AAC&U Diversity, Learning, and Student Success (Friday, March 27th)

Changing the Culture: Using Professional Development to Promote Inclusion and Belonging

Philip Sisson Provost/

Vice President, Academic Affairs &

Student Affairs

Peter Shea Director,

MCC Professional Development

Max Hallsett Academic Counselor,

Advising/ Student Affairs

Karen James Career Counselor,

Advising/ Student Affairs

Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts) Lowell Campus Bedford Campus

Learning Outcomes Participants will:

1. Gain strategies for promoting a culture of inclusion through an all‐college Professional Day

2. Develop ideas for creating digital toolkits for supporting inclusive culture-building

MCC and Service Area To serve our communities, MCC is striving to match enrollment with our population.

68%

7% 11% 14%

78%

5% 10% 7%

53%

7%

22% 18%

Caucasian African American Asian Hispanic

MCCMiddlesex CountyCity of Lowell

[Source: MCC Office of Institutional Research]

Demographic Shift The percentage of Asian, Hispanic, and African American students will increase by 2020 in Middlesex County.

90.05% 84.96% 78.59%

72.26%

2.71% 3.63%

4.86% 5.86%

3.70% 6.64% 9.81%

13.36%

3.41% 4.62% 6.59% 8.36%

1990 2000 2010 2020

Hispanic

Asian

African American

Caucasian

[Source: MCC Office of Institutional Research ]

What Led Up to Our Professional Day?

• National interest in Closing the Achievement Gap

• State interest and performance funding connected to Closing the Achievement Gap

• Local commitment to student success

• Alignment with our mission, values & strategic plan

• College-wide commitment to articulating diversity as an organizational asset

• Diverse team attended the Bridgewater State University “Leading for Change” conference on diversity and inclusion

Leading for Change 2013 “Perfection is impossible but progress is essential.”

“If you have privilege, it’s your responsibility to end the oppression in that area where you have privilege.”

“Ally with someone and get the work done.”

“We quit trying to fix our students and worked on ourselves.”

Dr. Sabrina Gentlewarrior Director

Office of Institutional Diversity Bridgewater State University

Bridgewater, MA

How we established an MCC Diversity Working Group

1. Met the week after the BSU Leading for Change 2013 conference

2. Committed to identifying strategies for broad institutional learning about Achievement gap & role of diverse workforce on Student Success

3. Needed a sustainable response

4. Identified key stakeholders who were missing from the conversation

Our CAG Working Group

Vice Presidents/ President’s Office

Deans

Directors

Faculty

Staff

President’s Office

1

Academic & Student Affairs

1 6 3 3

Enrollment, Research & Planning

1

1

1

Administration & Finance

2

1

Creating an Action Plan 1. Identify partners to help with organizational

learning (Faculty Staff Association’s Diversity Committee, Multicultural Center, Institutional Research, CAG working group)

2. Determine what people think or already know about the achievement gap at MCC

3. Deliver a college-wide professional day that will provoke reflection and dialogue

4. Develop a toolkit that is accessible and relevant for MCC

The planning meetings

• The planning took 8 months

• Everyone committed to meet regularly

• Meetings had clear agendas & action plans

• We had subcommittees (data, literature review, logistics, marketing)

Established Professional Day Goals • Increase awareness of MCC

achievement gap data

• Provide strategies, and support for all of us to close the achievement gap

• “Help participants reflect on the underlying structures of their local academic and support programs as they relate to success of a diverse range of students” (source BSU –Dr. Thomas Kling)

• Identify the ways in which we can continue this work after Professional Day

• 311 people registered.

• 96 full-time faculty and 10 part-time faculty.

Attendance

I. Celebrate Our Current Work

II. Tell MCC’s Data Story

Institutional Research provided:

• Achievement gap data

• Environmental scan data

III. Bring in a Credible Expert • Make addressing the

achievement gap based in research yet still doable via a credible expert

• Keynote Speaker: Dr. Becky Wai-Ling Packard “What Each and Every One of Us Can Do: the Power of Mentoring in Closing the Achievement Gap”

Dr. Becky Wai-Ling Packard Associate Dean of Faculty

Professor of Psychology and Education Director of Weissman Center for Leadership

Mt. Holyoke College.

IV: Two 50-minute Concurrent Sessions of Workshops

Offered 35 sessions built around following themes

1. Community building

2. Inclusive pedagogies

3. Power of stories

4. Intercultural conversations

5. Employee engagement

Sample Con-Current Session Titles • An Environmental Scan: Local

Demographics Past, Present, and Future

• Bystanders and Bias: Intervention for an Inclusive Community

• No Longer Afraid: Engaging Students in Conversations about Race

• Building Strong Student and Customer Service Relationships

• Student Stories: Strategies for Success

• Inclusive Learning Approaches: A Roundtable Discussion of Learning Technologies and Universal Design Strategies for All Students

• From Data to Changes to Data to More Changes: Inclusive Pedagogy at Bridgewater State University

• Student Access and Services: Navigating Challenging Conversations

Sample Con-Current Session Titles

V: Use Social Media to Enhance Awareness

VI: Reconvene – Bring in the Student Voice • “(Un)Intended Impact:

Everyday Micro inequities”

• Student improvisation performances

• Personal enactments of micro aggressions

• Faculty & student led

• Topics Addressed: Socioeconomic class, Heterosexism assumptions, Ableism

VII: Identify How the Work is Sustained

• Provide Mini-Grants funding

• Provide ongoing professional development opportunities

• Create toolkits to support inclusive culture-building work

Survey Responses: What did you learn through this Professional Day that will impact your daily practice?

“...that there is, indeed, an "Achievement Gap" that I must be more aware of and work relative to my daily class and campus practices to help narrow that "Gap."

“The micro-aggression activity was very effective, and although I have been the recipient of this on occasion, I know that I could also be the offender even though it is not intended. I will be more mindful of this in my daily practice.”

Professional Day Outcomes and Lessons: What Did We Learn?

1. Convene a team & meet regularly

2. Talk candidly & challenge assumptions

3. Look at the data

4. Celebrate what you are doing well

5. Have presenters from both in and outside the institution (including student voices)

6. Indicate institutional support for ongoing ideas to address the achievement gap

7. Provide ongoing professional development & tools & recognition of efforts

Building a Culture of Inclusion

[Shortened url: http://goo.gl/tBfbJG] [Available: Google Play]

Things to Discuss

Preconceived cultural expectations

Barriers to success

Conversations to have

Solutions Case

Studies

You Can Make a Difference! • Use mini-lectures to incorporate advising in

your class

• Use inclusive examples and images in your class to cultivate belonging—especially for underrepresented populations

• Encourage students to use resources on campus—and know how to find the contact information for these resources

• Ask questions and engage students in advising sessions and one-on-one interactions

• Be mindful of your cultural assumptions and preconceptions you bring to your interactions

How We Are Using the Toolkit • Embed in New Faculty Advisor

Training

• Embed in First Year Experience Course Training

• Provide Professional Development for Inclusive Practices

• Promote usage for faculty in department meetings

• Create buy-in from faculty and deans

How to Make Your Own Toolkit Site 1. Go to www.Wordpress.com

2. Make sure to use a Responsive Theme

3. Choose a Theme and select customize to see how it will appear on different devices

4. Use www.appsgeyser.com

5. Select Website and enter the URL of your wordpress.com site

6. Follow the directions to publish on the Android Market

7. Cost: one time fee of $25 paid to Google

Questions?