REPORTS FROM CHANCELLOR’S & VICE CHANCELLOR’S AREAS

All freshmen student-athletes are required to take a one credit course called “Your Winning Season” (YWS). This course is devoted to improving the learning environment for all student-athletes, and within this curriculum providing or enabling education which supports a diverse and inclusive culture. Beginning in the fall of 2012, during the YWS class, representatives from the Stonewall Center provided information as panelists and promoted discussion on the topic of Gender and Sexuality/LGBTQ. This is an ongoing part of our freshman course curriculum.

The Department of Athletics remains committed to monitor and maintain its efforts and dedication to gender equity.  The Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) is the main contact person responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and reviewing all gender equity issues within the department.

The Senior Management team plays an active role in assisting the SWA with the daily monitoring of all issues as sports program administrators.  The staff pays particular attention to roster management, the allocation of scholarship dollars, and the financial and staffing needs of all programs. 

The Senior Woman Administrator also provides the Faculty Athletic Council a report on an annual basis of all equity, gender and minority issues. The SWA, in cooperation with the Associate AD for Academics, also compiles feedback directly from the student-athletes through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

The Department has a Gender Equity Plan in place for 2011-2020. This plan is available upon request.
Minority Issues

The Department of Athletics remains committed to efforts which support providing opportunity to minority student-athletes and staff.  The Athletic Director reports annually to the University through the Faculty Athletic Council on the representation, opportunities and support services for Student-Athletes, and the attention given to minority representation in coaching and administrative positions.

The Athletic Department has a Diversity Committee, consisting of senior management, support staff, male and female coaches, and student athletes.

The Senior Management Team also interviews (through the exit interview process) all student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility, on matters concerning race or ethnicity.  The 2012-13 survey resulted in a 65% rate of return, and was supplemented with in-person interviews of at least one student-athlete per sport. These interviews were conducted by senior management within the Athletics Department.

The Student Athlete Advisory Committee, which meets monthly, is also encouraged to bring any issues regarding diversity to the athletic administration.

The Diversity Committee is actively meeting to discuss a revised five year diversity plan of action.

Disability Services works with every department on campus, both academic and non-academic, to ensure an inclusive and equitable environment for members of the university community. We provide a Consumer Manager to work at the Veteran Services Office to make it easier for our former service members to access their accommodations. Disability Services staff have participated in “Take Back the Night”, “Stand Against Racism”, “UMass Pow Wow”, the Toni Morrison, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Sonja Sanchez event and many other programs on campus. Staff from Disability Services have facilitated workshops on Autism awareness, Psychological Disability awareness through Work Place Learning, Deaf culture for Physical Plant, Diversity Training for the SNAP program and hosted a day-long conference entitled “Get the 411 on Disability”. We hosted a Tactile Art Event, a Luminaria event and a Disability Film Series. Additionally, we have provided on-going training to the English and Comparative Literature Departments as well as to the Stockbridge Program. We also collaborated with the Stonewall Center to provide a workshop for LGBT people with disabilities.

Staff from Disability Services serve on the following university committees: Chancellors Diversity Committee; Five Colleges ADA Coordinators Committee; Five Colleges Tech Access Committee; Assessment & Care Team; Architectural Access Board; Emergency Preparedness; and Commencement.

Annually, the Disability Services Office provides two orientation sessions specifically for accepted students with disabilities and their parents, who are making their final decisions on where they will attend. Additionally, we host tabling events throughout the year for the Admissions office and throughout the summer for the New Students Orientation program.

Disability Services provides services for trauma victims, services for people of color, veterans, learning disabled, Attention Deficit Disorder, and services for people who are newly diagnosed. Disability Services provides a safe and understanding environment for rape victims and those who have acquired PTSD from a life threating event. Disability Services ensure a diverse group of consumer managers so that people with disabilities have the opportunity to choose a consumer manager they can relate to.

Disability Services works with and/or provides training for the following community agencies: Whole Children, Hadley, MA; Dugan Middle School, Springfield MA; Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission; and Stavros, Amherst, MA.

Ombuds Office representatives serve on various University committees and task forces which address issues of climate, civility, and fair treatment. As a confidential and neutral resource for students experiencing university-related problems, the office plays an important role in supporting the retention of first generation and minority students. The office also serves as an informal resource for faculty and staff who are experiencing problems in the workplace, often serving as a first point of contact for individuals concerned that they are experiencing some form of discrimination or harassment based on membership in a protected category. Similarly, the office has a role in providing assistance and referrals to members of the University community concerned with possible violations of the University’s Sexual Harassment Policy. In these cases, the Ombuds Office works closely with the Equal Opportunity and Diversity Office to ensure that concerned individuals are aware of their rights and receive appropriate support and referrals.

