Monarch Plan for Inclusive Excellence 1.0

As the ninth president of ¹ÏÉñÍø, I pledge to be forward-focused. My leadership philosophy is that our work is not about one individual. It is about the collective Collectively we foster an environment that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion. We must be focused on providing transformational opportunities for our students and our institution. As a first-generation college student from an underserved population, I recognize the value in operationalizing a campus committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.

- President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D.

The Monarch Plan for Inclusive Excellence 1.0 was formerly known as the ONE Virginia Plan.

What is Inclusive Excellence?

Inclusion is the active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity - in people, in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities. Inclusive Excellence is a level of institutional success that can only be realized in diverse communities where all constituencies have equitable opportunities to succeed.

Inclusive Excellence is NOT:

  • Affirmative Action
  • Equal Employment Opportunity
  • Altruism
  • Redress
  • Tolerance
  • Quality Adverse
  • Non-meritorious

For further information about Inclusive Excellence, seeÌýToward a Model on Inclusive Excellence and Change in Postsecondary InstitutionsÌý(PDF).

Goals of the Plan

Access & Success

Reduce barriers to participation and achieve equitable success levels across groups.

Climate & Intergroup

Create an affirming environment that integrates differing viewpoints and lived experiences.

Education & Scholarship

Provide education, scholarship, and professional development to build crucial skills.

Infrastructure & Accountability

Developing infrastructure that centers, supports, and fully integrates Inclusive Excellence goals.

Community Engagement

Partner with the community, increase philanthropy and support success for underrepresented groups.

GOAL 1: Access & Success

Addressing access and success includes reducing barriers to participation and achieving equitable success levels across groups.

Achieve increased undergraduate student enrollment from historically underrepresented and underserved populations.

  1. Identify the historically underrepresented and underserved populations based on the demographics of the Hampton Roads region and Commonwealth of Virginia weighted using the overall geographical representation of the undergraduate student body.

  2. Expand programming and outreach to middle schools and high schools with large populations of underrepresented and underserved students to encourage college attendance.

  3. Expand gateway initiatives such as High Achieving Latinxs in Engineering and Sciences [HALES] and Remote Experience for Young Engineers and Scientists [REYES] which encourage young underrepresented and underserved students to participate in STEM-H programs.

  4. Expand participation in college fairs that target underrepresented and underserved populations.

  5. Expand partnership with the ACCESS College Foundation to offer financial literacy sessions, outreach, and communication to students associated with the program.

  6. Identify and implement ways to offset the unmet financial need of underserved and underrepresented populations so they can attend college without accruing undue burden.

  1. Determine any gaps between the representation of each underrepresented and underserved population.

  2. Compare representation at the university level and within each college, school, and department.

  3. Establish goals, strategies, and timelines for closing the gaps.

  4. Publish an annual report card based on fall enrollment.

  5. Increase the enrollment of gateway program participants.

  6. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Increase retention and academic success of historically underrepresented and underserved undergraduate students.

  1. Determine the extent of achievement gaps of underrepresented and underserved populations to improve degree completion.

  2. Centralize communication and program awareness regarding mentoring, tutoring, and academic supports.

  3. Evaluate current participation of underserved and underrepresented students in high impact practices such as experiential learning and undergraduate research.

  4. Expand opportunities for undergraduate research.

  5. Expand experiential learning that targets underrepresented and underserved populations.

  6. Increase targeted outreach to students who are experiencing academic, personal, and financial barriers that are impacting persistence at the university.

  1. Compare representation and research opportunities at the university level and within each college, school, and department.

  2. Establish goals, strategies, and timelines for centralizing communication.

  3. Publish an annual report card based on fall enrollment.

  4. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

ÌýIncrease the recruitment and retention of diverse graduate students.

  1. Evaluate current trends in enrollment of underrepresented and underserved populations in graduate school programs including an analysis of fellowship and assistantship participation among the targeted population.

  2. Expand graduate school interest programming for undergraduate students who are from underserved and underrepresented student populations.

  3. Expand participation in regional, state, and national level programs which target underrepresented and underserved populations and encourage them to enroll in graduate level STEM-H degree.

