Manhattanville Magazine | Special DEI edition, Summer 2023

Pictured: Pauline Medina Fournier, Coordinator for Student Involvement, speaks during Manhattanville College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Dinner

THE MISSION OF MANHATTANVILLE COLLEGE IS TO EDUCATE STUDENTS TO BE ETHICAL AND SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE LEADERS IN A GLOBAL COMMUNITY.

WE ARE COMMITTED TO:

Ensuring the intellectual, ethical, and social development of each student within a community of engaged scholars and teachers; Encouraging each student to develop as an independent and creative thinker in pursuing career and personal goals; And providing a diverse, inclusive, and nurturing environment that develops in each student a commitment to service and leadership within a global community.

TWO YEARS IN A ROW!

SERVING LATINX STUDENTS

In 2021 Manhattanville joined a distinguished group that are designated Hispanic Serving Institutions, or HSI, by the U.S. Department of Education. With this national designation, the College is eligible to obtain specific grants designed to provide support and enrichment for Latinx students.

Manhattanville has a long tradition of providing pathways to students’ success—a commitment that has helped us rank number one among private, nonprofit institutions in “Top Performers of Social Mobility” by U.S. News & World Report. With HSI grants, the College can expand educational and leadership opportunities for Hispanic students, which not only helps current and prospective Latinx Valiants, but also demonstrates our intentional investment in their future.

Out of roughly four hundred higher educational institutions designated as HSIs, only nineteen are in New York State, and Manhattanville was the third HSI in Westchester County. To qualify as an HSI, an institution must demonstrate that Hispanic students make up at least twenty-five percent of the full-time equivalent student body. Currently, thirty-nine percent of Manhattanville’s student body identifies as Hispanic and they are an integral part of the diverse campus community.

A special task force has been assembled, working with the Presidential Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to focus on what it means to be an HSI and how we can work together as a campus community to support our Hispanic students.

Latin American Student Organization tabling at the Student Involvement Fair.

Family Nurse Practitioner

NATIONAL ACCREDITATION

In 2021, the School of Nursing and Health Sciences launched its Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) degree program. This Master of Science pathway signals the robust growth of the nursing school, which opened in 2020.

“We are delighted to offer this program,” said Debra Simons, PhD, RN, CCMR, dean of the nursing school. “The family nurse practitioner cares for patients of all ages in hospitals, clinics, and care facilities.”

In addition to the foundational classes, Manhattanville’s comprehensive curriculum offers instruction in medical claims/billing, legal, medical diagnostic studies, and national board exam training.

Manhattanville offers two bachelor’s degree programs in nursing: a Bachelor of Science in Nursing for traditional four-year and transfer students as well as a Bachelor of Science in Nursing for second-degree students who

already hold a bachelor’s degree. The school now has two additional programs: Radiologic Technology and a Pharmacy Technician Certificate.

The School of Nursing and Health Sciences announced in May that its Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program has received national accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The program was previously approved by the New York State Education Department (NYSED).

The accreditation followed a rigorous review process by CCNE, a national accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education tasked with assessing the quality and integrity of baccalaureate, graduate, and residency programs in nursing.

"The CCNE accreditation of the Manhattanville Family Nurse Practitioner Program is a testament to our dedication to excellence in nursing education, preparing our graduates to meet the needs of their communities,” said Manhattanville Provost Christine Dehne, MFA. “We are proud of the recognition of this program that exemplifies our mission of educating ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community, and our commitment to fulfilling the workforce needs of our region."

Karen V. Bourgeois, PhD, FNP-BC, director of the SNHS FNP Program said, “We are proud to offer this next level of nursing education to students seeking career advancement. This was made possible through the partnership of our administration, faculty, and staff who worked diligently to achieve this recognition.”

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

“DIVERSITY IS BEING ASKED TO THE PARTY, INCLUSION IS BEING ASKED TO DANCE.®”

— Verna Myers

Putting ideas

INTO ACTION!

Looking back at Manhattanville's history, one Valiant belief emerges over and over, like a genetic sequence. It is that a liberal arts education can be a profound conduit for social justice.

