EDI Strategic Plan Progress Report

As SUNY Brockport enters the final year of its 2016-2021 Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, we acknowledge the unprecedented challenges that our community has faced, while also reflecting on the tremendous strides we have made throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

When our EDI strategic plan was launched in 2016, we understood our responsibility to improve and transform the educational experiences of our increasingly diverse student body, and to recruit and retain an increasingly diverse faculty and staff. We focused on recruitment, retention, education and training, and on enhancing our campus climate, in order to ensure that Brockport is a great place to learn and to work. 

However, none of us could have imagined all that we as a community would face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, an international movement demanding the dismantling of structural racism, and a highly divisive US presidential campaign that exposed conflict and concerns over civility, respect, and community building.

As a Brockport community, we have learned much about the value of being a resilient resource for our community over the last year. Examples of our efforts include establishing the Golden Eagle fund to support our most vulnerable students, who are suffering from food insecurity; compiling a list of anti-racism resources on the Brockport.edu/diversity website to better serve and support our most-impacted communities during this time; and engaging in dialogue and action to ensure that issues of structural racism are acknowledged and addressed in our community, to name but a few. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic helped us reimagine what the learning and work environments look like on campus, as we focused on ensuring that both in- person and remote settings are inclusive, accessible, and equitable. Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion remains firm, strong, and unwavering, and we hope you find this EDI Strategic Plan Review a helpful resource in our ongoing journey.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lorraine Acker                                                                   Dr. Heidi Macpherson
Interim Chief Diversity Officer                                              President

Our EDI Goals and Objectives

We have made notable progress on implementing our goals and living out the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion during 2020-21, while recognizing that the pandemic has had an impact on the objectives set against these goals. The overarching goals for our EDI Strategic Plan are as follows: 

Goal 1: Achieve a Balance of Representation in Faculty and Staff

Goal 2: Achieve a Balance of Representation in the Student Body

Goal 3: Expand Attendance at and Access to EDI Curriculum, Programming, and/or Trainings

Goal 4: Build and Maintain an Inclusive and Positive Campus Climate

Some of the progress we made on our goals occurred in different ways than first envisioned. For example, in relation to Goal One, the recruitment of Brockport employees was significantly curtailed during 2020-21, due to COVID related NY State and SUNY restrictions. We were, however, able to recruit a new PRODiG Fellow, continue to support four PRODiG faculty members from the 2019-20 cohort faculty, and secure four more PRODiG faculty in 2020-21, due to SUNY’s strong commitment to the PRODiG project and EDI initiatives overall. 

Other notable hires include our Transition and Success Coordinator in the Academic Success Center, whose role is focused on supporting underrepresented students, particularly men of color; and most recently, the Coordinator of Intercultural Engagement and Programs, who is responsible for programming in the new Joey Jackson Intercultural Center for underrepresented students and their allies, who started over the summer. 

Also of note, we were able to hire a trained Diversity Recruiter this year, who, among other things, has transformed our search committee training, written a Diversity Recruitment plan, conducted Stay Interviews and reestablished the exit interview process. Our Diversity Recruiter can use the data gathered to inform Cabinet about trends and concerns, find creative solutions to long-standing issues, and recommend additional training for supervisors, while ensuring the confidentiality of individuals (except in cases covered by legal requirements). Thus, over the last year, we have focused our efforts more on retention rather than recruitment activities, whilst also being intentional in relation to notable appointments in EDI related areas. 

In relation to Goal Two, 28.1% of first year students and 29.8% of transfer students who were newly enrolled at SUNY Brockport in Fall 2020 identified as students of color, continuing the trend of increased racial and ethnic diversity on our campus. For the most part, student recruitment activities went virtual in 2020-21, though we were the only SUNY school consistently to offer in-person opportunities for small student tours, as well as two outdoor events in May during which accepted students were able to tour campus, meet with faculty and staff, and see Brockport’s facilities. Our Undergraduate Admissions team has been particularly active in seeking new ways to recruit a diverse student body; please see Section 7 for further details.

The expansion of in-person attendance at EDI events, Goal Three, was similarly affected by COVID-19, though we were able to embrace technological solutions that meant, in some areas, we expanded our reach beyond the confines of our campus by going virtual. More details about our progress on goal three is noted below. In relation to Goal Four, we created a new Presidential Campus Climate Committee to lead the process of creating and reviewing a new climate survey.

