Equity and Inclusion

The Equity and Inclusion workstream released its final report in February 2021, which is posted on this page. 

Workstream:
Equity and Inclusion

Responsible Person:
Nadine Aubry, Provost and Senior Vice President

Co-Chairs:
Bárbara Brizuela, Academic Dean, School of Arts and Sciences; Joyce Sackey, Associate Provost and Chief Diversity Officer, Health Sciences Schools

Goal:
This effort will look at academic support services and new education and training programs that can help ensure that issues of equity and inclusion are addressed in our classrooms, laboratories, clinical training settings, and throughout our community.

Specifically, this effort will consider training programs for faculty and staff as well as revised curricula, new education programs, and strengthened academic and support services for all our students within and outside the classroom. Such programs will help ensure that issues of equity and inclusion are addressed in our classrooms and all non- classroom learning spaces, and throughout our community. In addition, there will be a focus on designing more equitable processes (e.g., for promotion and tenure, teaching evaluations, students’ work assessment, equitable clinical services, etc.), recognizing and promoting excellence within our community members in this important area (through fellowships and awards), and preparing our students for academic and personal success at Tufts and beyond.

Charge and Approach:
To advise the President and Tufts’ administration, the committee will:

• Present information, and data when appropriate, on Tufts’ current state of equity and inclusion (programs, processes, etc.), working in close collaboration with the Audit and Targeted Action
• Identify key areas on which efforts at achievable improvement, including nearly immediate ones, should be These could include, but are not be limited to:
  • proposing new programs for training faculty and staff
  • revising curricula and creating new ways to educate students
  • strengthening academic and support services for students
  • designing more equitable processes for faculty, staff, and students (e.g., promotion and tenure, awards and recognitions, and teaching evaluation processes)
  • recognizing and aligning incentives to promote excellence within the community in this area
• Suggest strategies for that improvement
• Report regularly on the progress of the committee

Committee Structure:
The committee will consist of four subgroups that will focus on faculty, staff, undergraduate students, and graduate and professional students, with a leader for each subgroup, and have faculty, staff, and student representatives as well as representatives from the Medford/Somerville, SMFA, and Health Sciences campuses.

Subgroup Leaders:

• Faculty: Heather Nathans, Chair and Professor, Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
• Staff: Mary Anne McInnis, Human Resources
• Undergraduate Students: Nandi Bynoe, Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, School of Arts and Sciences; Katrina Moore
• Graduate and Professional Students: Sara Folta, Associate Professor/Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Friedman School for Nutrition Science and Policy

Other Members:

• Kevin Dunn, Vice Provost
• Dawn Terkla, Associate Provost
• Faculty representatives (Medford/Somerville, SMFA, and Boston and Grafton Health Sciences campuses)
• Staff representatives (Medford/Somerville, SMFA and Health Sciences)
• Adriana Black, Associate Director for Diversity and Inclusion Education for Health Sciences
• Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering Students Services representative
• Dean of Academic Advising and Undergraduate Studies
• Dean of Graduate/Professional Education
• Center for STEM Diversity representative; Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion (DSDI)
• CELT and other education centers’ representative

For a full list of subgroup leaders and members, please click here.

Community Engagement:
The committee will have a webpage/wiki for community input, suggestions, and feedback that will be reviewed on a continuous manner and provided to the committee prior to each meeting. In addition, the committee will send members to faculty meetings at all schools and engage community members through a series of focus groups and large group discussions to ensure it garners input and feedback while developing recommendations. The committee will also seek input from and report to the Faculty Senate and the various student leadership groups.

Timeline and Deliverables:
The committee will update its webpage every two weeks and report to the senior team every four weeks with an interim report on November 1 and a final report on December 1.

• August 27 — First committee meeting
• September 24 — First report to the President and the senior team, to include initial reports from the four working groups and progress on a community engagement plan. Reports every four weeks thereafter.
• November 1 — Preliminary report to the President and the senior team
• December 1 — Final report with recommendations to the President and the Senior Team

Communication:
The committee will follow the plan created by University Communications and Marketing for the workstreams and will update its webpage on a regular basis—at least once every two weeks.

Reporting:
An update will be provided every four weeks to the senior team and as needed.