October 2015

Diversity & Community Enhancement Committee (DCEC) Meeting Minutes

October 21, 2015

Chambers 273

Chair: Kimberly Powell

12:00 – 1:30

Attendees Present: Amity Maines, Carlos Zalaquett, Efrain Marimon, Elizabeth Smolcic, Gabriela Richard, Isaac Bretz, Jeanine Staples, Kim Powell, Laura Hennessey

Announcements

• Kim said that a new DCEC chair still needs to be recruited.
  • Dean Monk does not want to appoint a chair and would rather that the position be advertised and a person with some investment in the position volunteer.
  • Kim will draft a paragraph of responsibilities

Old Business

• Minutes from September 16, 2015 were tabled until certain revisions could be made.
• Kim went over a draft of the DCEC Summary of Accomplishments for 2014-15 and asked for member to review.
  • Elizabeth offered several corrections
  • Kim said that thanks to the work of Amity and Hilario the DCEC has an itemized budget which can help with future budgeting
    • Amity agreed that an itemized budget is important for getting budget approval
    • Jeanine asked whether there was an issue with reduced funding in the future if a budget was not fully used.
      • Amity said that she will touch base with the Dean regarding funds left over from last year and other budget clarifications.
• Kim asked whether the DCEC should continue with its current theme of Diversity in Teaching and Learning
  • Laura suggested that it might encourage wider and more involved engagement if a more specific theme were chosen each year.
  • Elizabeth said that the broad theme of Diversity in Teaching and Learning continues to align well with the main objectives of the committee this year. 
• Social Media and Outreach Website/Online Presence Update
  • Kim said that she asked Kyle Peck to take lead on Social Media outreach committee
    • Kyle is particularly interested in digital badges
      • At the most basic level, they might show what workshops and presentations you have attended.
      • At a more macro-level, they are intended to track a lifetime trajectory and constitute a repository reflecting both formal and informal learning activities
        • Elizabeth asked who decided what the badges mean
        • Laura said that Penn State Liberal Arts Advising is considering deploying a badging system
• Staff Subcommittee Update
  • Laura said that she was working with Christine to organize a meeting.
• Faculty and GA Planning Subcommittee Update
  • Kim said that she wanted to focus on Seria Chatters’ offer to lead workshops on anti-bullying
    • Elizabeth mentioned that an initiative around anti-bullying had not been done before to her knowledge.
    • Kim said that DCEC has the budget for rooms and food.
    • Carlos said that the model that Seria uses is diversity-based anti-bullying training and is adaptable to a wide range of contexts including the workplace and universities
      • The first step is to bring together a panel in the fall to generate critical events, these are usually recent stories from the news
        • Examples he has used in the past include attacks on LGBT peoples and mistreatment of undocumented workers.
        • Based on the work of the panel, workshops are planned for the spring
          • Laura suggested one critical event they might draw on is news of State College high school students wearing “n-word” T-shirts on social media.
          • Carlos suggested starting with a spring College of Education symposium on critical events
            • Students could get extra credit for attending
            • The symposium could be recorded and kept as part of a repository on bullying and diversity education
            • Jeanine said that could help with the project but also expressed concerns that such a strategy could decontextualize issues.
          • Kim asked for the Faculty and GA Planning subcommittee to meet and begin planning for spring workshops.
            • Suggested that an email be sent out to the DCEC listserv calling for recommendations of topics for discussion or ‘critical events’ that might be used as topic of focus
            • Asked that a meeting be set up with Seria ASAP so that the DCEC can find out what resources are needed in order to make an anti-bullying workshop happen
              • Conditions
                • The workshop must avoid generic ideas and de-racializing
                • The workshop must have a focus on diversity
• Undergraduate Planning Subcommittee Update
  • Leadership Certificate in Diversity and Equity
    • Elizabeth said that she met with 6 people from last year’s subcommittee to begin to pull together ideas from last year and develop a draft plan for a Diversity Equity certificate
      • They agreed to meet again
      • Elizabeth said that Efrain is currently working on a social justice education projected and suggested that it might dovetail or collapse nicely with the certificate
      • Kim suggested that the next step is to work on a proposal for Stephanie Knight
      • Elizabeth said that it still needs to be determined whether there should be a certificate, a minor, or both
        • Depends in part on University requirements which need to be explored further
        • Carlos suggested that a certificate built on currently offered courses might be the most realistic and sustainable platform
          • Jeanine said that she could help with aggregating appropriate existing courses
          • Dana Stuchal’s sustainability education course was suggested as possible way to launch this initiative on a small scale (in order to get something going sooner rather than later)
          • The Presidential Leadership Academy might be another model
        • Elizabeth suggested that Urban Seminar and the Ecuador program as well as other already-established summer programs/experiences might be counted as part of the practical or hands-on work of the Diversity Equity certificate
        • Carlos suggested another option might be a program based on skills training instead of the academic focus.
          • Carlos said that he had been involved in this type of a program which had been effective in career training for international student and agreed to share the model
        • Laura suggested the TESLA program as another model
          • Instead of doing a minor or a certificate, student volunteer for the program and take 1 or 2 credits
          • Might be an alternative if the bigger goals of a certificate or a minor do not work out.
        • Elizabeth said that one of the things that had been determined during her meeting with the subcommittee is that a piloting of the program for the spring was probably not realistic

Meeting adjourned at 1:30 pm