Path Forward Update – Text Only

Letters A, B or C after each strategy refer to estimated timeframe for completion.

A = 6-12 months

B = 1-3 years

C = 3-5 years

Recruiting, Retaining and Graduating More Diverse Students
STRATEGY	ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS	PROGRESS TO DATE
Establish a recruitment team comprised of representatives of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Enrollment Management. This team will be charged with developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to recruit, admit and support an undergraduate population that reflects the racial and economic demographics of the State of Alabama by employing high-impact diversity recruitment practices such as, but not limited to, the following. B	DEI Enrollment Management	In Process
Increase the number of diversity-focused campus visitation programs such as OUR BAMA. A	DEI Enrollment Management	Completed – added the Multicultural Visitation Program for prospective students Fall 2020
Develop outreach strategies which increase the visitation of more prospective diverse students and parents to the campus. A	DEI Enrollment Management	In Process
Develop culturally framed recruiting and yield events for diverse students by creating a sustained relationship among Enrollment Management; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and University of Alabama alumni groups, such as the Black Alumni Association. A	DEI	Completed – video for OUR BAMA 2021
Develop a “return-to-high-school program” which supports the return of trained diverse student ambassadors to go back to their high schools to discuss their University of Alabama experience. B	Enrollment Management DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Enhance the production of diversity marketing materials (print and digital) that communicate the multifaceted experiences of diverse students at The University of Alabama. A	DEI	Completed – ongoing
Host college-preparation workshops for the families of diverse 7th-9th graders focusing on 1) the importance of the college experience, 2) academic college preparation, 3) financing college, and 4) parents’ role in preparing for the college experience. B	Enrollment Management DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Ensure representation of diverse members of The University of Alabama community at all recruiting events by increasing the participation of diverse faculty, staff, students and alumni. A	DEI	Completed – ongoing
Develop and sustain a strong pipeline program between Minority Serving Institutions and The University of Alabama to cultivate relationships and to increase the diversity of graduate student applicants. B	Graduate School	In Process
Build a stronger pipeline of students working collaboratively with the faculty between The University of Alabama and the 151 McNair Scholars Programs located throughout the country. The McNair Scholars programs prepare undergraduate students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities with the ultimate goal of increasing graduate degree attainment by students. B	Graduate School	In Process
SCHOLARSHIPS
Increase the undergraduate scholarship funding, graduate assistantships and programmatic initiatives to provide greater support for low-income, first-generation and diverse student populations. B	Provost Enrollment Management	In Process
Develop and implement a scholarship program to increase socioeconomic diversity of the undergraduate population and improve access for underserved communities within the state of Alabama. This program design should acknowledge the barriers which often impede the access and success of underserved students to higher education. B	Provost Enrollment Management	In Process
PERSISTENCE AND GRADUATION
Undergraduate Create a task force comprised of representatives from Student Life, DEI, Faculty Senate, Institutional Research and Academic Affairs to develop strategies to achieve equitable student outcomes with respect to the six-year undergraduate student graduation rates, a key DEI institutional metric. The task force should identify factors which contribute to the current variance that exists with this metric and propose solutions. A	EIRA Academic Affairs DEI Student Life Institutional Research Faculty representation	Completed task force development – participated in Gardner Institute Equity In Retention Academy (EIRA) EIRA task force working to close equity gaps in student performance metrics
Assess the effectiveness of all current programs related to mentoring, tutoring and academic coaching for students who have less than a 2.5 GPA. B	EIRA	In Process
Examine the efficacy of an early alert system for all students to ensure they are engaged related to academic performance utilizing data such as mid-semester and end-of-semester grades in the first and second year of matriculation. B	EIRA	In Process
Expand opportunities for mentoring of historically underrepresented students with program models such as the BRIDGE and Lucy’s Legacy programs implemented in 2019 to support men and women of color, respectively. B	Student Life	In Process
Increase underrepresented student participation in the high-impact educational practices on the UA campus, such as Study Abroad, undergraduate research, first-year experiences, internships, community-based learning and common intellectual experiences. B	Academic Colleges DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Graduate Expand the capacity of the Tide Together graduate student mentoring program which provides professional development, academic development, and social support to first-generation students, women in STEM, and underrepresented students (LGBTQIA, veterans, non-traditional). The program is currently limited to 30 graduate students. B	Graduate School	In Process