Diversity is referenced in the founding document of CHC: “To develop effective recruitment and retention strategies to attract and retain students of high academic ability from diverse socio-economic, ethnic, and racial groups.”

Achieving greater diversity in CHC is especially important now. The construction of the CHC Residential Community arguably makes CHC the most visible, or public of the UMass Amherst colleges. It is natural for members of the campus community to wonder who has access to this superb facility and whether the population of CHC is as diverse as the rest of our campus.

• 
  ALANA Overall. In September 2013, 17.1% of CHC students were ALANA. Today, April 2014, it has risen to 17.9%. (The campus figure was 22% in September 2013.)
  
• 
  ALANA First Years. In September 2013, 17.3%. Today, April 2014, 20.6%. The gain here, and the gain mentioned above in CHC overall, is due mainly to the January 2014 recruitment of first generation college students in the frosh class with high GPAs. It is also due to the scaling up of the Emerging Scholars Program, co-sponsored by CHC and the Advising Unit. For URM first years, the numbers were 6.9 in September 2013 and 9.3 in April 2013.
  

The past academic year involved an unprecedented, intensive, multi-pronged focus on diversity in CHC. Strategies included:

• 
  Doubled the size (from 17 to 34 students) of the Emerging Scholars Program. ESP is a community of talented freshmen from under-represented groups. The students take classes together and receive mentorship from faculty and previous ESP students. The freshmen often transfer into CHC after their first semester.
  
• 
  Procured service of a full time director of ESP in spring, 2014, making possible increased outreach, including a phone-a-thon to all students from under-represented groups admitted to CHC.
  
• 
  January, 2014, recruited freshman with high GPAs who are first generation college students. Added 100 first generation students to the honors freshman class. About 45% of these are ALANA. Created ten Opportunity Scholarships for this cohort.
  
• 
  Fostered discussions of diversity through faculty and staff workshops and forums such as “Unconscious Social Bias in Teaching and Learning”, given twice in March, 2014.
  
• 
  Scaled up honors advisors participation in diversity conferences such as NCORE and the AAC&U’s Diversity, Learning and Student Success: Policy, Practice, Privilege conference.
  
• 
  Planned a new “Veterans Emerging Scholars Program” to be implemented in Fall, 2014. Incoming students who are US Veterans will be invited to participate. This program was created in collaboration with the Student Veteran Resource Center (which is a part of the Dean of Students Office). It will be open to all students whether they are in Commonwealth Honors College or not. At the end of the semester, anyone with a 3.4 GPA or higher would be encouraged to apply to Commonwealth Honors College.
  
• 
  Created, through the leadership of the director of CHC summer programs, a new summer program for 2014. The program is on documentary film making. It is for high school students--with scholarships for students from under-represented groups. Collaborating with CMASS’s Upward Bound on this program.
  

Elements of a more systematic approach to diversity moving forward should include:

• 
  Revising mission statement to reference diversity as a fundamental goal.
  

• 
  Work with the associate provost for Enrollment Management to review admissions policies. This should include not only the criteria used to evaluate high school applicants but also the ratio of students admitted in this way compared to students admitted based on their UMass GPAs. CHC should carve out more room for the “late bloomers” who come into CHC through their UMass GPA rather than their high school application. The number of freshmen admitted in the fall should be reduced to match the number of freshmen beds available in the residential community (572).
  
• 
  Continue the recruitment of first generation students who obtained high GPAs in their freshman first semester.
  

• 
  Provide opportunities for URM students to build friendships, support each other, and find academic and social opportunities. Continue to support the Emerging Scholars Program and to increase it in size, if possible.
  

• 
  Outreach to Springfield Science and Tech has been ongoing for years. Identify additional high schools in Boston for focused relationship-building and recruitment.
  

• 
  Implement the new Veterans Emerging Scholars Program in 2014-2015.
  

• 
  Scale up advising for first generation college students in CHC.
  

• 
  Evaluate the CHC fee of $300 per semester. It appears to adversely affect students who come into CHC based on their UMass GPA (in contrast to the high-school admits, who all receive a scholarship that offsets the fee). The fee is a practical and symbolic barrier confronting potential on-campus applicants into CHC. Alternatively, direct the fee revenue to CHC—which currently doesn’t receive it—so that it can be re-distributed to students with high need by way of a waiver or scholarship.
  

• 
  There is a need to simplify transfer policies that govern the flow of community college students into CHC. Currently, the community college transcripts often do not reflect the honors background of community college students—this needs to change. Provide outreach and support for incoming community college students. A new agreement with Holyoke Community College has been drafted and will be implemented in the coming academic year.
  