The most famous examples focus specifically on racial justice and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). These include: Mother Grace Dammann, RSCJ, defending the right of Black students to attend Manhattanville in her famous 1938 address, "Principles Versus Prejudices"; Sister Mary T. Clark, RSCJ, encouraging students to participate in the 1963 March on Washington; the “Brownson Takeover” in 1969, when eighteen Black students, led by Paula Williams Mays ’71 and Cheryl Hill ’73, barricaded themselves in Brownson Hall to demand increased diversity on campus; President Elizabeth McCormack, PhD, banning outside law enforcement from campus during the protest; and the 1974 appointment of Harold Delaney, PhD, the first Black president of Manhattanville and of any higher ed institution in Westchester County.

These points of pride, many of which are well known by alums, have helped to shape Manhattanville’s view of itself.

Over the past few years, the administration has established new initiatives focused on DEI to align Manhattanville’s past with its present. Among these were the creation of Manhattanville’s Center for Inclusion; the President's Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and the Bias Education Response Team (BERT).

The College also introduced a First Year Seminar pilot program in fall 2018, titled “Principles Versus Prejudices,” educating incoming Valiants about Manhattanville’s mission and history, and it has increased the number of on-campus speaker forums focusing on DEI, including a weekly series of events at the Sister Mary T. Clark, RSCJ Center for Religion and Social Justice.

A NEW URGENCY

In 2020, Manhattanville’s plans to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus became electrified with a powerful new current of urgency and outrage. A succession of brutal murders — Ahmaud Arbery in February, Breonna Taylor in March, and George Floyd in May — inflamed the national conscience still grappling with trauma of the killings of Trayvon Martin, Laquan McDonald, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, and Philando Castile, among others. At the same time, a stream of viral videos showing white people summoning law enforcement to police Black citizens as they went about normal daily activities— eating, sleeping, and even bird-watching—exposed the reality of racial bias as a persistent, and often random, agent of harm.

In the summer of 2020, as the number of protests surged across the nation, calls for accountability and action were everywhere, including within the Manhattanville community. In June, alumna Danielle Summons ’11 and other recent alumni and students wrote a letter and petition titled “Black Lives Matter at Manhattanville,” which detailed “actionable responses” the College could implement on behalf of Black students.

THE COMMUNITY RESPONDS

By mid-July 2020, the College unveiled acomprehensive plan developed by the Cabinet and the Presidential Task Force on DEI and endorsed by the Board of Trustees. The new initiatives included the appointment of a chief diversity officer, inclusivity and anti-bias training for staff and faculty, outreach to recruit and retain Black students, support of Black student organizations, and the development of a Black alumni association.

At the same time the administration was mobilizing its efforts, students were on the move: they organized socially distanced campus protests and began working with the administration to adopt formal channels of accountability. Students, faculty, and staff collaborated on projects from the Center for Design Thinking, proposing practical solutions to DEI issues on campus.

The momentum for change is continuing to grow today, as every sector of the Valiant community comes together to advance DEI work at Manhattanville. In August, more than 150 faculty and staff the second annual DEI conference at Manhattanville.

The conference focused on what it means to be a Hispanic Serving Institution. The keynote speaker, leading author on this topic Gina Ann Garcia, PhD, delivered the keynote address.

The event was made possible through the generous support of Ophir Field and a member of the College Board of Trustees.

The event was “a great step toward establishing a common understanding of what it means to be a Hispanic Serving Institution and how each of us can and should be involved in supporting our Hispanic students on campus,” said Cindy Porter, EdD, vice president of diversity, equity, and community building.

The first annual College-wide DEI conference at Manhattanville was held in 2021.

“AND SO WE LIFT OUR GAZES NOT TO WHAT STANDS BETWEEN US, BUT WHAT STANDS BEFORE US.”

– Amanda Gorman

DEI is

Everyone's Work

Cindy Porter, EdD

When Cindy Porter, EdD, arrived at Manhattanville in 2017 to assume the role of vice president of student affairs, she said that she immediately felt a connection to the College. “I believed I could do good work here.” That good work included serving as an informal champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Within her first few months, Porter began “A Seat at the Table,” a monthly meeting where underrepresented students would meet with Porter and various College administrators to talk about their experiences and make recommendations for change. Among the actions coming from these meetings: a clear outline of the College’s response to bias-related incidents, a campus-wide bias education response team (BERT), and the Council for DEI.

