Santa Clara University

The overarching goal of the Provost's Council is to create and sustain an inclusive community striving for excellence. Specific goals include developing and implementing activities and structures that enhance an active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity - in people, in the curriculum, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, religious and geographical) with which individuals might connect in ways that increase one's awareness, content knowledge, cognitive sophistication, and empathic understanding of the complex ways individuals interact within systems and institutions.

The Council's first-year activities centered around: (1) developing the theme of "identity" to guide its efforts over the next three years, (2) developing programs for engaged dialogue in a broad array of campus settings, and (3) developing mechanisms for weaving inclusive excellence into the fabric of the University at all levels. Appreciation is expressed to the advisory councils and working committees collaborating with the Council.

1.  The Identity Theme
In Fall 2007 the Council established a theme to direct its efforts toward building an inclusive community. The theme is "Identity: Individuality, Community, Humanity: Exploring our identity to understand ourselves, others, and how we relate in the world." This theme captures the fundamental relationship between the dimensions of human identity, our community, and all of humanity. In Fall 2008, the Council established an Identity Grant Program to fund programming initiatives from faculty and staff and further support collaboration across the University for this theme. The Council will use this theme to develop and assess campus-wide programming over the next three years.

2.  Programs for Engaged Dialogue in a Broad Array of Campus Settings
The primary goal of programs for engaged dialogue is to provide students, faculty, and staff with opportunities for acquiring the knowledge and capacity to engage in civil discourse on topics related to identity, religion, sexuality, and cultural diversity. First year students, in particular, often arrive at SCU unprepared for the diversity of views and lifestyles represented on our campus. Developing communication skills that support multicultural understanding among staff, faculty, and students is especially crucial to creating an inclusive learning environment.

Examples of campus-wide programming for engaged dialogue:

• Central to the Identity theme, Kip Fulbeck's The Hapa Project will be featured at the de Saisset Museum and in programs on the campus in 2008-09. Fulbeck, a nationally recognized author, artist, filmmaker, and educator, is Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. (Once a derogatory label derived from the Hawaiian word for "half," Hapa has since been embraced as a term of pride by many whose mixed racial heritage includes Asian or Pacific Island descent. The Hapa Project provided a forum for Hapas to answer the question "What are you?" in their own words, presented with simple head-on portraits.)
• In Spring 2008, a Student Life Inclusive Excellence Brown Bag Series was implemented. The first two talks in the series were: "National Student Survey of Engagement (NSSE): Are Students of Color Engaged at SCU?" (May 8, 2008); and "Inclusive Excellence: Who's Included? Moving the Conversation Beyond Race" (June 5, 2008). The series will continue in 2008-09.
• In Fall 2008, the Office for Multicultural Learning will pilot a new Difficult Dialogue Series. The two discussions scheduled for the Fall are: Difficult Dialogue: When Race and Gender Hit Hot Buttons in the Student Press" (conversation facilitated by Sally Lehrman, Knight-Ridder Professor); and "Difficult Dialogue: Multi-Racial/Ethnic Identity" (conversation facilitated by Professor Aldo Billingslea, Theatre and Dance Department).

• In consultation with staff and students, Perspectives, a three-part peer-educator program was designed for student leaders to assist them in fostering an inclusive community at Santa Clara University. The program's three parts are (1) Exploring Perspectives, which focuses on exploring one's own social identity and multiple identities; (2) Understanding Perspectives, which focuses on developing an understanding of intergroup communication; and (3) Challenging Perspectives, which focuses on obtaining skills to engage in and challenge intergroup dialogue.

• The Committee on Multiculturalism in the Residential Learning Communities (RLCs) was formed in Spring 2008. Comprised of students, resident directors and faculty directors from the RLCs, its charge is to guide and support collaborative efforts to integrate diversity, multicultural learning and inclusive excellence across the RLCs and to contribute to the campus-wide theme of Identity. The Committee created a RLC newsletter called Don't Stall ... Celebrating Diversity. Its first issue was published in Spring 2008, and the second issue will be published in October 2008. The Committee also is launching the Dine and Discuss film series in Fall 2008.
• The Multicultural Learning Grant program was initiated in Fall 2007 to encourage students and student organizations to work together in fostering multicultural learning on campus. Programs and projects that received grants in 2007-08 include: Martin Luther King, Jr. Night; Tunnel of Oppression; and Engineering, Sustainability and Multicultural Education: A Journey to Nicaragua for Water and Life.
• The Office for Student Life is providing Inclusive Excellence workshops for the Student Life staff. An Inclusive Excellence workshop for Student Life staff is scheduled for November 12, 2008. (Professional development in the area of inclusive excellence was recommended to Student Life staff during their annual performance appraisal.)

• Diversity Web site. The Provost's Council facilitated the development of SCU's new Diversity Web site to make more visible the rich array of academic and co-curricular programs, research and scholarship, and student and staff activities on our campus associated with Santa Clara's commitment to upholding the values of inclusive excellence.
• Multicultural learning within the curriculum. The Provost's Council helped establish learning objectives for the Core Curriculum diversity requirement. It also established a Multicultural Reading Area, located on the second floor of the Learning Commons, Technology Center and Library. The reading area will feature books, periodicals, and other materials associated with diversity courses included in the new Core Curriculum, and it will be completed late in the Fall 2008 quarter.
• Admissions multicultural recruitment and outreach. The work of the Council informed and infused admissions and recruiting efforts in the following areas: increased the capacity of group visits from local high schools and access organizations, established multiethnic as a student category for self identification, and developed a stronger relationship with the Cristo Rey Network of schools.
  
• Inclusive Excellence Awards. The Provost's Council created two annual awards, one for faculty/staff/departments and another for students or student organizations. These awards, which were given for the first time in 2008, recognize a demonstrated commitment to enhancing an environment of inclusive excellence at SCU. Professor Francisco Jimenez (Modern Languages and Literatures) received the first Faculty Inclusive Excellence Award for encouraging faculty from all disciplines to engage in teaching, research, and service that enhances ethnic and racial diversity at SCU. Senior Ana Elizabeth Iten received the first annual Student Inclusive Excellence Award for work on the Residence Life staff and for being the driving force behind the Tunnel of Oppression project.
• Inclusive Excellence Roundtable. The Provost's Council established an Inclusive Excellence Roundtable in Fall 2008 to identify best practices for faculty recruitment. Professor Allen Hammond, a faculty member from the law school who is a member of the Council, chairs the Roundtable. Important goals of the Roundtable include identifying shared norms and best practices to guide the campus and enhancing the University's efforts to further diversify its recruitment and candidate pools and ultimately its faculty.

• Inclusive Excellence Student Advisory Council. An Inclusive Excellence Student Advisory Council was established to serve in an advisory capacity to the Provost's Council on Inclusive Excellence. Its role is to communicate to the Provost's Council students' perspectives on issues related to inclusive excellence; to share information on inclusive excellence from their respective organizations; and to provide a channel of communication from the Provost's Council to their respective organizations. The Student Advisory Council is composed of student representatives from graduate and undergraduate organizations that have elected representatives. Its members will be selected by and from the elected representatives in a given academic year.