• 
  Prioritize scholarships for students in under-represented groups in CHC fundraising. Evaluate the possibility of significant scholarships for high performing URM applicants as part of the campus’s recruitment strategy.
  
• 
  Expand the Opportunity Scholarships provided to first generation freshman students this academic year (these scholarships cover the CHC curriculum fee).
  

• 
  Prioritize Opportunity Scholarships in CHC fundraising.
  

An important form of diversity for a university is diversity of intellectual viewpoint. The number of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students in CHC at this time is unacceptably low. But we also need to bear in mind that diversity is about contrasting perspective. A robust discussion about the concept of diversity itself is vital and should include thought-provoking questions, such as whether ALANA and URM data are sufficient to assess the degree of viewpoint diversity in an organization, given that religion, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, and other factors contribute to diverse viewpoints.

The role of governmental classification in construing social identities is a neglected and important topic that CHC can bring into the conversation. It is not universally known that since 2010, the common application allows students to check off more than one box for their race and ethnicity. Even less known is how the government re-classifies people based on the boxes that are checked. The extent to which governmental classification captures how people conceive of their own identities is a topic worthy of inquiry in a public university honors college.

CHC has a responsibility to prepare students for a world that is increasingly global and diverse, a world in which they will thrive only if they can interact productively with people from different backgrounds, assumptions, and beliefs. The best way to promote diversity in CHC is by establishing CHC as an intellectually and socially attractive destination for students of diverse and under-represented backgrounds, and by keeping up a lively conversation about the very meaning of diversity in a public university.

In both Admissions and Financial Aid, work has begun on providing greater clarity in our communications, especially for low-income, first-generation, underrepresented, and international students. Both offices are reviewing web and print-based materials with the goals of making the materials easier to understand and to navigate. A complete redesign of the Financial Aid web site is scheduled to go online in fall of 2014. Special attention has been paid to making the site much more user friendly. Improvements to the site are based largely on information Financial Aid counselors have acquired from discussions with students and parents. Counselors have taken note of not only the problems students presented them with, but also how the students think and talk about those problems.

Administered through the Financial Aid office in conjunction with the Budget Office, UMass Amherst offers a significant amount of need-based grant aid, much of it to the students of the Commonwealth. In the academic year 2013-14 that amount was $44 million for all undergraduates. Each year the effectiveness of aid distribution is analyzed and adjustments are made. Working with outside groups has provided a better understanding of the financial challenges students face. For example, for the past three years Enrollment Management has worked with Bottom Line in Boston by sending them contact information on Boston-area students admitted to UMass Amherst. Bottom Line helps low-income and first-generation students get to and through college, including helping the students understand their financial aid package and their college expenses. Bottom Line then provides information to Enrollment Management to help us understand the financial challenges low-incomes students are facing. This kind of feedback has led to adjustments in aid packages where it’s needed most. One of those adjustments led to the development of the Student Aid Grant. Realizing that too many in-state students were left with aid “gaps” (the out-of-pocket cost a student is left with after all aid, including loans, has been calculated), we instituted a need/merit based grant specifically for our highest-need students. The grant is $3,000 and supplements any other aid the student receives. All recipients are fully Pell Grant eligible. Fall 2014 will be the second year for the grant. The anticipated yield for this group is 34 percent, which is higher than the 29 percent yield rate that is typical for our in-state entering freshmen. Sixty-four percent of those offered are first-generation. To put this into perspective, 28 percent of our entering in-state freshmen in fall 2013 were first-generation. Underrepresented students make up 21 percent of those being offered the grant, while only 11 percent of our in-state freshmen last fall were part of our underrepresented population.

Keeping the low-income and first-generation students enrolled is also a critical part of our mission. Last fall Enrollment Management paired with the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success (CMASS) to reach out to almost 1,800 entering freshmen who were low-income, first-generation, or underrepresented. Among other things, students were assured that if they needed information or advice about paying their bills or a different perspective on their financial aid package, the CMASS advisors were there to help. Enrollment Management and CMASS will continue to refine this partnership, applying what we learn as we go.

Enrollment Management will continue to work with University Relations to develop materials that support the university’s outreach, diversity, inclusion, and internationalization efforts. Efforts will continue to examine communication pieces to assure that they are representative of the cross section of students the university is working to attain.

Enrollment Management will broaden its communications with UMass Amherst students and student groups to improve its outreach efforts with prospective students, especially those who will add to the diversity of the campus. While the Admissions Office has a strong network of connections with high schools throughout the Commonwealth and the Northeast, other groups on campus have important contacts with organizations within communities where our outreach efforts could be improved.

