University of San Diego
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

In 2021, USD hired Dr. Regina Dixon-Reeves as the Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Director of the Center for Inclusion and Diversity.

The Center for Inclusion and Diversity (CID) cultivates shared vision, coherence, and coordination of diversity and inclusion efforts across campus. The University of San Diego holds a deep commitment to developing and sustaining a diverse campus community in the broadest sense, including differences in gender, race, ethnicity, generational history, culture, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship status, political perspectives, geographic origin, and physical ability.

As a coordinating center, the CID advocates, facilitates, and assesses the work of established programs, departments, and offices to affirm that the campus lives out its commitment to diversity and inclusion. As a generative center, CID serves as a place where issues surrounding inclusion and diversity can be conceptualized, explored, nurtured, cultivated, shared, and promoted. Through collaborative relationships, the CID helps ensure that the university is a stimulating, welcoming, and engaging place for all faculty, staff, students, and visitors.

The CID generates innovative, outcome-oriented, and community-based ideas about how to build and sustain a diverse campus community that results in a lived and felt experience of institutional inclusion. The CID engages with curricular and co-curricular efforts to problematize how difference and unity operate in the larger world through scholarship, service, and advocacy.

Under Dr. Dixon-Reeves leadership, a number of new programs and initiatives have been developed.
“Thriving at USD” is a 3-part workshop series that reinforces the three essential skills we believe everyone in our community should be proficient in. These skills are the ability to listen empathetically and see and hear others as they want to be seen and heard; to engage in difficult conversations by using conflict resolution techniques during difficult conversations that allow us to salvage relationships and move forward in community; and the use of bystander intervention techniques to intervene when needed as an active ally to ensure that all members of our community feel safe. These workshops are currently being delivered to incoming students and student leaders, but will eventually be made available to existing students and faculty and staff.

While the Roy L. Brooks Distinguished Lecture Series was established in response to the social unrest of 2020, it signals the University’s commitment to listen to and improve the experiences of Black Faculty on campus. The award is named for Professor Roy L. Brooks who has been a longstanding member of our community, an award-winning and engaging teacher, broadly recognized legal scholar, prolific author of legal books & articles and a respected and distinguished member of the legal profession/community. Dr. Derrick R. Brooms provided the Inaugural Roy L. Brooks Distinguished Lecture in March. His talk was entitled, What’s Going On? Black Men, Educational Desires, and Navigating Hispanic-Serving Institutions. The Brooks lecture will be repeated with a different Black scholar each Spring.

The Diversity and Inclusion Impact Awards Program and Luncheon was established to recognize and celebrate faculty and staff who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to the University’s diversity and inclusion goals through their ongoing work, including advocacy and mentorship of others; development of innovative programing and initiatives; and commitment to effecting structural change. Nominations are accepted from the College and all professional schools and the awards program will be held each Spring.

Sahmie S. Wytewa served as Tribal Liaison within the CID. Wytewa spent the year supporting Native American and Indigenous students, strengthening campus and community partnerships and developing a calendar of events after the position had been dormant for more than a year.

Students must successfully complete two courses that are identified with a Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice attribute. Courses are developmental, and the level 1 course must be completed prior to enrolling in the level 2 course. At least one course must be domestically focused.

Employees. New employee orientation includes training on inclusion and diversity on campus. Staff and faculty performance evaluations have a diversity and inclusion section that they are rated on.

The Center for Inclusion and Diversity and the United Front Multicultural Center offer activities and programs to promote cultural vibrancy and understanding in the campus community, such as hate crimes awareness, LGBT issues, and multicultural events.

Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Faculty – This year, the vice provost of DEI participated in the final round of interviews (45+) for new tenure-track faculty hires and asked applicants about their commitment to DEI, as well as provided Search Committee workshops to all faculty hiring committees. These workshops include the best practices for hiring and include topics such as writing inclusive job descriptions; utilizing passive as well as active recruitment strategies; drafting effective questionnaire protocols; orienting search committee members; and using an evaluation rubric. These best practices allow us to cast a wide net with the goal of attracting the best candidates to our searches and ultimately end up with a more academically robust and diverse faculty.

In addition to the Search Committee workshops, two new workshops were also introduced: Bias Workshop for AART Committee members and Syllabus Audit Workshop. Both workshops were developed at the request of faculty and department chairs. The Bias Workshop for Appointment, Reappointment, Rank and Tenure (ARRT) Committees shares research on the service burdens of women faculty and faculty of color; bias in student evaluations and publishing; and cognitive errors to consider when reviewing promotion and tenure documents. The Syllabus Audit Workshops lead groups of faculty through individual reflection and small group conversations about diversifying their course using a 4-part rubric. The rubric encourages faculty to look critically at the type of texts used; diversity of authors and experiences represented; accessibility of the content; and consideration of how the knowledge was produced and how it should be presented so that it aligns with our values. Both workshops were created in collaboration with the Center for Educational Excellence.