Diversity, Education, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee

The DEI Committee addresses and supports diversity, equity, and inclusion within the School of Nursing & Health Innovations.

Purpose Statement:

Create and foster a just culture of belonging that eliminates barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the UPSONHI.

2023-24 Committee Chair: Dr. Toyin Olukotun

Subcommittees:

• Education
  
  • This subcommittee helps in the preparation of faculty, staff and students to create and sustain a culture of equity and inclusion. There is an ongoing Social Justice Study Group (created by Dr. Ruha Benjamin) through weekly meetings, connecting current events to historical processes and individual experiences to institutional policies, exercising a sociological imagination to not only analyze but transform ourselves and the world around them.
• Curriculum 
  • This subcommittee leads the evaluation and implementation of DEI initiatives throughout the curriculum. The subcommittee has performed a literature search focusing on how diversity and inclusion are actualized within nursing curricula and is working to identify a tool to review courses for best practices in diversity and inclusion.
• Student
  
  • This subcommittee aims to prepare students to create and sustain a culture of equity and inclusion. To build the members' own foundation of knowledge, the DEI Student Subcommittee offers student town halls and workshops throughout the academic year to help transform themselves and the world around them.

Past Event Highlights

• Trans Dudes with Lady Cancer film and discussion panel
• Cultural Humility with faculty, staff, and students led by Dr. Jann Murray-Garcia
• Trauma Informed Care Workshop led by Dr. Mandy Davis
• 2020 Diversity Dialogues: Racial Bias in the Healthcare System discussion panel
• In summer 2020, 22 faculty members in the School of Nursing & Health Innovations participated in an anti-racism course, Hard Conversations, facilitated by Patti Digh and Victor Lee Lewis, who were featured in the documentary film, The Color of Fear
• In 2020-21 & 2021-22, Social Justice Study Group cohorts were created following the work of Dr. Ruha Benjamin. School of Nursing & Health Innovations faculty and staff spend 14 weeks exploring the nature and extent of racism in various domains of life--education, housing, employment, healthcare, policing, social media, and intimate life. Through weekly meetings, they connect current events to historical processes and individual experiences to institutional policies, exercising a sociological imagination to not only analyze but transform ourselves and the world around them.
• The School of Nursing & Health Innovations faculty and staff participated in five DEI workshops during the 2020-21 academic year. The workshop topics were: Interculturally Skilled Instruction Across Barriers, Social Justice and Ethics, Avoiding Racial Trauma in the Classroom, Understanding Inclusive Excellence, and Mass Incarceration.
• In 2021-22, SONHI faculty attended two forums: “Inclusive Excellence – Universal Classroom Design” and “Decolonizing Your Syllabus.” In addition, both SONHI faculty and staff attended two forums: “8 Tools to Mitigate Implicate Bias” and “Bystander Intervention on College Campuses.”
• In 2021-22, the DEI Student Subcommittee planned and hosted several events, such as a townhalls on burnout, imposter syndrome, and intentional representation; a “Sip ‘N Chat” focused on reflecting, processing, and healing in community; and a community building prom.

Goals for the 2023 - 2024 Academic Year:

All School of Nursing & Health Innovations committees will support the implementation of the DEI Action Plan for Change. The DEI Committee will focus specifically on: (1) enhancing commitment to meeting our School's DEI goals for students, faculty, and staff with shared accountability with the university, (2) engaging in radical listening to raise the voices of those who are often silenced and unheard, (3) providing mandatory foundational learning opportunities for SONHI faculty and staff grounded in racial and social justice that will create an anti-racist culture of equity and inclusivity, and (4) broadly sharing the work of the DEI Committee.

We invite you to send your thoughts, recommendations, and experiences to EquityInNursing@up.edu. This email account is monitored only by a limited number of BIPOC staff of the School of Nursing & Health Innovations who will bring your thoughts forward to leadership. We want to amplify your voices because they will be listened to and have power at UP. We will work even harder to advocate for our students; to ensure that they are heard and represented on our campus and to ensure the School of Nursing & Health Innovations is a safe and welcoming place for every student.