| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.70 |
| Liaison | Kelly Wellman |
| Submission Date | Dec. 2, 2021 |
Texas A&M University
PA-6: Assessing Diversity and Equity
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Jennifer
Reyes Director Vice President & Associate Provost for Diversity |
Has the institution engaged in a structured assessment process during the previous three years to improve diversity, equity and inclusion on campus?:
A brief description of the assessment process and the framework, scorecard(s) and/or tool(s) used:
The annual unit-level accountability reports, first submitted in 2010, and every year since, provide quantitative and qualitative measures of comparisons to peer institutions; institutional and unit-level campus climate findings; recruiting and retention efforts; and equity issues (salary, resources, training, etc.). The unit-level accountability reports are the primary source of data for assessing institutional progress on diversity-related goals. The accountability reports are reviewed by the President's Council on Climate and Diversity (PCCD), an advisory council that reports to the university president, and staff from the Office for Diversity.
Office for Diversity’s Accountability Scale. To quantify institutional progress on the University Diversity Plan goals, Office for Diversity staff implemented a scale to assess the integration of diversity-related goals in administrative and academic units. The scale was developed using the values and standards described in the university’s strategic plan, a review of institutional change literature, and practices that emerged from the accountability reports themselves. The scale was intentionally designed to provide and assess the institution’s progress towards realizing a culture of respect for diversity:
Scale: 1 = Implements strategies without engaging data; 2 = Links strategies to data and/or measures; 3 = Implements strategies with institutional and/or community collaboration; and 4 = Shares impact of strategies in scholarship, conferences, publications.
Does the assessment process address campus climate by engaging stakeholders to assess the attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of employees and students, including the experiences of underrepresented groups?:
Does the assessment process address student outcomes related to diversity, equity and success?:
Does the assessment process address employee outcomes related to diversity and equity?:
A brief description of the most recent assessment findings and how the results are used in shaping policy, programs, and initiatives:
First, Texas A&M's diversity, equity, and inclusion assessment process has contributed to Texas A&M receiving the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from Insight Into Diversity for three consecutive years. In 2019, 2021, and 2021, Texas A&M received the HEED Award with the prestigious distinction of Diversity Champion.
Second, on November 8, 2021, the 2021-2022 Diversity Plan Accountability reports were submitted to the Office for Diversity. So, the assessment findings discussed below are from the 2019-2020 reports.
Overall, the findings identified commitment to admitting historically underrepresented student and hiring faculty that reflect the race/ethnicity of our student body. More, ongoing controversy with Confederate symbols on campus, state prohibitions on anti-racist education and critical race theory, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student, staff, and faculty success and retention were dominant themes in the reports across all of the reporting units.
The examples provided in this section are not intended to be a complete list of Texas A&M University’s strategies in place to ensure diversity planning and accountability. The examples selected may be new or innovative efforts implemented in the academic or administrative units OR long-standing efforts with assessment results to illustrate their efficacy. The primary source of data for this section are Texas A&M’s 2020-2021 Diversity Plan Accountability Reports. Occasionally, information from institutional websites, policies, and procedures are used to illustrate Texas A&M’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Our diversity and inclusion goals and plans are embedded in the campus-wide strategic plan
Texas A&M’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan provides goals and key performance indicators to ensure that the students, faculty, and staff of Texas A&M represent the racial demographics of the State of Texas; measures to improve belonging and campus climate; and measures to improve student success. (https://provost.tamu.edu/Provost_v19/media/Media/Assets/pdfs-strategicplan/StrategicPlan2020-2025.pdf)
In response to the increasingly urgent national calls for racial and social justice in 2020, Texas A&M’s Council of Deans (COD) unanimously committed to two broad agendas: (1) communicate unambiguously our commitment to improving our university’s campus climate; and (2) engage in sustained, systemic, collective action for anti-racism efforts at Texas A&M University and beyond. These two goals form the mission of Deans CARE (Deans Committed to Anti-Racism Efforts). Deans CARE launched two initiatives:
Deans CARE Undergraduate Internships. Beginning in Spring 2021, each participating college, school, or other unit will offer an internship for an undergraduate student committed to the principles and actions endorsed by Deans CARE. We will work in partnership with the Diversity Commission of TAMU’s Student Government Association (SGA) to design the program and call for applications.
Deans CARE Virtual Summit: Conversations for Change and Action. In Fall 2020, the SGA and the Deans will host a virtual summit for deans and students to discuss steps being taken and planned in our various colleges, schools, and other units. A short introduction to Deans CARE by the COD will be followed by breakout sessions by unit or by topic.
In 2020, Texas A&M students organized and participated in on campus demonstrations addressing Confederate symbols and statues, the murder of Mr. George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and working conditions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The demonstrations regarding the Confederate statues on campus resulted in then-President Young creating the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI) on July 13, 2020 (https://president.tamu.edu/messages/announcing-commission-charge-and-membership.html). Then President Michael K. Young appointed a 45-person commission of students, former students, faculty and staff to evaluate diversity, equity and inclusion at Texas A&M University. Young charged the CDEI to:
● Engage the university community through public forums to solicit input and information from the broader university community — students, faculty, staff and former students.
