>> This story provides an update on the progress made over the summer on the equity-enhancing DEIB agile teams President Neeli Bendapudi formed in the spring to advance her DEIB goals.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In April, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi shared four key actions for the University to take to enhance equity and belonging for students, faculty, staff and the broader Penn State community. These actions support Bendapudi’s goals related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB), and are in alignment with some of the key recommendations that Dr. Jennifer Hamer, special adviser for institutional equity, shared as part of her evaluation of DEIB-related programs and activities across the University.
Bendapudi named four members from her senior leadership team — to collaborate with equity-focused partners at the University — to lead agile teams to advance each of the four equity-enhancing initiatives. The teams have begun their work and are each moving forward on individual timelines with a shared goal to make progress this upcoming academic year.
“We remain focused on fostering a welcoming University community and continuing to improve outcomes for our students, faculty and staff that support our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging goals,” Bendapudi said. “I am thankful for the important progress our agile team leaders and equity partners have already made and look forward to their continued focus in these critical areas and others that we will continue to define.”
The four priorities, which were discussed during an update for the community on Hamer’s findings in April, are to develop:
- An equity-centered resource “hub” for students to access answers, connections and support resources
- A faculty hiring program to help diversify Penn State’s faculty
- A staff hiring program to address staff diversity and to support staff in their career and professional development
- A new University-wide approach for reporting wrongdoing and bias
An executive summary was shared in April, and the findings and recommendations from Hamer’s evaluation of DEIB programs, activities and resources are available on the Office of Educational Equity’s website.
The following are updates on the student resource “hub” and reporting process; information about the faculty hiring and retention program and staff hiring and professional development program will be shared in future stories.
Student resource “hub”
Andrea Dowhower, interim vice president for Student Affairs, and David Callejo Pérez, interim vice president for Commonwealth Campuses, are collaborating with student leaders and will soon be working with staff in Student Affairs across Penn State to establish a multi-tiered, equity-focused resource for students.
The idea for the resource — which will tap into the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to create a personalized experience for every Penn State student seeking support and a sense of belonging — aligns with an effort envisioned originally by the Student Leaders Roundtable and being led by a student planning group organized by Student Affairs.
As currently imagined, the resource “hub” will help to maximize the positive impact of the University’s student services and enable innovations to better address the needs of undergraduate and graduate students — especially those who may be first-generation students or from underrepresented or marginalized communities, according to Dowhower.
“While Penn State offers a breadth and depth of resources and services to support students at every campus, we also know that some students may struggle with knowing what to ask and how to determine the resource they need, especially when the need is urgent. In some cases, our most vulnerable students may not seek help at all,” Dowhower said. “We envision this resource hub as a central source of personalized support and information for students that will help them navigate the size and complexity of our University and meet their unique academic and personal goals. Since parts of this idea originated with students themselves, we know this resource will be a welcomed addition to the ways we support students across the state.”
While planning is still underway, this initiative is expected to combine three tiers: 1) an AI-infused, self-service online portal; with a 2) physical, staffed service center for personal interactions; and 3) enhanced student resources. The hub will drive all undergraduate students to a single point of information that can also facilitate connections to multiple units and resources, bring together curricular and cocurricular opportunities, and respond to the needs of the student body.
The hub will offer streamlined access to academic tutoring questions, mental health services, career counseling, cultural centers and more. When fully implemented, it will provide centralized and customized support and pathways to all students at every campus and streamline the most common student services.
Current efforts are focused on planning and identifying resources to advance the project, including:
- Identifying an implementation committee to lead the project, including determining the timeline, staffing needs, informing the technology and web development necessary, and identifying priorities for the project.
- Exploring potential external partnerships to build equity and access into the hub.
- Forming a student advisory board and an advisory group consisting of key members of the University leadership to whom the implementation committee will report.
- Identifying content experts — including students — who will be instrumental in providing expertise on various areas at the University such as tutoring, sexual assault prevention and response, career services, mental health resources and more — across all Penn State campuses.
Dowhower said she anticipates that elements of each of the three tiers will be launched by fall 2024, and that a pilot of tier one and components of tier two and tier three may come sooner. The following offers a look at the initial concept for each tier:
- Tier 1: Created to host centralized information about Penn State programs and services, the online platform will offer a welcoming, easy-to-navigate landing page and provide interactive, customized experiences tailored to each unique student — taking into account their college, campus, degree program and personal identities that may impact their needs and the specific resources and services they may seek. These student-focused resources may be organized into categories such as health and wellbeing, safety, career, DEIB, and engagement, and students will be able to choose the paths that best meet their needs and offer feedback to the system. An AI-driven approach will help the hub to adapt to students and help inform how services are delivered to students across the state.
- Tier 2: A staffed service center will be created to respond to concerns and questions that go beyond the capacity of the online self-service tool and to provide students with a personal touch and connection. The staffed service center will be located at University Park and will be available via phone or Zoom to students across the commonwealth. This center will complement, and act as a referral to, existing offices and resources, similar to a concierge service or case managers, depending on students’ needs. It will also assist in assuring the accuracy of the online self-service resource and in identifying gaps in meeting evolving student needs.
