UPDATE: May 2016 Summary of Diversity and Inclusion Improvements and Initiatives

The University's emphasis on diversity and inclusion is enhanced through the work of the President's Advisory Council on Diversity (PACD) and the Special Assistant to the President on Diversity as well as through crucial dialogue with student leaders from diverse student organizations, including the NAACP. The May 2016 summary below outlines improvements and initiatives that have been undertaken across the University. The commitment is to build a strong foundation for a community of respect, character, cultural literacy and leadership. Through the coming months, the PACD and Special Assistant will continue to meet with faculty, staff, and students in order to collectively build upon these areas of progress and facilitate new initiatives that strengthen our community.

Recruitment

Recruiting a diverse student body is a high priority and many strategic initiatives have been implemented to help attract and retain diverse students. Below are a few examples of recruitment initiatives taken by the Admissions Office:

• Recruitment of diverse and culturally competent/literate staff to successfully identify prospective students from diverse backgrounds.
• Collaboration with organizations such as the National Hispanic Institute (NHI) to help students learn about the unique opportunities available at Baylor. Events with NHI include participating in the College World Series to assist students with the college application process.
• Development of diversity recruitment territory plans for individual territories based off need and opportunities available. Examples include visiting AVID students and TRIO programs.
• Commitment to hiring Spanish-speaking admissions counselors for territories with a high volume of Hispanic families.
• Translation of publications into Spanish to increase pertinent information to Spanish speaking students and their families
• Partnership with multicultural student groups in attending college fairs. The Baylor students are highly effective in sharing their own experiences with outstanding prospective students.
• Hosting of college readiness workshops at area high schools in partnership with community based organizations.
• Recruitment of Bill Gates Millennial Scholars when identified in the recruitment cycle.
• Partnership with Advise Texas advisors in high schools across the state of Texas to help recruit students, complete files, and schedule high school visits.
• Dedication of intentional resources and staff to recruit, train, and professionally develop culturally competent staff members. This includes the addition of EEOC position.
• Training for managers/supervisors to learn how to effectively hire, develop, evaluate, and mentor their staff.

Funding Resources

The university has allocated increased funding across a number of initiatives and areas.

• Student Organization Diversity Fund in the amount of $15,000 has been awarded to student organizations for programming that educate and celebrate diverse cultures at Baylor. This funding will continue to be awarded annually to any student organization that has new or expanded diversity initiatives. Applications are available through the Multicultural Affairs Department.
• Multicultural Leadership Student Travel Grants in the amount $10,000 are available to individual students who wish to attend multicultural leadership conferences. Travel grants will continue to be offered to students who seek to attend multicultural leadership conferences and/or meetings. Applications are available through the Multicultural Affairs Department.
• Campus Diversity Grants are awarded by the Campus Diversity Committee to academic departments, faculty, staff, and students for diversity and cultural awareness projects. The fund was increased from $10,000 to $20,000.

Cultural Competency/Literacy

• HR will now offer diversity training at new staff orientation (WOW).  
• HR will continue to provide campus-wide diversity workshops (training modules) and forums such as Dr. Steve Robbins who spoke on diversity at the Staff Forum in the fall.
• The Academy for Teaching and Learning offer workshops on difficult dialogues throughout the academic year.
• The Division of Student Life integrates cultural competency training into student leader training, work-study training, and orientations.
• Specialized diversity experiences are being used to develop and hone cultural competence and literacy such as Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) where groups and facilitators work through complex discussions and reflection.   Another initiative is the Public Deliberation Initiative (PDI) which is a formal discussion on how policies impact highly-charged issues. A new initiative is the "This Matters Forum" where controversial and trending issues are addressed with a panel of expert faculty and discussed with audience participation.
• The PACD is currently identifying a survey tool to capture the strengths and challenges of the campus climate as it relates to an inviting and inclusive environment for our diverse student body as well as our faculty and staff.
• The Provost's Office is actively pursuing the creation of an exchange program with prominent Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This program is being developed to provide students from both campuses an academic experience in both a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) and a HBCU.  These programs are vibrant experiences for students across the country.
• This past year, speakers and performers of diverse backgrounds have been part of our campus environment. The University continues to pursue a wide range of artists, performers and thought leaders from diverse backgrounds to enhance the cultural and intellectual conversation. Past guests include:
  • Musical artist Lecrae
  • Civil rights legend Dr. Reverend C.T. Vivian,
  • Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson
  • Author Katherine Bassard
  • Inspirational speaker Jordan Burham
  • Robert Morris University President Chris Howard
  • Social commentator Beverly Gooden

Although there is much work to be done, much has been initiated and accomplished. Updates and new opportunities will continue to be communicated to the Baylor family through this webpage as well as through other links.