In addition to these four overarching goals, SUNY Brockport has also responded to wider SUNY guidance and support. We were fortunate to have Dr. Rodmon King continue his partnership with us until December 2020, during which time he attended weekly cabinet meetings, divisional leadership meetings, and held trainings, and met with affinity groups. We appreciated his expert assistance, and we remain grateful to SUNY for offering us such professional services. 

In February 2021, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced SUNY’s 25-point Action Plan to close racial equity gaps and eliminate cultural and institutional racial discrimination across SUNY campuses. So in addition to measuring ourselves against our own goals, we have taken the SUNY plan and mapped it, where applicable, against the efforts we are currently undertaking.

Full review of the SUNY DEI Plan and our Brockport map  

Recognizing that we were working this year under a set of conditions that had not been anticipated when our EDI plan was created, we set eight priorities under these larger goals as our foci for 2020-21, which were shared with the college community through the publication of 2019-20 EDI strategic plan update.

As a reminder, these eight priorities were as follows:

1. Completion of the CDO Search (to assist with all four goals, but particularly Goals 3 and 4)
2. Implementation of Divisional EDI Plans, touching all goals as appropriate 
3. Development of a new EDI Strategic Planning Committee 
4. Implementation of a Presidential Campus Climate Committee (PCCC), focused on Goal 4
5. Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management & Student Affairs to continue to partner to address gaps in High Impact Practices (HIPs) and Co-Curricular High Impact Practices (CHIPs), focused on Goals 2 and 3
6. Faculty/Staff Training & Development: Review of EVERFI, BizLibrary and internal offerings, focused on Goal 3 and 4
7. Review and alignment of recruitment and retention efforts for underrepresented students, focused on Goal 2
8. Alumni Engagement & Outreach around EDI initiatives, focused on Goal 4.

In what follows, we will expand on each of these eight priorities:

• 1. New Chief Diversity Officer

  In 2020-21, the College launched a national search for the new Chief Diversity Officer, with the support of Storbeck and Associates, part of the Diversified Search Group. More than 30 individuals volunteered to be part of the search committee, indicating the community’s investment in this crucial role. The final search committee had representation from all divisions on campus and included student representatives as well. 

  Eight semifinalists accepted the invitation to interview, and three finalists participated in the last stage of the interview process, during which candidates had an opportunity to meet with representatives from a variety of groups on campus and participate in a virtual campus forum.

  Following the successful completion of a nationwide search, the College selected Ms. Damita Davis as the new Chief Diversity Officer, who started working at SUNY Brockport on July 1, 2021.

• 2. Divisional EDI Plans

  Cabinet members know that what you put on the agenda is what gets attention and gets done. Thus, not only did cabinet meetings focus on weekly EDI activities and updates, but each member of Cabinet undertook individual and collective EDI training. Cabinet members all took part in the United Way’s 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge and a 9-week Dale Carnegie training, with members of the Faculty and Staff of Color Interest Group and the International Faculty and Staff Association. Finally, all members of cabinet are required to include EDI work in their annual performance review and to ensure that EDI plans were in place for their respective areas. 

  As a result, each division or area worked throughout the year on implementing specific EDI plans that took into account their areas of expertise and focus. In this way, each division took ownership of EDI activity, ensuring that it was threaded throughout their practices, policies, and procedures. This information was published on our website.  

  All divisions undertook leadership training and collective EDI readings, and each division ensured that EDI initiatives or activities were embedded in leadership meeting agendas throughout the year. Below is a summary of some of the specific aspects of each division’s plan: 

  Academic Affairs

  The leadership team established new Leadership Guiding Principles which are published on the website:

  • Equity, diversity, and inclusion needs to be threaded throughout all of our decision-making and actions as divisional leaders.
  • Leading by example and setting expectations is part of our job, and in turn, the job of our sub-leaders.
  • Equity, diversity, and inclusion is not something "external" that is "done" to people on campus. It is something internal - a light that guides all of us.
  • There are resources to assist us, but we need to do the work. It isn’t about more training nor is it the job of the CDO or HR. It is about our leading change.
  • We need to discuss, honor, and understand that this work is a heavy lift, yet we will be stronger for doing this.

  Academic Affairs also focused on opportunities to support faculty development and enrichment. Academic affairs launched and reviewed an Appointment, Promotion and Tenure (APT) satisfaction survey to determine what areas need more investigation, conducted focus group work and developed an anti-bias “worksheet” for APT committees. They reviewed current mentoring practices with the aim of developing whole-College mentoring program for new faculty, and they invested in membership for all faculty in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. NCFDD is a nationally recognized company that is dedicated to supporting faculty in making successful transitions throughout their careers, and includes online career development and training, and mentoring resources.

