Faculty Success: Faculty Belonging and Inclusion
St. Edward’s University fosters an inclusive and welcoming environment that respects the dignity and worth of each person. Our university Mission, guided by Holy Cross values, calls us to actively pursue an inclusive, equitable and justice-oriented environment for all.
The Office of Academic Initiatives and Faculty Success, through its Faculty Belonging and Inclusion program, promotes social engagement, personal growth and academic excellence for faculty across the university. It provides resources to faculty that can be incorporated into every aspect of their job and throughout their professional life on the hilltop.
For more information, you may contact us at FacultySuccess@stedwards.edu.
Faculty Belonging and Inclusion Services
Increasing our Sense of Belonging
Faculty Community Building Events
These monthly events are offered throughout the academic year and provide opportunities for faculty from all academic schools to meet each other and connect in an informal setting. They encourage social engagement among peers.
Consultations
Consultations are available to individual faculty members, faculty committees, and colleagues within Academic Affairs on various topics, including bias, search committee processes, and faculty recruitment and retention initiatives, among others.
Professional Development Workshops
Workshops on the topics below are available throughout the academic year.
- Immigrant identities
- The impact of microaggressions
- Culturally responsive and assets-based pedagogies
- Understanding diverse social identities and their intersections
- Creating the optimal classroom environment during challenging times
Professional Development Training
Implicit Bias Training is offered to Faculty Search Committees as part of the hiring process. The training walks the search committee through an inclusive hiring process and guides them in utilizing best practices in their outreach, recruitment, and advertising strategies to attract qualified candidates and expand the applicant pool’s diversity. It also provides clarification and guidance on developing rubrics and matrices used to conduct an equitable search process.
Collaborations Supported by the Faculty Belonging and Inclusion Program
The Faculty Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (FCDI) is committed to providing educational opportunities for students of varied cultural, religious, academic, and economic backgrounds. The committee values the diversity on our campus and works toward understanding and promoting it. The committee aligns its work with university-wide goals, focusing on having a diverse faculty that helps students broaden their national and international perspectives and enhance the possibilities for personal and institutional growth such diversity provides.
The FCDI welcomes all faculty, including non-tenure-track full-time, contingent faculty and staff members who wish to volunteer to serve.
Committee Vision
Create and sustain a civil and robust dialogue about the value of diversity and inclusivity within the faculty and staff community.
Relevance to St. Edward’s University
Per the St. Edward’s University mission, we are committed to providing educational opportunities for students of varied cultural, religious, educational,, and economic backgrounds. Further, as stated in our Operating Principles, we value the diversity on our campus and commit to understanding and promoting it. One particularly salient consideration in meeting these university-wide goals is having a diverse faculty that helps students broaden their national and international perspectives and enhance the possibilities for personal and institutional growth such diversity provides.
Ways to Get Involved
- Email FCDI Co-Chairs:
Angela Ju, aju@stedwards.edu
Kadie Rackley, krackle@stedwards.edu - Join the committee.
- Seek mentorship.
- Promote attention to diversity and inclusion in your coursework and at the departmental, school, and university levels.
- Suggest diversity and inclusion topics for professional development opportunities.
“Being a member of a group which holds diversity as a value has added to my complete faculty experience.”
– Anna Escamilla, Social Work
Definitions
Diversity
A diverse faculty and staff community refers to colleagues of varied social identities, abilities, and experiences, with an explicit focus on representing identities that have been historically underrepresented in academia and oppressed by systems of power and privilege.
Inclusion
Inclusion is defined as active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with and empowerment of individuals of diverse identities and backgrounds within university processes, activities, and decision-making. Inclusion is a practice of valuing and seeking diversity.
Sub-Committees
Proposal(s) for Faculty Senate – All members
Mentorship – Angela Ju, Kerrie Taylor, Kisha Barrett, Jeannetta Williams, Sasha West, Monique Jiménez-Herrera
Inclusive Memory Building Practices on Campus – Stephen King, Kisha Barrett,
Parental Leave Policy – Kate Lopez, Kim Garza, Natalie Beck Aguilera
FCDI Leadership
Co-Chairpersons:
Angela Ju, Assistant Professor of Global Studies and Political Science, aju@stedwards.edu
Kadie Rackley, Associate Professor of Psychology, krackle@stedwards.edu
“This committee holds the important role of ensuring that St. Edward’s continues to focus on ways to improve the diversity, inclusion, and equality of the faculty body.”
– Kelly E. Green, Psychology
Community Learning in Mentorship and Beyond- CLiMB
CLiMB is a mentorship program offered by FCDI and is supported by the Faculty Belonging and Inclusion program and the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Mentorship promotes collegiality, community and professional development and significantly impacts faculty retention. It is central to our university’s mission. Mentorship on the university, school and departmental level can benefit incoming faculty in learning the culture, current practices, resources, organizational flow and networking; while improving teaching and learning excellence, research, and service.
CLiMB Program Goals
- Promote and provide formal and informal mentoring to faculty across the university.
- Support faculty retention initiatives and promote belonging.
- Connect incoming and current faculty to the greater university community.
- Provide consultation and collaboration opportunities for faculty to:
a) Engage in scholarly activities.
b) Plan career and professional development opportunities.
c) Identify support for research, technical and grant writing, and publication.
d) Apply and implement innovative pedagogical approaches.