Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work in CAS

Tolerance, inclusion, curiosity and openness are essential to advancing human understanding—and thus essential to the intellectual and academic mission of the College of Arts and Sciences. We welcome a diversity of cultures, histories, languages; different types of knowledge; different talents, abilities, training; a range of experiences, affiliations, alliances and perspectives—all are necessary for creativity, invention, collaboration and problem solving. There is no meaningful learning without challenge and difference.

The College of Arts and Sciences takes its charge and inspiration from the University of Oregon Mission Statement and the Division of Equity and Inclusion’s IDEAL Framework. We are devoted “to educating the whole person, and to fostering the next generation of transformational leaders and informed participants in the global community.”

Projects and Documents:

AY 22-23

Dear colleagues,

Before we close out the spring term, I want to update you on how the college is addressing findings from the CAS Climate Survey.

As a reminder, in Spring 2022 the university partnered with Gallup to conduct a workplace climate survey designed to identify structural, cultural, and institutional factors that affect campus climate. The survey results are being used to improve the climate through targeted action plans at the university, college, and department levels.

In CAS, our Climate Survey Engagement Team (CSET) — a committee of faculty, staff, and students — led the college-level assessment of our results. They summarized their findings and recommendations in a report to me. I would like to sincerely thank the entire team, who embraced this task wholeheartedly and created a comprehensive and constructive report with recommendations that we can all work toward. We hope you will take a moment to review the final report. Its recommendations can be summarized as follows:

  1. Increase recruitment and retention of women faculty, non-binary faculty, faculty of color, and differently abled faculty, as well as other appropriate staff.
  2. Ensure that the implementation of survey action plans does not increase the workloads of faculty/staff.
  3. Address any disproportionate amount of work assigned to faculty and staff who are women, non-binary, and employees of color.
  4. Develop more effective mentoring for instructional faculty at all levels.
  5. Create more opportunities for growth and promotion for faculty and staff.
  6. Increase communication and ensure safety for those who speak up.
  7. Ensure that recommendations are well-documented, publicly available and evaluated for effectiveness.

The issues the CSET report identifies are deeply important. They are also issues that many higher education institutions across the nation have been working to address, and ones that CAS has been addressing for some time. Yet, we can and must do more to create a climate in CAS where all community members feel that they belong and are supported.

To this end, CAS is committing to two new initiatives in the coming academic year to foster a climate of belonging and inclusion:

  • First, early in fall term, the college will roll out a program to fund small gatherings of faculty and staff to support networking and cohort building. This initiative is a specific recommendation from the CSET report to create support networks for underrepresented faculty and staff.
  • Second, throughout the academic year, we will work with faculty to develop recommendations for a college-wide mentoring program that assures faculty have the support they need and that recognizes mentors for their service.

These new initiatives are a part of our ongoing and sustained efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the college. To build our capacity to move this work forward, and to coordinate efforts across the college, this spring we created a new leadership position in the college — the associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADDEI). Nadia Singh, associate professor of Biology, will take on this new role in July.

The climate survey results and the CSET report are reminders that we have much more work yet to do as a college. We are committed to this work and to partnering with you all to make the college a wonderful place to work and learn.

In closing, thank you for your engagement in this process. We appreciate all the work that our faculty, staff, and students did over the past few months to dig into the survey and suggest changes that will make CAS a stronger community. We will keep you updated on our progress. With appreciation, Chris

CAS Diversity Committee Chair Quarterly Meetings
Please mark your calendars for this year’s quarterly diversity committee chair meetings:

  • Fall: Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 3:30 – 5:00
  • Winter: Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 3:30 – 5:00
  • Spring: Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 3:30 – 5:00
  •  
  • More information on the agendas and zoom links will be provided before each meeting.  We expect all departments to be represented at the meetings. If the DEI chair has a calendar conflict, please send another committee member and let us know who will be attending. 

CAS DEI Plans

This year, we will continue our focus on student success—now with the guidance of Jamie Bufalino and Melissa Baese-Berk, our new Associate Deans for Student Success—and we will align other work with the UO Climate Survey action items as the Division of Equity and Inclusion lays out a plan for this academic year. 

CAS Diversity Inventories

After several years of annual updates, CAS will now request updates to your unit diversity inventories only every two years. Your unit’s next inventory will be due in AY23-24. Last year’s inventories are located in our archive below. 

CAS Staff and Faculty Project

We are committed to continuing work on our Staff and Faculty Project this year. Thank you to everyone for submitting your community values last year. These values are posted below in our archive for your reference.