The Admission Office continues to search for ways in which technology can help us become more efficient and effective in our communications efforts, especially with prospective students. In the summer of 2014 a new online inquiry form will be introduced. Among other additions, the form will have several dozen choices for which to request additional information about groups and services that are part of UMass Amherst. Among the choices are the Stonewall Center, CMASS, and Veteran Services. The new form will give Admissions the opportunity to work with these areas and help them communicate with prospective students who are interested in learning more about them. The form will also allow us to immediately push specialized information to the prospective student based on the information he/she submitted via the form.

Beginning in the fall of 2013, Enrollment Management worked directly with the Commonwealth Honors College to identify prospective low-income, first-generation, underrepresented minority entering freshmen for fall 2014. The areas also worked together to broaden the scope of contacts for the CHC Emerging Scholars program. The work is part of an ongoing effort to improve the diversity of the honors college.

• 
  The Graduate School annually transfers $600,000 in fellowship funds and $20,000 in additional support to the STEM Diversity Institute, where it is used to provide funding for underrepresented minority graduate students in STEM disciplines.
  
• 
  The Graduate School annually awards an additional $180,000 in fellowship funding to underrepresented minority graduate students in other disciplines.
  
• 
  The Graduate School provides additional fellowship funding to the Department of Afro-American Studies.
  

• 
  The Graduate School provides funding, programming, sponsorship, and logistical support to two student-initiated organizations that are focused on professional development and career preparation for graduate students who are underrepresented in their disciplines.
  

• 
  Graduate Women in STEM (GWIS) — https://blogs.umass.edu/gwis/. Graduate School liaison: Shana Passonno, Director of Professional Development.
  
• 
  Graduate Students of Color Association (GSCA) — https://umassamherst.collegiatelink.net/organization/GSCA/about. Graduate School liaison: Claudia Donald, Associate Graduate Registrar.
  

• 
  The Graduate School provides application fee waivers for McNair Scholars and applicants certified by their financial aid office as qualifying for GRE fee waivers. It also waives the application fee for underrepresented minority applicants identified by the STEM Diversity Institute and certain other campus partners.
  
• 
  The Graduate School receives delegations of McNair Scholars from other northeastern institutions, introducing them to our programs and connecting them with faculty.
  
• 
  The Graduate School provides each department with a list of its discipline’s national McNair Scholar juniors and seniors, urging them to contact these highly qualified potential applicants.
  
• 
  The Graduate School distributes reports on ALANA applicants to departments during the admissions season.
  

• 
  Using placement data collected during the Doctoral Program Review, the Graduate School developed and distributed to the Deans a report on the placement of minority and women doctoral recipients.
  
• 
  Using survey data collected in 2013, the Graduate School will soon distribute to the Deans a report on how well the departments and the faculty are supporting our minority and women doctoral students.
  

The Stem Diversity Institute (SDI) facilitates diversification of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce. The Institute oversees a comprehensive program of recruitment, retention and advancement activities focused on groups underrepresented in STEM. SDI activities serve undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty in all STEM departments at UMass Amherst, and disseminates best practices nationwide.

• 
  Diversity Forum: SBS faculty with expertise in obstacles to diversity meet with STEM women faculty to identify problems and solutions to recruitment, retention and promotion of women in STEM disciplines.
  
• 
  Partner Visiting Faculty Program: Funded by the NIH Initiative for Maximizing Student Development, this program brings junior faculty from minority-serving Partner Institutions to work with UMass STEM faculty during a 10-week paid summer fellowship. The program enhances research at both the Partner Institution and UMass Amherst, promotes success of minority faculty and fosters a sustainable relationship between institutions.
  
• 
  Enhanced Recruiting:
  

• 
  NEAGEP Science Days: Funded by the NSF Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) grant (led by UMass Amherst), Partner Institutions (Medgar Evers College, Lincoln University, Bennett College, Jackson State University and the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez) host Partner Science Day for all 10 Research Intensive Alliance Institutions (UMass, MIT, BU, Penn State, Rutgers and the Universities of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine). At these events, faculty from the NEAGEP Alliance Institutions meet faculty and prospective graduate students from the Partner Institutions.
  
• 
  Going Home: Senior graduate students funded by the SDI return to their home institutions to present a seminar about their work and to meet with prospective graduate students. Increases the confidence of the graduate students and inspires younger students to also graduate school in STEM disciplines.
  
• 
  Fall Graduate Preview Weekend: Students from underrepresented groups who are interested in STEM Ph.D. programs come to UMass to meet faculty and graduate students who describe opportunities and support at our institution.
  
• 
  Rapid Response Admission Program: Graduate School provides lists of students who self-identify as members of underrepresented groups. Faculty Core Coordinators alert their colleagues to these applications. If students are accepted, the SDI contacts them to help with recruitment.
  