  Drake Memorial Library colleagues created an anti-oppression LibGuide, collected diversity books for the campus Little Free Library (located near Alumni House), analyzed the library’s juvenile collection to ensure it is diverse, submitted a grant application to develop a series of programs on EDI for local libraries, and attended a webinar series on antiracism resources for information literacy instruction.

  The School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office shared with department chairs and program directors a document developed jointly by the Urban Institute and the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California with which faculty can review their syllabi and modify their syllabi to promote racial/ethnic equity and equity-minded practice.

  Due to her leadership of the Comprehensive Colleges’ PRODiG Fellows project, which focuses on expanding the pipeline for underrepresented faculty and women in STEM, the provost was selected to co-chair the SUNY Chancellor’s Racial Equity Action Plan Working Group on Curriculum Development, the results of which fed into the SUNY 25-point DEI plan referenced above.

  Administration & Finance

  In addition to hiring the new Diversity Recruitment and Retention Specialist, Administration and Finance also worked to restructure the existing HR recruitment team to move from passive to active recruitment. This included implementing a Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) feature in our applicant tracking system, allowing the recruitment team to connect with and build a pipeline of qualified candidates. The Director of HR participated in Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) meetings to ensure that our diversity efforts are targeted and appropriate, and to ensure access to additional support and resources around diversity, veterans, and disabled individuals. HR has begun to actively review employee turnover data to identify root causes for attrition and seek opportunities to retain our diverse workforce. More training is in the pipeline for supervisors to assist with this aspect of our work. 

  The VP for Administration and Finance is chair of the College’s Policy Committee, and he has implemented a high-level review of all policy development activity in order to review for and guard against bias. 

  Advancement/College Communications

  Advancement and College Communications worked collectively and individually to sponsor events in the ROC area and beyond, including Action for a Better Community’s “Racism is a Public Health Crises” virtual conference series, the Urban League’s Interrupt Racism Summit and Early Recognition Ceremony. Advancement is a sponsor of the Urban League of Rochester’s 42nd Annual Salute to Black Scholars.

  VP for Advancement Mike Andriatch chaired one of the subcommittees of the Community Advisory Board (CAB) and Advancement acted as a champion of EDI projects through the Town/Gown committee, and other committees. One disappointment was that, due to budgetary constraints, the planned Coordinator of Advancement Diversity Initiatives role was left unfilled. Advancement will continue to review opportunities to support this area further. Other events undertaken under the Advancement arm are referenced under section 8 in this report.

  College Communications proactively worked with the Student Advisory Board on how students wish to see diversity threaded throughout the website and other communication vehicles. One outcome was distribution of a Public Service Ad-style campaign to promote bias literacy and how to be a good citizen. College Communications worked in conjunction with the Bias Response Team to produce several social media campaigns aimed at increasing awareness of individual biases as well as the College’s Bias Response System. The following is a list of topics that were covered in 2020-21: 

  • October 2020: Culturally Insensitive Halloween Costumes
  • November 2020: Respectful Citizenship during the Presidential Election
  • December 2020: December Holiday Season Inclusivity & Education
  • January 2021: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Inauguration Day: Reminders to Practice Civility
  • February 2021: Black History Month
  • March 2021: Understanding Oppression 5-Day Media Challenge
  • April 2021: Diversity Learning Series
  • May 2021: Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month 

  College Communications also intentionally built EDI into social media outreach and increased the diverse breadth of stories published in The Port. College Communications worked with OEDI on an initial EDI microsite, Building a Better Brockport: Strengthening Our Campus Climate, before merging the information into an overhauled EDI website to ensure the wide dissemination of the College’s EDI activities. 

  Enrollment Management & Student Affairs (EMSA)

  EMSA’s work is focused on student success and leadership development, amongst other things, and as a result, EMSA’s focus has been on comprehensive training opportunities and recruitment and retention activities (see section 7 for more information on recruitment and retention). In order to actively role model the work they provide for students, the EMSA leadership team reviewed EDI literature (articles, books, or video) specific to their professional area that resonated with them personally and would be helpful to their department’s growth. Directors then presented and led weekly discussion on the EDI material, including the following: 

