Efforts to Achieve Gender and Ethnic/Racial Diversity Among Public Health Faculties and Student Bodies

Transcription

1 Efforts to Achieve Gender and Ethnic/Racial Diversity Among Public Health Faculties and Student Bodies Public health professionals today must confront complex problems of an increasingly global community and must deal effectively with multicultural perspectives of increasingly diverse populations at home and around the world. This technical assistance paper focuses on efforts to achieve demographic diversity within the academic public health community, particularly related to gender and ethnic/racial diversity. The goal of achieving diversity presents challenges because of the complexity of the public health educational institutions, the wide variation in their missions, and the substantial differences in the capacity of schools and programs to succeed with this task. The purpose of this paper is to help schools and programs understand the expectations of the Council on Education for Public Health about diversity and help on-site evaluators and councilors assess the efforts of schools and programs to achieve diversity. This document does not establish new policy or amend existing policy, but provides assistance to CEPH constituents in making decisions that reflect the profession s continuing commitment to promoting diversity while balancing the many factors that impinge on this success. How can schools and programs document efforts to achieve racial and ethnic diversity among their faculty and students? Documentation that a school or program has made substantial, even if less than fully successful, efforts to achieve diversity should be included in the self-study document and may be considered by the site visit team in judging compliance with the accreditation criteria. Efforts should be described in specific terms and supported by evidence. The following discussion identifies ways a school or program may demonstrate efforts to achieve gender or ethnic/racial diversity, accompanied in italics by questions that may help the institution or on-site evaluators explore performance related to diversity. Appendix 1 identifies evidence that may be persuasive in assessing efforts. Institutional commitment: Schools and programs may express their commitment to recruiting, retaining, and promoting a diverse faculty and staff and recruiting and graduating a diverse student body in a number of ways. These include explicit references in mission statements, goals and objectives, value statements, and other public documents, such as catalogs and brochures. Does the university have effective equal opportunity and affirmative action policies? Do school and program documents expressly embrace a commitment to diversity? The manner in which a school or program organizes itself for administration or governance can provide evidence of institutional commitment to diversity. For example, the school or program can create an office or associate dean position dedicated to minority affairs; form a faculty committee on diversity; offer special seminars on multicultural topics; conduct periodic climate assessments of student, faculty, staff, and community opinions regarding ethnic and cultural concerns; and provide structured opportunities for students and faculty from diverse backgrounds to meet and interact with each other. Are there organizational structures through which diversity issues may be pursued on a This is a technical assistance paper, intended to be helpful to institutions seeking accreditation and to site visit teams in evaluating schools and programs. It is not a policy paper and does not supplant formally adopted criteria that guide the decision-making process of the Council on Education for Public Health. Interested parties should refer to Accreditation Criteria for Schools of Public Health, June 2005 or Accreditation Criteria for Public Health Programs, June 2005 for the accreditation criteria.