  4. Develop mentoring programs for graduate students from underrepresented and underserved populations.

  5. Expand grant-based programs that develop an undergraduate pipeline to graduate school programs for diverse populations of students.

  1. Determine any gaps between the representation of underrepresented and underserved populations for each graduate program and evaluate based on historic. underrepresentation nationally (e.g., women in engineering).

  2. Establish goals, strategies, and timelines for closing the gaps for each graduate program.

  3. Increase program development and/or participation to positively impact the success of underserved and underrepresented graduate students.

  4. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff.

  1. Address instructional faculty mentoring challenges by training and certifying mentors and rewarding mentorship.

  2. Support the scholarly connected DEI activities of new instructional faculty through Provost's initiative designed to provide research funding.

  3. Establishing writing forum designed to foster collegiality and support for women scholars.

  4. Advance recruitment activities by employing college-specific recruitment fairs and the implementation of recruitment plans for positions that have been historically underrepresented.

  5. Conduct focus groups and surveys with new, existing, and former faculty from underrepresented groups to inform retention and success practices.

  6. Leverage relationships with graduate, diverse scholar programs (i.e., Excite the Dream) to create a pipeline to ¹ÏÉñÍø through programs that target scholars and provide opportunities to spend time on campus and qualify for limited-term positions.

  7. Bolster search committee training and accountability to promote inclusive excellence in candidate searches and reduce implicit bias in decision making.

  8. Continue to engage in recruitment efforts for employees with disabilities and military connected personnel.

  9. Support physical spaces that address the needs of multicultural and underrepresented/underserved populations.

  1. Establish and analyze the baseline diversity of faculty at the university and within each college, school, department, and discipline.

  2. Establish goals, strategies, and timelines for achieving faculty goals for the university and in each college, school, and department.

  3. Conduct a campus Ecology Study.

  4. Review faculty count and percentages.

  5. Review tenure and promotion rates.

  6. Increase hiring of employees with disabilities.

  7. Review and align hiring and retention practices with Affirmation Action Plans.

  8. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Institutional Equity & Diversity

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Goal 2: Climate & Intergroup

Create a campus environment that advances equity, diversity, inclusion, civility, and wellness for all students, faculty, and staff.

  1. Identify and implement language resources to increase access to university information for prospective students, families, current student body, faculty, and staff (e.g., Spanish, Chinese, ASL).

  2. Create a more inclusive environment that welcomes all instructional faculty by training instructional faculty on inclusive practices.

  3. Partner with American Association of Colleges and Universities to become aÌý.

  4. Expand Bold, Inclusive Conversations Training to strengthen our inclusive environment.

  5. Increase the scope and reach of CommUNITY Conversations with both face-to-face and virtual options and include social concerns in the dialogue.

  6. Educate the university community on the prevention of harassment, discrimination and identity-based violence as well as related equity policies.

  7. Promote positive ways to resolve conflict.

  8. Provide intentional opportunities for faculty and students to connect and engage in meaningful interactions outside of the classroom environment.

  1. Enhance perceptions of climate for diversity and inclusion as measured by a climate survey and other sources of information.

  2. Review results of program evaluations designed to facilitate intergroup dialogue and trust.

  3. Complete triangulation of institutional results with national benchmarking when applicable.

  4. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Enhance cultural competence among faculty, students, and staff by providing more professional learning opportunities that develop technical and interpersonal leadership skills related to diversity and inclusion.

  1. Leverage professional learning communities on line to provide faculty with culturally-competent and focused resources, content, and peer-to-peer engagement.

  2. Enhance academic and service-learning programs to promote intercultural understanding and scholarly conversations on diversity and inclusion.

  3. Create meaningful dialogue between and among groups that increases understanding of varied perspectives and the nature of social and economic inequalities.

  4. Develop and implement comprehensive cultural competency modules for faculty, students, and staff.

  1. Assess perceptions of climate for diversity and inclusion as measured by a climate survey and other sources of information.

