Students, staff, faculty help shape diversity plans

“Be There/Be Heard” was the theme behind 200 events that encouraged students, staff and faculty to engage in President Schlissel’s initiative to develop a campus-wide strategic plan for diversity, equity and inclusion.

During a daylong summit April 11, 2016 for U-M Health System employees, world-class experts on workplace diversity engaged with nearly 600 faculty and staff members as the group discussed best practices for shaping their unit plans. Similarly, during a March 28 roundtable discussion at the Michigan League, Asian and Asian-American students, staff and faculty joined a panel of local and national notables to discuss the lack of leadership roles and a perceived glass ceiling that exists for people of Asian descent within the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

Complementing such events was the opportunity to offer thoughts and ideas through focus groups, town halls and fireside chats as well as online forums, surveys and bulletin boards. Thousands took advantage of the opportunity to help university leaders shape this important plan.

Through the summer, the individual plans of 49 schools, colleges and units were reviewed and analyzed to identify common themes. These were then brought together to produce a university plan that was unveiled during the fall 2016 semester.

Of the planning process, Robert Sellers, vice provost for equity, inclusion and academic affairs, noted that “the strategic plans that will be rolled out in the fall are not the end. They’re designed to be starting points, living documents and the beginning of a space for us to live up to our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and goals.”