The Associated Colleges of the Midwest hosted the virtual Retention and Success Workshop focused on best practices for supporting underrepresented faculty and students across the ACM campuses.
The June workshop was a relaunch of the Hiring and Diversity Workshops within the Fellows Program for a Diverse Professoriate. That series had focused on hiring concerns related to unconscious bias, the composition of search committees, and intentional strategies to recruit faculty to job opportunities.
“This year, the ACM expanded the focus to consider how colleges can support underrepresented faculty and students when they arrive on campus, and what colleges can do to nurture and sustain an environment of belonging, which is fundamental to academic and personal success.”
Allen Linton II, Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives at the ACM
“This year, the ACM expanded the focus to consider how colleges can support underrepresented faculty and students when they arrive on campus, and what colleges can do to nurture and sustain an environment of belonging, which is fundamental to academic and personal success,” said Allen Linton II, Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives at the ACM. “Recognizing the challenges for our communities of color is essential to supporting their success on campus. We wanted to help highlight that reality and offer practical solutions.”
Over 30 academic leaders attended sessions on equity as a guiding principle to expand approaches to diversity and inclusion practice; mentoring diverse faculty using a culturally responsive lens; and strategies and best practices for creating a campus environment to support underrepresented students.
“The ACM will continue to support the institutional programs that drive this work as we seek to expand the role of our consortium in supporting underrepresented students and faculty and creating a more equitable and just academic environment for all.”
Sonya Malunda, President of the ACM
Among the workshop facilitators was Kumea Shorter-Gooden, who has taught, trained, consulted, and published on issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion for more than 25 years, and led the sessions on equity and mentorship. Mesmin Destin, Associate Professor at Northwestern University in the Department of Psychology and in the School of Education and Social Policy, presented evidence-based suggestions for how to support underrepresented students.
Two former faculty fellows, Prentiss Dantzler and Crystal Moten, spoke about what factors influence the academic and career trajectories of diverse faculty. Dantzler is now Assistant Professor in the Urban Studies Institute at Georgia State University, and Moten is Curator of African American History at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Through the Undergraduate and Faculty Fellows Program for a Diverse Professoriate, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the ACM colleges have appointed 27 new Ph.D.’s from underrepresented backgrounds into tenure-track appointments, engaged over 170 undergraduates from diverse backgrounds in activities and support structures designed to nourish their interest in careers in academia, and offered professional development for ACM faculty and staff.
“The current uprising and calls to action related to race relations have underscored the urgency of our diversity and inclusion initiatives,” said Sonya Malunda, President of the ACM. “The ACM will continue to support the institutional programs that drive this work as we seek to expand the role of our consortium in supporting underrepresented students and faculty and creating a more equitable and just academic environment for all.”