2 regular basis? What financial resources are committed by the university and the public health school or program to recruit and retain minority faculty and students? Notwithstanding that many universities have policies and practices prohibiting the appointment of their own graduates as faculty members, schools and programs should actively seek to develop young faculty members from among their own diverse student bodies. Schools and programs may need to work within their own universities to overcome institutional barriers to hiring qualified minority graduates. In any event, active efforts to develop and nurture young minority faculty members will, at the very least, enrich the pool of potential faculty members for all universities. Does the school or program have a formal mentoring program for minority students? How many doctoral graduates have accepted faculty positions here or elsewhere in the last 3 years? Faculty: A school or program's self-study should document its efforts regarding the recruitment, retention, and promotion of a diverse faculty. It is expected that recruitment will emphasize the importance of faculty diversity and show evidence that the position announcements have been systematically distributed in places likely to attract the attention of potential culturally diverse faculty members. Search announcements for biostatisticians, for example, might routinely be posted with the American Statistical Association's Committee on Minorities in Statistics, as well as distributed to traditional sources. Recruitment materials should reflect the school or program s commitment to seeking a diverse faculty and the process should maximize exposure of the recruitment announcements to reach a diverse applicant pool. Do recruitment policies and practices seek to enrich the pool of applicants? Are special efforts made to identify and welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds? The ability to add new full-time faculty positions may be constrained in schools and programs because of institutional resource limitations. The opportunity to change the faculty s composition may arise principally through attrition, a random event in many faculties. The best opportunity for expanding diversity may be through the creative involvement of adjunct and community faculty members in curriculum development and in implementing the public health education program. Schools and programs may include such faculty members in their demographic reports to CEPH only if the following 3 conditions are met: 1) data for this category of professionals are clearly differentiated from data on regular, full-time faculty, 2) these professionals have significant roles in the school or program, and 3) students have an opportunity to interact with these professionals, either in the classroom, or through internships or practice experiences. Adjunct faculty can serve as student mentors, thesis advisors, and guest lecturers. They can conduct special seminars or brown bag lunches on special topics related to public health practice and can participate in special events, such as orientation, public health week, and commencement. All of these activities can add to the perception of diversity on the public health campus. Does the school or program augment its full-time faculty with part-time or adjunct faculty who have diverse backgrounds? For schools and programs that successfully recruit a diverse faculty, the self-study should identify what is systematically done to enhance their ability to retain and promote faculty. Does the school or program, for example, have and utilize a faculty mentoring system? Are new faculty members counseled in a timely manner about what one needs to do to achieve promotion and tenure? Do reviews of faculty performance, aimed not only at reinforcing strengths but also at identifying areas in which further support is needed, occur on a regular basis? Is release time provided so that new faculty members can adequately prepare for teaching responsibilities and initiate research activities? 2

3 Do minority faculty have ample opportunity to prepare for promotion and tenure? Are faculty protected from serving on every committee and council that seeks to enhance its own diversity? Are minority faculty mentors, often especially effective as role models, given reasonable advising loads rather than becoming the focal point for advising all students of diverse backgrounds? Students: Students distinguish an educational endeavor from other types of institutions. Diversity of the student body, in and of itself, should not represent the sole commitment to diversity from an institution of higher learning. The ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the students can have a powerful effect on the relevance of the curriculum and the learning processes. The opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds to interact, solve problems, and work and study together more closely approximates the public health workplace than does an academic environment devoid of demographic differences. The school or program can make clear its commitment to the diversity of its student body by offering special programs during visiting days, encouraging minority student leadership, promoting a specialized research agenda and/or courses, and providing targeted scholarships and financial aid. Are student recruitment materials reflective of cultural diversity and welcoming to all population groups? Does the school or program take steps to resolve tensions that may arise among students and faculty because of different cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds? Are there formal processes for handling student grievances? Does the school or program provide access to English tutorials or English-as-a-second-language programs based upon the particular linguistic backgrounds of students? Staff: While the diversity of faculty is an important characteristic for academic public health, there are other complementary qualities of a school or program that embody the meaning of diversity. The administrative and support staffs, for example, play critical roles in students lives. They are the frontline contacts who help students navigate the university environment, including the bursar, financial aid, and registrar offices. In many cases, staff members become important emissaries between the faculty and the students. Are staff of the school or program supportive and/or representative of cultural and ethnic diversity? Are staff provided training and support services to deal effectively with diverse students? Curriculum: The curriculum represents the manner in which the science of public health is transmitted to students. It, too, should present the contributions of cultural and ethnic factors to the status of health, both domestically and internationally. The curriculum can be a powerful method of demonstrating efforts to achieve racial and ethnic diversity, especially when schools and programs can show how these issues are enhanced and reinforced across all coursework. In addition, the effective integration of research, service and teaching can reinforce efforts to prepare students for real world workforce challenges of eliminating health disparities. Are there courses, activities, or projects that provide students with opportunities to learn about disparities in health status and about the multicultural context of health? Are courses offered in cultural competency? Does the curriculum adequately prepare students to work in a diverse society? Has the school or program established specific learning objectives that address cultural diversity and health disparities for all professional degree curricula? Research and scholarly activities: The hallmark of a solid educational program is the production of new knowledge. A school or program can demonstrate a commitment to diversity through the scholarship of its faculty and students. Faculty members are able to demonstrate their commitment to scholarship through the ability to obtain grants, peer reviewed publications, unpublished manuscripts, 3

4 and presentations. Can the school or program demonstrate that faculty members have sought extramural support for the study of the role of diversity in health status? Have faculty published peer-reviewed articles that expand the intellectual discussions about health, race and ethnicity? Do theses, dissertations, and practica reports demonstrate that students have pursued opportunities to research and work with issues related to health disparities? Do students work with faculty whose research addresses racial and ethnic dimensions of public health? Is there evidence that faculty have sought opportunities for collaboration and participatory research in diverse communities? Community service: Community-based service activities, particularly those offered as organized programs in collaboration with ethnically diverse communities in the geographic area of the school or program, provide rich opportunities for exposing students to issues related to health disparities and for gaining first-hand experience in working with culturally diverse groups and individuals from varied backgrounds. Volunteer work with agencies that provide healthcare and other direct services to underserved populations expands the horizon of students in ways that class assignments may never be able to do. Do faculty members engage in service that is particularly relevant to health disparities and to diverse populations? Are there planned opportunities for involvement of students in community-based service activities? Do student organizations pursue volunteer service projects related to underserved populations? In conclusion, there are many ways that a school or program can demonstrate its commitment to achieving diversity within its own ranks and effectively preparing students to deal with health disparities and other complex public health problems in an increasingly diverse world. Site visit team members and the Council must use their collective judgment in evaluating the performance of a school or program against the accreditation criteria related to diversity, considering both performance against quantitative targets and qualitative efforts to achieve and sustain diversity in a variety of ways. Approved for distribution: July 31, 2002 Updated: November 7, 2005 Council on Education for Public Health 800 Eye Street, NW, Suite 202 Washington, DC Phone: (202) FAX: (202)

5 Appendix 1. Efforts to Achieve Diversity and Examples of Acceptable Evidence Mission, goals and objectives Value statement Organizational chart showing dean or office of minority affairs Standing or ad hoc committees devoted to minority affairs Recruitment materials Recruitment protocols emphasizing minority recruitment Special set-aside funds for minority recruitment Letters offering employment and responses Demographic data on applicant pool, offers and acceptances Demographic data on adjunct and community faculty Demographic comparisons of applicants, acceptances, enrollments Recruitment materials and protocols focusing on minorities Special programs for high school and undergraduate minorities Formal collaborative relationships with undergraduate colleges Formal collaborative relationships with HBUCs* and HACUs** English language preparation programs Demographic data on administrative, support staff Training programs for staff on cultural perspectives Institutional Commitment Faculty Students Staff University programs to advance a multicultural environment Organized efforts to increase pipeline of qualified faculty Number of doctoral graduates accepting faculty positions Demographic data on cross, joint or visiting appointments Special programs or events on multicultural issues Retention and promotion rates for minority faculty Description of minority mentoring programs Clear policies and procedures for advancement Resources and/or release time to establish research program Copies of counter offers to retain diverse faculty Tutoring and academic support services for students Sponsorship of and support for minority student organizations Number and amount of financial assistance available for students Mentoring programs for students by students, alumni, faculty Policies and procedures for settling disputes, reducing tensions Graduate rates and time-to-degree-completion by group Recognition awards for outstanding staff/student liaisons Schoolwide learning objectives re: cultural competence Curriculum Concentration-specific learning objectives: cultural competence Syllabi of courses focusing on health disparities Research, Scholarship Grant submissions re: multicultural issues and health disparities Publications/reports re: multicultural issues and health disparities Thesis/dissertation topics related to underserved populations Community-based research projects and publications Organized community service projects in neighborhoods Involvement of community-based organizations in school activities Community Service Student service requirements related to underserved populations Number and percent of practica in community-based organizations * Historically Black Universities and Colleges ** Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities 5