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Leading Equity Work in University Systems: A Re-cap of NASH’s Panel Discussion with Chief Diversity Officers
At the NASH TS3 convening, held virtually on April 29, 2021, I had the honor of moderating a panel discussion featuring three colleagues serving in lead diversity and equity roles within their university systems. The panelists were Theodosia Cook (University of Colorado System), Andriel Dees (Minnesota State Colleges and Universities), and Lais Martinez (Utah System of Higher Education). At latest count, 10 NASH member systems have a chief diversity officer or equivalent role and interest in this kind of system-level position continues to grow.
COVID’s Impacts on Higher Education and Our Students
Covid has had, in some ways, an incalculable impact on higher ed, but there are some impacts we can calculate and analyze. In what follows, I’ll touch upon some of the effects of COVID on higher education and our students now and into the foreseeable future.
The First for Firsts
First. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with being first. For some it’s the satisfaction that you are the best-a winner. For others, it’s a culmination of decisions, preparations, determination, efforts and perhaps even a touch of luck that places you in a new well-earned right-place at the right-time chapter of your life. And then there are those for whom first means mean survival, security, safety, and change. It’s the culmination of generations of sacrifices and “we’ll get by somehow” born from the hopes of a better life. As the number of first-generation students increased on campus the need for a first-generation center that could support them also grew.
Democratizing Data and Promoting Collaborative Problem-Solving: Cal State’s Professional Development at the Intersection of Equity and Evidence
Ten years ago, the California State University embarked on a project to democratize data and developed the CSU Student Success Dashboards, mirroring the mandated reporting data collected from its campuses back to all employees in the system. With an eye on user-friendliness and welcoming of even the most novice data users, the data underwent an innovative visualization process that allows users to quickly understand the stories behind the data.
2021 NASH TS3 Convening Takeaways: Equity in Action
On April 29, 2021, higher education leaders representing 18 university systems from 14 states came together at the NASH TS3 convening, focused on equity in action in their systems and at their campuses.
Long Life Learning
We need the markers and assessments for prior learning in abstract, human skills. We need UPCEA’s knack for respecting maturity, applied to prior learning in general education as reliably as it’s applied to coding, or accounting. And of course, we need to celebrate relevance, instead of eschewing it, and we need to teach our students on their schedules instead of ours. We can’t hit our goals for degree attainment – let alone equity – in any other way.
A Teachable Moment: Educating for Democracy
As educators, we have a unique responsibility and opportunity to address the dangerous attacks on our democratic republic that we have experienced over the past year. Not only have are we threatened by a world-class biologic disaster that requires every person to assume their duty for behaving responsibly, but we witnessed violent insurrection against the Capitol of the United States, brutal acts of violence against minority members of our society, and structural racism manifesting itself in voter suppression in multiple states.
University System of Georgia HIPs Scaled Implementation of HIPs
Catalyzed through its participation in the NASH TS3 Equitable High Impact Practices (HIPs) project 2018-2020, the University System of Georgia (USG) has embarked on a systemwide initiative to ensure equitable access to HIPs at each of its 26 postsecondary institutions. USG has also set ambitious goals to increase participation in experiential learning via a multi-year effort at scale across the state. To achieve these goals, it is partnering with a respected network of leaders committed to the scaling of HIPs, enlisting these leaders to support faculty and administrators, and has built a data infrastructure for tracking access to and success in college courses that integrate HIPs into instruction.
Higher Education for the Justice Involved: How college-in-prison changes lives and communities
Photo by Babita Patel/Hudson Link
College-in-prison programs improve the lives of incarcerated individuals as well as transform families and communities inside and outside of prison. Beyond the widely cited research about lowering recidivism rates that save taxpayers money and increase public safety, college-in-prison programs can help ensure incarcerated individuals live full and meaningful lives by providing opportunities to pursue education.
Leveraging Systemness in the Age of Covid: Faculty development for equity and online instruction
As many of you in higher education systems across the country journeyed through the last year faced with finding new ways to do your work, we at the University of Wisconsin System found ourselves leveraging system strengths to support both new and longstanding faculty development work. The pandemic necessitated that our system identify and leverage collective strategies and systemwide approaches that respected campus level needs, ensured efficiencies in boundary spanning initiatives and simultaneously fostered innovation in system universities. The UW System launched two initiatives during the pandemic that honor three qualities of systemness that I believe are the foundation of our systemwide work: balance, benefit, and backbone.