In August of 2020, when the College created the new position of chief diversity officer as part of a comprehensive plan to address DEI on campus, Porter was tapped for the role. Porter said that, for her, taking on this particular job at this moment in history meant that she could facilitate practical change to combat systemic inequity and discrimination.

“Like millions of others watching repeated incidents of racial inequities play out across the nation, I felt compelled to take action,” she said.

Porter is quick to point out that her position is not a symbolic undertaking but an intentional step toward Manhattanville’s commitment to transformative change. She is working closely with the President's Cabinet, the Board of Trustees, and the Manhattanville community to assess how to move forward in terms of DEI. “To chart an effective course, you have to know your starting point,” said Porter. But, she explained, you cannot do that without hard data to pinpoint your coordinates.

“Data is the Ground Zero of sustained change and transformation,” said Porter, who specifically pointed to the importance of disaggregating data—that is, pulling out specific strands of information—to clarify deficiencies in order to understand where there may be gaps in student outcomes.

Porter brings decades of experience as an educator and administrator to her role. But she also draws upon

her lived experience as a Black student navigating everything from integration (Porter’s school remained segregated until she entered the third grade) to isolation (“I know what it’s like being the one Black kid in class,” she said.) Later, Porter attended Morgan State University, a Historically Black College in Baltimore, which she described as “life changing,” before earning her master’s in counseling in higher education at Illinois State—“another cultural shock”—and, finally, her doctorate in educational leadership at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Porter believes that no matter how her professional and personal experiences may inform her work at Manhattanville, no single person or department can, or should, be charged with inclusion and equity work. “We need to work collectively to make DEI an intrinsic part of Manhattanville,” said Porter. “If we silo our efforts, as many colleges have done in the past, we effectively absolve the larger community of responsibility.”

The better tack is to ask the entire community—faculty, staff, administration, students, and alumni—to be part of the process. After all, Porter explained, every Valiant plays a role in shaping Manhattanville’s culture and direction, from writing and enforcing policies and procedures, to choosing curricula, to cultivating environments where everyone feels a sense of belonging. It’s a big undertaking, Porter acknowledged, but one that yields big rewards for the entire College community.

At a recent online DEI presentation and workshop designed for administration, faculty, and staff, Porter offered a detailed and interactive exploration of DEI work and why it needs to happen now. Joining Porter were Susan Iverson, EdD, director of the doctoral program

in educational leadership at Manhattanville’s School of Education, and Don C. Sawyer III, PhD, sociology professor and vice president for equity and inclusion at Quinnipiac University. Speaking to the more than 150 attendees, Porter plainly said, “If we go along with our heads buried in the sand and keep doing things as we always have, or simply putting a Band-Aid here or there, then we will not see a real impact from the work we are doing.” Porter then took a long pause. “Talking about race is hard,” she said. “And sometimes folks just want to turn around and walk away from it. And I guess what I’m saying here today is that we’re not going to walk away from it.”

In March of this year, the College announced the creation of a distinct Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Division to be led by Porter. The division includes Title IX and the Center for Inclusion as well some oversight of the Sister Mary T. Clark Center for Religion and Social Justice and employee recruitment efforts. In her new role as Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Community Building, Porter continues to lead the Presidential Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

"I am honored to take on this new role and am excited to continue working with the Manhattanville community to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion," said Dr. Porter. "We have made great progress over the past few years, but there is still much work to be done. I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that Manhattanville remains a welcoming and inclusive place for all."

"IF WE GO ALONG WITH OUR HEADS BURIED IN THE SAND AND KEEP DOING THINGS AS WE ALWAYS HAVE...THEN WE WILL NOT SEE A REAL IMPACT FROM THE WORK WE ARE DOING."

- Cindy Porter, EdD

“GIVE PEOPLE LIGHT AND THEY WILL FIND A WAY”

- Ella Baker

DIRECTION

In order to effectively implement new DEI initiatives throughout the curricula and the campus, the President's Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion designed a strategic plan now known as “The Manhattanville College Road Map to Achieving Racial Equity and Inclusion,” or simply “the Road Map.”