• 
  Recruiting at SACNAS and ABRCMS: The SDI facilitates attendance of faculty and graduate students at these meetings attended by underrepresented students in STEM disciplines.
  
• 
  Partner with Dickinson College and Penn State University to host minority undergraduate students from those institutions during a summer program of undergraduate research.
  

• 
  STEM Ph.D. Student Retention and Advancement:
  

• 
  Writing Workshops: Students receive mentoring to write NIH and NSF grants for pre- and post-doctoral fellowships.
  
• 
  Tools of the Trade: Students receive funding to attend workshops and meetings to learn scientific methods not available at UMass.
  
• 
  Eminent Scientist Mentoring Program: Students identify eminent scientists in their field and the IMSD grant funds visits by these scientists to UMass and by graduate students to the laboratories of the Eminent Scientists. Facilitates development of a research network and identification of postdoctoral or employment opportunities outside UMass.
  
• 
  Stage-Specific Professional Development: Seminars and workshops ranging from ethical conduct of research to maintaining mental health and developing organizational skills.
  
• 
  Near-Peer Mentoring Program: Each incoming student is connected to two near-peers who can serve as mentors. Relationships are cemented by monthly lunches of mentors and mentees at the University Club.
  

• 
  Developing Untapped Talent:
  

• 
  NIH Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program: Brings in 10-13 students from underrepresented groups who have earned bachelor’s degrees within the past 3 years but not yet enrolled in graduate school. Students are paid a stipend, health insurance coverage and tuition while working in a research laboratory and taking graduate level or appropriate courses to prepare them for doctoral programs in STEM programs at UMass and elsewhere.
  
• 
  NEAGEP Research Opportunities Fair: Over 900 UMass undergraduates in STEM disciplines at UMass Amherst are invited to an event at which representatives from the 9 NEAGEP institutions, as well as Boston College and Albert Einstein University, present opportunities for them to conduct paid research at those institutions during the summer.
  

• 
  Data Acquisition to Support New Initiatives:
  

• 
  We collect data on admission, enrollment, continuation and graduation of Ph.D. students disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender and nationality.
  
• 
  Through examination of these data, we identify problems and write grants to obtain funds for overcoming these problems. We are currently working on a proposal for funding postdoctoral fellowships for students from groups underrepresented in STEM.
  
• 
  Planning collection of data on success in STEM Ph.D. programs in NEAGEP Institutions related to GRE scores.
  

• 
  Host the local chapter of the American Association of Women in Science.
  
• 
  Host SDI-Five Colleges Diversity Day: Includes data-driven brainstorming session attended by deans, graduate program directors and senior Ph.D. students from underrepresented groups. In addition, Five College Inc and the SDI co-sponsor the Distinguished Lecture presented in the afternoon of the event. This year the speaker is Dr. Lydia Villa-Komaroff.
  

As part of our ongoing commitment to engage in an organizational climate assessment, UMass Amherst Libraries participated in the Association Research Libraries’ ClimateQual survey first in 2008 and again in 2012. As follow up to the survey, the Organizational Development Task Force was created and is charged with identifying ways to operationalize objectives outlined in the “Transforming the Workplace” section of the 2013-2015 Three Year Plan; including the goal of transforming the workplace and fostering diversity: “The Libraries will continue to promote organizational policies and best practices that foster a healthy organizational climate and diversity of all types.”

In addition to the Diversity Liaisons, the Library is represented and actively participating in conversations with the Chancellor’s Diversity Advisory Committee regarding climate, recruitment, retention, and other hot topics on diversity and inclusion. Information is brought back and shared with the entire organization through Staff Council (a committee comprised of USA, PSU and MSP staff from all divisions of the Library), as well as Senior Management Group.

It is expected that managers are evaluated on their efforts and work in support of the above, as such, the following is being included as we update job descriptions “Ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively and to promote teamwork, diversity, equality, and inclusiveness within the UMass Amherst Libraries and the campus”.

The Library asked Equal Opportunity & Diversity to make a presentation on diversity in higher education and the universities search processes at the March Library All Staff meeting.

The Director of Libraries is the Board Liaison, on behalf of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors, to the ARL Committee on Diversity and Leadership. The Committee promotes and supports the Minority Diversity and Leadership Program, which is designed to recruit and support up-and-coming librarians from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

The Assistant Director for EO&D collaborates with the Head of Library Human Resources and Organizational Development, to meet with each new search committee to review affirmative action, equal opportunity and inclusion policies and laws, and as an organizational priority so that search committee members may better understand their role in support of these priorities.

