DIVERSITY, EQUITY,
INCLUSION AND
BELONGING 2021–2026 STRATEGIC PLAN
DEAR FRIENDS, Following a year-long planning process, we are pleased to share our three-year strategic plan for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at Milwaukee School of Engineering and in the communities we serve. During the planning process, we gathered valuable insight through the voices of many of our stakeholders within our university. These worthy contributions serve as the foundation for this plan and have been essential in our efforts to become a more inclusive and equitable institution of distinction.
Collaboration amongst the community leads to an inclusive campus. The Faculty and Staff Diversity Council has been instrumental in moving our DEIB efforts forward. Their devotion, hard work and love for MSOE creates a sense of community where all voices are heard, and our outcomes are grounded in change. We believe that communities are greater when everyone is invited to the table. As a collective, the council has put thoughts into words, words into action, and action into change. The goals and action items outlined in this document, along with our vision and collective voice for change, will provide a pathway to achieving this goal. Further, this plan is consistent with our university-wide strategic plan and will serve as a vessel for building upon and achieving our most important goals. We also are excited about this plan because we have attached our efforts to the Open Pathway Quality Initiative through the Higher Learning Commission. It provides us with an opportunity to positively impact our campus, the City of Milwaukee and beyond. Finally, this plan allows us to pause and celebrate the “wins” within our university. Together we will acknowledge how far we have come while recognizing that we have room for growth.
Our university’s mission states that MSOE is the university of choice for those seeking an inclusive community of experiential learners driven to solve the complex challenges of today and tomorrow. We encourage you to engage with us and with this plan as we work to implement the DEIB Strategic Plan. Sincerely,
John Y. Walz President
Seandra Mitchell Vice President of Student Affairs and Campus Inclusion
ALL IN. EVERY ONE.
OUR MISSION The mission of the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Equity is to ENGAGE AND CRITICALLY QUESTION the ways in which we can fully embody our commitment to creating an environment of inclusion and belonging. We believe these efforts support an understanding and appreciation for diversity, foster feelings of belonging among our university members, and are paramount to MSOE’s mission to be an inclusive community of experiential learners driven to solve the complex challenges of today and tomorrow. MSOE recognizes its responsibility to FOSTER A WELCOMING AND INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT where students, faculty and staff of diverse backgrounds can collaboratively work together and serve as thriving, contributing members of our university community. Further, we acknowledge our strength is reflected within our various social identities and recognize the importance of engaging everyone at MSOE in a respectful, responsive and equitable manner while providing opportunities for personal and professional growth.
WHAT IS DEIB? We affirm that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are central to reaching our continual goals of academic excellence and global engagement. As such, we seek to frame this strategic plan through the definitions of:
DIVERSITY MSOE strives to embrace diversity and understands this through our responsibility to respect human differences while also actively seeking and building on our commonalities. Within our mission of fostering a vibrant community for all MSOE stakeholders, we understand that diversity makes our institution stronger. We are committed to cultivating a safe environment of respect and inclusion for the entire MSOE community.
EQUITY Equity at MSOE is our commitment to acknowledge and address current and historic barriers that create disadvantages for various groups. This includes the fair and just treatment of all current and potential MSOE stakeholders through the creation of opportunities leading to equitable outcomes that assist in closing representation and participation gaps within our university.
INCLUSION Inclusion at MSOE means breaking down barriers to create opportunities for authentic engagement and experiences with diverse people, beliefs and ideas. This includes deliberate, strategic actions and
practices which support feelings of belonging for all university members.
BELONGING At MSOE, we strive to cultivate a campus community in which all members feel comfortable being their authentic selves, safe to share their honest opinions, and appreciated for their unique interests, values and beliefs to foster acceptance and promote understanding within and around our university. MSOE embraces the challenges facing us as we engage in the work necessary to support both individual and organizational growth. We are committed to creating a sustainable transformation through full transparency and accountability of our individual and collective actions. This includes an ongoing, critical examination, implementation and evaluation of strategies that advance diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging across our entire university. Looking ahead, as we work toward our vision of preparing leaders to solve the diverse technical challenges of the 21st century, we welcome and accept our responsibility to continually advance in this critical area and strive to provide an inclusive academic environment, promote equity and access in recruitment and retention, and develop meaningful outreach programs and partnerships with our local community.
DATA COLLECTION As part of the data collection process for the development of this strategic plan, we thoroughly examined various sources of qualitative and quantitative data, including (but not limited to): • 2017 AND 2019 STUDENT SATISFACTION INDEX RESULTS • FACULTY FOCUS GROUPS • RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE MSOE DIVERSITY COUNCIL • 2021 MSOE DEIB CLIMATE SURVEY RESULTS • MSOE ERG DATA • MSOE LEADERSHIP STRATEGIC FOCUS GROUPS • MSOE ALL-IN MILWAUKEE DATA
DIVERSITY, EQUITY,
INCLUSION AND
BELONGING
GOALS
STRATEGIC GOALS MSOE is committed to cultivating an academic environment marked by an unwavering respect for every individual, a willingness to look beyond our differences to seek meaningful connections with others, and a genuine sensitivity to the variety of our human experiences. We strive to fulfill our goals of recruiting, educating and retaining a diverse community of students, faculty and staff while also supporting diversity in our surrounding communities. Through the VOICES of multiple MSOE stakeholders, and in alignment with and supporting the current strategic goals for the university, we identified and adopted five major goals for this DEIB Strategic Plan to support our efforts to realize the promise of an inclusive learning environment:
1
ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY.
