CAS Diversity Climate Committee

College of Arts and Sciences Diversity Climate Committee

Mission

The College of Arts and Sciences’ Diversity/Climate Committee will work to foster and sustain an environment that encourages and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion for all of its members and help maintain a work environment that promotes respectful exchanges between all of its constituents. This Committee will serve in a consultative fashion to the College and will consider how best to support members of all backgrounds to create a supportive and inclusive community.

The Committee will also consider ways in which it interfaces with the larger campus community as guided by the University’s Strategic Plan priorities in this regard:
 

UAlbany’s diversity—in our people and our ideas—drives excellence in everything that we do.
 

1. Recruit and retain faculty, staff, and administrators and graduate students who better reflect the strong multidimensional diversity of our undergraduate students.
    
2. Foster an inclusive campus climate through ongoing learning opportunities and celebrate individual differences, encourage the open and free exchange of diverse ideas, and provide opportunities to engage in constructive dialogue.
    
3. Cultivate an inclusive learning environment by incorporating diversity into curricular and co-curricular activities that use innovative pedagogy and discipline-specific applications— delivered in accessible, inclusive facilities.

Sample Diversity and Inclusion Metrics

• Faculty, student, and staff diversity
• Retention rated of underrepresented minority faculty, staff, and students -Perceptions of the campus climate
• Instruction and/or participation in diverse and inclusive activities

Where, as a College, do we want to be, in these regards? What interventions and plans get us there?
How do we assess our accomplishments?

Where Activities and Initiatives Should Stem From

• Collaboration and networking with relevant campus units
• The desire to enlist speakers and experts to guide our progress
• Consider training that might be beneficial in this regard
• Review policies and practices for language that promotes these goals
• Make recommendations for “best practices” to the College and the campus at large