Department Name

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 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

• 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