Raritan Valley Community College
PA-4: Diversity and Equity Coordination

Raritan Valley Community College Diversity Council Purpose: To develop and implement initiatives that promotes diversity and inclusion within our campus community. Valuing diversity is part of our college mission and serves as a core value at RVCC. Program goals include recruitment, retention and campus climate. Office of Multicultural Affairs - The Office of Multicultural Affairs(OMA) seeks to increase access and equity for historically underrepresented groups, improve campus climate by fostering an inclusive and civil community and cultivate diversity awareness and appreciation. In this role the Office sponsors educational training and programs that are responsive to the changing demographics and growing diversity; implements recruitment and retention strategies for employees and students and coordinates community outreach. OMA works collaboratively to develop programs that support an inclusive community among all students and employees and promote the academic mission and strategic plan of the College.

Heritage Series Calendar The heritage series is a year-long collaborative and inclusive partnership with students, faculty and staff representing a cross sectional of academic and administrative offices.The central goals of the heritage series are imbedded in supporting the RVCC curriculum and developing co-curricular programs that foster intercultural and international competencies. Likewise, the heritage series of programs are directly linked to the RVCC’s Strategic Plan and Middle States Accreditation Standards along with the RVCC Diversity Statement. A wide array of educational awareness programs were offered to students, faculty, staff and local citizens to promote diversity, inclusion and equity. Podcasts of Diversity Programs Podcasts are an excellent on-line resource of presentations by leading scholars on diversity. Podcast expands outreach to internal and external audiences as serving as a teaching and learning resource. Each year, our library of resources expand along with our outreach to an international audience. Our programs are cataloged under the headings: Multicultural Affairs lectures, Black History Month lectures and Women’s History Month lectures. http://www.raritanval.edu/community/podcasting/index.html Malcolm Bernard Historically Black Colleges and Universities College Fair Malcolm Bernard is a non-profit organization founded in Somerset County and serves students in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. RVCC has partner with the New Jersey Department of Education and Malcolm Bernard organization for over 10 years. Raritan served as host site for many years and offer high school students college information from 40 admissions representatives, motivational speaker and presentation on RVCC’s student services (admissions, financial aid and EOF). The fair will be held at RVCC on Thursday, November 20, 2014. To register:http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1584035-OFizMatOOB . “From Boys to Men” Conference The From Boys to Men Conference is a joint partnership between Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) and the New Brunswick (NJ) Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Together, these organizations serve the community by exposing youth to educational access and providing real-life examples of men with a purpose of achievement. Since 2009, this one-day event, held on the campus of RVCC, has inspired over 1, 000 young high school men to establish goals and to make sustainable contributions to their homes, neighborhoods, schools and communities. The goal is to provide African American and Latino high school male students with the tools for college preparation and career advancement. Student workshops are facilitated by Kappa Alpha Psi Graduate Chapter (African American business professionals) and Counselor workshops are facilitated by RVCC staff. The conference will be held on Friday, April 24, 2015. Please contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs to register. MLK Drum Major for Justice Awards Raritan Valley Community College celebrates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with our Annual Community Partner Breakfast which honors local community partners who provide service learning opportunities to the students. All honored organizations serve disadvantaged populations, at-risk children and youth, homeless, disabled, elderly, homebound, other diverse under-served populations. Service learning projects create intellectual and experiential understandings of civic engagement for students, faculty and community members. This annual event is in partnership with the MLK 365/Greater Philadelphia MLK Day of Service. Diversity Grants: Diversity grants were available for 2013-2014 year. These grants were funded by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The awards for 2013-2014 were in two categories: (1) Campus Climate – “Of Rice and Spice: The Asian American Experience” Gallery Exhibition and Panel Discussion Funded by the RVCC Foundation College Community Fund and the Office of Multicultural Affairs Grant. The exhibition “Of Rice and Spice, The Asian American Experience” took place from September 6, 2013 to October 4, 2013 in the RVCC Art Gallery. The show featured 82 photographs of New York based documentary photographer Corky Lee along with historical archival material from the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalog, as well as a panel discussion with the artist and scholars. The exhibition was coordinated by Donna Stackhouse (Professor for Photography) and Vandana Nadkarni (Assistant Professor for Art History) of the Visual & Performing Arts Department. The exhibition was curated by Yoland Skeete, Director of Sumei Multidisciplinary Arts Center in Newark, NJ. The panel discussion included the photographer Corky Lee, Dr. Betty Lee Sung, a leading authority on Asian Americans and Chinese immigration, Dr. Barbara Seater, Associate Professor of Sociology at RVCC and Vandana Nadkarni, Assistant Professor of Art History at RVCC as moderator. (2) Climate - Visualizing Civil Rights (exhibit and literary resources) The series was a joint collaboration with Multicultural Affairs, Evelyn Field Library, Humanities, Social Science and Education departments. The programs were presented during the academic year from September 2013 to April 2014. The goals of this project coincide with several of the strategic drivers in the college’s new Strategic Plan. The Visualizing Civil Rights series infused diversity into the curriculum and was used to initiate campus-wide discussions on equality and freedom thus enhancing student educational experiences. Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) was one of 473 institutions across the country awarded a set of four films chronicling the history of the civil rights movement and a small National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to enrich classroom learning; create and preserve knowledge; and bring ideas to life through museum exhibitions, and programs in libraries and other community places. The first part of the grant included the powerful documentaries—The Abolitionists, Slavery by Another Name, Freedom Riders and The Loving Story—highlight the 150-year effort to achieve equal rights for all. The films were part of Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle, an initiative of the NEH. The second part of the program activities involved the collaboration with faculty and external community scholars to serve as panelists and guest lecturers on various civil rights topics during the academic year. These programs included: • Trayvon Martin Panel • Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States,1861-1865 with guest scholar Dr.James Oakes • The Supreme Court & Reproductive Rights • Baby Business: Choice, Autonomy and Feminism in Childbirth • "On Being Colored - A Woman & a Poet When Harlem Was In Vogue” with guest scholar Dr. Cheryl Wall • Civil Rights and the Supreme Court Lastly the third program activities included three (3) exhibits in the Evelyn Field Library which were provided by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center March on Washington Exhibit, Celebrating the 50th Anniversary, “From Slavery to Freedom: The Journey to New York City” - Frederick Douglas Exhibit and "Emancipation and Its Legacies" Exhibit.