Office of the Provost & Vice President
May 4, 2022 -- 10:30 am – Noon
Attendee Members: Melisa Galván, Jonathan Hay, Crist Khachikian, Elena Miranda, Mario Ontiveros, Kaitlyn Orozco, Yazmin Peebles, Amanda Quintero, Kiana Requena, Diane Stephens, Michael Tejax, Mary Beth Walker (Chair), Jason Wang
Absent: David Dufault-Hunter, Gigi McGuire, Barrett Morris, Nate Thomas
Staff to Committee: Hazel Kochocki, Bonnie Paller
I. Call to Order: 10:34am
II. Approval of Minutes of April 20, 2022 Meeting: approved
III. Welcome/Goals for Meeting (Walker)
Goals: Discuss the meeting with the Cabinet and their comments. Clarify the content of the document.
IV. Update from Cabinet Meeting on Thursday, April 28
President Beck provided direction. She asked each Vice President to think how the priorities will be used in their areas and how initiatives will be aligned with them.
Needed: Some type of introduction or preamble for Strategic Directions and Priorities. Readers should be able to see the guiding themes in terms of the Core Values: JEDI. The introduction should include a discussion of how the document will be used and implemented.
V. Proposed Edits to Draft Executive Summary
- Not lead with Accountability, but perhaps with Activate an Intentional Mindset (as an “A’)
- Building towards a More Equitable Future – which is more descriptive and more positive
- Advance Academic Excellence – is highlighted and should be its own section, but is also the absolute foundation for the institution
Move “Renovate…” to Building Capacity section or remove altogether
Building capacity means two things – grow the faculty but also give faculty more time to engage in scholarly activity
“Grow Faculty and Staff”
“Grow Capacity” – faculty, staff, space, infrastructure
“Renovate” needs a little clarification
“Convergence” needs clarity also, through definition, or remove to avoid confusion; could be replaced with “interdisciplinary”
Separate recruitment from serving a diverse student population for clarity
Becomes “hire more faculty” within a culture of academic excellence
3. Facilitate Holistic Student Success
“Provide equitable access…” – has been changed
“Academic Support Services” – is clear
“Create a multi-dimensional…” – this section needs to be unbundled to clarify what we mean by “multi-dimensional”. Separate out some of the other pieces.
4. Enhance Community Connections
Beef up “internal and external”
Replace “trust” with “understanding”. Understanding goes both ways, for us to understand the community and the community to understand us. Or perhaps use “confidence”.
Philanthropy should be a natural consequence of better understanding, not a goal of its own. Philanthropy should not be the first priority listed.
“Philanthropy” needs clarification also. The term might be defined where there is a bridge between the internal and the external communities.
5. Disrupt Systemic Inequities
How can we act with urgency to change policies, etc. using data we have and need? Advancing structural equity is different from the first category of Building a More Equitable Future, which is more about honoring our history; that section is more about building a future and is very positive. This section is more about
demonstrating equity and showing that we are looking at what we have in place and how it can change. The distinction is between building a culture of equity (previous section) and examining our culture (this section). Examining our culture may require going back and deconstructing some current structures.
People who came to discussions will feel excluded and marginalized if this section is collapsed into the Building a More Equitable Future. It should stay stand alone, and the language should be kept intact
Committee members expressed the opinion that we have gathered the information; we should not exclude what we have heard.
We were tasked with going out to the community and listening, and this is what we heard. It should not be ignored. It should be authentically acknowledged.
6. Strengthen Institutional Capacity
What are we strengthening capacity for? For what?
Other titles:
“Strengthen Institutional Capacity for Growth” is a better title for this section
“Strengthen Institutional Capacity for Transformation”
“Adopt and harness technology” does not resonate for an academic institution, is too corporate speaky.
Technology is acknowledged.
We need to rethink our methods of communication.
Staff hiring could be unbundled from Academic Excellence and be brought here, or be here and in Academic Excellence.
How can we bring the JEDI lens here? Perhaps in framing as a need for creating a more Equitable Future.
Steps:
Identify Institutional Capacity
Make sure we are applying the same lens we have used elsewhere
Make this section come alive
Create, Design, and Build capacity language should be in this section
VI. Action Items/Next Steps (Walker)
Provide your edits and comments on any section to the document
Send to Hazel by Friday May 6, 12:00pm
Sequence for the presentation May 11, 11:00-12:00:
President Beck will lead with the charge and process
Provost Walker will discuss how the document will serve to lead every section of the institution
Volunteers from each subgroup will discuss each section of the document in turn. Send Hazel or Mary Beth your intention to volunteer.
Questions and Comments follow
Allow and create a process for feedback from people who attend the May 11 presentation. Decide how long a feedback process will be available.
This is not the end. Strategic directions will be used by all division heads and progress will be monitored.
- Adjournment: 11:59