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Several weeks ago, I wrote to you all about the first eight initiatives we developed to promote a more diverse, welcoming, and inclusive campus community with feedback from faculty, staff, students and alumni. Since then, we have taken actionable steps toward our goals. I’m writing to you today to let you know about our progress.
Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
- A search committee has been formed to recruit a new Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that will be chaired by former President Jim Spaniolo. See the full list of VP search committee members.
Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
- We have formed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee co-chaired by Debra Woody and Michele Bobadilla, which includes diverse representation from student government, as well as faculty and staff from schools, colleges and divisions across campus.
- The committee held its initial meeting last week.
- The committee will include standing and ad hoc subcommittees to address relevant concerns.
- See the full list of committee membership.
Recruitment and Retention of Faculty and Staff:
- We are developing a University-wide plan to enhance the recruiting, retention, and promotion of underrepresented faculty and staff. This effort is being led by Faculty Affairs in the Provost’s Office and Human Resources, with involvement from units across the University.
Scholarships:
- UTA has designated an additional $25 million in scholarships to address student diversity and especially the financial concerns of first-generation college students. These additional funds will support even more students from low-income families and those facing challenges in the wake of COVID-19.
Faculty and Staff Training:
- The Office of Human Resources is implementing Diversity and Inclusion training for all faculty and staff. Employee training will include: Implicit Bias, Microaggressions, Upstander to Bystander, Cultural Competence, Creating Welcoming Diverse Environments, and Cultural Conflicts.
Student Courses:
- To ensure immediate impact, the University is incorporating curriculum focused on identity, privilege, bias and oppression that will be delivered to new students for the Fall 2020 semester.
- To further develop an enhanced curriculum focused on social justice and equity, a task force has been formed with membership from across the University. This enhanced curriculum is targeted for deployment for new students in the Spring 2021 semester, and will be regularly reviewed and improved for future semesters.
UTA Police Department:
- The UTA Police Department is reviewing departmental policies to ensure they are aligned with the core values of our University, and free from unfairness and bias.
- In addition to regularly planned ongoing training, UTA police officers will receive additional advanced training in diversity, racial profiling, as well as implicit bias and explicit bias during the upcoming fall and spring semesters.
Multicultural Affairs:
- The Office Multicultural Affairs is in the process of filling a staff position that is focused on providing opportunities to expand the Maverick Advantage program and support services for our diverse population of students. We are committed to expanding further programming and are creating a plan to add additional resources as we further our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
We will continue to provide updates as we further our goals to create a more equitable and welcoming campus community. We’ve also launched a new website where you can follow the progress of these initiatives.
As I mentioned before, these steps are just a starting point. As we move forward, we will continue to explore new ways of improving our campus community. Please feel free to send questions and further suggestions related to diversity, equity and inclusion to diversity@uta.edu.
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