2040 Strategic Planning

In November 2019, the Division for Equity and Inclusion (DEI) was charged by Provost Holloway to lead a process to provide diversity input to the UNM 2040 Strategic Plan.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic exerted great impact on UNM shortly thereafter. DEI responded appropriately but still had the bandwidth to continue to work on the diversity input to the UNM Strategic Plan. We collected input from November 2019-May 2021 from hundreds of stakeholders: DEI staff, the UNM Diversity Council, UNM LEAD Council, the UNM Staff Council, the Staff Council Diversity Committee, HSC, Branch Campuses, and UNM colleges, departments, schools, and other units. We produced a summary document on July 14, 2021, titled, “Recommendations from the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion taskforce”, led by UNM Division for Equity & Inclusion”. 

After completing this process, DEI joined the process led by the NAPA group. VPEI Assata Zerai served on the Inclusive Excellence Taskforce as chair and invited Pam Agoyo to serve as co-chair. They met with 20+ taskforce members to discuss each of the objectives within the Inclusive Excellence Goal over fall 2021. And they produced a comprehensive document, in addition to the initial 40-page report produced in July 2021. The new document, titled, “UNM 2040 Opportunity Defined: Report from the Goal 3. Inclusive Excellence (IE) Taskforce” summarized detailed input, operationalizations of the 7 objectives, specific tactics for achieving each of the objectives, recommended timelines for completion of tactics, and metrics to measure success. This 90-page document, which incorporated the initial July 14th report was submitted November 20, 2021.

Now that the UNM 2040 Strategic Planning Overview has been published, VPEI Assata Zerai proudly serves as the Goal 3-Inclusive Excellence Champion. She looks forward to gathering her implementation team members and defining short-term objectives. In DEI, we feel fortunate that we already have a head start on our plans to implement the inclusive excellence goal at UNM, especially in the areas of faculty diversity and inclusive climate.

Goal Three

Inclusive Excellence:

Utilize an equity and inclusion lens to expand opportunity, cultivate the potential of students, faculty and staff, create new knowledge, and provide service to all New Mexicans by leveraging our assets as a highly research-intensive university and health system.

OBJECTIVES

Objective 1

Overview:

Ensure UNM is inherently inclusive, accessible to most and readily accommodating to all students, staff, faculty, and community members.

Tactical Activities:
  • Activity 1: Administer and Analyze Survey to Faculty with Disabilities
  • Activity 2: Share results of Survey to Faculty with Disabilities
  • Activity 3: Design interventions on the basis of Survey to Faculty with Disabilities

Objective 2

Overview:

Strengthen the equity and inclusion infrastructure across the University through enhanced coordination and communication.

Tactical Activities:
  • Activity 1: Design new DEI website
  • Activity 2: VPEI convenes monthly with the Diversity Council during the academic year
  • Activity 3: VPEI convenes monthly with the LEAD Council of associate deans for diversity during the academic year
  • Activity 4: Establish the UNM Student Diversity Council
  • Activity 5: VPEI Meetings with UNM Deans and Chancellors annually

Objective 3

Overview:

Focus on faculty and staff diversity, recruitment, retention, professional development, and career advancement and success, to address historical and current injustices and inequities.

