Drake University
PA-4: Diversity and Equity Coordination

Office of Equity & Inclusion: This office is the focal point for diversity, equity and inclusive efforts on campus and in the community. The Associate Provost for Campus Equity & Inclusion's role is to help our campus live up to its Diversity Commitment by supporting and embracing all identities on campus and working towards systemic change that combats bias. The development of the Office of Equity and Inclusion stems from the campus-wide climate assessment that our community participated in, in 2015. Results from the climate assessment revealed that we have a lot of work to do to make our campus a place for inclusive learning. Part of that work is communicated on the OEI’s website, where you can keep up to date on current initiatives that the campus is undertaking.

Office of Student Inclusion, Involvement & Leadership: The Office of Student Inclusion, Involvement and Leadership (STIIL) is a resource for social, recreational, multicultural, and leadership activities for students that are designed to enhance the academic mission of Drake University. To complement the Unversity's academic curriculum by providing integrated learning experiences that foster personal growth, integrity, responsibility, and accountability in a changing global society.

Equity Action Partner Program (Student & Staff): In 2017 Drake started the Equity Action Partner Program to unify diversity efforts across campus and to provide resources in the areas of equity and inclusion in all departments at Drake. In 2018, the program was expanded to include Student Partners. Each Equity Action Partner has gone through extensive training in the areas of equity, inclusion, identity, and diversity. The Partners serve as a resource to faculty, staff, and students and are available for consultation on equity and inclusion issues surrounding hiring, mentoring, personal identity, professional development, campus climate, and interpersonal relationships.

Welcome Weekend & Orientation: All first-year students have access to, and are required to participate in diversity and inclusion sessions at welcome weekend and during orientation. Welcome Weekend is required to be attended by all incoming first-year students to the university prior to the start of their first semester. Events include mandatory attendance to equity & inclusion activities. Welcome Weekend consists of four intense days of student, faculty, and staff interactions with a focus on a range of different topics and goals.

Equity Action Partners: A group of faculty and staff from each department that is highly trained in the area of diversity and inclusion. They serve as advocates for those who are facing inclusion issues, and they provide expertise to their areas in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Student Equity Action Partners: A group of students across all colleges and years who are highly trained in the area of equity and inclusion. They provide programming to increase awareness on campus, respond to issues of equity and inclusion, and serve as advocates for fellow students. We are starting a class for the students in the spring that will help them increase their knowledge and programming capacity.

Preferred First Name System: To provide a more inclusive environment now all students have the option of putting their preferred name in the system so that they are not called by their legal name if they don’t want to be.

Mediation and Restorative Justice: Drake is working on alternative dispute resolution programs to remedy issues of conduct an inclusion on campus.

New Faculty and First Year Seminar (FYS) instructor Development: All new faculty and FYS instructors undergo a multi-hour diversity and inclusion training that I run at the beginning of the year.

Hiring Committee Trainings and Development: All faculty hiring committees now all go through and implicit bias training that my office developed before they can commence the process of reviewing applications. They are also going through many more checkpoints to make sure that Diversity is a core focus of the hiring process.

Trainings: Tony Tyler (Director, Student Engagement, Equity & Inclusion in Student Affairs) and Jerry Parker (Dean of Students & Senior Student Affairs Officer) provide training to various units across campus on a per request basis. In the last year, we have conducted over 30 trainings. The Office of Equity and Inclusion provides customized trainings related to diversity, equity, and inclusion for any group or office on campus. Topics include social identities, safe space training, recognizing oppression, microaggressions, bystander intervention, implicit bias, racial identity development, and navigating difficult conversations in the classroom.

Diversity Fellowship Program: We are starting a post-graduate fellowship program for those who come from underrepresented groups. This is a pipeline opportunity to increase the diversity of the faculty a drink.

Identity Specific Alumni Reunions (Black Alumni, LGBTQ Alums, etc.): We are working to bring back the African-American alumni reunion and collaborate with the alumni office to create other identity specific reunions.

Community Events (Edna Griffin Dinner, Al Exito, Pride Parade, Juneteenth Celebration, Young Men/Women of Color Conferences): We have increased the number of activities on campus that invites the community to Drake to celebrate diversity and inclusion.

Bulldog Foundations: First-year students have the option of taking Bulldog Foundations which is a course that focuses on diversity and inclusion and other vital skills for first-year students. This year, during our first offering, approximately half of all first-years took that course.

Flight Program: Flight is a program for first-year students of color to come to campus early for a pre-orientation and they are enrolled in FYS together. This creates a cohort program for students of color which has resulted in increased retention and success.

Campus Crisis Response: Tony Tyler (Director, Student Engagement, Equity & Inclusion in Student Affairs) and Jerry Parker (Dean of Students & Senior Student Affairs Officer) worked with student organizations to develop a crisis response process when there are equity and inclusion and hate incidents that happen on campus. This process has been presented to the dean of students and has been approved for use.

Solidari-tea: These roundtable discussions are held when events in our community, nation, and in the world impact campus. We have had these meetups regarding the cancelation of DACA and the hate incident on campus, etc.

Clark 150 Celebration: This year we held a weeklong celebration of the Clark v. Muscatine decision which declared segregation unconstitutional and in Iowa in 1868. The author of the decision was also the co-founder of Drake Law School.

CORE: We have a pipeline program for area Des Moines high schools for students of color who are in AP classes. These students attend monthly meetings on campus about transitioning to college and if they go to 8 of the 10 sessions in the year and maintain a 3.0 GPA, they are offered automatic admission to Drake and a 33% scholarship. My office is coordinating the on-campus sessions.