  • Racial Challenge: Continuing the Habit – Lorraine Acker
  • Race on Campus – Katy Wilson
  • Changing Campus Cultures to Support Mental Health – Darlene Schmidt
  • Student Campus Housing – Better Social & Learning Outcomes – Monique Rew Bigelow
  • Activism – How to Get Involved and Mentor Teens – Cheryl Van Lare
  • Racism in Pro and Youth Hockey – Scott Haines
  • Ally Resources – Lorraine Acker
  • Exploring and Promoting the College Attendance and Success of Racial/Ethnic Minority Students – Thomas Chew
  • Aligning Student Affairs Practice with Espoused Commitments to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Karen Logsdon
  • Non-binary / Gender Neutral Clothing Areas – Stephanie Learn
  • Code Switching – Kimberley Willis
  • Applying to College was Never Easy – The Pandemic Has Made It Nearly Impossible – the impact on underrepresented students – Robert Wyant

  EMSA leaders also conducted division wide training and professional development opportunities including SafeZone Training, History of Racial Violence training, and Title IX/Sexual Harassment training, amongst others.

  In order to support students, EMSA leaders worked closely with the new Transition and Success Coordinator in order to develop a new summer bridge program, work with military and veteran students, support emerging scholars, support First Generation Students and further develop the Talon Academy, focused on men of color. Divisional leaders also met with the EDI Student Advisory Board, covering topics as diverse as university police, residential life, and health and wellness. The new Joey Jackson Intercultural Center falls under EMSA and will be a hub of student activity in 2021-22 and beyond. 

  Rochester Educational Opportunity Center (REOC) 

  The REOC’s mission is to deliver comprehensive, community-based academic and workforce development programs and provide support services leading to enhanced employment opportunities, access to further education, personal growth, and development. The REOC serves underrepresented, low-income students and offers tuition free training in a variety of certificate programs, from month long programs to programs that last just under a year. The REOC has long supported EDI initiatives, including an annual Multi-Cultural Day celebration that includes participation from     students from around the globe. Over the last year, the REOC has been a leader in the new SUNY for All initiative, aimed at tackling the digital divide and offered access to education for students from across New York State. 

  Specific EDI initiatives undertaken in 2020-21 included adding an EDI topic in each program offered, each Advisory Board meeting, and each REOC Professional Development Day. The REOC also included a model within the guiding structures of REOC’s operational plan and the REOC leadership team has an EDI component in their individual annual performance program goals.

  The REOC’s connections with the wider Rochester community make it a hub of activity in most years; while in person events were necessarily curtailed during 2020-21, the REOC used virtual platforms to expand their community reach. 

• 3. & 4. New Committees

  We commenced 2020-21 with the intention of charging a new EDI Strategic Planning Committee, with the goal of commencing the work on a new 5-year plan. As the year progressed, however, we decided that a more effective strategy would be to pause on the development of a new plan until the arrival of a new CDO, who we felt would want to be invested in the creation of our forward path. Moreover, College Senate invested time and energy in the creation of an Ad-Hoc EDI Committee, which was ratified as a Standing Committee in Senate during the academic year. Once the CDO search timeline was finalized, it was agreed that the EDI Strategic Planning Committee would be formulated in 2021-22, and work closely in partnership with the Senate Committee, of which the CDO is an ex-officio member. 

  In 2020-21, the President charged a new committee specifically focused on campus climate: 

  The Presidential Campus Climate Committee (PCCC)

  Chair

  Dr. Mario Fontana (KSSPE) accepted the role of chair of the PCCC. He frequently updated the President on the committee’s progress and made formal presentations to Extended Cabinet.

  Charge

  The PCCC is charged with advising the President on how to ensure that Brockport is an inclusive campus community in alignment with the College’s mission statement, “to be an inclusive learning community that inspires excellence through growth, engagement and transformation,” the “Building a Better Brockport 2017-2022 Strategic Plan” or any subsequent  strategic plan, and the EDI Strategic Plan.

  Membership

  • Susan Clase, Human Resources
  • Dylan George, Global Education and Engagement
  • Afeez Hazzan, Healthcare Studies
  • Tom Hernandez, Dean
  • Meaghan Irving, Student Representative
  • Frank Kuhn, Theatre and Music Studies
  • Barb LeSavoy, Senate Representative
  • Margy Meath, Social Work 
  • Dave Mihalyov, VP for University Relations
  • Bahman Radnejad, Business Administration 
  • Karen Schuhle-Williams, Brockport Downtown
  • Dan Vasile, Chief of University Police
  • Dave Walbaum, Advancement 

  2020-21 Priorities

  • Review any recommendations from the previous campus climate survey that need to be revisited
  • Work in partnership with OEDI to develop and implement a new Campus Climate Survey, to be procured externally or developed internally
  • Review outcomes of the climate survey
  • Using a data informed approach, recommend appropriate practices and initiatives to support and enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts on campus
  • Liaise with the Town-Gown committee on community climate issues

  The final bullet point acknowledges that fact that our students experience climate issues off campus as well as on campus, and we must be mindful of their overall experience in the Village of Brockport as well as the Town of Sweden.