Tactical Activities:
  • Activity 1: Streamline 2040 Goal 3 and Objective 3 and Alliance of HSRUs goal to increase Hispanic professoriate by 20, by continuing in UNM’s efforts to increase tenure-system faculty who are Hispanic, Black, and Indigenous, by 25% each.
    Measurement: 2040 goal is to increase proportions of URM tenure-system faculty at UNM by 2027. See: http://oia.unm.edu/facts-and-figures/dei-benchmarking-goals.html
  • Activity 2: SEnsure UNM faculty and executive search committees are informed about how to reduce implicit bias in their decision making, selection and interview processes;
    Measurement: 90% of faculty and executive search committee members have completed DiversityEdu course.
  • Activity 3: Build a pathway to the professoriate with our IE postdoc program. Measurement: we expect to hire 2 postdocs a year from 2020-2025. Early Spring 2023 update: we have already hired 8 new postdocs at UNM since 2020 who demonstrate high potential to serve as assistant professors.
  • Activity 4: IE hires. Tenure-granting academic departments which have hired IE postdocs, have access to the IE hiring program.
    Measurement: By 2027, we aim to hire at least 10 URM tenure-system faculty. Early Spring 2023 update: two IE postdocs have already been converted to faculty positions as assistant professors.
  • Activity 5: Keep our faculty through professional and scholarly development opportunities. NCFDD institutional membership has been purchased for UNM.
    Measurement: we seek 1000 UNM members of the NCFDD. Spring 2023 update: we currently have [#] NCFDD members
  • Activity 6: Keep our faculty through professional and scholarly development opportunities. NCFDD hosts a Faculty Success Program (FSP). DEI provides scholarships to FSP for ABQ-Main and HSC faculty annually. Spring 2023 update: we currently have ___ faculty who have participated in the NCFDD FSP
  • Activity 7: Address historical and current injustices and inequities among URM and other minoritized faculty. [Note see Objective 1 for this work among Faculty with Disabilities.]
  • Activity 8: Address historical and current injustices and inequities among URM and other minoritized staff.
  • Activity 9: Analyze hiring and promotional patterns among UNM staff.
  • Activity 10: Design interventions to addressing hiring and promotional inequities among UNM staff.

Objective 4

Overview:

Assess UNM’s inclusive climate across all UNM sites to document and address concerns and actively work to evolve cultural humility and literacy within our communities.

Tactical Activities:
  • Activity 1:   Administer UNM Climate Surveys to students at ABQ-Main, Law, and Branch campuses
  • Activity 2: Administer UNM Climate Surveys to staff at ABQ-Main, Law, and Branch campuses
  • Activity 3: Administer UNM Climate Surveys to faculty at ABQ-Main, Law, and Branch campuses
  • Activity 4: Analyze UNM Climate Surveys to students, faculty, and staff (summer 2023
  • Activity 5: Disseminate result to UNM Climate Surveys to students, faculty, and staff at ABQ-Main, Law, and Branch campuses (fall 2023-spring 2024)
  • Activity 6: Administer UNM Climate Surveys to students, faculty, and staff at HSC (fall 2023)
  • Activity 7: Analyze results to UNM Climate Surveys to students, faculty, and staff at HSC (spring 2024)
  • Activity 8: Disseminate result to UNM Climate Surveys to students, faculty, and staff at HSC (summer-fall 2024)
  • Activity 9: Training Activities

Objective 5

Overview:

Increase student persistence by improving the learning environments and inspiring students at Branch campuses to consider four-year degrees.

Tactical Activities:
  • Activity 1: Enhance mentoring for URM students at UNM. HHMI—pilot a mentoring program for first-year students
  • Activity 2: Streamline 2040 Goal 3 and Objective 5 and Alliance of HSRUs goal to double Hispanic doctoral student enrolment, through analyzing doctoral student demographic composition by race and ethnicity and doctoral degree conferral rates by race and ethnicity (& by analyzing both intersectionally, possibly by race, ethnicity, gender and first-generation college status)
  • Activity 3: Analyze undergraduate student demographic composition, persistence, and 6-year graduation rates (baccalaureate degrees) intersectionally by race, ethnicity, gender and first-generation college status
  • Activity 4: Identify structural barriers to undergrad and doctoral student persistence intersectionally, by race, ethnicity, gender and first-generation college status
  • Activity 5: Identify structural interventions to improve undergrad and doctoral student persistence intersectionally, by race, ethnicity, gender and first-generation college status
  • Activity 6: Trainings with faculty and staff to improve learning environments at UNM
  • Activity 7: Analysis of pathways from Branch campuses to 4-year degrees and beyond; design appropriate interventions; and assess efforts