  2. Review results of program evaluations designed to facilitate intergroup dialogue and trust.

  3. Increase participation rate in service-learning programs.

  4. Complete triangulation of institutional results with national benchmarking when applicable.

  5. Establish baseline cultural competencies that all faculty and staff are expected to possess, provide training opportunities for each competency, establish goals for each staff/faculty as part of professional development, incorporated into the annual reviews. Cultural competence professional development measures include:

    • Increase in participation rates.
    • Expand cultural events and professional development courses on diversity and inclusion.
    • Enroll more faculty,AP faculty, and classified staff in the learning community.
    • Engage more faculty in content and a participant survey.
    • Self-report growth in awareness and competencies.

  6. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Goal 3: Education & Scholarship

Addressing education and scholarship includes providing education, scholarship, and professional development to build crucial skills.

Offer courses, curricula, programming, events, and learning opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate levels that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

  1. Identify and support the unique and innovative ways that ¹ÏÉñÍø is establishing leading approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

  2. Enhance professional learning opportunities for faculty, staff and students that address implicit bias and build cultural competence.

  3. Develop and pilot curricular and instructional approaches designed to be inclusive of historically subjugated peoples with the goal of increasing voice, credibility, motivation, and degree completion.

  4. Create student success support programs for non-traditional and fully online students, particularly those engaged through industry and employer partnerships, to promote intercultural awareness and competence.

  1. Operationally define DEI goals in the context of courses and curricula.

  2. Document self-reported growth in awareness and competencies.

  3. Identify gaps and opportunities, establish goals and timelines, monitor progress, and revise strategies as needed.

  4. Catalogue courses and analyze the level of participation in each against the overall student population.

Enhance resources and training programs to train staff on how to include multi-cultural perspectives in their daily work.

  1. Leverage professional learning communities on line to provide AP faculty with culturally-competent and focused resources, content, and peer-to-peer engagement.

  2. Develop and implement campus-wide cultural competency modules for AP faculty and staff.

  3. Provide ongoing professional learning opportunities for AP Faculty that will enhance our Student Ready Campus.

  4. Provide ongoing professional learning opportunities for AP Faculty to engage in Bold, Inclusive Conversations in their work environment.

  1. Establish access and usage of multi-cultural resource measures.

  2. Enhance participation rates in professional learning communities.

  3. Increase identification and participation in community DEIÌýrelated work.

  4. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Enhance resources and training programs to train instructional faculty on how to include multi-cultural perspectives in their enhanced course content and their daily work.

  1. Leverage professional learning communities to include resources on the development and infusion of multi-cultural perspectives in course content.

  2. Leverage opportunities to recognize and reward scholarship and community-engaged DEI work.

  3. Provide ongoing professional learning opportunities for instructional faculty to engage in Bold, Inclusive Conversations with their peers and students.

  1. Establish access and usage of multi-cultural resource measures.

  2. Enhance participation rates in professional learning communities.

  3. Increase identification and participation in community DEIÌýrelated work.

  4. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Enhance research agenda with attention to DEI and Social Justice Implications.

  1. Continue to provide seed funding and support for faculty in new and expanding research areas related to DEI.

  2. Create strategic partnerships within the Commonwealth to advance applied research and internship opportunities.

  3. Align policies and procedures to facilitate faculty research productivity, particularly as it relates to supporting DEI related research and scholarship.

  4. Pursue faculty cluster hires to strengthen current research and academic areas and/or establish new strengths, particularly as it relates to supporting DEIÌýrelated research and scholarship.

  1. Assess the number and nature of new research areas that advance DEI.

  2. Increase the number of scholarly products that advance DEI issues (e.g., journal articles, books, policy briefs, grant applications).

  3. Enhance the number of strategic partnerships that promote and advance DEI related research.

  4. Expand the number of policy refinements that better support diversity in all aspects of research.

  5. Increase diverse hires in underrepresented areas.

  6. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Goal 4: Infrastructure & Accountability

Infrastructure and accountability includes developing infrastructure that centers, supports, and fully integrates Inclusive Excellence goals.

Develop a robust infrastructure to address longstanding institutional DEI challenges and sustain the journey toward Inclusive Excellence.

  1. Enhance existing and/or adopt policies and procedures that advance equity, civility, and wellness.

  2. Empower departments to promote a culture of civility and inclusive excellence.

  3. Equip departments with instructional faculty, AP faculty, and classified staff with the training needed to engage in Bold Inclusive Conversations.