We would also like to direct you towards two fantastic and practical examples of unit-lead work on the staff/faculty project:

  • The English department’s Communications Protocol document. This document was created by the unit’s DEI committee and is a concrete step toward better communications between faculty and staff.
  • The Human Physiology department’s Reporting Tree resource. The department’s DEI committee developed this tool to provide guidance and transparency about how issues/problems move through the department and beyond.

 

Please send us tools and policies you may have created to facilitate a good working environment. 

Curriculum Assessments and CAS DEI Grants

We are asking all departments and programs to consider how they can support student success in the contexts of diversity, equity, and inclusion again this year, and the AY22-23 Dean’s Diversity Grant will support promising undergraduate-focused projects proposed by departments and programs that apply. Proposals should link student success in the context of equity and inclusion to an assessment task that can be identified and planned this year and implemented by the end of AY23-24 (this aligns with the Provost’s call to identify a curriculum assessment task: https://teaching.uoregon.edu/annual-program-assessment).

Please see the call and application form for more information. Applications are due on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, and can be submitted via email to Jules Jones (julesj@uoregon.edu).

The two OtP tasks for programs this year could be an area for collaboration with DEI chairs:

1.  Updating program learning outcomes – Diversity chairs may be interested in embedding a learning outcome related to equity and inclusion as an important skill for undergraduates (sample).

2.  Establishing Student Achievement Goals– Student Achievement goals focus on student outcomes (grades, retention, graduation rates, or post-graduation success) and focus on eliminating barriers and closing equity gaps where they exist.

We want to emphasize that the CAS DEI assessment focus on undergraduate student success can support the assessment tasks you’re being given by the Provost’s Office. Our request, our guidance, and our DEI grants should help you complete the work you’re already doing for the Provost’s Office. Finally, given our focus on student success and curriculum assessment, please invite your unit curriculum coordinators to our meetings or to consult us about the DEI Chairs curriculum assessment task.

 

Resources:

ARCHIVE:

AY21-22

CAS Diversity Plan

CAS has developed a diversity plan for AY 2021-22. Our plan outlines our general goals, action items, and our focus on student outcomes and success for this year. Please read and reflect on how your own unit’s work can contribute to these college-wide goals.

CAS Diversity Plan for AY 2021-22


CAS Diversity Grants

The AY21-22 Dean’s Diversity Grant will go to the most promising undergraduate student success/student outcomes projects proposed by departments and programs that apply. Applications are due on Monday, November 29, 2021. Please review the call for more details and submit your applications via email to Jules Jones ( julesj@uoregon.edu).

Dean’s Diversity Grant Call and Application Form

 

CAS Diversity Inventories

 

CAS would like to update our unit diversity inventory after taking a break last year. Your unit diversity inventory is not the same thing as your diversity plan; it’s a record of the highlights of your ongoing policies, practices, and programs that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in your unit. Note that we are not looking for any demographic information for your unit, but we are looking for your ideas, events, projects, and work towards a diverse, equitable, and inclusive unit (and be sure to include your contributions to student success). Please submit your diversity inventory form via email to Jules Jones (julesj@uoregon.edu) by Friday, December 3.

CAS Diversity Inventory Form


Faculty/Staff Work Environment Project

We have asked all units to create community values documents as a step in the process of improving the faculty/staff work environment by the end of fall term 2021 and submit them to casdean@uoregon.edu by or before December 17, 2021. We will post them here as examples for others:


CAS Community Values Project Documents


Curriculum Assessments

We are asking all relevant units to identify a curriculum assessment task for the year based, as always, on their learning outcomes with the goal supporting diversity, equity, or inclusion in their major or their core education curriculum. TEP and CAS have worked together to provide a template for streamlining this work and modeling how the task might be approached. Templates are optional but encouraged.

TEP/CAS Equity and Inclusion Assessment Template (pdf)
Equity and Inclusion Assessment Project Guide Example Plans (pdf)

Annual Assessment survey deadline: February 25; report due April 29
Please let us know who your unit Assessment Coordinator is and what your initial plans are by filling out this brief Qualtrics survey by February 25. Submit your annual report on work done during the 2021-22 academic year to Karen Ford at casdean@uoregon.edu by April 29. See the email "Annual Assessment Report" sent January 10 for more detail and context.

 

 

AY20-21

Faculty/Staff Working Environment Project
• Staff/Faculty Unit Discussion Report Template for November 19, 2020 CAS Diversity Chairs’ Meeting (https://oregon.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7OrEfEzqU4j6fC5)

 


AY19-20


Archive

CAS Diversity Action Plan (DAP) 2019

Divisional DAPs:


Related Resources:

Staff/Faculty Working Environment Resources

Tag: 
diversity