ENHANCED CAMPUS LIVING/LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Infuse institutional expectations for the contributions of all students to build a more inclusive and welcoming University of Alabama community within the undergraduate student orientation (Bama Bound) and the graduate school student orientation. A	DEI	Completed – DEI scheduled to present at all Student Bama Bound and Parent Bama Bound sessions
Expand and enhance Week of Welcome events to include more intentional and targeted programming for diverse student communities beyond the current Black Faculty and Staff Association welcome event, ONYX, and I Am Alabama reception. B	Student Life DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Embed orientation seminars designed to provide support to historically underrepresented students within the overall campus orientation programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. B	Student Life DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Build intentional initiatives to increase the campus engagement of diverse students with diverse faculty/staff, diverse affinity groups and diverse alumni organizations. A	DEI Academic Diversity Council Affinity Groups	2021-2022 Initiative
Work with the established general education task force to include diversity, equity and inclusion in the University’s general education requirement. B	GE Task Force	In Process – DEI has consulted with the committee, provided resources.
Present a series of co-curricular experiences to enhance students’ understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion and the historical context of diverse communities. B	DEI Academic Colleges Student Life	2021-2022 Initiative
Update the bias protocols for current and incoming students and review our Student Code of Conduct to enhance our ability to reinforce the institutional commitment to Goal #3 of the strategic plan and the Capstone Creed. A	Student Life DEI	In Process
Implement a restorative justice program as an additional education tool for students who engage in bias events or other campus disruptive behavior. Restorative justice empowers students to resolve conflicts on their own and in small groups. B	Student Life DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Create a student ambassador program to provide peer education about the major concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion. B	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
In support of building a more inclusive campus community, the UA Student Government Association will institutionalize recent programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion such as the Diversity Certificate Program. B	SGA DEI Student Life	In Process
Establish a more robust documentation of the diverse student experience at Alabama through videos, photographic images, web presence and print materials. A	DEI Student Life Strategic Communications	In Process
University leadership should conduct scheduled meetings and/or town halls with diverse members of the campus community and those concerned with social justice to increase communications and exchange of ideas. A	DEI Student Life	2021-2022 Initiative

Recruiting and Retaining More Diverse Faculty and Staff
STRATEGY	ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS		PROGRESS TO DATE
Develop and implement a campus-wide inclusive hiring practice workshop for faculty and staff hiring committees to support the goal of increasing the diversity of staff and tenure-track faculty. The workshop would include training on recognizing implicit bias, building a diverse candidate pool and incorporating institutional cultural responsiveness in the search process. A	DEI Office for Academic Affairs Human Resources		2021-2022 Initiative
Institute appropriate checks and balances and certification for each faculty and staff search process to ensure all known inclusive hiring best-practice techniques are employed. (Examples: requesting availability pool data from the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, advertising, developing the pool, non-bias review applications) B	Office for Academic Affairs DEI		2021-2022 Initiative
Prepare an Internal Labor Market (ILM) analysis for each college and unit of the University. An ILM analysis is a tool to provide a comprehensive understanding of the hiring, promotion and retention patterns of all employees within a unit. This kind of analysis can provide a specific understanding of the labor movement of women and diverse faculty and staff members. (See Appendix 1) B	Human Resources		In Process
Conduct exit surveys with all employees departing from the institution as standard operating procedures. Exit interviews can be used to gather more data to guide the design and implementation of hiring initiatives and to increase institutional inclusivity and organizational productivity. A	Human Resources	2021-2022 Initiative
Maximize utilization of membership organizations such as Higher Education Recruiting Consortium (HERC) and SREB during the recruiting process. These organizations specialize in advancing inclusive excellence in the higher education workforce. A	DEI Office for Academic Affairs Academic Colleges	In Process
Enhance recruiting and onboarding for new diverse faculty and staff hires by providing them access to campus and community diversity resources and information regarding university affinity groups. A	Human Resources DEI Office for Academic Affairs Academic Colleges Divisions/Units	In Process
Identify a point person for all units who will provide unit oversight and assessment of the plans, programs and initiatives that enhance diversity, equity and inclusion. A	DEI Academic Colleges Divisions	2021-2022 Initiative
Provide professional development and leadership advancement opportunities to promote an equitable presence of historically underrepresented faculty and staff in university administration. B	Human Resources Office for Academic Affairs Divisions/Units DEI	In Process Example: 2021 Faculty Women of Color in the Academy Conference

