Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in Gender, Women's, & Sexuality Study

GWSS is a destination department on our campus for faculty and students committed to social justice and enacting DEI across their professional lives. To support and enhance DEI initiatives, we will formalize mechanisms for sustaining a vivaciously diverse, inclusive, and equitable department culture. Moving forward, we plan to:

STRATEGY 1: Systematically value and reward contributions to a diverse, inclusive, open and equitable culture in GWSS and at UI

STRATEGY 2: Explore with CLAS and other units a cluster hire or joint hires aimed at recruiting faculty from underrepresented groups

STRATEGY 3: Seek more structural support for ongoing DEI research, teaching, engagement and other initiatives (to help fend off burnout)

STRATEGY 4: Maintain open communication about labor to strive for the equitable distribution of service work and DEI work.

STRATEGY 5: Regularly assess curriculum to better incorporate the experiences, histories, cultures and knowledge of underrepresented and marginalized student populations

We can meet our diversity, equity, inclusion, & collaboration goal if we recognize and reward faculty participation in DEI programming and initiatives, openly communicate about distributions of labor to make them as equitable as possible, host pedagogy lunches with a DEI/social justice focus, and seek further internal and external funding for ongoing DEI research, teaching, engagement and service. Responsible: DEO, the Iowa Foundation, Center for Teaching, the Graduate College, CLAS Diversity Committee, Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, CLAS, GWSS faculty as a whole.
Critical	Tasks Tactics – Action Items	Measures of Success
Cultivate a diverse, inclusive and equitable culture in GWSS and at UI more broadly. DEI work can be rewarding and also energy intensive, and we seek to more systematically support, value and reward it. Explore with CLAS and other units a cluster hire or new joint appointments targeting opportunities to recruit and retain faculty from underrepresented groups.	-Schedule faculty meeting time for consideration of classroom, department and UI climate, with a focus on DEI. -Reward faculty participation in BUILD and related DEI training in annual reviews, including leadership of DEI programming. -Maintain open communication about labor to ensure that underrepresented faculty are not overtaxed in general, and that diversity labor in particular is justly and appropriately distributed. -Support, reward, and provide option of breaks from DEI-heavy teaching for faculty who wish for these breaks. -Make GWSS 1001 and 1002 co-instructed classes. Advocate for a DEI leadership position at the decanal level. -Collaborate with CLAS to prioritize DEI in the distribution of resources, including allocation of hires. -Communicate with DEOs in relevant departments about joint hire proposals. -Request CLAS or Provost funding for recruiting diverse applicants for hires (via “Tier Up Diversity” and similar options. at The Chronicle and Higher Ed).	-Self-reported experience of support and mutual appreciation across the faculty. -Departmental policies and structures that keep labor visible and equitably distributed, including among TT and NTT faculty. -Co-instruction of GWSS 1001 and 1002. -GWSS leadership in diversity initiatives across campus (as desired by faculty). -Amplified and research-based leadership and structural support of DEI in CLAS and at UI. -Submission of hiring proposals. -Allocation of new lines. -Successful searches. -Support and retention of new hires.
Create departmental mechanism for open consideration of classroom, department and UI climate, with a focus on matters of diversity, equity and inclusion	-Work with the Center for Advancement to prioritize and expand fundraising for DEI-related research, teaching and engagement. Cultivate donors who want to add social justice to their giving portfolios. -Offer seed grants or service reduction to a committee of fund raisers and friend-raisers tasked with seeking donations and grants to fund DEI initiatives.	-Increased external and internal funding and support for GWSS DEI initiatives. -Increased funding, support and recognition of broader DEI initiatives at UI.
Assess how our classrooms can better incorporate the experiences, histories, cultures and knowledges of underrepresented and marginalized student populations, and support faculty in implementing these across our curriculum.	-Reward faculty who participate in relevant Center for Teaching and BUILD courses that support DEI pedagogy, including by adding an option of reporting this activity at annual reviews. -Foreground DEI and social justice in our department pedagogy lunches, where faculty and grad students can exchange teaching challenges, strategies and inspiration. -Invite the Center for Teaching, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Diversity Committee to collaborate with us and supporting this implementation in GWSS and elsewhere. -Seek funding for the above GWSS/social justice programming, possibly from the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Iowa and/or the CLAS diversity committee. -Meet and collaborate with CLAS Dean, Associate Dean of Arts & Humanities, and Elizabeth Lara (Graduate College DEI staff in charge of SROP) to increase involvement of Arts & Humanities faculty as SROP summer mentors.	-Two annual pedagogy lunches with DEI emphasis -Increased funding and programing that supports DEI pedagogy, course and assignment development in CLAS and at UI. -Credit awarded for DEI-focused course and assignment development. -Increased involvement of Arts & Humanities faculty as SROP summer mentors. -Enhanced energy around teaching among GWSS faculty and enhanced student engagement in our classrooms, especially among underrepresented students. -Increased student success, especially among underrepresented students. We will measure success by graduation rates and by students’ reporting of meaningful DEI education in GWSS/SJUS courses.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are fundamental to the mission of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa, as we conduct our work in the context of the whole of humanity.

In our teaching, we draw on, explore, and question every facet of human experience and understanding.
In our scholarship, scientific inquiry, and artistry, we create new knowledge and insight, reflecting and shaping the cultures and societies in which human lives unfold.
In our service to Iowans, we collaborate with communities to solve critical problems arising from inequity.

DEI values are inseparable from those of the liberal arts tradition. To fully realize our college’s critical mission of advancing human understanding within that tradition, we must actualize these values in every aspect of our decision-making and every area of our academic community.