Du Bois Library Fellowship Awards

As part of the Du Bois Center’s mission to support scholarship emanating from the life and teachings of W.E.B. Du Bois, the UMass Amherst Libraries announced the 2013 Fellowship recipients. The UMass Amherst Libraries offer short-term residential fellowships to assist new scholars in conducting research in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. Full-time graduate students, faculty, or independent scholars (with a PhD ) are eligible to apply. Fellows receive a stipend of $2,500 for a four-week residency. The deadline for applications was February 14, 2014. For more information: http://bit.ly/dubois_fellowship.

To celebrate completion of the digitization of the papers of Horace Mann Bond, the Department of Special Collections at the UMass Amherst Libraries hosted “Growing Up Bond,” a conversation with the children of Horace Mann Bond: Julian Bond, James Bond, and Jane Bond Moore, on Wednesday, February 12, 2014. in the Student Union Ballroom at UMass Amherst. The event was free and opens to the public.

A scholar, educator, and advocate for civil rights, Horace Mann Bond was a key figure in the growth of historically Black colleges during the decades surrounding Brown v. Board of Education. Bond’s remarkable collection of personal papers is rich in correspondence with leading African American intellectuals and figures in the emerging world of independent Africa.
February 25, 2014, W.E.B. Du Bois: A Man For All Times

W.E.B. Du Bois Birthday celebration

The 20th Annual Du Bois Birthday Celebration hosted by the UMass Amherst Libraries featured “A Man for All Times: W.E.B. Du Bois,” performed by the Pulse Ensemble Theatre on Feb. 25, 2014, at the Campus Center Auditorium, UMass Amherst. The free one-hour one-man show of the 95-year-long life of W.E.B. Du Bois unfolded in a gripping performance by Brian Richardson.

The performance was sponsored by UMass Amherst Libraries and the Randolph and Cecile Bromery Endowment Fund for the W.E.B. Du Bois Center. The Du Bois Center is a source of academic scholarship and intellectual pursuit at UMass Amherst. The Center affects positive change and explores issues of justice by providing access to unparalleled archival resources and supporting scholars from all over campus, across disciplines, and from around the world as they interact with the teachings of W.E.B. Du Bois.

The UMass Amherst Libraries commemorates the birthday of W.E.B. Du Bois annually with an event relating to his life and legacy. The Library was named for W.E.B. Du Bois in 1994 and is home to the extensive Du Bois Papers.

Our visual arts programs also included such works as Dubois in Our Time; Foreign Affairs: Five Artists from Japan; Jennifer Lista Vert; Onawumi Jean Moss and Priscilla Page. The Fine Arts Center is dedicated to and continues to promote the benefits of cultural diversity to mainstream audiences through innovative, integrated, multi-art forms and cross cultural approaches to the visual and performing arts, projects, workshops and community services.

The College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA) has concluded another successful year of hiring, and to a certain extent retaining, a diverse faculty. Let me begin by describing hiring outcomes for 2012-13 and 2013-14, then sketch several recent events and new initiatives to promote a diverse and multicultural environment.

In 2012-13, the College concluded 13 successful tenure-track hires; we also made a tenure-track appointment through the Partner Employment Program (PEP). Of the fourteen new tenure-track faculty members, seven were female and more than one-third were minority (2 Hispanic; 3 African-American). We also hired eight new professional staff, all of whom were women; one was an African-American.

HFA partnered with SBS for three “bridge hires.” These three faculty members have their tenure homes in SBS, so they are not counted among HFA new tenure-track hires, but the search committees were equally composed of SBS and HFA faculty and the bridge hires will divide their teaching equally between the two departments. Of these, all were female; one was African-American and another of Middle Eastern descent. Although Middle Eastern is not a recognized minority category, faculty of Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, Maghrebi, Iraqi, etc, descent contribute in very significant ways to the diversification of the campus.

In 2013-14, the College completed thirteen successful tenure-track searches. The Partner Employment Program played an unusually large role in the College’s hiring in 2013-14, as we made four tenure-track appointments through the program and one non-tenure-track appointment. Of the seventeen new tenure-system faculty hires, nine were female and seven identified as minorities (four Asian, two African-American, one Hispanic). We also hired four non-tenure-track faculty, one of whom through the PEP program. All were Caucasian females. The College hired four new professional staff, all Caucasian, two of whom were females.

The record suggests that although we are having considerable success recruiting minority faculty, it is much harder to recruit minority professional staff. I would attribute this difference largely to the fact that we recruit faculty on a national level and go to considerably lengths to diversify the candidate pool, while staff recruitment tends to be local and regional. I plan to work with the HFA Diversity Advisor to consider ways in which we could extend our success in recruiting minority faculty into professional staff hiring.

