opportunity Hiring Program (Established and Used)

• Status: 2016-17 AY; Point Person: Provost

• This program will identify candidates who would have emerged as a top choice from any relevant national search that would have been undertaken

• This program will target the hiring of candidates outside the regular search process based upon their ability to meet our need to diversify the faculty or the curriculum in significant ways

• Set aside funding for up to two tenure track hires per year in addition to regularly scheduled faculty searches targeting candidates who will diversify our faculty or curriculum in significant ways

Training in Diversity Hiring Best Practices

• Status: Spring 2018; Point Person: CDO

• Training will be undertaken by the director of DEI training and development (Hired Dr. Allyson Livingstone)

• Faculty search chairs and diversity representatives will be required to participate in this training. (Established and Ongoing)

• Review the Diversity Representative Model for efficacy.  (In Progress)

  • Point Person: Provost, Deans, Dir, DEITD

• Academic deans will annually participate in training in diversity hiring best practices (Established and Ongoing)

  • Point Person: Provost

Improved advising and mentorship, especially for underrepresented junior faculty of color (New director for mentoring – Professor Carina Ray as of 2018)

• Status: Spring 2018; Point Person: Dean, A&S VP of HR

• Each division within A&S and each of the professional schools will be asked to submit a report to the provost detailing their work on this item by March 30, 2016. (Complete)

  • Status: Spring 2016; Point Person: Provost

• Recognizing faculty work supporting increased diversity and inclusion (Ongoing)

  • Academic deans to develop and submit plans for assessment and recognition. 

  • Status: Fall 2018; Point Person: Provost

• Develop new pipelines for recruitment of underrepresented faculty of color (In Progress)

  • Establish new partnerships with HBCUs and other institutions that serve underrepresented graduate and postdoctoral groups

    • Status: 2019

  • Use the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center’s (MRSEC) partnership with Hampton University as a model to design new programs to support the careers of potential future faculty hires.

    • Status: Spring 2016

  • Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Sciences

    • Status: 2019

• BUSAC will undertake the work of the previous Diversity Steering Committee to focus on the recruitment and retention of staff of color. (Complete)

  • Status: Fall 2016-Fall 2018; Point Person: VP of HR

• Initiate a program to annually recognize a staff member for success at increasing diversity and inclusion on campus and/or providing extraordinary support to students of color (In Progress)

  • Status: Fall 2018; Point Person: VP of HR

Establish a minimum wage of $15.05 per hour for all  full time Brandeis employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. 

• Status: July 1, 2015; Point Person: President

Review rate to ensure that it meets or exceeds the economic independence wage for Waltham, as determined by the Economic Independence Calculator.

• Status: May 2016; Point Person: VP of HR

For part time workers employed by Brandeis University and not covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the minimum wage will increase to: 

• $10.00 per hour

  • Status: Jan. 1, 2016; Point Person: President

• $11.00 per hours

  • Status: Jan. 1, 2017; Point Person: President

Increase underrepresented undergraduate applicants of color to the first year class by 5-10 percent annually (In Progress, Under Review)

• Status: Fall 2018 recruitment cycle and forward; Point Person: Dean of Admissions

• Increase outreach to underrepresented students of color by an additional 5,000 students, a 30 percent increase 

• Expand visits to high schools with high enrollment of underrepresented students of color 

• Expand work with community-based organizations (CBOs) serving underrepresented students of color 

Launch community college recruitment initiative (In Progress, Under Review)

• Status: Jan. 2016; Point Person: President

• Convene task force under svp of students and enrollment to recommend and initiate changes to degree guidelines to align with models supporting transfer students

  • Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: SVP, Students & Enrollment, Dean of Arts & Sciences

• Identify academic programs with capacity that would be targets of opportunity for articulation agreements 

  • Status: Spring 2017; Point Person: SVP, Students & Enrollment, Dean of Arts & Sciences

• Initiate articulate agreement negotiation 

Maintain historic commitment to the Myra Kraft Transition Year Program (MKTYP) and POSSE (Done with new funding added to the program)

• Status: Ongoing; Point Person: Provost

Academic deans must prepare and submit graduate recruitment and retention plans to increase applications and enrollment from underrepresented students of color

• Status: May 2016; Point Person: Provost, Deans

• Plans will identify recruitment opportunities and associated initiatives in field-specific professional societies and through faculty interactions at colleges, universities and other institutions that serve underrepresented graduate and postdoctoral students of color. Plans will include proposals to enhance retention of underrepresented graduate students of color through mentoring, career development and other mechanisms. (Established and Ongoing)

• Scholarship and recruitment program for underrepresented masters students of color in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, creating a pipeline into doctoral work (Done with new funding added to the program)

  • The recruitment will focus on graduates who are Posse Scholars, or from HBCUs and other institutions serving underrepresented students of color.

    • Point Person: Dean, GSAS

  • Apply for supportive partnerships such as Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Mellon Mays Foundation.

  • Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: Dean, GSAS

Expand the Brandeis Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan to include metrics to be used for accountability. This will result in an annual “report card” that will be shared with the entire Brandeis community. (Open, Ongoing)

• Status: Feb. 2018; Point Person: CDO

Comprehensive training for staff at all levels of the institution via collaboration between HR and ODEI. Training includes: sexual harassment prevention, implicit bias training, LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion, Racial Justice Dialogues, etc. (Ongoing)

• Status: Fall 2015; Point Person: VP of HR, CDO

In-person diversity and inclusion training for all deans (including assistant and associate), all department chairs and program directors and all division heads Fall 2015 Provost 

• Status: Fall 2015; Point Person: Provost

In-person diversity and sensitivity training will be required and integrated into orientation for faculty, staff and students. Trainings will be based on best practices in the field and may include the hiring of outside trainers in order to ensure they are comprehensive and effective. 

• Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: Dean, Students, Dir., DETD

• Students (Ongoing)

  • Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: VP, Student Affairs, Dir., DETD

• Faculty (Ongoing)

  • Status: Spring 2018; Point Person: Provost, Acad. Deans, VP of HR, Dir., DETD

• Staff (Ongoing)

  • Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: VP of HR, Dir., DETD

• President's Senior Team (Underway, Early Stages)

  • Status: Summer 2018; Point Person: CDO

Current Title IX online training that is mandatory for all faculty and staff will be augmented to incorporate best practices on diversity and inclusion. (Complete)

• Status: Spring 2016; Point Person: Provost, CDO

Administer Climate Survey. New surveys will be collected in 2018-2019. (Complete, Ongoing)

• Status: Spring 2016-Spring 2018; Point Person: CDO, OPIR

Equity Review of Compliance Infrastructure related to intake, investigation, data maintenance and training. (Complete)

• Status: Fall 2017-Spring 2018; Point Person: CDO

Structure will be reorganized to a single Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) headed by a full-time director. Hire of the director position will begin in Summer 2018. (In Process)

• Status: Summer 2018-Spring 2019; Point Person: CDO

Establish a Diversity Dashboard on the CDO website. Transfer to the new web structure will happen within AY 2019. In the meantime, the current ODEI website has been kept updated with information (but lacks the capacity to host a dashboard). (In Process)

• Status: Spring 2018-Spring 2019; Point Person: CDO

Establish a task force composed of faculty, students and staff to review undergraduate degree requirements, including a mandate to consider how to incorporate issues of race, equity and inclusion in university requirements. Students will be selected for the committee through an open application process. The task force efforts will include a comprehensive audit of the curriculum across the departments and schools to identify what is currently offered (and when) in this area. (Complete, Implemented Fall 2019)

• Status: Spring 2016-Fall 2017; Point Person: Dean, A&S

Conduct diversity pedagogy workshops as part of faculty development through the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Committee for the Support of Teaching. This will include offerings on how to address issues of race, inequality and inclusion in graduate level curriculum. (Completed, Ongoing)

• Status: Begin Dec. 2015; Point Person: Provost, CDO, and Dir., DETD

Organize student forums to learn how they perceive diversity within the curriculum once the general education requirements are implemented. Will work in concert with the Student Union diversity officer. (Pending)

• Status: Spring 2019; Point Person: CDO

Establish a campus-wide committee of faculty, staff and students to oversee professional development for underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students of color. (This will be part of a new Task Force on the Student Academic/Living Experience 2018)

• Status: Spring 2016; Point Person: Provost, SVP, Students & Enrollment

Hiatt Career Center will hold three professional development workshops specifically tailored for underrepresented students of color, with at least one specifically targeted to Black students. Suggested topics include wage negotiations, career pipelines, networking, managing co-worker and supervisor relations and conflict. (Complete, Ongoing)

• Status: Spring 2016; Point Person: Exec. Dir., Hiatt

Increase professional development workshops specifically tailored for students of color to five per semester. (Complete, Ongoing)

• Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: Exec. Dir., Hiatt

Establish professional development speakers of color database available for faculty to use in classes/staff to use in programming. (Complete)

• Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: Exec. Dir., Hiatt

Develop a pilot program of mentorship/coaching programs for students of color engaging the Brandeis alumni/ae of color and the Brandeis Alumni Association (Complete)

• Status: Fall 2016; Point Person: Exec. Dir., Hiatt

Hire a career counseling/developmental position with experience in programming for undergraduate and graduate students of color. (Complete)

• Status: July 2016; Point Person: VP, Student Affairs, Exec. Dir., Hiatt

BCC will annually reassess its capacity to provide culturally relevant support to students of all backgrounds and adjust its training and hiring of staff accordingly, including expertise in trauma informed counseling. (Ongoing)

• Status: Ongoing; Point Person: VP, Student Affairs, Director, BCC

Launch a search for an additional staff member to provide culturally relevant support to students. Outreach efforts for all hires will aggressively seek to increase applications from underrepresented counselors of color, including partnering with training institutions with high enrollment of underrepresented students of color, posting through the Massachusetts Psychological Association and networking through our current and former counselors of color. (Complete)

• Status: Jan. 2016; Point Person: VP, Student Affairs, Director, BCC

Embed two counselors within the Intercultural Center and Gender and Sexuality Center to facilitate access to counseling resources to marginalized populations. (Complete, Pending New Hires)

• Status: Spring 2018-Fall 2018; Point Person: CDO, VP, Student Affairs