Updates from the Standing Committee on DEI
March 2022
The Standing Committee on DEI continues to make progress since the publication of last fall’s DEI Annual Report. We spent our first year understanding the landscape of DEI at McDonough and developed a plan for action and accountability through seven “C’s” (Composition, Communication, Curriculum, Co-curriculum, Careers, Community, and Culture).
This academic year, we have assembled four subcommittees to focus on Composition (chair: Serafina Smith), Communications (chair: Teresa Mannix), Curriculum (chair: Michael O’Leary), and Co-curriculum (chair: Patricia Grant). Each has put forward three goals for the year:
Composition:
- Increase the gender diversity of our undergraduate applicant pool and support our graduate admissions teams’ ongoing work to admit diverse classes of masters students;
- Analyze and begin tracking equity in staff hiring, promotion, and special project assignments; and
- Support the dean’s efforts to build a more diverse faculty and help implement recommendations of the university’s task force on faculty equity.
Communications:
- Streamline school-wide DEI communications (including launching this newsletter);
- Enhance opportunities to share diverse voices; and
- Determine best practices for sharing information across the school.
Curriculum:
- Collect and communicate information about practices that increase or decrease students’ sense of inclusion in the classroom;
- Share evidence-based, easy-to-adopt practices that faculty can use to boost inclusion in their classes; and
- Create a common core of DEI materials that faculty can draw on across programs (including the science of DEI, the manifestations of DEI in societies around the world, and the skills that help students work effectively in diverse groups and organizations).
Co-curriculum:
- Enhance the inclusivity of student clubs in all degree programs;
- Enhance the communication and collaboration among student leaders of affinity and identity groups across undergraduate, MBA, and other graduate programs;
- Increase and track the diversity of speakers in classes and at McDonough events including Stanton Lecture Series events, career panels, and other speakers/guests to the school.