  4. Equip departments with leadership and supervisor training to recognize and respond to microaggressions.

  5. Train instructional faculty, AP faculty, and classified staff on the ¹ÏÉñÍø Faculty Code of Conduct, Civility Policy, and ¹ÏÉñÍø policies related to Discrimination and Title IX.

  6. Conduct a qualitative and quantitative review of DEI Initiatives throughout the University.

  7. Invest in a Learning Management System to meet professional development and federal and state training compliance.

  1. Review the number of increased or revised policies to address DEI challenges.

  2. Increase the number of instructional faculty, AP Faculty, and Classified Staff trained and meeting DEI goals.

  3. Revise strategies as needed based on the outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Create a culture of evaluation and continuous improvement.

  1. Develop a DEI competency on performance evaluations for all faculty and staff.

  2. Implement accountability measure for supervisors to complete performance evaluations.

  3. Monitor and implement accountability measures for DEI training.

  4. Set the expectations for campus leaders that metrics related to DEI are vital measures of institutional excellence.

  1. Develop annual reporting from school and administrative units on DEI efforts.

  2. Create working groups dedicated to developing competencies and related metrics.

  3. Revise strategies as needed based on the outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Increase institution-wide efforts designed to secure gifts, grants, opportunities, and knowledge to advance the ONE Virginia Plan and other DEI goals.

  1. Highlight faculty research aimed at the study of disparities in health, education, and employment in the Commonwealth.

  2. Advance the social mobility knowledge base by providing a venue (i.e. Center for Social Mobility) where faculty, administrators, and graduate students can collaborate on social mobility projects, research, and publications.

  3. Invest resources in diversity-related research efforts, such as the Alliance for Equity-Based Research and Practice at ¹ÏÉñÍø.

  4. Provide additional resources to support Arts@¹ÏÉñÍø programs that reflect diversity and highlight artistic contributions from a range of cultures, targeting both campus and community audiences.

  1. Develop annual reporting from school and administrative units on DEI efforts.

  2. Create research reporting.

  3. Increase funding allocated to DEI efforts.

  4. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Goal 5: Community Engagement

Infrastructure and accountability includes developing infrastructure that centers, supports, and fully integrates Inclusive Excellence goals.

Evaluate and expand community engagement and partnerships to create a collective impact with a variety of community organizations.

  1. Identify and develop new and existing collaborative opportunities between and within the university and larger communities.

  2. Conduct a review of existing professional, networking, and mentorship opportunities between current students and alumni from underrepresented populations.

  3. Survey advisory committees, community stakeholders, and partners to provide insight on DEI needs.

  4. Expand recognition of DEI community engagement efforts of faculty, administrators, and staff.

  1. Review results.

  2. Report/list new and existing collaborative opportunities.

  3. Expand the number of existing professional, networking, and mentorship opportunities and the number of students and alumni engaged in each program or event.

  4. Expand the number of policy refinements that better support diversity in all aspects of research.

  5. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators.

ÌýEvaluate and increase philanthropy in support of inclusive excellence and DEI.

  1. Conduct a review of existing philanthropic efforts and make recommendations on how to further the DEI goals with existing efforts.

  2. Conduct a review of donor diversity, and make recommendations to increase the diversity of the donor pool as it relates to gender, race, nationality, veteran status, etc.

  3. Identify and recommend new DEI-specific funding priorities.

  1. Review results.

  2. Expand the number of philanthropic efforts and recommendations.

  3. Report on actual dollars spent on DEI-reiated philanthropy.

  4. Revise strategies as needed based on the outcomes of metrics and indicators.

Advance the histories of underrepresented groups who have contributed to the campus community.

  1. Engage campus and community stakeholders (e.g. Libraries, Alumni Association) to identify ways to preserve the history of underrepresented people affiliated with the University.

  2. Ensure diverse voices have an opportunity to contribute during established recognitions, celebrations, and observances.

  3. Expand awareness of DEIÌýcampus-related initiatives and events through media and marketing campaigns.

  1. Provide post-event surveys.

  2. Expand media/communications coverage locally and campus-wide.

  3. Revise strategies as needed based on outcomes of metrics and indicators