In a presentation to the Manhattanville Alumni Board Cindy Porter laid out the explicit purpose of the plan. “The Road Map is intended to provide transparency and accountability in the College’s efforts to enhance the experience of historically underserved populations; identify and remove cultural and structural barriers impacting the student experience and outcomes; and guide institutional strategic planning and resource allocation.”

To ensure that Manhattanville does not lose its way as it moves forward, the Council also instituted five “guiding priorities”—each detailed with stated goals, strategies of implementation, and leadership accountability.

Our Priorities...

Achieve a balance of representation in the community composition.

Identify and address achievement gaps for minoritized students.

Create equitable engagement opportunities for students, faculty, and staff that foster a sense of belonging.

Commit to fostering cultural competency for faculty, staff, and students around creating a diverse, inclusive, and nurturing environment reflective of Manhattanville’s mission.

Increase collaboration and communication around the College’s various diversity and inclusion efforts.

with empathy It all begins

THE CENTER FOR DESIGN THINKING TACKLES DEI

When Manhattanville’s Center for Design Thinking (CDT) opened in 2019 as an on-campus hub for collaboration and problem solving, it did not carry a specific mandate to tackle issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Yet since its inception, the CDT has put design thinking to work, addressing student concerns regarding DEI at the College.

It is a natural fit, according to Alison Carson, PhD, associate provost for academic innovation and design thinking. “The systematic framework of design thinking always starts from the same entry point,” she said. “Empathy.”

To approach a problem from the vantage point of those experiencing the problem, Carson noted, opens up greater opportunities to reveal hidden roadblocks during the problem-solving process, such as implicit bias. “True empathy requires humility, curiosity, diversity, and inclusion,” said Carson. “So, DEI is baked into the design thinking process from the beginning.” To understand a problem, she explained, a team needs to “center the voices of those who are most impacted

by the issue.” Using design thinking, a “designer” begins with a wide lens of knowledge and clarity before moving through the next actions: Define—articulate the problem; Ideate—brainstorm, select, and develop a solution; Prototype—translate the idea into a concrete

Students Leila Milla ’21 and Brandon Guerrera ’22 attending the Designing for Change class at the Center for Design Thinking.

model; and Test—put the solution to work. Carson’s class titled Designing for Change explored Manhattanville’s history regarding racial justice and factors that hinder the growth of an inclusive campus community. Carson said that creating this class "required radical listening" by her and her colleagues

Courtney Kelly,

through the design thinking model that addressed DEI issues on campus to a panel of judges from administration, faculty, and staff.

PhD,

associate professor of literacy education, and Carleigh Brower, MFA, director of the Andrew Bodenrader Center for Academic Writing. “As white women thinking about how to work with communities of color and students of color,” said Carson, “we recognized that we needed some help.”

The professors received valuable input from many students, including key collaborators Chris Brown ’22, a student-athlete who created the CMNTY initiative in 2020 (see Manhattanville Magazine, Summer 2020), and Leila Miller ’22, then vice president of Manhattanville’s Black Student Union. For their work, both Brown and Miller were designated Peer Changemakers and earned an added credit for the class. Brown and Miller also participated in the “Designing for Change” competition, in which four student teams presented ideas developed

Continuing the collaborative DEI work, student designers are working with on-campus “clients” such as the Center for Student Accommodations and the Sister Mary T. Clark, RSCJ Center for Religion and Social Justice to tackle specific concerns. For example, one design thinking team is identifying ways to make campus spaces, including the Castle, more welcoming for Manhattanville’s BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color) community, while another team is working with faculty and staff to address improving retention of BIPOC students.

“The CDT is set up to be an internal incubator, supporting innovative and experimental programs,” Carson said. Addressing DEI issues on campus using design thinking keeps our eyes and ears open to new solutions, said Carson. "We're just getting started!"

Manhattanville is the first in the area to offer a Certificate in Design Thinking.

"ONE OF THE MOST CONSTRUCTIVE AND IMPACTFUL CLASSES I'VE TAKEN IN MY EXPERIENCE AT THREE DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS ... KEEP EMPATHIZING."

- Brandon Guerrera '22

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