Diversity & Community Enhancement Committee (DCEC) Meeting Minutes
April 22, 2015
Chambers 221
Chair: Kimberly Powell
12:00 – 1:30
Attendees Present: Ana Diaz, Donna-Marie Cole-Malott, Elizabeth Smolcic, Isaac Bretz, Jeanine Stapes, Laura Hennessey, Mark Threeton, and Sylvia Lindinger-Sternart
Announcements
- Kim announced that she will be taking on an administrative position at Penn State, and therefore will need to step down as chair of DCEC
- Kim said that she can continue as co-chair, but a new chair must be elected
- Kim made an open call for nominations
- Mark announced that he would be stepping off DCEC effective fall 2015.
Old Business
- Approval of March minutes
- Elizabeth moved to approve minutes
- Kim seconded the approval and the minutes were approved
- Chair Updates
- Kim asked for suggestions as to a theme for next year’s DCEC work.
- An online discussion forum was suggested for this purpose
- Questions were raised as to the effectiveness of social media in eliciting themes
New Business
- Outreach Subcommittee Report
- No report
- Staff Subcommittee Report
- Laura said that plans for the staff retreat had not progressed since the last meeting.
- Laura suggested that the retreat needs a theme
- Voicing concerns, structure of productivity
- Sylvia said that she had experience with leading staff workshops
- Kim said that getting staff more involved in the Staff Subcommittee might be an issue of finding actionable issues- realistic and obtainable
- Laura said that the staff feels like they cannot leave their desks to attend meetings.
- Elizabeth suggested that another reason is high turnover
- Laura suggested a survey of interests
- Isaac suggested that the DCEC sponsor a staff lunch
- Laura said that summer might be a good time, maybe June
- Laura said that she would meet with Charlene and ask her to act as facilitator
- The HUB and Nittany Lion Inn were suggested as sites
- Kim said that she would look at the budget
- Social Media and Communications
- Ana expressed concerns about accountability, people signing up for the committee and then not showing up again
- Kim said she was ambivalent about implementing a policy on responsibility - three strikes and you are out.
- Kim said she will submit a list of people who have been active on committees
- Purpose to establish difference between formal and volunteer
- Also need a list of people on each committee
- Kim said she will submit a list of people who have been active on committees
- Kim said she was ambivalent about implementing a policy on responsibility - three strikes and you are out.
- Ana expressed concerns about accountability, people signing up for the committee and then not showing up again
- Kim suggested that the committee develop a flyer of what the DCEC has done – agenda items
- Kim also suggested that the committee create a white paper – one or two page summary published on a semi-regular basis
- Kim said that the next step would be developing a pullout strategic plan- cut and paste first paragraph
- Ana suggested that the certificate program might become a funded grad student assistantship
- Isaac suggested that a post-doc position might be created
- Elizabeth suggested a working group consisting of staff, faculty, and grad students who would advise a permanent structure
- Sylvia raised the concern that a lot is still unknown about who and what is needed to successfully kick off the program
- Kim said that a clear budget proposal is required
- Kim asked for another subcommittee meeting before the end of the school year
- Kim suggested in-house workshops, host panels – including student panels
- Kim suggested that reflective session should be separate from presentation session
- Kim posited that that members should be prepared ahead of time
- A suggestion was made to bring Robin DiAngelo to speak about the notion of white fragility, a repertoire of skills for dealing with stress
- Jeanine suggested a focus on racial and gender literacy
- Mediated with end goals, clear outcomes
- Repository of classroom scenarios, a searchable archive
- The identity of the instructor makes a difference in strategies
- The repository should be searchable by themes
- Shore up the intellectual and social capital, leverage expertise of faculty and graduate students
- Twice a semester meetings
- Kim suggested a resource library, perhaps called Vision 2020
- Jeanine gave some elements that might be appropriate
- Interactive and dynamic
- Steeped in real life
- Not exhaustive
- Not formulaic
- Kim added that it should be goal driven without being closed
- Also that it might allow for emerging technology
- Kim said that she would talk to the library about what they think and how they might contribute
- Jeanine gave some elements that might be appropriate
- Undergraduate Subcommittee Report
- Elizabeth offered to be the lead faculty member on the diversity certificate committee
- Kim said that she met with Dean Monk and shared a draft of the certificate program
- Questions were raised about funding and distribution of tasks
- Kim said that these issues were likely in Maria’s domain
- Kim said that she did not anticipate any problems
- Fall 2015 was decided too soon for starting the program
- Elizabeth suggested a Spring 2016 rollout
- Laura suggested recruiting in Fall 2015
- Kim asked for a wrap-up and where the DCEC wants to go from here.
- Reflection on workshops
- Elizabeth said attendance was good, diverse, but it is a core group that is really active and committed.
- Some people are not very active
- There needs to be a way for different levels of commitment and participation
- Kim said that there were a lot of people from counseling who attended, also the advisor office, not just faculty
- Suggests a possible need for advising and counseling, not just teaching
- Sophia suggested a monthly workshop where teachers can exchange ideas about strategies for addressing issues of diversity in the classroom
- Sophia suggested that DCEC look into counseling, especially financial and scholarship counseling, for international students
Meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM