Roadmap 2020 Task Force
Update on the Roadmap 2020 Task Force & Roadmap Progress Report
Dear Johns Hopkins Community,
Since we launched the Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion five years ago, our aim has been to build a university community that is a place of true equity and inclusion, one that welcomes the full and diverse scope of people, ideas, backgrounds, and experiences and supports them so they may thrive here at Hopkins and beyond.
This work is foundational to our community, and it has taken on ever greater urgency in these past few months as the nation continues to grapple with the impact of systemic racism and the brutal reality of violence against Black and brown Americans. The police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, joined the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others as yet another chapter in a devastating summer of recurring police violence that has unleashed protests across the nation. We share in the profound sadness and anger in our community.
It is clear that the anti-racist, equity-seeking, and inclusive values we espouse must continue to guide our capacity to support our community and our efforts to achieve concrete and tangible change in our institution. The JHU Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion and our newly created Roadmap 2020 Task Force are essential parts of this deepening commitment.
We write today to share an update on the task force and its membership and to release the latest Roadmap progress report for 2019–20.
Roadmap 2020 Task Force
As we announced previously, the Roadmap 2020 Task Force is charged with reviewing and assessing the JHU Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion and developing a set of recommendations for our next five years, with measurable goals and accountabilities that will help us identify and build on successes and act to address areas where improvement is necessary.
For the task force to succeed, it must draw upon the perspectives and experiences of a wide-ranging representation of stakeholders from across our institution, including faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as the broader Baltimore community. We were fortunate to have had significant interest from so many at all levels of our institution. In partnership with the co-chairs, Katrina Caldwell, vice provost and chief diversity officer; Ashley Llorens, chair of the Johns Hopkins Diversity Leadership Council; and Patricia Davidson, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, after significant consultation with our deans and colleagues from across our divisions, we are delighted to share that so many have agreed to serve in this important capacity. The current membership roster is available on the Office of Diversity and Inclusion website and will be updated as more participants are confirmed.
In addition to the core members, the task force structure will consist of theme-based working groups to enable the core task force members to gather a broad range of perspectives and surface ideas in a way that promotes inclusion and transparency as they shape their final recommendations to leadership. The co-chairs will share more information on the themes and a call for applications to the work groups during the week of September 17.
The work of the task force will begin in earnest with a retreat, co-hosted by the Diversity Leadership Council, on September 10, and will continue throughout the year. We have asked the task force to produce preliminary recommendations this spring to be shared with the community for input. The final report, which will incorporate community feedback, will be shared with leadership by June. The recommendations will then be presented to the board of trustees for its consideration and endorsement, with the final report released to the community in fall 2021. Along the way, there will be numerous opportunities for input from the community, among them: two leadership town halls, one this month to kick off the process and one in early 2021 to discuss preliminary recommendations; and a series of listening sessions focused on strategic priorities beginning in October, as well as an open comment period before the full report is finalized. As always, we hope you contribute your ideas, insights, and feedback at any time via the ODI website.
We are deeply appreciative of all those who have agreed to serve as members of the task force and everyone who will be part of the working groups. Like any serious effort to make lasting and meaningful change, this will require an investment of time, thought, and energy that we know is hard at any moment but especially in our current one, as we continue to weather the strains of this pandemic and the ongoing turmoil and grief over racial injustice.
Third Annual Roadmap Progress Report
In that same spirit, we recognize the time and effort of so many people across this institution that undergird and have advanced the aims of the JHU Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion over the past five years and with ever greater urgency and intention in this challenging moment. As our own history has shown us, meaningful progress requires us both to be persistent and to hold ourselves accountable.
Since the 2016 launch of the JHU Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion, we have embedded that transparency and accountability into our efforts, releasing regular, public reports. This collection and communication of data embodies our belief that systemic change demands an articulation of values, accompanied by a clear action plan and the willingness to shine a light on both our accomplishments and the areas in which we have fallen short. We continued this practice over the summer with the release of our faculty, staff, and graduate student composition reports and today with the publication of our third annual progress report on the Roadmap.
Among the progress and the key challenges of the past year are:
- Bolstered by the $1.8 billion gift from alumnus and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2018, the university had already seen a dramatic upward trajectory in the diversity of the incoming freshman class with the percentage of underrepresented racial minorities (URM) increasing from 14.9% to 32.5% between 2010 and 2019, and the percentage of students eligible for Pell grants increasing from 11.1% to 19.1% in that time. And our ability to announce permanently need-blind admissions while meeting full demonstrated need and eliminating federal loans, for example, led to an unprecedented one-year jump in the number of Pell-eligible students, from 15.4% to 19.1% for the class entering in fall 2019. At the same time, the percentage of undergraduate students on the Homewood campus identifying as underrepresented minorities increased from 25.0% to 27.4%, and those who were among the first generation in their families to attend college increased from 11.9% to 15.1%.
- The composition reports we now regularly publish regarding Hopkins faculty, staff, and graduate students have established a track record against which we are able to measure progress in the recruitment and retention of diverse populations. In the 2019–20 academic year, we released our third report on Faculty Composition, second on Graduate Student Diversity, and second on Staff Composition—reports that show there has been growth over several years in the number of female and URM affiliates.
- The HopkinsLocal economic inclusion initiative has driven substantial investments in the Baltimore community by focusing on local and minority-owned businesses and city residents when Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System build, hire, and buy. As the initiative entered its second phase, we increased our goals and deepened our community connections, including through the creation of an advisory council of community leaders, officials, and entrepreneurs who are helping to shape the program’s next steps.
- The loss of university leaders in two key areas—the Office of Institutional Equity and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion—was a setback to the pace and consistency of our work last year. However, nationwide searches yielded strong candidates for both positions, and we were thrilled to welcome Katrina Caldwell as our second vice provost and chief diversity officer and Shanon Shumpert as vice provost for institutional equity this summer.
In the coming months, you will hear more from the task force and its co-chairs as they keep the community apprised of their progress and also seek every opportunity for engagement and input from the community. The task force co-chairs will also post regular updates and share information about upcoming sessions and engagement opportunities on the task force website.
We hope you will be able to join us for a town hall at 9 a.m. on September 18 where we will introduce the Roadmap 2020 Task Force and the opportunities for the community to be involved, and start a broader conversation around our most recent Roadmap Progress Report and Composition reports and the work that lies ahead. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion will provide more details on the event in the weeks ahead.
Johns Hopkins remains firmly committed to the values of our Roadmap and to the renewal of that commitment at this critical juncture in our collective history. We thank you in advance for your persistence and your courage in confronting the challenges we face together and engaging in the kind of hard, daily work required to make and sustain real change.
Sincerely,
Ronald J. Daniels
President
Sunil Kumar
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Roadmap 2020 Task Force Roster
The Roadmap 2020 Task Force Roster can be found here.
Roadmap 2020 Task Force Meeting Materials
Roadmap 2020 Task Force meeting materials can be found here.
Roadmap 2020 Task Force Frequently Asked Questions
More information to come, following the upcoming Town Hall to be held September 18, 2020.