  Over the year, group began meeting and exploring options regarding how to assess the campus climate appropriately both in Brockport and at our Rochester location, Brockport Downtown/REOC. At first, the group hoped to re-use the survey last disseminated in 2014, but additional analysis by Institutional Research revealed that this would likely not be the best route forward. The committee then began reviewing external surveys and focused their work on finding ways to try to improve the completion rate of the survey once selected, including through a marketing and communication plan focused on specific messaging to students, faculty, and staff. A survey instrument was selected, and plans were laid to roll the survey out in fall of 2021. However, changes in leadership at the SUNY CDO office has led to a pause in this plan, as SUNY intends to distribute a SUNY-wide survey in 2021-22, and they have asked us to hold on our campus specific survey. In the meantime, the PCCC will meet with the new CDO, continue to review marketing and communication options, and be responsible for the assessment aspects of the survey results, once completed and for formulating recommendations to go to Cabinet.

• 5. Academic Affairs and EMSA Partnership on HIPS and CHIPS

  Knowing that HIPS and CHIPS have an important impact on student recruitment and retention, as well as student satisfaction, we look to ensure that any barriers to students undertaking such activities is minimized wherever possible. This means we have developed a special focus on fundraising for such activities. COVID impacted our ability to track data this past year, and impacted our students’ engagement as well.

  Baseline data on HIPS collected in 2019 revealed that about 39% of all undergraduate students participated in a HIP course in the spring of 2019 and 37.3% in the fall of 2019. At the graduate level about 17.5% participated in a HIP course in the spring of 2019 and about 18.1% in the fall of 2019. Regarding study abroad, winter and summer terms were additionally considered since they may represent a better time for some students to take advantage of these opportunities. In spring 2019 about 1.8% of our undergraduate students participated in these programs and in fall 2019 about 1.2% of our undergraduates participated. Graduate student participation in study abroad was almost zero. A notably larger percentage of students enrolled for winter and spring were registered in international and domestic travel or exchange programs, 14.1% and 6.4%, respectively. Unsurprisingly, COVID had a tremendous impact on study abroad, which was fully eliminated due to SUNY restrictions, and face-to-face internships and placements were similarly curtailed. 

  For 2019-2021, the CHIPs measured are: Healthy Campus, Athletic Teams, Student Organizations, and Community Service. As with HIPS above, 2020-2021 presented challenges related to data collection for in-person programs. As a result, the departments reviewed existing engagement, retention, learning and satisfaction data, as well as compared to national best practices, model programs. Additional data is expected to be reported in Fall 2021.

  Thus, while it had been hoped that HIPS and CHIPS would continue in an upward trajectory, because of COVID restrictions, this was not the case during 2020-21. 

  EMSA and Academic Affairs have, however, continued to work in partnership on the Academic Success Center, with the Director of the ASC sitting on both leadership teams. EagleSUCCESS, our tracking system for student support, continues to see increases in faculty usage year after year. Five departments (Psychology, Communication, Nursing, Social Work, and Biology) also collectively use EagleSUCCESS for a specific student engagement and to partner with the ASC.

  A certificate program is now being offered to help recognize faculty and staff who attend ASC trainings including advisement and EagleSUCCESS. Around 65 individuals and their supervisors received a certificate or notification of the certification, respectively. Finally, a campus wide group of advisement coordinators and program chairs has also started to meet routinely, led by the Associate Director of the ASC and a faculty member, to increase communication and training opportunities. Five such meetings occurred in 20-21.

  More work will be undertaken in subsequent years on HIPS and CHIPS, including ensuring wider participation by a more diverse student body. 

• 6. Faculty/Staff Training & Development

  Everfi

  In 2016-17, the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Brockport was awarded a SUNY grant to develop training modules on EDI issues. The EVERFI platform was selected for use in 2017-18, and members of the former President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion engaged with the EVERFI team to customize the EDI training over the subsequent few years. The roll out for the two Everfi courses occurred in Fall 2020. 

  The Everfi DEI training course completion report indicated that 41% of enrolled students completed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Students, while 83% of faculty/staff completed Diversity: Inclusion in the Modern Workplace course. For faculty and staff, this completion rate was higher than many other platforms.

