Progress and Future Plans

At that time, Dr. Gempesaw charged the committee with the following: Ensuring that the training for staff and administrators and the professional development opportunities for faculty are sufficiently robust in the areas of diversity and inclusion. Recommending initiatives to effectively recruit and retain faculty, administrators, and staff from historically underrepresented groups. Advocating for diversity and inclusion to be imbedded in curricula, working closely with the University Core Curriculum Committee (UCCC) and with relevant department/college curriculum committees for major course of study curricula. Partnering with Student Affairs and various student organizations in promoting a welcoming and respectful campus through student orientation, training, seminars, and other co-curricular activities.

As St. John's University continued it's dedicated efforts to foster an inclusive campus climate for all students, faculty and staff, a campus inclusivity climate survey was conducted in the Fall of 2017. The feedback has helped to inform and transform the ways in which we uphold the values of our university while respecting diversity and truly cultivating an inclusive environment for learning and working.

RESPECT is the University’s bias response team. It includes students, faculty, administrators, and staff who voluntarily serve to provide direct support to individuals impacted by prejudice based aggression. This may involve providing assistance with reporting bias and connecting individuals to safety and support resources. When appropriate, it may also include facilitating
restorative conversations and community building circles to promote healing and learning outcomes.

Visit www.stjohns.edu/RESPECT for a list of the current members of the RESPECT team.

Contact the team at RESPECT@stjohns.edu.

At this time, the exit interview process for administration and staff was revised to newly incorporate questions on diversity and inclusivity. This was an important step to take in order to take into account the experience of our St. John's family.

At this time, an external expert consultant was engaged to partner with the Office of the Provost to create and administer a needs/wants assessment of the type and nature of diversity and inclusion programming and professional development.

Starting in February 2018, St. John's offered workshops on implicit bias in hiring, best practices for faculty recruitment, best practices for equity and inclusion, and on the results of our university climate survey.

The Center's primary focus is to provide advocacy, social justice education and training for students, to host equity and inclusion themed educational workshops and, through a Queens campus collaboration with the Center for Counseling and Consultation, offers the services of a mental health counselor for both individual counseling and group support.

Human Resources, in collaboration with the Office of the Provost, provided schools and colleges with recommendations and best practices for faculty hiring, both in writing and via presentations to each school/college and at the Chairs’ Retreat. A short “best practices” video for managers was also created at this time.

In addition, a list was created to serve as a guide of sample interview questions and information on what to ask and what not to ask, a sample candidate evaluation rubric was created and training links were incorporated in the hiring packages that go out from the Office of the Provost.

The IRCs were created to foster a more inclusive campus environment and to provide students with the resources to assist in authentic and informed peer dialogue on topics of equity and inclusion.

During orientation, all first-year students cycle through the IRC (Q), where OMA staff facilitates a 35-minute session on empathy, inclusion and cultural competency. In the evening, Orientation Leaders provide a follow-up facilitation. 

At this time, efforts were pursued to propose revisions to UCCC’s draft core curriculum outcomes and curriculum connections to include specific language on diversity, equity and inclusion.

At this time, a diversity certificate program was created, with the goal of developing a cohort of “Inclusion Practitioners” to support the University’s commitment to creating an inclusive campus environment.

At this time, Human Resources reviewed all trainings to identify opportunities to incorporate diversity and inclusivity