● Assess relevant data and literature — reports, policies and practices — related to diversity, equity and inclusion at Texas A&M and the Bryan and College Station communities.
● Explore institutional alignment of policies and procedures with the land-grant mission, goals and core values of Texas A&M.
● Review information across academic and non-academic units affecting the culture, climate and well-being of impacted campus communities.
● Provide a final report with findings to the Texas A&M System’s Board of Regents and President Young no later than Oct. 30, 2020.
The work of the CDEI and the influence of student opinion resulted in the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approving the recommended actions and $24.75 million investment over four years in response to needs and recommendations identified in a report by the Commission on Diversity Equity and Inclusion (https://president.tamu.edu/documents/TAMU_DEI_Actions_05272021.pdf). The Board-approved, and funded, actions include:
1. Expanding the student pipeline of students from underrepresented groups
2. Increasing the Regents’ Scholars Program [first generation college students] by 93 students per year for four years
3. Increasing National Recognition Scholarships by 89 students per year for four years
4. Establishing Pathways-to-Doctorate Fellowships for 10 students per year for four years
5. Growing ACES Fellows Faculty Program by 10 faculty per year for four years
6. Recognizing more outstanding Aggies Leading by Example
7. Establishing an action-oriented task force to accurately and full tell the story of Texas A&M’s history through displays and iconography
8. Documenting and communicating the success of our many former students of color.
On August 14, 2020, graduate student wrote a letter to the administration - their demands included hazard pay for face-to-face instruction, personal protective equipment, one-year extensions of assistantships, university oversight of individual research groups, and a commitment to protect and advocate for international students including financial and legal aid (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rul5YoMJkV2dHG9E8Gwqb73E2UKT8eQ7LeUecDtQnAY/mobilebasic). Then Provost Fierke responded to the graduate student demands that graduate student employees be treated the same as other faculty, with a provision for remote teaching made to accommodate personnel with a higher risk of COVID-19 complications.
In 2020, six academic programs and the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies (OGAPS) at Texas A&M University have been awarded a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences — one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — to enhance diversity in biomedical sciences.
This grant will establish the new Texas A&M Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD), which focuses on recruitment, retention and professional training for students from underrepresented populations in biomedical sciences Ph.D. programs. The NIH grant will fund six pre-doctoral trainees in their first year of graduate study in medical sciences, biomedical sciences, genetics, toxicology, biochemistry and biophysics and biomedical engineering. The university will double the impact of the grant by matching the NIH support to fund six additional trainees. https://today.tamu.edu/2020/02/14/texas-am-wins-1-2m-diversity-grant/).
In 2019, Texas A&M’s students responded to racist performances in the campus community by petitioning the administration for support and resources. The student-led petition called for: all students to sign the Aggie Honor Code; a sanctions matrix for racist behavior similar to the Title IX matrix; a campaign for bystander intervention to teach people how to interrupt bigotry, racism, and hate; and transparency regarding how the administration handles incidents. As a result, on behalf of Provost Fierke, the Office for Diversity and Dr. George Cunningham (OGAPS), have developed an online/video-based Anti-Discrimination Bystander Intervention Training to help equip the entire campus community with tools to counteract discrimination. This training was introduced in Fall 2020 with the first-year experience, Hullabaloo U. As of August 27, 2020, when the training was made available to all Texas A&M employees on Train Traq, 83 staff and 476 student employees had completed the training.
Are the results of the most recent structured diversity and equity assessment shared with the campus community?:
A brief description of how the assessment results are shared with the campus community:
Texas A&M’s 2010 University Diversity Plan established the expectation that all unit leaders (e.g., deans and vice presidents) would present summaries of their unit’s annual Diversity Plan Accountability Reports. Deans and vice presidents present their DEI strategies and challenges impacting student/faculty/staff recruiting and retention, campus climate, and equity. The meeting is attended by TAMU’s President, Provost, Chief Diversity Officer, and the President’s Council on Climate and Diversity (PCCD). In 2019, for the first time, then-President Young mandated that all Deans, Vice Presidents, and unit leaders attend the entire day of presentations.
In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the presentation day had to be restructured for a virtual meeting. The Office for Diversity worked with unit leader leaders to curate videos for the PCCD. Interim-President Junkins opened the meeting, greeted the PCCD, and Interim-Provost Weichold attended the entire meeting, offering summary remarks in closing.
The Office for Diversity contributes to the reports for the Board of Regents every quarter.
Summaries of the 2020 Diversity Plan Accountability reports are shared with the campus community on the Office for Diversity website.
Are the results (or a summary of the results) of the most recent structured diversity and equity assessment publicly posted?:
The diversity and equity assessment report or summary (upload):
Website URL where the diversity and equity assessment report or summary is publicly posted:
Website URL where information about the institution’s diversity and equity assessment efforts is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.