- Tier 3: The third element of the hub is enhancing and building upon current student care resources to meet students’ needs, foster well-being, and support students’ academic and personal goals. Areas of initial focus include counseling and psychological services, advocacy and DEIB resources, and student care/emergency support. This will require ongoing needs assessment across Penn State’s campuses and data collection to support strategic investment, enhancement of services and service delivery.
Along with serving students, the resource will also help Penn State faculty, staff, parents and family members who directly support students, according to Callejo Pérez.
“While our goal with this project is to support all students, we are also being intentional in how we are addressing the needs and circumstances of those who are underrepresented or marginalized to provide tools that not only help with progression, engagement and outcomes but also their sense of belonging as important members of the community,” Callejo Pérez said.
Reporting wrongdoing and bias
Tabitha Oman, chief ethics and compliance officer, and SeriaShia Chatters, assistant vice provost in the Office of Educational Equity, are leading an effort to address how the University approaches and manages reports of wrongdoing, including bias and discrimination, to improve responsiveness, timeliness and transparency.
“We are striving to enhance our community’s ability to report, feel more comfortable reporting, and to have trust in the process,” Oman said. “While our agile team is focused on bias and discrimination reporting processes, these efforts are part of broader work underway to enhance our University-wide approach across all of our reporting mechanisms and offices by making changes in our ability internally to better track reports and cases, be more responsive, and share high-level outcomes.”
Based on analysis and feedback, Oman had already been working with leaders across the University to make improvements to the University-wide reporting process, and Chatters also had been making updates to the bias reporting process and Bias Reporting Network. Together, Oman and Chatters are working to incorporate an equity focus into the updated approach.
As part of the University’s reporting process, Penn State students, faculty and staff are encouraged to make reports on topics spanning sexual misconduct, bias and discrimination, research compliance, fraud, environmental concerns and more. Reports are referred or submitted to a particular office — including the Office of Ethics and Compliance; Affirmative Action Office; Student Affairs; Labor and Employee Relations; Faculty Affairs; and the Office of Sexual Misconduct, Prevention and Response; among others — for case management and investigation.
The following changes to the University-wide reporting approach are in progress and expected to be in place in early 2024, according to Oman:
- Make reporting easier: A new, streamlined reporting guide launched this summer to make it easier for students, faculty and staff to determine where and how to make a report.
- Streamline internal tools and processes for case management: The majority of offices and groups across Penn State that are responsible for case management and investigations will begin to use the same technology tools — Maxient and Navex — to track reports, cases and investigation timelines; identify when cases have been closed; and develop enhanced data and reports. The adoption of the tools will help promote greater visibility and accountability when it comes to responsiveness, timeliness, documentation and consistency with regard to case management.
- Enhance transparency around outcomes: While specific case details and personal information cannot be shared publicly, or even with the reporter, because of privacy rules and applicable laws, the Office of Ethics and Compliance is developing a process for sharing outcomes with the Penn State community in the aggregate using deidentified data. Report-outs could include the number of new cases, the category of the report, how many cases were closed, and outcomes.
- Foster collaboration and connections: Penn State units involved with intake and case management will begin to meet quarterly to connect on process and progress. In addition, earlier this year, the Office of Ethics and Compliance established three Centers of Excellence — including one focused on issues management and investigations — to address action items for continued progress, including the refinement of investigative best practices and training of investigators. Each center is led by a small group of team members from across the University.
According to Chatters, these changes will further support the broad Penn State community, including those who are from marginalized or underrepresented groups. Along with updates to the University-wide reporting approach, Chatters is also leading a series of efforts to refine the bias reporting process.
The Report Bias website — which serves all colleges, campuses and units at Penn State — provides a centralized method for any Penn Stater to report an act of bias against students that they experience or witness. Reports of bias and discrimination are referred to the Bias Reporting Network, which is an intake and referral network comprised of representatives from the Office of Educational Equity, Student Affairs, Human Resources, Faculty Affairs, Affirmative Action Office, Student Accountability and Conflict Response, Residence Life, Undergraduate Education, and the Graduate School. The network receives all reports submitted through the Report Bias website, meets weekly to review submitted reports and collectively determine referrals, and refers reports as appropriate to various offices for management, investigation and resolution.
Updates in the works for bias reporting include:
- Providing professional development to all parties, including managers and supervisors, who handle bias reports around their roles and responsibilities, and offering education around retaliation, trauma-informed responses and more.
- Transitioning to Maxient to align the Bias Reporting Network’s processes and systems with those used by other units to track case progress and referral, as well as to support ongoing communication with reporters and those responding to reports. Bias reports will be included in the Office of Ethics and Compliance’s efforts to increase the transparency of reports and outcomes.
- Streamlining internal protocols regarding referrals and points of contact.
- Developing a Bias Reporting Network SharePoint to support managers and supervisors responsible for responding to bias reports.
“Across all of our reporting platforms, we are collaborating — from referral to resolution — so we can move collectively toward processes and systems that enable us to enhance responsiveness and timeliness, escalate reports when needed, and share resolutions with our community in a way that maintains privacy and anonymity for community members,” Chatters said. “There are groups of very dedicated people across the University who care deeply and take each report seriously. We want every student, faculty and staff member to know we’re here for them and they should feel safe reporting.”