Roadmap 2020 Task Force Recommendations Feedback

1. In order to reconfigure data systems and structures to be more inclusive, Johns Hopkins should identify and implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that allows for tracking of alumni demographic data points.

2. JHU should commission a full study of the alumni experience for under-represented groups. Based on the results of the study, JHU should produce a report on the drivers of under-engagement among alumnus from these groups.

3. JHU should hold a regular DEI Summit for the entire JHU community that highlights the work of alumni, students, staff, and faculty. The DEI Summit is also a vehicle for the university to share updates on the progress of DEI efforts.

4. JHU should design a framework of networks to ensure equitable outcomes for all alumni.

5. Specify community engagement as a priority in the institution’s mission, vision statement, strategic plans, and accreditation documents, as well as at the divisional levels.

6. Establish an institution-wide definition and guiding principles for community engagement.

7. Hire a Vice Provost for Community Engagement and establish a university-level Office of Institutional Community Engagement, for the purpose of coordination, accountability, and measuring impact. This office would work closely with the leaders of existing Institutes, Centers and Programs to establish an Institutional Community Engagement Steering Committee (including community members) to support and advance community engagement that would develop a broad vision and set of institution-wide signature initiatives focused on community-engagement. These initiatives will elevate, expand upon, and synergize existing programs as well as introduce innovative approaches to meeting community-identified priorities where the University can leverage its resources (e.g., education, employment, economic development, health).

8. Demonstrate how the institution invests its financial resources externally in the community for purposes of community engagement and community development.

• Describe the sources of funding, percentage of budget or dollar amount, and how it is used
• Use a transparent and participatory decision-making process regarding resource allocation that includes JHU and community stakeholders
• Describe the impact of the institutional investments

9. Catalogue current professional development supports around community engagement for faculty, staff, and community partners and identify gaps and areas for further development.

10. Expand funding and mentorship for the development of community engagement courses and co-curricular opportunities.

11. Provide professional development for Deans, Department Chairs, and senior faculty who review faculty applications for recruitment and promotion – on how to evaluate faculty scholarly work that uses community-engaged approaches and methods

12. Develop guidance for updating institutional policies for promotion and tenure to ensure that these policies recognize and reward scholarly work that uses community engaged approaches and methods.

13. Develop recruitment policies and practices designed to encourage the hiring of faculty with expertise in and commitment to community engagement.

14. Expand real-world efforts for students to work with community partners through academic and co-curricular opportunities (in line with guiding principles).

15. Elevate student service and recognition for values-based community engagement efforts through awards, scholarships, and stipends.

16. Develop institutional competencies and learning outcomes for students’ community engagement activities that may be tailored by School and discipline.

17. Fund Services that Provide Internal Staff Career Development

18. Create a university-wide JH Staff Council as a mechanism for staff to participate and advise in policies and initiatives that affect staff.  Create Staff Council for all schools and divisions with a reporting structure to the main JH Staff Council.

19. Require all Schools and Divisions develop and implement a strategic Diversity Leadership Plan (DLP) with concrete annual goals and obtainable timelines to increase advancement of staff of color (Black/African American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, American Indian and Asian), with a focus on increasing representation & retention in the Executive/Administrative and Managerial Employee Groups (I.e. Level 2 to 3 and/or Level 3 to 4).  Goals will expand to staff having different backgrounds to include, disabilities and LGBTQ.  The DLPs would be annually reviewed (by ODI/OIE with input by Human Resources and the Staff Senate) and should be posted publicly (summary).

20. Expand the curriculum and enforce compliance of Hopkins Essentials supervisor/manger training to support equitable recruitment, performance management, and staff development. Set a priority of one year for completion of training related to performance feedback and career development.  Ensuring that early training will improve performance feedback and employee development.

21. Continue the Target of Opportunity Program (TOP) with a focus on junior Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BiPOC) faculty members who are: (a) included in a comprehensive mentoring program involving their school and department aimed at launching a successful academic career; (b) connected to other BiPOC faculty members from across the university to build a community; and (c) provided with leadership training appropriate for their seniority as faculty members.

22. Establish funds in the Provost’s Office to support cluster faculty hiring in support of clearly identified programs.

23. Continue the FDI Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows (PPF) program with the following enhancements: PPFs to be funded for 2 years; PPFs to be connected to a broad group of BIPOC peers across the university; PPFs to receive discipline specific mentoring from senior faculty members; expanded training in leadership, career counseling, and the business of academia.

24. Through external fundraising to focus on equity and retention, the University would implement a student loan repayment program for up to 20 junior BiPOC faculty and 10 postdocs.

25. Establish an ongoing ala carte and longitudinal modular leadership program for self-selected junior and mid-career faculty addressing a broad range of toolkit topics relevant to academic success while incorporating BIPOC intersection-specific perspectives. 

26. Establish a year-long BIPOC intersection-specific executive leadership curriculum for BIPOC faculty concurrently participating in the Provost commissioned University-wide Executive Leadership Program. The University-wide Executive Program will have allotted slots for participation of BIPOC selected candidates. Recruitment and selection criteria will be determined by FDI leadership to achieve university wide participation, along with previous participation in modular curriculum (Recommendation 5).

27. Establish and build multi-faculty communities that are complimentary and equitable spaces that will foster academic excellence and professional connections (BCES).

28. Establish equitable multi-faculty spaces to foster academic exchange and excellence, to build inclusion and a sense of belonging to encompass BIPOC, URM and majority communities. 

29. Develop and implement Faculty advising and Faculty mentoring activities by establishing a University-wide Faculty Advancement Preceptor Program (FAAP).

30. Obtain and commit resources to support a suite of career strengthening options to help Schools to ensure faculty members from underrepresented demographic groups inclusive of race/ethnicity/gender, e.g. SGM, disabilities, can excel.

31. Create the faculty information systems to track faculty hiring, faculty demographics, faculty progress through their ranks, faculty success in leadership positions and other parameters to enable the periodic execution of equity studies.

32. Establish expertise in the hiring of diverse faculty, particularly BIPOC faculty members in STEM disciplines, that can be shared with the Schools and provide a resource for search committees and for Associate Deans for Diversity.

33. Hire an Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development who will be, or who will become, an expert in the specific domain of how to locate, groom for hiring, hire, recruit and on-board BIPOC faculty members across all disciplines with an emphasis on high-need areas like STEM.

Graduate

34. JHU should invest in summer and 1-2-year post-baccalaureate pipeline or pathways programs, by both creating programs in new areas and expanding training slots in existing, successful programs.

35. JHU should centrally host an internal competitive award program whereby faculty can create new pipeline programs in academic areas –e.g., humanities and social sciences– where diversity numbers are low and where few such programs exist at JHU;

36. JHU should create a flagship, first of its kind, nationally visible math and quantitative sciences post-bac “bridge to PhD” program that combines relevant coursework, research experiences, and networking for 20-25 talented recent college graduates annually in preparation for PhD programs in math, biostatistics, computer science, and other quantitative PhD studies;

37. JHU should fund additional training slots in existing, successful, externally funded JHU pipeline programs with records of good research experiences, good mentoring, and good placements.

38. JHU should hire staff, centrally, to a) promote the visibility of graduate student affinity and networking groups to prospective, admitted, and current graduate students through multiple forms of outreach and media; and b) improve the viability of student affinity and networking groups through basic infrastructure support, provision of “counterspaces” and minimal budgets.

39. JHU should create structures and associated supports to ensure that every graduate student from a group underrepresented at JHU has a) access, if they desire, to someone to serve on their mentoring team or thesis committee from a shared identity background and b) “touch points” during their time at JHU with at least 10 other more senior professionals from a shared identity background in their or a related field. 

40. JHU should raise philanthropy for Merit fellowships for PhD students from backgrounds underrepresented in the academy:

41. JHU should provide needs-based relocation funds for incoming graduate students.  

42. JHU should compensate or otherwise reward underrepresented students who are asked to devote disproportionate, significant time to furthering JHU’s diversity goals. 

43. JHU should implement cohort-based or umbrella program admissions in laboratory sciences rather than direct to lab or direct to PI admissions. 

Undergraduate

44. Collect and publish disaggregated student racial and ethnic data 

45. Develop a comprehensive plan to improve and enhance disability support for faculty, students, and staff that includes some of the following features:

• Include disability in metrics of diversity and inclusion.
• More effectively support students and faculty/staff with disabilities.
•  Incorporate accessibility into our standard operating procedures by creating advisory groups to assess and inform practices, draft guidelines, and determine resources needed to create inclusive environments.
• Ensure disability inclusion is clearly communicated to the Johns Hopkins community.

46. Require all undergraduate students to complete two courses related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and integrate diversity and equity topics and concepts into disciplines and majors.

47. Create a central, physical space in the new student center for staff representation from the Centers for Diversity to foster opportunities for cross-cultural engagement of DEI organizations.

48. Recruit, retain, and hire a diverse faculty and staff that mirrors the composition of the student body and provide professional development opportunities for all faculty to enhance their knowledge of diversity and inclusion best practices in relationships with students both inside and outside the classroom

49. Increase resources for diversity and inclusion by increasing funding for DEI Offices and creating equitable, transparent funding for student groups.

50. Develop a web-based platform to highlight and centralize programs, initiatives, best practices and DEI content for students, faculty, and staff.

51. Ensure all students understand the importance of DEI by expanding and strengthening the curriculum of the current Identity and Inclusion Workshops and including DEI related questions in all interviews for incoming students in all programs throughout the university.

52. Combine current separate multicultural programs into one interdisciplinary studies department.

53. Johns Hopkins and its units should develop and publish a statement of core values, mission and principles. These should include values around diversity, inclusion, and accountability for inclusive excellence.

54. Strategic plans for the university and units should include plans for advancing diversity and inclusion, adherence to the core values, mission and principles, and mechanisms for accountability.

55. All members of the JHU community should embrace their efforts to advance diversity and inclusion in the context of their job functions and in their annual reporting.

56. Each organizational unit (school, department, center, division, institute) should include the status of diversity and inclusion in an annual presentation or town hall and publicly available report.

57. Each organizational unit should promote discussion and feedback from its members in order to advance its culture and climate of diversity and inclusion.

58. The annual Unit goals and objectives submitted to the Provost’s office should include the report on diversity and inclusion.

59. Annual reporting of goals and objectives on diversity and inclusion should be submitted as part of the annual submission of unit goals and objectives up through to the Provost’s office, subject to the same level of review and scrutiny, and be coordinated with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

60. Institutional accountability must be managed with intentionality at all levels and coordinated in partnership with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The university should elevate the position of Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion as a member of the President’s cabinet to manage and account diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion should have sufficient staff resources to manage accountability across all units, and ensure that the policies and procedures are adjusted accordingly

61. All units should have sufficient staff resources to support the Diversity and Inclusion efforts, and a point of contact with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

62. Accountability and assessment of recommendations from all working groups should be proposed by the working groups themselves.

63. All members of the JH community engage in ongoing diversity/equity/inclusion education as a part of their continual development. This education is a central and expected priority across JHU that leads to a supportive, inclusive climate.

64. Individuals within ODI support and develop diversity educators who are embedded within each of the divisions.

65. JH provides a wide range of educational opportunities that reach different populations, skill-levels, and learning modes. Educational opportunities meet needs identified by the JH community and anticipate future needs.