Our Strategic Plan makes clear our intention to have every student, and every person on campus, be a part of this vibrant community of learning. This report highlights some of the milestones that we have reached together over the past several years. As we celebrate our progress, we acknowledge that our work to create and maintain an inclusive and welcoming community is never done. And that it requires every one of us.

Major DEIB Initiatives Since 2018

Structures and Priorities

Race, Power and Privilege

In the summer of 2020, President Harris announced the Presidential Initiative on Race, Power and Privilege as a way to encourage engagement across campus over difficult issues. A group of 40 students, faculty, staff and alumni identified five key areas: (1) cultural competency, (2) curricular change, (3) faculty and staff diversity, (4) campus safety and (5) increased support for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) students. Among the recommendations of the group: develop a diversity statement, review our history and symbols, provide additional mentoring programs for BIPOC and first-generation students and develop a general education course exploring issues of race, power and privilege.

Diversity Leadership Team

In the fall of 2020, President Harris announced the formation of a diversity leadership team. “Collectively, they will pursue the responsibilities of a chief diversity officer with greater depth and breadth of knowledge, experience and relationships than any single individual could hope to achieve,” he said. Dru Alvez, the director of Intercultural Affairs, serves as chief diversity officer for student and institutional success. Francesca Callahan, the College's director of talent acquisition in Human Resources, serves as chief diversity officer for employee and institutional success.

Key Priorities

In late 2021, the Presidential Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Diversity Leadership Team identified three key priorities, and formed committees to explore each: 1. Foster a culture of professional development to enhance cultural competency; 2. Increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations 3. Enhance the overall experience and sense of belonging for all.

Actions

Constructive Engagement

Central to the core of our learning community is the ability to engage with one another to understand differing viewpoints. The Constructive Engagement series, begun in 2018, has covered a range of topics with invited presenters: abortion, civil discourse over political differences, police reform, gun rights and finding forgiveness after hate. Support for Constructive Engagement comes from Kelly Williams '86 and her husband, Andrew Forsyth, through the Williams Legacy Foundation.

DEIB Statement and Land Acknowledgement

The College’s diversity leadership team and the Presidential Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion developed a DEI statement and Land Acknowledgement. Both can be found on our DEIB Statements page.

Academic Initiatives

In the new General Education curriculum, beginning for first years in the fall of 2022, students take courses in two major areas – Justice, Equity, Identity and Difference (JEID); and Global Challenges (GC). Union is part of the inaugural Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Inclusive Excellence 3 Learning Community. The IE3 initiative is a commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in U.S. academic science. The Templeton Institute for Engineering and Computer Science, made possible by a $51 million gift from Class of 1980 graduates Rich and Mary Templeton, is to enable connections, experimentation, innovation and discovery through integrative coursework, projects and research. The Templetons made an additional gift of $1.4 million to provide scholarships for incoming women who plan to study engineering and computer science, as well as for first-year students admitted to the Union Scholars program who want to focus their studies on these fields. The Faculty Development Institute supports faculty members who are committed to broadening their teaching and curriculum development skills. The summer workshops support faculty who are revamping their existing courses or developing new courses to support either the Justice, Equity, Identity and Difference (JEID) or Global Challenges (GC) areas of inquiry.

Staff Initiatives

Efforts to build a diverse and welcoming workplace for all college staff include: UNITAS, an organization that supports diversity initiatives and community building projects, has teamed with Human Resources to offer DEIB events for new employees.

• DEIB communications are developed with HR’s director of talent acquisition and chief diversity officer.
• Enhance the visibility of organizations including the BIPOC Employee Alliance, Women of Color Collective and President’s Commission on the Status of Women

Access and Outreach

The Schuler Access Initiative will help Union support and enroll significantly more low-income students by giving them access to the $42 Million ($20 Million raised by Union and $22 Million matched by Schuler) that Union has gained through the partnership with the Schuler Education Foundation. This scholarship provides access to many Pell-eligible students that will make Union more affordable. The First-Gen Pre-Orientation, offered for two days before the start of regular orientation, provides first-generation students the chance to settle in and discover what the campus offers. Each November since 2019, Union has celebrated First-Generation Student Celebration Day with a breakfast, social media spotlights and a luncheon open to all. The Bridges First-Generation program, begun in 2019, is an innovative one-on-one mentoring program to ensure the success of first-generation college students at Union.

The Women at Union Project

Appointed by President Harris to lead the effort, Vice President and Chief of Staff Darcy Czajka, and Title IX Coordinator Mary Simeoli are facilitating a study on the experience of women at Union. The study involves collecting data relative to the recruitment, retention, work, learning, extracurricular and residential life of students, faculty, and staff. In addition, they are leading focus groups across campus to document experiences, impressions and personal narratives.

U Journey

An integrated and inclusive education cultivates the whole person through a range of learning experiences. The College in the fall of 2022 launched U Journey, a residential curriculum that blends informal learning that takes place in residence halls with academic learning. The goal is to form closer-knit community of engaged contributors who are equipped in well-being, life skills, decision making, cross-cultural competency, belonging and reflection.

A re-invented GenEd

The Global Challenges and Social Justice curriculum at Union, introduced for the Class of 2026, aims to create opportunities for critical and deep learning through diverse perspectives of major areas of human understanding. This curriculum combines Union’s longstanding college-wide commitment to lifelong learning with social purpose.

Presidential Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Executive Committee Members

• Dru Alvez, Chief Diversity Officer for Student and Institutional Success/Director of Intercultural Affairs
• Michele Angrist, Stephen J. and Diane K. Ciesinski Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs
• Emily Brown, Project Coordinator and Assistant to the Vice President for Administration and Finance/Union Staff Council Co-Chair
• Darcy Czajka, Vice President and Chief of Staff
• Tye Deines, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Annette Diorio, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
• David Harris, President and Executive Committee Chair
• Francesca Callahan, Chief Diversity Officer for Employee and Institutional Success/Director of Talent Acquisition
• Emily Stein '24, Student Representative
• Mercedes Susi, Senior Associate Director of Sponsored Programs & Faculty Fellowships/Union Staff Council Co-Chair
• Cherrice Traver, David Falk & Elynor Rudnick-Falk Professor of Computer Engineering/Liaison Committee for Campus Diversity Representative
• Lani Waggoner '24, Student Forum Representative
• Patricia Wareh, Associate Professor of English/Liaison Committee for Campus Diversity Representative