“Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon?” asks Dr. Walidah Imarisha

At the NCORE (the National Conference on Race and ethnicity in American Higher Education) conference in Portland last week, I heard Walidah Imarisha give the opening keynote address, “Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon? A Hidden History.” Her presentation was enormously compelling as it brought that hidden history into the open for the 5000 people attending the conference. A few salient facts she presented: the Oregon Territory (which included not only what is now the state of Oregon, but also Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) passed a law in 1844 excluding black people from living in the Oregon Territory. When the state of Oregon was admitted to the United States in 1859, it became the only state admitted to the Union with a racial exclusion law in its constitution. That language, excluding black people from living in Oregon, was not removed from the state constitution until 2002. That’s not a typo. That language was not removed until the 21st century.

I wish everyone from WSU Vancouver could have attended this keynote. Fortunately, Dr. Imarisha has a timeline which she presents on YouTube, from which her keynote address was drawn. I recommend that everyone check it out. It’s good for all of us to know the hidden history of the place we live, so that we can all work toward turning that history around to make the Pacific Northwest a place of racial equity and inclusion, and do it now, not wait until the 22nd century.

Diversity is a fact…equity is a goal

I recently heard a speaker quote something that I really appreciated: “Diversity is a fact, inclusion is a practice and equity is a goal.” This comes from a tweet from  @TonyaMosley. Mosley is the Silicon Valley Bureau Chief for KQED, a PBS station.

Here’s what I particularly like about this quote: in light of the propensity to raise questions over the value of diversity and whether we need diversity, Mosley succinctly reminds us that diversity is a fact, whatever our perspective on it might be.

Crucially, though, she then takes us farther, to inclusion and equity, which are important concepts for WSU Vancouver. I think it’s worth thinking deeply about the idea of inclusion as a practice. A practice is something that is customary, habitual, and expected. I call on us all to work to make our behaviors toward others inclusive as a custom and a habit. We can develop these behaviors consciously so that they then become habits. And I would love for our campus to become a place where people from underrepresented and historically undervalued identities can expect inclusion as a practice.

Finally, equity is a goal. We have incorporated equity as a literal goal in our campus strategic plan, and it is a goal that we need to work seriously and mindfully to achieve. As one step toward that goal, I invite all campus community members to take part in the Building a Community of Equity (BaCE) program. Information about BaCE can be found here.

Finally, I want to echo what Chancellor Netzhamer said in his campus update last week when he called on us to do the hard work to improve the ways in which we “call out, condemn and address instances of white supremacy, racism and discrimination on our campus.”

Diversity is a fact. Our campus community is becoming increasingly diverse, and will continue to do so as we move forward into the coming decades. Inclusion is a practice that will make a stronger campus community, as well as a stronger nation and world as we create the circumstances in which all people can develop their talents and contribute to their highest potential. Equity is a goal. It’s a goal that we must commit to and continue striving towards through the hard work and re-learning that it will take. I’m committed. And I hope each of you will commit, as well.

Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Equity

Thanks to the work of our Campus Director of Equity and Diversity, Dr. Obie Ford III, WSU Vancouver has established a new Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Equity. This is a high-profile award that will be presented at Commencement. Here are the details:

The Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Equity honors a full-time WSU Vancouver faculty or staff member for excellence in building and expanding a community of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging on campus. The award recognizes this individual’s outstanding and impactful service to WSU Vancouver through contributions to realizing one or more of the following objectives from Goal 4 of the WSU Vancouver strategic plan to ensure equitable opportunities and outcomes for all student populations; infuse equity-mindedness throughout the fabric of the campus structure and create capacity to work toward equity in all aspects of campus endeavors; and/or build and maintain a safe and welcoming environment for all students and employees.

Criteria:

Nominees will have established specific procedures, practices and/or initiatives that advance equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging at WSU Vancouver in relation to any one of the following Goal 4 objectives. The award committee will rate each nomination based on the criteria below. It is crucial that nominators submit thorough nominations that describe how the nominee meets the award criteria. While completing all three categories of criteria is not required to submit a nomination, nominators should be aware and mindful that each category is interconnected. Therefore, the quality of the nomination is improved by providing as much relevant information about the nominee in each category as possible. The committee for the Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Equity will rate nominations on the following criteria:

1. Ensure equitable opportunities and outcomes for all student populations.

(Any of the following meets this category)

• Practices/initiatives that support equity of outcomes in outreach, recruitment, retention or graduation.
• Partners with culturally specific organizations to increase student access and understand needs of underrepresented students.
• Identifies/obtains grant funding to increase capacity for services to underrepresented students.

2. Infuse equity-mindedness throughout the fabric of the campus structure and create capacity to work toward equity in all aspects of campus endeavors. (Any of the following meets this category)

• Provides ongoing professional development related to equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.
• Ensures equity and diversity values in campus-wide activities.

3. Build and maintain a safe and welcoming environment for all students and employees.

(Any of the following meets this category)

• Develops and supports initiatives that promote dialogue around climate, equity and diversity issues.
• Participates in the BaCE professional development program.
• Implements campus supports to improve retention of underrepresented faculty and staff.

For more information about this award and to nominate an eligible WSU Vancouver faculty or staff member, visit the website.

If you have questions about this award, please feel free to contact the committee chair, Obie Ford III: obie3.ford@wsu.edu.

Associate Vice Chancellor Search

As many of you know, June Canty will be retiring after this academic year. June has led our student success efforts in Academic Affairs over the five years she’s spent in this position, and she will be missed. We’ve launched the search for a new Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs.  A brief description and link to the full job posting appears below. The application deadline is January 21.

This position supports the Vice Chancellor in the achievement of the academic mission and vision of WSU Vancouver. The Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs (AVCAA) has major responsibilities within the areas of student success, institutional research and strategic planning, academic planning, and assessment. WSU Vancouver is part of the Washington State University system, which operates as one university geographically dispersed. The AVCAA works with constituents, including Student Affairs, on the Vancouver campus, and also serves as a liaison with the Pullman campus. The successful candidate will qualify for tenure at the rank of Professor.

For more information, please see:

https://admin.vancouver.wsu.edu/human-resources/employment/jobs/associate-vice-chancellor-academic-affairs

 

 

New Name: Council on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

The campus organization formerly known as the Diversity Council has changed its name to better represent its mission and to align with Vancouver’s strategic initiatives. It will now be called the Council on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Look for more updates from the CEDI coming soon.

Week of Welcome

Thanks to everyone who participated in Wave the Flag on Monday of last week, who wore their blue t-shirts and/or their “Ask me” buttons to help get the semester off to an energetic start last week. It was great to see colleagues at the Welcome Back BBQ on Wednesday, as well.

Welcome back for Fall 2018!

Hello, faculty and staff colleagues, and welcome to the start of fall semester 2018. First, I’d like to ask you all to help us be sure that all students who should be registered are registered, so that we can capture our FTE accurately. Having all our students registered in all their classes is important for us, so that our FTE is reflected correctly–a process that has budgetary implications for the campus. Census day is a week from Friday–August 31–and the earlier we have all students registered the better, as we track our FTE on a daily basis, and right now our FTE is not up as much as we expected it to be at this point in the registration process.

In other news, earlier this month I celebrated my 5 year anniversary as Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at WSU Vancouver. I’m feeling good about my time here, and will have some more to say in future posts about the changes we’ve made over the past five years.

Go Cougs!

Congratulations to Renee Hoeksel

Renee Hoeksel, Professor of Nursing, is this year’s winner of the V. Lane Rawlins Distinguished Lifetime Service Award. This award honors individuals who have given a substantial part of their career to advancing WSU through excellent service and have demonstrated great personal commitment to the university and community.

One of WSU Vancouver’s founding faculty, Dr. Hoeksel started her career with us in the fall of 1990, when the campus was located in Bauer Hall at Clark College. She has been working to create, grow, and develop the excellence of the Nursing program and the campus ever since. Among her many contributions, she served as a leader in the development of the statewide Direct Transfer Agreement that provides seamless articulation for students to transfer to BSN programs in the state following completion of an Associate’s degree in nursing, which seeks to fulfill the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation to increase the proportion of nurses with a bachelor’s degree to 80% by 2020. Dr. Hoeksel also provided leadership in the development of the Masterplan for Nursing Education. In 2008, the Hoeksel Award for RN/BSN Student Achievement was created on the Vancouver campus to honor the values that Dr. Hoeksel has promoted throughout her career.

In her nomination letter for this award, Dr. Linda Eddy, Vancouver Academic Director and Associate Dean in the College of Nursing, wrote: “Her capable leadership has had a profound influence on the College of Nursing, the WSU Vancouver campus, the University, the nursing profession, and patient and population health outcomes. She did this through active and skilled engagement with leaders across the university, the Vancouver community, and health professionals throughout the state and region.”

The Vancouver campus, Washington State University, and the State of Washington have benefited from Dr. Hoeksel’s advocacy and service, and I’m delighted to be able to congratulate her on receiving this significant recognition of that service.

 

Oscar Vazquez speaks as part of Common Read

Last night our campus was fortunate to host Oscar Vazquez, one of the team of young roboticists featured in this year’s Common Read book Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream. Mr. Vazquez spoke about having been brought to the U.S. by his parents when he was a child, the events that led him to the robotics team at Carl Hayden High School, and how that team went on to win the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition, beating the MIT team and other college teams. He talked about getting a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona State University, then returning to Mexico to attempt to re-enter the U.S. legally and begin a path to citizenship, and the enormous setbacks and hurdles involved in that process. After his return, he joined the military, served in Afghanistan, then began his current career with the BNSF railraod. He has testified before Congress regarding DACA, and showed as part of his presentation a photo of

of himself and former President Obama at the White House. Following his talk, there was a lively Q&A session with the audience.

At the reception following the talk, Mr. Vazquez interacted with Vancouver students, iTech prep students and teachers, and community members. It was clear that his presence engaged our students and community in significant and meaningful ways.

My thanks go to Oscar Vazquez for coming to our campus, to the Diversity Council for sponsoring the event, and to Suzanne Smith for coordinating the event as part of the Common Read program.

 

Adverse Weather Statement

Just when we thought the winter was going to pass without significant snow and ice, it started snowing at the beginning of this week. And while the campus is truly beautiful when decorated with snow:

the weather can cause disruptions for faculty, staff and students traveling to campus. So I just wanted to remind everyone about the adverse weather statement we adopted last year, and to encourage faculty to include the syllabus statement in their syllabi so students have guidance about what to do in circumstances such as we’ve been experiencing this week.