Intensify efforts to recruit, support and retain faculty of color. The University of Alabama should form a task force comprised of tenured faculty members to conduct a comprehensive analysis of how recruitment, retention, professional development and collegial experiences of University of Alabama underrepresented minority faculty are affected by race and gender. This analysis will serve as the basis for actionable and measurable recommendations on how to improve the recruiting, hiring, and retention of underrepresented minority faculty. (See Appendix 2) A	Office for Academic Affairs DEI Faculty	2021-2022 Initiative
Embed DEI competencies into the employee annual performance review process to measure inclusive behavior by employees, ensure accountability of Goal #3 of the strategic plan, track employee growth overtime, and recognize the contributions of outstanding employees. (See Appendix 3) B	Human Resources DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
FACULTY-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES
Conduct, with the leadership of the provost, a review of the tenure and promotion process to re-value the service performed by faculty in the interest of advancing racial equality. The review would take into account such work as mentoring of underrepresented students or performing service to underserved communities. Units should ensure that these highly valued contributions of the tenure and promotion process do not prohibit faculty from advancing in rank in a timely manner. A	Provost Faculty Senate	2021-2022 Initiative
Create college and universitywide learning opportunities for junior faculty members to help bring clarity to the tenure and promotion process. Proposed topics include preparing for mid-tenure review, tenure and promotion dossier preparation, increasing writing productivity, forming research collaboratives, and work/life balance. A	Office for Academic Affairs	2021-2022 Initiative
Enhance engagement with diverse faculty pipeline programs such as the Academic Common Market of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and UNCF/Mellon. (See glossary) B	Office for Academic Affairs Academic Colleges	In Process

Creating a More Welcoming Campus Community
STRATEGY	ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS	PROGRESS TO DATE
Continue to affirm Academic Freedom, which is covered by the Faculty Handbook, Chapter 3, Section I. Details are given by the cited AAUP statement link: https://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure. A	Office for Academic Affairs	In Process
Provide institutional support for new and existing affinity groups to be facilitated jointly by the Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Faculty Senate’s DEI Committee and other employee organizations. Significant progress was made during the 2019-2020 academic year. Existing affinity groups include the Black Faculty and Staff Association, Capstone Alliance, Latinx Faculty and Staff Association, and Jewish Faculty and Staff Association. A	DEI	In Process
Expand the opportunity for campus visitors to take the Hallowed Grounds: Race, Slavery and The University of Alabama walking tour of campus. A	DEI Strategic Communication Capstone Men & Women	In Process
Establish a Presidential Commission on Race, Slavery and Civil Rights at The University of Alabama and complete the process for joining the Universities Studying Slavery Consortium. A	DEI Task Force	In Process
Institutionalize the Martin Luther King Jr. Campus Commemorative Committee by sending the committee’s duties and composition description to the Committee on University Committees for approval as a new Section I University Standing Committee. A	DEI Committee on University Committees	2021-2022 Initiative
Rename and/or add contextualized signage to several campus buildings. A special committee of the Board of Trustees is investigating this issue across the System. Recommendations for appropriate signage and text for contextualizing campus buildings should come from the UA Commission on Race, Slavery and Civil Rights. A comprehensive list of UA buildings named for individuals with problematic histories or used in support of the institution of slavery, was compiled by Dr. Hilary Green and Dr. Erik Peterson at UA. B	Board of Trustees University Leadership	In Process
Review existing social media policies for faculty, staff and students with a goal of developing more definitive guidance on its social media guidelines. B	Office for Academic Affairs Human Resources Legal Affairs	2021-2022 Initiative
Develop online resources to assist with the on-boarding and acclimation of employees to the University and community. These resources would be an important component of a welcoming campus environment. B	Human Resources DEI	In Process
Establish a Presidential Commission on Truth, Racial Healing & Reconciliation. This recommendation is driven by the work that the Association of American Colleges & Universities has been doing. UA has never fully gone through the process of publicly dealing with its historical ties to slavery. The Commission would lead the campus through the process of revealing the past to enable racial healing and reconciliation. B	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Initiate DEI Awards for faculty, staff and students. The three awards, one in each recipient category (faculty, staff, students), should be presented annually to members of the UA campus community who exemplify the highest standards of leadership, service and dedication to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The DEI Awards would be University Premier Awards, joining the Sullivan, Bloom, Ramsey, Mayer, Bonner and Randall Awards, with nominations to be solicited, and recipients recommended, by the Awards Committee. Awardees would be celebrated at the Premier Awards Banquet held in the Spring semester and given special recognition at the Spring Campus Assembly and the Tapping on the Mound Ceremony during Honors Week. In addition, we recommend that opportunities to endow and name a fund to support the DEI Awards should be explored by the Office for University Advancement. A	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Establish a second on-campus childcare center to support work-life balance for the campus community and recruitment and retention of underrepresented faculty, staff and students would be aided by the addition of a second on-campus facility. B	University Leadership	2021-2022 Initiative
Develop a campus education campaign to increase awareness to faculty, staff and students of the various ways to report harassment, hate, and bias incidents. B	DEI Student Life Office for Academic Affairs Strategic Communications	2021-2022 Initiative