  Everfi will continue to be used for students, as each new group of students can engage with various mandated and optional training. In order to support faculty and staff, a strategic decision was taken to invest in additional training options through BizLibrary, to supplement face-to-face training offered on campus and to ensure that a variety of training opportunities were offered.

  BizLibrary

  In the Spring 2021, Human Resources launched BizLibrary. BizLibrary provides online employee training and e-learning solutions. The online learning platform provides employees with training in a variety of areas including: Leadership & Management, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Wellness, Team-building, Communication, Computer Skills and much more. All faculty and staff members can access thousands of short online videos and courses within the online library.

  Key features include:

  • Shorter, bite-sized training opportunities, with most averaging 3-7 minutes, making it easier to keep on top of training opportunities. 
  • Video based content.
  • Mobile friendly courses, available anywhere, any device, anytime V
  • Variety of formats (role play, presentation, newscast styles) 
  • ·Supplemental materials (to keep as reminders, or use in a group setting) 
  • Variety of new courses are added each month, averaging around 100

  BizLibrary provides employees with multiple opportunities for elective learning and professional development in addition to compliance related training. Human Resources provides links to suggested content and has begun rolling out structured learning programs for employees, working closely with supervisors on this project.

  EDI Professional Development

  Due to COVID restrictions, a strategic decision was taken to transform the annual Diversity Conference, which is normally held in the Fall, into a series of virtual events in the spring. The Diversity Learning Series: “Learning and Growing Together as a Community,” took place during April 12-15, 2021, and included a collection of speakers, panels, and workshops on issues related to equity and inclusion. The purpose of the series was to offer content knowledge and practical skills, based largely on campus climate needs around EDI. The primary outcome was to promote a positive campus environment for student, faculty, and staff success, with renewed attention to our campus focus on Building a Better Brockport. 

  The learning series included the following sessions: 

  • A Featured Keynote by Dr. Joy DeGruy, entitled “The Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome” workshop
  • Career Conversation – LGBTQIA+ in the Workplace
  • Student Session - Beyond Symbolism: Interrupting Oppressive Practices
  • International Perspectives: Bringing the World into Classrooms
  • What’s my role? Supporting Undergraduate Men of Color
  • Queer Power: Interrogating our Barriers to Supporting LGBTQIA
  • Disease, Race, Incarceration- How HIV/AIDS Became a Crime
  • Guest Speaker – Lydia XZ Brown
  • Student Panel: Experiences of Students with Disability at Brockport
  • Introduction to Understanding Allyship
    Adrian Hale – From Inner City to Yale: Careers & Perspectives in the Workplace
  • The Complexity of the “x” in Latinx:

  The ribbon cutting for the Joey Jackson Intercultural Center was also held during that week, and Dr. DeGruy held a special 90-minute EDI session exclusively for the Cabinet members.

  In addition to the Diversity Learning Series, OEDI spearheaded the opportunity for training through the United Way’s 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge. A total of 385 individuals from SUNY Brockport took part in the challenge. In addition, the OEDI office hosted four Equity Brown Bag sessions directly linked to the topics covered during the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge, and between 80-100 took part in these opportunities, led by Brockport colleagues.

  These virtual EDI Brown Bag Series were as follows:

  • “Levels of Racism: Organizational/Systemic Racism,” facilitated by Dr. Lorraine Acker
  • “Racial Wealth Gap,” facilitated Dr. Amy Shema
  • “Opportunity,” facilitated by Dr. Douglas Thomas
  • “Take Action,” facilitated by Dr. Tom Hernandez

  OEDI also advertised and supported a free 14-hour “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate Program” offered by the University of South Florida. 

  One outcome of the new Community Advisory Board was a recommendation for campus leadership and affinity groups to undertake a 9-week training course run by the Dale Carnegie Organization, “Diversity and Inclusion: Cultural Awareness and Competency Training.” This course included all members of Cabinet, including the incoming CDO, as well as members of the Faculty and Staff of Color Interest Group and our International Faculty and Staff Association. The training had impact on participants and concrete outcomes for the college: not only did the members of this group get to know each other more and better, creating that sense of community that is so important to our college, but four projects were designed that will have a lasting impact on SUNY Brockport and on our EDI efforts. They include the following: 

  • A new Brown Bag Lunch and Learn Series, led from OEDI and internal experts 
  • Development of more comprehensive onboarding information for international faculty and staff, focused on a range of issues from housing and accessing local services, to banking and healthcare questions, teaching skills, and mentoring opportunities.
  • A communications and marketing project, “Global Spotlight,” that highlights Brockport's global diversity 
  • The development of an Employee Success Center, focused on improving employee success and retention, providing professional development and guidance, and formalizing the onboarding, mentoring and succession planning processes. 