2
ENHANCE SERVICES AND PRACTICES THAT SUPPORT AN INCLUSIVE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE.
3
ACTIVELY WORK TO ELIMINATE DISPARITIES WITHIN ENROLLMENT, RETENTION AND GRADUATION RATES.
4
ENSURE STAFF AND FACULTY REFLECT THE COMPOSITION OF AVAILABLE TALENT IN ALL AREAS.
5
FOSTER AND SUSTAIN A WELCOMING FEELING OF BELONGING FOR ALL INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS.
ACTIONS
1
2
ENHANCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY.
ENHANCE SERVICES AND PRACTICES THAT SUPPORT AN INCLUSIVE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE.
a. Create assessment criteria and metrics for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the faculty evaluation/advancement process. b. Recognize faculty integration of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging principles into scholarship/classroom instruction. (e.g., grants, annual recognitions) c. Provide DEIB-focused development for full-time and part-time MSOE faculty. d. Develop a “DEIB Toolkit” for faculty to use in the classroom. e. Conduct a periodic audit to ensure that academic policies and procedures are equitable and inclusive. f. Provide professional development and support for faculty to integrate the common learning outcome, “Embracing Diversity.” Implementation will focus on project-based learning and other high-impact practices in courses and curricula.
a. Create a 3-year strategic diversity plan representing ALL administrative and academic units.
i. Examine existing assessment criteria for advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
b. Establish processes and guidelines for annual reporting progress on strategic DEIB action goals to the President’s Office and VP Seandra Mitchell.
j. Provide DEIB-focused professional development for MSOE staff, managers and administrators.
c. Assess and address policies and practices that create barriers to retention of students from underrepresented communities. d. Assess and address policies and practices that create barriers to retention of employees from underrepresented communities. e. Periodically review all handbooks, marketing materials, websites, and digital communications to ensure that they include inclusive and equitable language. f. Examine current policies surrounding family leave to support the needs of faculty and staff. g. Examine current policies surrounding cultural and religious observances to support the needs of faculty, staff and students. h. Develop and adopt universitywide definitions for key inclusive excellence terms.
k. Implement a speaker series focused on topics of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. l. Create a framework for a bias-incident reporting system to react in a timely manner to bias-related concerns. m. Identify and train members of the Bias Response Team. n. Create and offer DEIB training for all student organization leaders, STEM ambassadors, student community leaders, SAC. o. Examine the implementation of MLK Day as a day of service for faculty, staff and students. p. Increase university recognition for faculty, staff and students who actively advance core values at MSOE. q. Create an external DEIB advisory board.
GOALS
3
4
ACTIVELY WORK TO ELIMINATE DISPARITIES WITHIN ENROLLMENT, RETENTION AND GRADUATION RATES.
ENSURE STAFF AND FACULTY REFLECT THE COMPOSITION OF AVAILABLE TALENT IN ALL AREAS.
ACTIONS a. Develop and adopt innovative best practices to improve recruitment of undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented communities. b. Increase the amount of scholarships awarded annually. c. Expand facilities for women’s athletic programs.
a. Develop and adopt strategies for increasing the diversity of candidate applicant pools. Examine challenges to diversification within the hiring process. Seek best practices. b. Require DEIB-related training for all involved in the hiring process; specifically those impacting final decisions.
d. Pursue additional opportunities for c. Identify and foster recruiting supporting underrepresented and partnerships with doctoral underserved student populations. granting institutions serving (e.g., career placement, internships, underrepresented and awards) underserved communities to develop faculty hiring pipelines. d. Create and implement a system for capturing and analyzing faculty and staff exit interviews.
5 FOSTER AND SUSTAIN A WELCOMING FEELING OF BELONGING FOR ALL INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS.
a. Administer a bi-annual DEIB climate survey. b. Add questions to our current Qualtrics student-athlete survey to get DEIB-related feedback. c. Implement a regular review schedule of website, marketing materials, photos on campus, and other marketing materials to ensure equitable representations of underrepresented employees, students and student groups. d. Begin the Jimmy Banks Scholars program which partners with MPS schools to tutor and mentor students using our student-athletes in different classrooms and schools throughout the MPS system.
e. Expand partnership opportunities with industries that establish joint efforts to improve diversity and inclusion of students on campus through targeted support for student organizations and through STEM outreach programs in the community. f. Continue to recruit a diversified group of members for the MSOE Alumni Association. g. Create a DEIB Ambassador Program for faculty, staff, and students. h. Explore the value of affinity groups for faculty and staff. i. Begin developing alumni affinity and networking programs to support recruitment, student success, and early career mentoring for underrepresented student populations.
ACCOUNTABILITY Each year, MSOE will update its progress in a DEIB Annual Progress Report, which will be shared with the campus community in the fall. The report serves to highlight the progress made within this plan and provide full transparency within the DEIB strategic planning process. Further, through this assessment process, we are able to identify new opportunities and challenges to support future decision making and planning.
Milwaukee School of Engineering 1025 N. Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 (800) 332-6763 msoe.edu 3450-2022