Developing Cultural Competencies for Faculty, Staff and Students
STRATEGY	ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS	PROGRESS TO DATE
Embed the diversity history of The University of Alabama and the importance of Goal #3 of the strategic plans into the orientation and on-boarding presentations for all new faculty and staff. A	Human Resources Office for Academic Affairs	2021-2022 Initiative
Establish a series of inclusive-teaching professional development workshops to support faculty in their desire to make classroom learning more inclusive across all disciplines. A	DEI Office for Academic Affairs	Completed – ongoing
Acquire institutional train-the-trainer and software site licenses required to scale up organizational DEI professional development programs. A	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Establish a center for DEI education and professional development that is designed to meet the ever-increasing needs of complex organizations. The center would be charged with designing and delivering DEI training, briefings, workshops, fact sheets and seminars for faculty, staff and students. A	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Build a robust network of diversity and inclusion leaders and champions to infuse diversity and inclusion efforts throughout the university community and operations. B	DEI	In Process
Develop policies which ensure, encourage and support the participation of staff in university-approved professional development learning opportunities. A	DEI Human Resources	2021-2022 Initiative
Develop an intercultural development inventory pilot learning experience to enhance skills for students. The program will be designed using tools and resources for assessing intercultural competence. B	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Continue the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s work of providing educational support to the DEI leaders of the campus sorority and fraternity councils: Alabama Interfraternity Council and Alabama National Pan-Hellenic Council. The educational support should be expanded to include the Alabama Panhellenic Association and the United Greek Council. A	Student Life DEI	In Process
Conduct a campuswide climate survey of faculty, staff and students to provide a greater understanding of the experiences of faculty, staff and students with respect to DEI. A committee of faculty and staff will provide oversight and administer the survey. A	DEI Institutional Research Office for Academic Affairs	2021-2022 Initiative
Continue the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion grants designed to provide support for programming that advances the development of cultural competencies of the campus community. A	DEI	In Process

Expanding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Infrastructure
STRATEGY	ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS	PROGRESS TO DATE
Continue to build out the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion—now in its third year—through the addition of the prerequisite staffing and budgetary resources required to advance the university’s third goal of the strategic plan. A	University Leadership DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Increase the communications and outreach strategy of the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to include dynamic print materials and an enhanced online presence (website, social media, newsletter, video content, etc.). B	DEI	In Process
Continue the financial and staffing support needed to continue the commemorative month programming for the campus community. A	DEI	In Process
Implement an advancement and fundraising infrastructure for the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with a focus on scholarship, facilities and programming initiatives. B	DEI Advancement	2021-2022 Initiative
Continue the Diversity Programming Grant funding pool designed to enhance participation of faculty, staff and students in the development and execution of initiatives which promote awareness of various dimensions of diversity and underscore the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion within the university community. A	DEI Student Life	In Process
Redesign the existing campus diversity reporting process to more closely align with institutional unit data, unit goal setting, and diversity higher education best practices. B	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Establish an advisory board for the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion comprised of industry, education, alumni and community/state leaders. B	DEI	2021-2022 Initiative
Establish an Inclusive Scholarship Grant and a funding process for the grant through the Office for Research and Economic Development to enhance institutional research and scholarship that increase the university’s collective understanding of the experiences of diverse communities, racial justice, diversity, equity and inclusion on the campus and beyond. A	Office for Research and Economic Development Office for Academic Affairs	2021-2022 Initiative
Reengage with diverse alumni and engage with alumni affinity groups so they become more actively involved with the activities (recruitment, retention, etc.) of students at the institution. A	DEI Alumni Association	In Process
Develop a set of DEI assessment tools to properly evaluate the effectiveness of DEI programming and initiatives. A	DEI Institutional Research	2021-2022 Initiative

About Us

The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion provides leadership for the University to build on its core principles of inclusiveness in learning environments, programs, workforce and strategic partnerships.

The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
+1 (205) 348-2053
diversity@ua.edu

Path Forward Update Text

Path Forward Update – Text Only

Letters A, B or C after each strategy refer to estimated timeframe for completion.

A = 6-12 months

B = 1-3 years

C = 3-5 years

Recruiting, Retaining and Graduating More Diverse Students

STRATEGY

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS

PROGRESS TO DATE

SCHOLARSHIPS

PERSISTENCE AND GRADUATION

ENHANCED CAMPUS LIVING/LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Recruiting and Retaining More Diverse Faculty and Staff

STRATEGY

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS

PROGRESS TO DATE

FACULTY-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES

Creating a More Welcoming Campus Community

STRATEGY

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS

PROGRESS TO DATE

Developing Cultural Competencies for Faculty, Staff and Students

STRATEGY

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS

PROGRESS TO DATE

Expanding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Infrastructure

STRATEGY

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADS

PROGRESS TO DATE

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