  CELT offered the following EDI Workshops in 2020-21:

  • Tried and True Methods to Incorporate High Impact Virtual Global Exchange into Your Courses
  • Brockport Impressions: The International Student & Scholar Experience 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge & Friday roundtable discussions International Education Week Workshops (related to EDI):
  • Virtual Exchange: Globalizing the Classroom
  • International Student Career Workshop: Job Hunting, Resumes, Interviews, OH MY! Post- Completion OPT Survival Guide to Landing Your Dream Job
  • Supporting Student Success: International Faculty’s Experience
• 7. Student Recruitment & Retention Efforts

  Our Undergraduate Admissions team has been particularly active in seeking new ways to recruit a diverse student body. Some notable projects regarding Undergraduate Admissions, launched in Spring 2020 but which came to fruition in 2020-21, include the following:

  • Continuation of an internship program that created both a graduate and undergraduate internship specifically designed to provide women of color the ability to obtain leadership roles within enrollment management. 
  • Further advance working relationships with school counseling staff and student advocates within high schools that have very diverse populations (by using NYSED data). 
  • Maintain and evolve an action plan that provides opportunities for admissions advisors to collaborate with community leaders and non-profit organizations in areas of the state that have a large ethnic minority population. Current partners include OneGoal, CACNY, GearUp, and the College Bound Initiative. Undergraduate Admissions is continuing to explore other stakeholder relationships.
  • Utilization of test-optional practices to make the merit scholarship awarding process more equitable.
  • Reviewing admissions and enrollment processes by examining the following:
    • Explore ways to simplify the EOP admission process to benefit the prospective student experience and reverse the declining EOP admission trend and address the financial need for EOP students who are admitted into a traditional pathway.
    • Continuing to review and coordinate transitional programming for first year and transfer students.
    • Working to hire more professional staff with multi-lingual capabilities in the areas of recruitment, enrollment, and advisement to increase the likelihood of being able to communicate well with parents or guardians who are speakers of other languages.

  Prospective students offered positive feedback about our virtual events, and the platform allowed for more interaction between students and college faculty and professional staff than sometimes occurred face-to-face.

  In relation to retention initiatives, the Enrollment Management Committee and the Subcommittee on Retention & Persistence have put together a Persistence Roadmap, which focuses on bold and aspirational goals for first-year retention, ongoing persistence, and graduation. These include the following: 

  • Goal 1: Increase the first to second year retention of full-time first-time students by 10% by 2026
  • Goal 2: Develop departmental processes for annual review of retention and persistence data, and action planning.
  • Goal 3: Improve 4- and 6-year graduation rates by 10% by 2030.
  • Goal 4: Create and sustain a culture of student success through faculty/staff onboarding, inter-divisional partnerships, communication and celebration.

  The foundational principles for the work of the committee, as well as the whole Brockport community are as follows:

  Student Success Foundational Principles

  • Access & Equity: Admitted students are capable of being successful at our institution. We have a responsibility to focus on closing opportunity gaps. The student experience and outcomes are at the core of our plan. 
  • Collaboration: Student success is the responsibility of all stakeholders of the institution (students, faculty, staff, and administration). We strive to come together to achieve the roadmap goals.
  • Quality: Persistence efforts mean engaging students developmentally while maintaining academic rigor and high expectations.
  • Engagement: Student persistence is integrally connected to their feeling of connection to the institution and campus community. Persistence and programming efforts must take this into consideration and strive to holistically engage students.

  This whole campus effort is directed at ensuring all of our students find Brockport a College at which to Learn (goal one of our overall strategic plan, Building a Better Brockport). 

  Nine students completed our inaugural Golden Eagle Academy in 2020, a pre-arrival pilot program helping our students transition to college level learning and expectations; 25 additional students will take part just before the fall semester 2021.

  Focus on retention and recognition culminated in the College’s first Umoja Ceremony in recent history, honoring Asian, Latinx, African American, and Native American (A.L.A.A.N.A) graduating students and their accomplishments while at Brockport.

• 8. Alumni Engagement & Outreach

  COVID-19 changed the way in which alumni engagement and outreach occurred in 2020-21. Many of our standard events were postponed, such as the Winter Gala and the “Brockport Takes NYC” student-alumni trip, which are staples of our academic calendar. Other events and programs were transformed, as the College made intentional efforts to conduct outreach across a variety of platforms and with a series of connected EDI messages. Alumni engagement and donor relations work hand in hand: thus, it is not surprising that some of our best fundraising opportunities were linked to our former students. A case in point (see Spotlight below) was that Joey Jackson (1988) supported the development and naming of the Joey Jackson Intercultural Center, and that a noted alum, Daniel Hopkins (1986), was commissioned to paint murals within the space.

