Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategic Plan 2024-2027

STRATEGY 1: Engage with the institutional heritage of Hartwick by formally acknowledging historical moments of impact.

• Address gaps in the College Archives collection as related to the history of multifaceted populations on campus.
• Explore and share relevant content found in the library archives and Yager Museum.
• Develop and finalize a land acknowledgment to use across campus events and activities.

STRATEGY 2: Foster a safe and welcoming environment that promotes student and employee identity appreciation.

• Develop a comprehensive mentorship program that pairs new employees with current employees from different areas.
• Launch the affinity group structure to empower interested community members.
• Promote the Heritage Month and Observance Working Group.
• Investigate and develop strategies to address retention gaps for faculty, staff and students related to the campus environment.
• Host conversations and activities that provide spaces to communicate physical and psychological safety needs on campus.

STRATEGY 3: Center the human experiences of Hartwick students, faculty and staff.

• Develop strategies to engage more community members in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging-related programming (e.g., panel discussions, cultural symposiums and living room conversations)..
• Bring back old and start new traditions that foster school pride and spirit.
• Explore our capacity to become an anti-racist campus.
• Applicable specific professional development for the Senior Leadership Team.

STRATEGY 4: Increase campus community members’ and visitors’ level of access to navigate our built environment and electronic systems.

• Acquire closed captioning software for campus-wide use.
• Identify opportunities to create a more physically accessible campus and implement changes.
• Develop an online campus map that integrates the physical details of all rooms used for popular event spaces.

STRATEGY 5: Consistently audit campus policies and procedures to affirm through an appropriately contemporary lens.

• Develop an auditing tool and implementation plan.
• Equity, inclusion and accessibility audit of campus-level policies and practices.

STRATEGY 1: Identify opportunities to change the academic system to maximize success for all students.

• Review and modify policies and procedures of academic departments so that they recognize, welcome and utilize diverse lived experiences and attributes.
• Improve classroom pedagogies to center diverse backgrounds, abilities and perspectives as educational assets.
• Ensure students have equitable access to technological resources and opportunities to build proficiencies.
• Offer a transparent system (e.g. ombudsperson) for students to share experiences that interfere with academic success.
• Provide and support regular professional development that centers diverse backgrounds, abilities and perspectives as educational assets.
• Grow collaboration for major course pathways and schedules to lower barriers for students.
• Expand College-supported programming and/or curriculum for multilingual learners.
• Increase the number of instructors who are multilingual and/or focus on multilingual justice to better support programming and curriculum for multilingual learners.

STRATEGY 2: Review and revise processes for academic tenure and promotion to ensure unbiased treatment of all tenure-track faculty.

• Review and revise guidelines for annual and biannual faculty reflections, requiring commentary on how their pedagogy, research, and/or service maximize the success of all students.
• Continue to grow the Teaching and Learning initiative.
• Utilize innovative recruitment and hiring processes that are consistent across the College; ensure comprehensive onboarding and ongoing mentoring processes for recruitment and retention.
• Maintain relevant and regular professional development opportunities to empower all employees to build a welcoming workplace culture and learning environment.
• Ensure adequate funding and compensation for employees who contribute to pedagogical practices that better support students of diverse backgrounds, abilities and perspectives.
• Pursue grant funding to support and grow efforts aimed at making academic success more equitable and investigate avenues for launching programs like the Higher Education Opportunity Program, TRIO, etc.

STRATEGY 3: Ensure procedures around faculty promotion are transparent and equitable.

• Provide professional development for members of the Committee on Appointments, Tenure and Promotion (ATP) to differentiate actions and practices that center diverse backgrounds, abilities and perspectives as educational assets.
• Review and revise processes for academic tenure and promotion to ensure unbiased treatment of all tenure-track faculty.

STRATEGY 1: Promote and incentivize volunteer opportunities for employees and students.

• Meet with Staff Council and Civic Engagement to review and update the Community Service and Volunteerism Marketing (Civic Engagement) form and volunteer paid-time-off policy (HR).
• Determine and implement effective means of engaging Hartwick community members in volunteer opportunities.
• Support faculty in embedding volunteer opportunities into course offerings.

STRATEGY 2: Establish and sustain relationships with regional Indigenous communities that result in the identification of reparative actions (aligned with land acknowledgment action items described in the Campus Environment document).

• Hold conversations with regional Indigenous communities to create opportunities for listening and learning.

STRATEGY 3: Expand participation rates of regional minoritized business owners for industry day and networking events.

• Identify and contact regional minoritized business owners.
• Create a designated event to showcase minoritized business owners; a networking event.

STRATEGY 4:Secure financial support for community-based and institutional strategic inclusion initiatives.

• Identify, screen and solicit funding via donations, grants, sponsorships, etc.
• Develop the case for support specific to community-focused initiatives.

STRATEGY 5: Increase our engagement with non-traditional student populations.

• Develop and expand programs that increase access for non-traditional student populations.