Texas A&M University
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

Please read the Notes section first.

The examples provided in this section are not intended to be an exhaustive or comprehensive list of Texas A&M University’s training programs. To encourage everyone in our campus community to develop cultural competency, Texas A&M has made a substantial commitment to providing trainings, seminars, and courses to students, faculty, and staff.

The Green Dot bystander intervention training teaches skills for interrupting and preventing personal violence.

Anti-Discrimination Bystander Intervention Training to help equip our entire campus community with some tools to counteract discrimination.

The Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity and Excellence (STRIDE) Program provides search committee members with specific strategies intended to reduce implicit bias during faculty searches. STRIDE was developed as a joint effort between the Dean of Faculties Office and ADVANCE. Beginning in 2019, STRIDE workshops are required for all faculty search committee members (with the exception of those individuals who have completed any search committee training program within the past two years). Additionally, ADVANCE has assembled the 2019-2021 STRIDE Committee composed of 14 faculty representing a wide range of disciplines in Texas A&M’s colleges.

Strategies and Tactics for Retention through Inclusive Promotion Evaluation (STRIPE) training is a two-hour, interactive workshop designed to assist faculty members serving on promotion and tenure committees with the process of reviewing candidates for promotion in a fair and equitable manner. There are numerous practices and procedures that are well ingrained, yet allow for systemic bias to the evaluation process. This workshop provides participants with evidence-based recommendations for P&T committee members.

Training for all Texas A&M employees and student workers (excluding Sexual Harassment – Equal Employment Opportunity) is mandatory for all new employees and includes Ethics and Reporting Abuse, Fraud, and Waste. Additional training every two years is required for existing employees. For staff and faculty, Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness (HROE) provides certification in the “Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace Program.”

The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVM) provides examples of how training is integrated in student learning. Education and training in inclusion, diversity and professionalism happens in the undergraduate biomedical sciences program (BIMS) and graduate level new student orientations. The BIMS program also offers an International Certificate in Cultural Competency and Communication in Spanish.

The College of Liberal Arts, the College of Architecture, and the Department of Multicultural Services have joined together for the creation of a Diversity Certificate Program for Texas A&M University. Drawing from existing courses, programs and associations with in the university, the Diversity Certificate Program will enable its students to create, synthesize, and integrate academic coursework, co-curricular experience, and service-learning engagement in order to demonstrate their preparedness for participation in the modern global economy.

The First-Year seminars were piloted and implemented as zero-credit hour courses that met weekly with a designated leader who was staff or faculty and a peer mentor in Fall 2019. For first-time-in-college students, first-year, university-wide experiences are intended to improve retention by increasing each student’s sense of belonging on campus. As a result of participating in First Year Seminars, Texas A&M students will: (1) have an increased awareness of campus resources; (2) develop the skills to achieve personal and academic goals; and (3) contribute to a diverse and inclusive environment.

To create a university-wide experience, all seminars address eight themes: physical and mental well-being; alcohol and other drugs; academic success strategies and resources; healthy relationships and bystander interventions; diversity/cultural competence; social and financial well-being; self-awareness/resilience/goal-setting; and career/major exploration. Faculty, staff, and peer mentors deliver the content after being trained by the content development teams and the Office for Student Success.

For staff in the Division of Academic Affairs and the Division of Student Affairs, cultural competence training is required annually.

Developing Cultural Competence in the Workplace (6-hour workshop) - focuses on exploring the role that culture plays in our daily interactions with others; provides participants with the opportunity to examine both the challenges and opportunities that result from an increasingly diverse workforce and examines ways to develop cultural competence. Introduction to Diversity and Inclusion (online training) – emphasizes Texas A&M’s commitment to diversity, and the role all employees play in ensuring the university is a community of respect.

Other courses include:
•Bridging the Gap - The Multigenerational Workforce
•Fostering Respect in a Diverse Workplace
•Interpersonal Communication Skills
•Lost in Translation: Navigating Intercultural Communication in the Workplace

For undergraduate students, the cultural competence session of New Student Conferences is required for all incoming students.

Due to legislation passed on June 17, 2023 by the State of Texas, Senate Bill 17, the Office of Diversity was officially disbanded on 8/1/2023 at Texas A&M University. The university is currently working to be compliant with the new state law that goes into effect on 1/1/2024 while also shifting the work formerly done by the Office of Diversity to ensure all Aggies are supported, connected, and have the resources they need to thrive while on campus. As this STARS report covers the 22-23 Fiscal Year that ended on 8/31/23, we decided to include their historical work that is still relevant as they were helping lead campus for 11 of the 12 months covered in this report and all information reported here was active. While active, the Office of Diversity served to ensure accountability and catalog all efforts, while the programs and policies largely occurred at the unit levels and still operate today. However, all websites that historically housed the university's diversity efforts are no longer online and their content is undergoing review to determine if reposting is possible while being in alignment with the new state law. For this report, we have updated this credit to reflect known changes made due to SB-17. We expect to update all information in our next STARS report once changes are implemented and better data is available to update all STARS credits impacted by Senate Bill 17.