Cal Poly Humboldt
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) is the university’s leading administrative program in building bridges of caring, engaging critical social consciousness, and elevating all community members’ sense of belonging, success, and well-being in service to dismantling structurally oppressive policies and practices, and facilitates the development of equitable policies and practices. Through compassionate listening and intentional cross-campus and community collaboration, we strive to transform relationships to shape the Humboldt of the future. The ODEI has a campus-wide charge, and strives to create cultural impact among students, faculty, and staff through its extensive partnerships and collaborative initiatives.

ODEI’s Associate Vice President (AVP) and Campus Diversity Officer reports to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and is responsible for all institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion operations. The AVP is a member of the President’s Cabinet and the Provost’s Leadership Team and works campus-wide with divisions, colleges and academic deans, and other academic and non-academic units to advance inclusive excellence. The AVP and the ODEI Leadership Team strategically collaborate to critically examine, address, and facilitate the DEI needs of the campus and community.

The ODEI leads the visioning and implementation of Cal Poly Humboldt’s quest for inclusive excellence in alignment with the institution's 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, Future Forward. We achieve our purpose through our six-pillar framework of inclusive excellence:
(1) A safe and welcoming community
(2) Equitable opportunities and outcomes
(3) Strategic partnerships
(4) Intercultural competence and cultural humility development
(5) Organizational resources
(6) Collaborative leadership and shared accountability.

The California State University (CSU) system offers a strong dimension of DEI training and workshops available to all students, faculty, and staff through the CSU Skillsoft platform. The training webinars feature bundles of webinars with topics including: Creating Cultures Of Inclusion, DEI For HR and Talent Professionals, DEI In The Workplace, Embracing Equity, Inclusive Leadership, Leading DEI In The Workplace, and Overcoming Unconscious Bias.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion animates its commitment to the professional development in the areas of cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social inclusion of its students, faculty, staff, administration, and off-campus community by engaging community members in relevant and customized professional development.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Grant Program annually invites Cal Poly Humboldt students, student organizations, staff, faculty, and underrepresented faculty to submit proposals for programs offered on campus to the university community that raise awareness, deepen understanding, and/or engage the campus community in dialogue about one or more of the multiple dimensions of diversity, equity, and inclusion, including cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social inclusion.

On June 15-16, 2022, the CSU held the inaugural Juneteenth Symposium, a two-day event celebrating African American history and achievement, and promoting and sustaining the anti-racism work underway across the CSU’s 23 campuses. Cal Poly Humboldt sponsored a delegation of 26 representatives from our students, staff, faculty, and community to attend. At Cal Poly Humboldt, the Juneteenth Initiative was formed to continue to elevate the lessons and themes of the symposium to the campus and community and to strengthen a network of support and cultural activity for our Black community.

The Campus and Community Dialogue on Race (CDOR) is an annual event at Cal Poly Humboldt that invites students, staff, faculty, administrators, and community members to present and attend programs that relate to racial justice and its intersections with all forms of oppression and resistance. Cal Poly Humboldt has engaged in the Campus and Community Dialogue on Race every year since its national inception in 1998. The students, staff, and faculty are committed to meaningful and positive change when it comes to racial justice and its intersections with all forms of oppression, resistance, and violence.

The annual Social Justice Summit is an educational and safe space that allows the Cal Poly Humboldt community to question and challenge the narratives instilled within us. The purpose of the Social Justice Summit is to amplify BIPOC, queer, disabled, and other intersectional voices and experiences and to hold safe & compassionate spaces for dialogue. The Social Justice Summit is a critical activity provided by the Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Center which bolsters Cal Poly Humboldt's commitment to cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social inclusion.

To facilitate equitable hiring practices, all faculty or staff members who serve on a candidate search committee must complete an Avoiding Unconscious Bias (AUB) training, to be repeated every two years. The AUB training fosters an awareness of implicit bias and how it may affect decision-making in the search process.

The Faculty Diversity and Equity Fellows Program (Equity Fellows) was implemented in 2020, consisting of four faculty, one representing each college (College of Natural Resources and Sciences (CNRS), College of Professional Studies (CPS), and College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS)), and one faculty member designated as an LGBTQ+ Fellow. This program is designed to support institutional-level and community DEI work. Present and former Equity Fellows have published reports related to equitability in learning environments.

equity arcata is a partnership between the City of Arcata, Cal Poly Humboldt, local businesses and members of the community working together to make Arcata a more inclusive and welcoming environment for people of color. equity arcata works continuously to celebrate diversity and uplift marginalized individuals through purposeful collaboration. equity arcata offers an Ongoing Learning Program which facilitates cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social inclusion trainings and activities in the community.

Cal Poly Humboldt’s Transgender, Gender Non-binary & Gender Non-conforming Task Force, was formed in October 2020 to address issues important to transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people at the University. The Trans+ Task Force offers trainings to staff, faculty, and student groups who wish to gain understanding and cultural competence in trans/GNB practices of inclusion and respect. In response to student requests and in order to increase trans+ and non-binary visibility at Cal Poly Humboldt, a new data dashboard shows the campus’ gender diversity. The data dashboard was developed in consultation with the Trans+ Taskforce.

Cal Poly Humboldt's BIPOC Faculty Affinity Circle is a partnership between Academic Personnel Services and ODEI, formed in early 2021 for Cal Poly Humboldt’s BIPOC faculty community to come together regularly for discussion, community building, and culture sharing.

As part of Cal Poly Humboldt's continued commitment to support the wellbeing and success of BIPOC students and faculty, Humboldt is an Institutional Member of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). The NCFDD is a nationally-recognized, independent organization that provides online career development and mentoring resources for faculty (both tenure-line and non tenure-line), post-docs, and graduate students. Many of the NCFDD's workshops and training feature DEI matters of cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social inclusion in higher education.

The Equity Advocate Program is an initiative housed in ODEI which is a cohort of volunteer faculty and staff members who serve on a department or program's hiring search committee to be a presence and resource that encourages equitable consideration of all candidates across identity markers. The Equity Advocate adds a layer of awareness and consistency to the search and deliberative process that allows the search committee to focus on content expertise while minimizing the cognitive and structural impact of implicit bias. All faculty search committees must include an Equity Advocate.

Cal Poly Humboldt's Center for Teaching Inclusive Excellence operates with the understanding that a culture of inclusive teaching and learning excellence exists when its individuals are collectively dedicated to its pervasive and dynamic manifestation. This program is designed to support individuals as they define and apply their teaching goals to maximize student learning and success. All Cal Poly Humboldt educators are eligible to participate in the program.

Cal Poly Humboldt's ODEI launched the Institutional Anti-Racism Action Plan with the support of the University Senate and Executive Administration. The Institutional Anti-Racism Action Plan emphasizes a campus-wide practice of anti-racism through which our community is “actively identifying, challenging, and confronting racism,” reshaping the system from within with qualitative and quantitative impact-oriented outcomes which assert Cal Poly Humboldt’s Core Values and the Six Pillars of Inclusive Excellence. Many progress indicators are built into the plan to measure its reach across our community and assess its impact on our community's culture shift to one of cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and social inclusion.