We experienced one setback in the diversification of the faculty when we were unable to retain a Hispanic faculty member who accepted an offer from another university. In this case, geography was definitely against us, as the competing university was in the Southwest, and a university with a strong profile for Latino/a Studies in a major city with a large Latino/a population. Recruiting and retaining Hispanic faculty remains a special challenge.

The creation of a new position of Diversity Advisor was an important development for the college. The Diversity Advisor came on board with many great ideas for both recruitment and retention. This past year, she focused her efforts largely on recruitment, working with search committees and department chairs to ensure both compliance with hiring protocols and a deeper understanding of our goals in diversifying the faculty. We’ve begun discussing ways in which these efforts can be enhanced next year, as well as broader initiatives for improving retention and improving campus climate.

As noted in past reports, there have been numerous departmental initiatives aimed at fostering a diverse, multicultural learning community throughout the college. Among the most visible were the Black Women in the Arts evening with Toni Morrison (March 10, 2014), organized by the Department of Afro-American Studies and co-sponsored by the Chancellor’s Office and numerous other campus entities; the department also organized another memorable Tribute to Nelson Mandela on April 4. These were only two of many lectures, symposia, and performing arts events that highlighted the work of women and artists and scholars of color.

An important initiative as we move forward will be the re-launching of the Multicultural Theater Certificate. Originally conceived in conjunction with the New World Theater series in the Fine Arts Center, the certificate program has lain dormant since the cancellation of New World Theater. The reconceived program draws on the Theater Department’s considerable strengths in this area and will include internships and other opportunities. We see this program as playing an important role in the recruitment of students from underrepresented groups.

CNS activities regarding diversity, equity & inclusion during 2013-2014 are listed below.

• 
  CNS Search Committee College-wide Trainings. Two training sessions for all members of CNS search committees were held in fall 2013. Sessions were planned and carried out with the assistance of EO&D, and focused on improving strategies for increasing diversity in hiring pools, recruitment, and retaining a more diverse faculty.
  
• 
  New Web Page. We developed and launched a new web page for Faculty Diversity.
  

• 
  Director of Student Success and Diversity. A successful search was conducted to hire a Director of Student Success and Diversity. This position will be focused on undergraduate programs.
  
• 
  Director of Faculty Equity and Inclusion. The new Director of Faculty Equity and Inclusion joined CNS in 2014. The Director will be responsible for programmatic and evidence-based programs to increase recruitment, hiring, retention, and success of a more diverse CNS faculty, while strengthening equity across the college.
  

The CNS Women in Science Initiative (WISI) was begun in the spring of 2012 and focuses on increasing the success of women scientists at all stages of their academic careers. One priority of WISI is to create opportunities for women faculty, post docs and students in the sciences to connect to one another. Although the numbers of women have increased in each CNS department over the years, issues of isolation and underrepresentation remain a challenge. Our activities during 2013-2014 focused on developing events and using web-based resources to provide women the chance to exchange ideas, strategies, and make connections with colleagues.

• 
  New Web Page. We developed and launched a new web page for the CNS Women in Science Initiative (WISI Home), which lists programs, events, CNS women scientists in the news, community outreach, and a variety of resources for women scientists.
  
• 
  2^nd Annual CNS Women in Science Lecture. On April 7, Susan Metz, Senior Research Associate and Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Stevens Institute of Technology, spoke on “Moving Beyond Fixing the Women to Changing the Culture in Academic STEM Fields.” Susan Metz is a nationally recognized leader in catalyzing change in academia regarding women in science. Her lecture addressed how unintended bias affects hiring, retention and promotion of women faculty and will identify research-based strategies to engender an inclusive and productive work environment. Metz has secured nearly $10 million in federal, corporate and foundation grants to work with over 200 colleges and universities to increase access, retention and advancement of women and girls in STEM fields. The lecture is open to the public and had an attendance of over 300 last year. In addition to the public lecture, Metz provided small group consultation to three groups during her visit: 1) a campus-wide group of female faculty who are planning to submit a NSF ADVANCE grant; 2) CNS leadership—deans, department heads, and directors of interdisciplinary graduate programs. This session focused on how CNS leadership can design and implement an effective climate survey of the college and departments; and 3) College of Engineering leadership.
  
• 
  International Visitor Leadership Program. On April 9^th, CNS hosted 10 women scientists from Algeria, Sudan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Nepal, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, and Uzbekistan. This visit is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the purpose is to facilitate networking opportunities between scientists and to share best practices to champion the success of women scientists.
  