  Another alum, Marcus Watson (1995), a Brockport Foundation Board member, presented as part of the “Free Food for the Mind” virtual speaker series. The title of his presentation was “Why is it important to understand the BLM movement?”

  VP Mike Andriatch and President Heidi Macpherson held two alumni Town Halls to discuss the College’s past, current, and future EDI practices, and Cabinet purposefully added Brockport alumni to our newly constituted Community Advisory Board. Advancement has also actively diversified both of Brockport’s volunteer boards. The 22-strong Foundation board includes six women and 16 men, of whom three are men of color. The 19-strong Alumni Board includes 12 women, seven men and five persons of color.

  Perhaps most significantly, Advancement proactively added a more explicit EDI goal to the Case for Support for the pending Comprehensive Campaign. This builds upon successful fundraising for emergency student needs through the Hecksher Foundation (as only one of five SUNY campuses to receive such funding) that complements the Golden Eagle Opportunity Fund (GEOF), set up initially in response to COVID-19 financial stressors, which disproportionately affected our students of color and our first-generation students.

  At the graduate level, funding for a $10,000 Graduate Fellowship for 2021-22 was made available by the Brockport Foundation for a 20-hour per week position at 540WMAIN in Rochester.

Spotlight

Department/Program

International Faculty and Staff Association

The International Faculty and Staff Association became an approved Affinity Based Group by the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (OEDI) in October 2020. Since its official establishment, the group met regularly during fall 2020 and spring 2021 to work diligently on its mission and goals. The mission of the Group is to enhance professional success by professional development opportunities in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service, as appropriate, of international faculty and staff, and to support students, through collaboration, community building, mutual support, advocacy, professional development, mentorship, and networking.

The group has held several meetings with campus leadership, presented to various groups on campus, and wrote several reports, all to address the challenges and needs of international faculty and staff. In addition, the group has participated in numerous campus-wide activities. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group was productive in growing its membership, seeking out opportunities to collaborate, and advocating for how international faculty/staff can thrive at Brockport.

Joey Jackson Intercultural Center

The Joey Jackson Intercultural Center was created as a safe space with a focus on underrepresented groups, especially people of color, to engage in active dialogue regarding social injustices, exploring one’s own identity and leadership of self.

The Office of Community Development coordinated 26 Intercultural Center programs and collaborated with a variety of departments and community organizations from Fall 2020-Spring 2021. In 2020-2021 over 80 students, faculty and staff members participated in the programs delivered.

Plans for 2021-22

Objectives for 2021-22 are as follows:

• In order to support Goal One (Achieve a Balance of Representation of Faculty and Staff), the College will strengthen the collaborative relationship with the Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs, HR and OEDI to support the academic enterprise from an EDI lens. Specific actions will be taken around
  
  • Hiring, recruitment and promotion efforts to diversify the faculty (working closely with the Diversity Recruiter)
  • Supporting the assessment of a diverse and inclusive curriculum (working with College Senate and Academic Affairs Leadership)
  • Supporting faculty professional development through NCFDD and PRODiG Committee plans
  • Ensuring that we submit an application for a renewal of the PRODiG Program
• In order to support Goal Two (Achieve a Balance of Representation of Students), the College will 
  
  • Support the work of the relevant committees working on the Persistence Roadmap 
  • Seek to support Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions in their processes, practices and procedures 
• In order to support Goal Three (Expand Attendance at and Access to EDI Curriculum, Programming, and/or Trainings), the College will 
  
  • Review past OEDI programs and trainings offering to ensure they’re aligned with best practices in the field
  • Recruit, hire and onboard the new Program Coordinator
  • Plan and develop the annual Diversity Conference
  • Further roll out virtual training through BIZLibrary
• In order to support Goal Four (Build and Maintain an Inclusive and Positive Campus Climate), the College will 
  
  • Continue working on the Campus Climate Survey 
  • Reconvene the Student Advisory Board
  • Partner with the Intercultural Center and Affinity Groups to support a sense of belonging for students, faculty and staff

In addition to these goal-specific plans, the College will use the 2021-22 academic year to:

• Establish systems/processes necessary for the day-to-day operation of OEDI
• Develop a new 5-year EDI Strategic Plan

Last Updated 4/19/22