Student Life DEI 2.0 Year 1

Assess, further develop, and embed recruitment and hiring strategies designed to attract broadly diverse candidates throughout the division.

• Gather and share effective strategies being used throughout the division to advance staff recruitment and hiring.
• Evaluation of embedded staff recruiter pilot (Dining) to assess potential expansion of this model.

Enhance the performance management process in support of staff development and retention.  

• Finalize updated performance process plan.
• Utilize new strategies to increase engagement with the current performance check-in tool.

Enhance staff knowledge, skills, and behaviors that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through their work.

• Evaluate central UHR onboarding projects and incorporate best practices as appropriate within Student Life.
• Explore sustainable options for supervisor coaching focused on mid-managers, including the implementation of specific pilot activities.
• Expand Student Life’s Fundamentals of DEI Staff Class.

Evaluate and advance pay equity in SL, while also increasing knowledge sharing and education  to further  transparency in the division.  

• Develop and roll out Compensation educational series.
• Determine process for regular Human Resource equity review for classifications and groups.

Develop and implement proactive staff engagement strategies that increase communication, consultation, and co-creation of divisional priorities and processes.

• Build upon the 2.0 planning year staff engagement activities by undertaking a deep and thorough assessment of staff climate at the local level in an effort to continue trust-building as well as to create the foundation for a comprehensive stakeholder engagement plan.
• Explore strategies to build capacity for leadership to encourage staff engagement.

Develop and implement proactive engagement strategies that increase communication, consultation, and co-creation of Student Life priorities and processes with students and their families.

• Develop and roll out a multi-pronged student engagement plan, making efforts to promote engagement from those students who historically/often have not had their voices heard.
• Conduct an environmental scan of student staff engagement models from within and outside of our institution, providing actionable recommendations for Year 2.
• Identify strategic places to increase awareness of programs and resources among parents and families.

Increase new students' awareness of and engagement with campus resources, building a sense of belonging through early engagement with community building experiences.  

• Enhance current programs and develop new summer, pre-arrival, and/or (early) welcome initiatives to pilot Year 2.
• Increase enrollment for the course ALA171 through strategic partnerships with other first-year initiatives on campus and increased marketing to first-year and transfer students.
• Bring all first-year offerings into a single online space, enhancing staff and students' access to opportunities.

Increase equitable access to campus resources, places, people, systems, and opportunities through community-driven solutions to systemic issues.

• Enhance impact of the Campus Climate Ad Hoc team’s through the collection and use of shared data.
• Identification of multi-faceted solutions to address any inequities in regard to access to resources, spaces, people, and systems.
• Conduct a review of financial barriers to student org. programming and provide prioritized recommendations for policy, process, and/or systems changes inclusive of more streamlined and accessible financial systems.
• Create and support a group to assess and provide recommendations on accountability and actions for implementation to improve the experiences of LGBTQIA+ stakeholders.
• Qualitative and or narrative assessment of students, making efforts to promote engagement from those students who historically/often have not had their voices heard.
• Pilot a Conflict Resolution Liaison program with schools/colleges, deepening campus-wide competency and capacity for conflict resolution.

Infuse partnership, assessment, accountability and support for DEI at all levels of the organization.

• Implement new teams and structures that support a collective approach to divisional DEI goals.
• Update equity report card toolkit, helping units to identify gaps and opportunities for positively impacting all students through our programming and developing implementation plans including identification of pilot units.
• Develop and implement a strategic communications plan focused on connecting staff with DEI learning and engagement opportunities.
• Develop a strategy for implementing DEI 2.0 within the Health and Well-being portfolio and evaluate effectiveness for expansion in Year 2.
• Launch a collaborative space for Student Life leaders representing various institutional and divisional areas, bringing initiatives together to enhance understanding of shared work, create alignments, and connect resources.

Work in partnership with the Office of University Development to further develop our DEI fundraising priorities and report out on the priority gift fund names, fundraising goals, and the potential impact of securing this funding.

• Student Life VP, AVP over Student Life Budget & Finance, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Student Life, and Executive Director of Parent & Family Giving and Student Life meet bi-annually to discuss DEI fundraising goals.

Enhance staff and students' sense of belonging by increasing the presence of and access to affirming, accessible, and inclusive physical spaces on campus.

• Complete renovations of three Multicultural Lounges (with updated usage policies and new reservation systems).
• Build capacity, across campus and throughout the community, in designing physical spaces that foster a sense of belonging and address unique needs such through hosting an Inclusive Spaces Summit.
• Build and renovate physical spaces on campus in recognition and support of Culturally Based Fraternal Organizations.

Develop and deliver innovative pilots and strengthen existing programs and partnerships devoted to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and intercultural learning for students.  

• Centralize divisional social justice and global education offerings through the development of a coordinated website and marketing material.
• Institutionalize a Secular, Spiritual, Religious, and Interfaith (SSRI) area within Student Life with the infrastructure to operationalize the 2022 recommendations.
• Partner with Student Org. advisors in the development and launch of an official pilot for the inclusive student organization framework.

Advance students’ competencies in leadership for social change, through individual and cohort-based engagement opportunities.

• Build awareness of the Leadership Certification among students.
• Conduct a feasibility study to assess if academic credit on transcripts are viable.
• Expand current pilot of MLead’s leadership coaching to student organization leaders and increase utilization in student staff model through Impact Initiative.