Dear Penn State Community:
This Friday, I will be taking part in a town hall meeting led by the University Faculty Senate for an important conversation on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) at Penn State. Creating equitable systems of inclusive excellence is a personal passion and a guiding principle of my leadership at every institution I have served, and Penn State is no different.
My decision to not move ahead with the creation of a Center for Racial Justice and to instead evaluate and thoughtfully invest in the vast expanse of DEIB initiatives, programs and scholarly research across our 24 campuses has led some to question this move, along with my commitment to anti-racism scholarship, racial justice, equity and combatting bias within our University.
I am fully committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. These are foundational elements on which our University stands and to which I have a steadfast dedication. The approach I am advocating is to explore more deeply the potential within our own University, to invest in the work of our own faculty and staff, and to strengthen our current networks. This will enable more strategic use of our resources in challenging times; have a substantive impact on our students, faculty and staff; and help bolster the important and significant racial justice and equity scholarship and practices already underway.
The announcement of this new path forward was not handled in the best way — I acknowledge that and I take full responsibility. It is clear to me that I have to do better so that we are more likely to have shared understanding and a better ability to work collaboratively to address problems. It has also become clear from my many conversations that there is a desire for belonging and a need for space for our community — and specifically for people of color, women and other marginalized identities — to come together. I concur and will work every day to build connections with all of you across our community in furtherance of these priorities. With time and specific, concrete actions, I hope to demonstrate that my commitment to inclusive excellence is genuine, deep, abiding and strong.
My concern has increasingly been that institutions tend to focus on the actions they are taking or the inputs, and do not always hold themselves accountable to the outcomes. I have asked the Office of Planning, Assessment and Institutional Research (OPAIR) to develop a DEIB dashboard to clearly communicate our current status on key diversity metrics. I discovered that the Faculty Senate has called for a similar dashboard, and I hope we can unite these efforts in the coming weeks.
Our Board of Trustees is fully supportive of and has approved the following DEIB goals that are focused on outcomes and metrics. In brief, we will be measuring ourselves on the following:
- For students: How well are we closing the graduation rate gaps across identity groups, including racial and ethnic groups? Most institutions talk about how many underrepresented students they recruit, but don’t spend enough time focused on how many underrepresented students they actually graduate. I will turn my attention to closing gaps in four- and six-year graduation rates for students across identity groups.
- For faculty: How well are we diversifying our faculty across all ranks, tracks and disciplines? We cannot just recruit underrepresented faculty members and declare our job done. We must provide robust communities of support on multiple dimensions so that they choose to stay and grow and succeed and thrive with us. Recruitment, retention and progression of underrepresented faculty members across ranks, tracks and disciplines will be a priority.
- For staff: What are we doing to provide equitable professional development opportunities for our staff? We know that most of our underrepresented staff are in lower-paying roles and that diversity decreases as you move up the pay scale. We must provide equitable, high-quality professional development that allows us to build our own talent and promote from within. In addition, diversity in staff hiring must also be a priority.
- Overall: How are we creating a sense of belonging for all members of our community? Are there gaps across identity groups? How will we close these gaps? I plan to use the results of our Living Our Values survey to monitor the progress on this dimension.
These questions and their subsequent answers are at the heart of changing how we view, discuss and ultimately accomplish equity within our University. For instance, ensuring more students with underrepresented backgrounds graduate on time means more upward mobility — this is a tremendous start to addressing inequity. In the same vein, increasing the number of underrepresented faculty moves us toward a cultural shift and diverse perspectives in thinking and teaching. Diversity among our faculty and staff is not only beneficial to our students of color, but to all students.
I look forward to continuing to share more about my goals on these vital topics. Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging require everyone’s attention and involvement.
To join the University Faculty Senate town hall at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 18, visit https://www.watch.psu.edu/faculty-town-hall/