• 
  Faculty Peer Mentoring Groups. We held a panel and mixer in December 2013 to bring together women faculty interested in finding out about the benefits of peer professional mentoring groups. These informal mentoring networks foster collegiality, promote learning, and help with the challenges of a career at a research university. The Dean’s office developed a web-based form (https://secure.cns.umass.edu/webforms/mentoring-interest) for faculty to indicate interest in joining a group and the Dean’s office then served as a conduit for matching faculty into new mentoring groups. Three new mentoring groups have been formed and are on-going.
  
• 
  Webinar on ‘Retaining Women in STEM Fields’: This November 4^th webinar explored why women leave faculty positions and what departments, colleges and universities can do about it. The webinar featured Joan C. Williams, distinguished professor of law and the founding director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. She drew on work prepared for the NSF-funded Tools for Change Project and discussed the ways departments can save money by eliminating a chilly climate for women, the importance of family-friendly policies, and the way the right policies can avoid legal problems.
  
• 
  Lecture, "Recent Research Regarding Detection and Treatment of Breast Cancer": This October 16^th lecture was presented by D. Joseph Jerry, PhD, Professor of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at UMass Amherst Science; Director, Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute; Co-Director, Rays of Hope Center for Breast Cancer Research, and Kaitlyn Wong, MD, Surgery Resident at Bay State Medical Center.
  
• 
  CNS Women’s Caucus. Soon after WISI was begun, the CNS Women’s Caucus was formed and works closely with the Dean’s office. This year the Dean’s office has help support the development of a web page for the Women’s Caucus, http://www.math.umass.edu/~nahmod/WOCS_CNS.UMassAmherst.html
  
• 
  Graduate Women in STEM (GWIS). In 2012, CNS WISI sponsored a lunch to bring graduate students in CNS together to discuss whether a graduate organization focused on issues of interest to graduate women in science would be useful. As a follow-up to the lunch, a group of graduate women created a proposal to CNS for funding of GWIS. CNS approved funding for the group and reached out to the Graduate School and College of Engineering to match funding. The GWIS blog includes events, activities of interest, and summaries of GWIS’ many initiatives.
  
• 
  Undergraduate Women in Science. CNS undergraduate students have formed a Residential Student Organization (RSO). The group is affiliated with the Association of Women in Science (AWIS). The group has organized a faculty panel with the topic being balancing work and family, and a student panel on internships in STEM.
  
• 
  Undergraduate Course in Women in Science. This new course was taught in fall 2013.
  
• 
  Outreach
  

• 
  Eureka! Starting in the summer of 2013, CNS partnered with Girls Inc. of Holyoke to bring the Eureka Program to campus. Eureka! is a nationally recognized program designed to engage girls 12-18 to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The program provides access to college campuses and academic STEM experts who act as program facilitators and coaches, as the girls continue through high school. More than 60 CNS faculty and graduate students volunteered to offer four weeks of STEM classes for Eureka! student scholars from Holyoke. The program has continued during the current academic year with a variety of events. This is a 5-year commitment and we anticipate 60 students will be part of the program in summer 2014. Watch video.
  
• 
  Baystate Academy. CNS is working with Baystate Academy, a charter school focused on health sciences and college readiness, to develop programs that facilitate sustained interactions with UMass faculty and students from CNS. Baystate Academy serves Springfield students.
  

• 
  Association for Women in Science. CNS collaborated with many university units to support a university-wide membership in this organization.
  

• 
  India Roundtable. CNS is participating in the Office of International Programs initiatives for developing sustained faculty and student exchanges with Indian universities.
  

CNS faculty and administration lead and participate in a number of federally-funded campus programs focused on the success of minority and women students and faculty in the sciences. For example:

• 
  CNS faculty are key contributors to the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, a program whose major goal is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students in STEM graduate programs.
  
• 
  CNS faculty are participating in a university-wide effort to submit a NSF ADVANCE grant application to promote institutional transformation by increasing women faculty in STEM disciplines. The College committed funds to help support this grant preparation.
  
• 
  Two CNS faculty are Principal Investigators on a NIH grant ($2,441,801; 2012- 2017), Initiative for Maximizing Student Development, which funds training for underrepresented minority graduate students in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. Through the grant STEM faculty also receive increased training in mentoring minority students.
  
• 
  CNS faculty lead the NSF Broadening Participation in Computing Research grant to implement and evaluate programs to increase the participation of women and minorities in computing research.
  
• 
  CNS departments participate in the NSF-funded Northeastern Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP). The goal of the LSAMP is to increase the enrollment, retention, graduation, and
  
  Directory: eod
  eod -> Econ of Disasters – Unit Introduction
  eod -> Navy explosive ordnance disposal program
  eod -> Affirmative action program university of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, Massachusetts
  
  
  
  Download 1.35 Mb.
  
  Share with your friends: