SELLERS: Thank You for the Privilege to be Part of this Team | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

To the University Community,

As I began to write this letter, my last as Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion & Chief Diversity Officer, I found myself overtaken by an array of emotions – nostalgia, pride, optimism, immense gratitude, and even a little sadness.

I am extremely proud of the progress that we have made as a university community to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive. Thousands of individuals across our campus have worked to ensure that the University of Michigan is a place where everyone has an equitable opportunity to succeed and contribute to the University’s mission, and our greater society, through excellence in our teaching, learning, scholarly inquiry and service missions.

The highlight of my time in the role has been the opportunity to work with so many outstanding individuals. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with the great team in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI), who have been beyond amazing in their efforts to make this University a better place. They have been great friends and colleagues. I am also very grateful for the opportunity to work with many individuals and groups dedicated to the principles of justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, including our DEI leads, my advisory boards, organizations, University officials, and so many different members of the University of Michigan community. This position has provided me with an opportunity to meet so many committed staff, faculty and students all across our campus.

I am both thankful and humbled by the progress we have all made in the University’s DEI journey. We, as a University, have accomplished a great number of things. Perhaps most audacious has been our first five-year DEI strategic plan (DEI 1.0). In the fall of 2016, we launched the plan as a bold, University-wide commitment to sustained institutional and cultural change. The plan involved every corner of the University enterprise and provided every member of the campus community an opportunity for input into the plan. The structure and process of DEI 1.0 was revolutionary and has now become a model throughout higher education.

The fact that we have committed to another five-year DEI strategic plan (DEI 2.0) is evidence that the University recognizes DEI is imperative to the service of our mission. The commitment to DEI 2.0 also demonstrates our growing understanding that institutional inequity and injustice demands a sustained commitment to combat, and ultimately dismantle, it. These are insights that I believe our University as a whole was incapable of at the start of DEI 1.0.

Our DEI strategic planning processes helped to stimulate hundreds of successful programs, projects and initiatives across our campus that have had an important impact on who we are and how we work together. During this time, we’ve developed and implemented inclusive teaching programs, established the Go Blue Guarantee, worked closely with the student community on the development of the new Trotter Multicultural Center, established gender-based and sexual misconduct prevention training, collaborated with the Student IDEA board to develop more inclusive and accessible facilities, created an Ombudsperson position focused specifically on staff needs and many more accomplishments throughout our initial diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan process.

I am especially proud of the founding of the Wolverine Pathways program, which has provided supplemental educational opportunities to the University of Michigan for students in Ypsilanti, Southfield and Detroit. These examples are a small, yet impactful sample of the more than 2,700 actions that were achieved throughout DEI 1.0 to make the University more diverse, equitable and inclusive.

While we have made tremendous progress over the past few years, there is still a lot more to be done—this is to be expected. Real sustainable, institutional change is never easy, simple nor quick. Even with all of our accomplishments to date, we have not progressed at the same rate across our entire institution. While I have seen remarkable, transformative progress in some areas of the University, there are still other areas where the progress has not been what we wanted. Also, progress never happens in a linear manner. History has taught us that sometimes we must take two steps back after taking three steps forward.

The last eight years have been very tumultuous in many ways relevant to issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice for both the University and our society. Many members of our community have felt they have been unjustly under attack because of one or more of their identities. These feelings of injustice and distrust have resulted in both unprecedented activism, as well as a general sense of anomie and malaise across our community that has too often drained our capacity to extend grace to one another. Although I cannot recall ever seeing our campus or our larger society in such a state of mistrust, I remain optimistic about our future.

First, I believe that we, as individuals, have the ability to address the problem of a lack of grace. This is not an institutional or structural challenge. It is instead an individual challenge that each and every one of us has the capacity to resolve. We simply must be willing to give other people the same grace that we would expect others to provide us. This is especially true for those with whom we vehemently disagree. We must remember that DEI does not mean harmony or consensus. By definition, diversity requires divergent perspectives, positions and beliefs. Equity and inclusion are all about ensuring that the heterogeneity of the human spirit can happen in a manner free of bias and exclusion.

Second, given the significant progress the University has made under these most difficult times, I cannot wait to see the progress that will be made under a different zeitgeist. I see DEI 2.0 as having an exponentially greater impact than DEI 1.0. We now benefit from so much more experience, knowledge and infrastructure than we had at the beginning of our journey. DEI 1.0 was innovative, and we were building the plane as we were flying. When we started this process, we had a vision of what we wanted to achieve. We now have a vision of what we want to do and a road map to do it.

Finally, my optimism regarding the future is based on perhaps the greatest achievement of DEI 1.0. We have institutionalized the goal of becoming a more diverse, equitable and inclusive university committed to DEI 2.0. In doing so, we recognize and embrace that to be a better institution, we must become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. We also recognize that historic structural barriers exist in our practices, procedures and policies, which have not afforded everyone equitable access to the University, success at the University, nor the opportunity to contribute to the University. DEI 2.0 represents the University’s acknowledgment that in order to make a long-term, self-reinforcing systemic change, we must constantly work to be better. DEI is not an initiative tied to a single chief diversity officer, provost, or president. It is now part of the culture of the University of Michigan.

As I have stated often, our efforts are neither a sprint nor a marathon. They are a relay. It has been my great privilege to have had the opportunity to carry the baton for these past eight years. Now I happily pass the baton to my outstanding successor—Tabbye Chavous—who I know will lead us much further into the future.

Again, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for allowing me the privilege to be part of this team.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Sellers
Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion
Chief Diversity Officer

The University of Michigan is set to begin a multifaceted, years-long project to study, document and better understand the university’s history with respect to diversity, equity and inclusion — with the history of race and racism at U-M as its first major focus.

President Mary Sue Coleman said the project will be designed to engage the present and future U-M communities in a way that brings forth tangible and thought-provoking discussions, ideas and actions.

“As our country undergoes a long-overdue reckoning about race and the treatment of African Americans and people of color, it is critical for the university to also hold up a mirror to itself. Our history is remarkable yet also flawed,” Coleman said.

“With the Inclusive History Project, we pledge to develop a more truthful and inclusive narrative about our institution’s past. Only then can we move forward as a genuinely equitable community that acknowledges and celebrates all its members.”

The project is, in part, an outgrowth of the university’s 2017 bicentennial commemoration and other efforts that have previously explored elements of the university’s past. These include the Stumbling Blocks exhibit in the Presidential Bicentennial Colloquia Series, the Bentley Historical Library’s effort to create a census of all African American students to 1970, and the process for reviewing historical names on buildings in response to community requests.

[box title=”More Information” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#000000″ border_style=”solid” align=”center”]• Inclusive History Project • Historical name review process[/box]

Two leading university scholars will chair the first phase of the project: Elizabeth Cole, professor of women’s and gender studies, psychology, and Afroamerican and African studies; and Earl Lewis, the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies and Public Policy. They will co-chair the project’s framing and design committee.

This committee will be responsible for determining — in close partnership with the Bentley Historical Library — the necessary historical and benchmarking analyses to map the scope and next steps of the project. That will include charting a process for robust and broad community outreach and engagement. The group will include current and former U-M faculty members and other experts, and is expected to be announced in the fall.

“Deep engagement with our internal and extended external communities, such as the African American community in Detroit, Native American tribes in Michigan and multiple generations of alumni and staff families, is fundamental to a fuller understanding of our past and the contemporary effects of our history,” said Lewis, who also leads the university’s Center for Social Solutions.

“As the university celebrated its first 200 years — while still president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — I invited the institution’s leadership to fully embrace its past as it charted pathways to a shared future. This project is the next step in that process.”

Cole said the stories U-M tells about its history are an important part of its institutional identity.

“As U-M embarks on the second phase of our diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan, it’s more important than ever that these stories reflect a full and accurate understanding of the events and the people — all of the people — who brought us to the present moment,” she said.

The co-chairs said the range of possible outcomes of the project include:

The development of new scholarship, research and courses.
New expressions of a more inclusive and accurate institutional narrative, such as exhibits, campus tours, websites, updated ceremonies and other forms of institutional storytelling.
New and revitalized community relationships and partnerships.
Changes in the university’s institutional landscape and physical environments, such as new kinds of monuments and public art.
New and revised building and space names.
New institutional programs and policies that address the contemporary effects of historical and systemic racism and other forms of discrimination and exclusion on the U-M community, including but not limited to actions as permitted by law in areas such as admissions, financial aid, and faculty and staff hiring, promotion and compensation.
Other tangible ideas that may emerge from a thoughtful and engaged process.
The university will hire a senior project manager to provide administrative coordination and leadership for the project.

The university was established in 1817 in Detroit as the University of Michigania. That same year, the Treaty of Fort Meigs forced the surrender of Native American land for use by the university, including a pledge to educate tribe members’ children.

The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. It was an all-white-male institution until the first African American student was admitted in 1853, and the first woman was admitted in 1870.

The Inclusive History Project is part of the university’s ongoing commitment to DEI and anti-racism. While the project will set out to uncover a more inclusive and accurate institutional narrative, the university’s present and future DEI and anti-racism initiatives — designed to make U-M and society more inclusive and equitable — will continue.

“For years, the University of Michigan has been engaged in efforts to help us become more diverse, equitable and inclusive,” said Robert Sellers, vice provost for equity and inclusion, chief diversity officer and professor of education and psychology.

“Having a more inclusive understanding of our history is foundational to building a more inclusive present and future for the university. Thus, it is appropriate that the Inclusive History Project and DEI 2.0 will occur in tandem with each other.”

U-M joins a number of other institutions, including Brown, Emory, Georgetown, Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities, as institutions working to lead their campus communities toward a more universally shared understanding of their historical past.

Cole and Lewis plan to convene a meeting, likely in the spring of 2023, of institutions across the country that are engaged in this work.

This article originally appeared in the June 8, 2022 edition of The University Record

The University of Michigan Juneteenth Planning Committee presents the second annual Juneteenth Conference, June 15–18, 2022. This Year’s theme is “Celebrate, Educate, Inspire.”

The conference features two keynote addresses. Ms. Opal Lee, “the Grandmother of Juneteenth,”will speak on Juneteenth’s journey to becoming a national holiday, and Minnijean Brown Trickey, a member of the Little Rock Nine, is in conversation with renowned journalist Roland Martin. These speakers will be joined by top scholars speaking on issues including health equity and mental wellness in the Black community, and the importance of African American institutions such as the church, fraternities and sororities.

The conference will include in-depth discussions about Critical Race Theory, exploring how to include CRT in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, as well as detailing the current attacks on teaching Critical Race Theory.

The conference also includes longstanding celebratory traditions of Juneteenth, culminating with a music festival at the Michigan Union on the evening of June 17, and a march and festival at Wheeler Park hosted by the Ann Arbor NAACP on June 18.

Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, marks the end of slavery in the United States when enslaved Africans in Galveston, Texas learned of their freedom on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. President Biden signed Juneteenth into law as a federal holiday in June 2021.

For more information, including the full schedule, speaker details, and session descriptions, visit juneteenth.umich.edu.

All events are free and open to the public, with options to participate in-person or online.

Pre-registration is required— those participating virtually will receive zoom links after registration is completed.

The conference is sponsored by the U-M Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, and the U-M Women of Color Task Force in proud partnership with the Ann Arbor NAACP, the Rackham Graduate School, the College of Literature, Science, and Arts, the Black Employee Association at the University of Michigan, the National Center for Institutional Diversity, and U-M Precision Health.

The University of Michigan has named Tabbye M. Chavous as the university’s vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, following a national search, campus community engagement efforts and public presentations from the final candidates.

Chavous, a recognized expert and champion of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education, currently is director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion in LSA, and a professor of education and psychology.

The search was led by a national search firm, Spelman Johnson, and a search advisory committee made up of staff, faculty and students from across the Ann Arbor campus.

A priority for the committee was selecting a candidate with a record of administrative success, demonstrated expertise and leadership around DEI issues in higher education, and a record of scholarly achievement warranting tenure at one of U-M’s schools or colleges at the full professor level.

“I am very excited to lead and build upon the important DEI work that is already underway,” Chavous said. “The University of Michigan has historically played a critical national leadership role in impacting scholarship and practice to advance DEI in higher education and society. I am honored to be a part of continuing this legacy.

“Despite our successes to date, given all that is going on in our world, there is still much work ahead of us to realize our DEI goals. I look forward to partnering with this amazing U-M community of faculty, staff and students to support transformative work that will be sustainable for generations to come.”

Chavous’ appointment, a five-year renewable term that is effective Aug. 1, was approved May 19 by the Board of Regents. She will succeed Robert Sellers, the university’s inaugural VPEI-CDO who was appointed in October 2016. Sellers will remain a tenured faculty member in LSA’s Department of Psychology.

In the position, Chavous will report directly to the provost, serve as a member of the provost’s leadership team, and will be involved in areas of academic affairs including faculty recruitment and retention, tenure and promotion, and faculty development. She also will meet regularly with the president and serve as the president’s principal adviser on DEI issues, and provide overall leadership of these efforts.

“Chavous’ leadership experience and research expertise on social and organizational processes in education will enable her to expand the University of Michigan’s impact,” said Laurie K. McCauley, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “She has demonstrated a long commitment to diversity, engagement and community that will lend to leading the university’s DEI work at such a critical time as we move into the next phase of our strategic planning process.”

Chavous’ research and expertise focuses on identity development among Black adolescents and young adults, and the measurement and impacts of institutional climates on all students’ academic, social and psychological adjustment.

Her undergraduate and graduate teaching across education and psychology has focused on developmental, cultural and organizational processes relevant to educational settings, and she mentors students across diverse academic and disciplinary backgrounds in education and social sciences.

Chavous received a Bachelor of Arts degree in interdisciplinary studies as an Echols Scholar in 1993 from the University of Virginia. She received a Master of Arts in 1996, followed by a Ph.D. in 1998, both in community psychology from the University of Virginia. During this time, she received the Maury Pathfinder Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in 1997, followed by the American Psychology Association Dissertation Research Award in 1998.

Chavous joined the U-M faculty in 1998 as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology’s combined program in education and psychology. She became an associate professor in the School of Education from 2004-12, and then in LSA from 2005-12. She became a professor in both schools in 2012.

From 2007-12, Chavous chaired the combined program in education and psychology, and was the associate dean for academic programs and initiatives in the Rackham Graduate School from 2012-16. She was an associate vice president for research from 2019-21.

Chavous’ expertise also has led her to a variety of scholarly and service impact roles. They include co-director of the Center for Study of Black Youth in Context, which she co-founded in 2008, as well as service on multiple committees, such as the executive committees for the Center for Statistical Consultation and Research, Humanities Collaboratory, and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and membership on the University Academic Affairs Advisory Committee.

National service roles include two National Academies of Science, Engineering and Mathematics committees focused on broadening diversity and access in science, technology, mathematics and engineering fields, and editorial leadership roles in scholarly journals across education and psychology.

Chavous will take on her new role at a pivotal time, as the university is in the midst of an evaluation process at both the unit and university level of DEI 1.0, its initial diversity, equity and inclusion five-year strategic plan. The evaluation year will be followed by a yearlong cross-campus engagement period that will help to inform and launch U-M’s next DEI strategic plan — DEI 2.0 — in fall 2023.

She will serve at the helm of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which includes the Office of Academic Multicultural Affairs, Center for Educational Outreach, Wolverine Pathways, the ODEI business support team, DEI development team, the DEI strategic plan implementation team, and the evaluation and assessment team.

This article originally appeared the the Friday, May 20, 2022 edition of The University Record

With the launch of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategic plan in 2016, the University of Michigan sought to establish overarching strategies and guidelines that would better embed this work across the University.

While striving to build a more welcoming and inclusive environment, University leadership recognized that in order for the strategic plan to be successful, it could not be prescriptive, with all faculty, staff and students tasked with the same work. The University acknowledged that each school, college and unit were at various points in their DEI efforts, and trying to use a “one size fits all” approach would not be an effective tactic.

Instead, the strategic plan aimed to provide a framework, while the tactical implementation of these efforts needed to be uniquely tailored to every unit at U-M. In creating individualized strategic plans, every school, college and unit was given a certain level of autonomy in developing their programs, staffing and executive leadership, all with the goal of imbuing DEI across the University.

A critical component to this approach was the development of the DEI Implementation Leads Group, better known as “DEI Leads.” These individuals are charged with ensuring that the 50 school, college and unit plans are executed within their respective areas. With at least one designated faculty or staff member for each of the 50 plans, they are responsible for augmenting and tracking the DEI work occurring within their unit. The leads shepherd the work forward, track its efficacy, and work closely with one another. Currently, the DEI Leads are stewarding the work of the DEI 1.0 Evaluation efforts all across campus.

These individuals must follow a general framework, addressing three main themes:

create an inclusive and equitable campus climate
recruit, retain and develop a diverse community
support innovative and inclusive scholarship and teaching

What that means to each specific unit may vary.

According to Tyne Lucas, Senior Program Manager with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, this “allows [leads] to be very specific with their community and make sure that they’re addressing the needs of their community.”

Units may be seeking to diversify their student body, faculty and staff, create new curricula, or develop new research opportunities. Tailoring the work to each individual unit allowed for different metrics of success over the plan’s first five years, and will further enhance the work that happens during this transition period from the first strategic plan (DEI 1.0) to its next iteration (DEI 2.0), which is scheduled to launch in fall 2023.

The leads’ role is critical—they often function as stewards of DEI practices, working with others in their units to carry out the work. Joana Dos Santos, the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, came to U-M from work in community organizing. As the director of community-based organizations, Dos Santos took the same strategy when it came to advancing DEI work at Taubman. “I am the holder of the strategy and the change work, but I am not the only one who does the work—it is our collective work.”

“I am the holder of the strategy and the change work, but I am not the only one who does the work—it is our collective work.” —Joana Dos Santos, Taubman

By approaching the work from the community perspective, Dos Santos believes it “should be community designed, community co-created. If the community doesn’t feel invested from the design process, then they’re really not going to be invested in the long-term sustainability of it.”

Anna Sampson, Senior Associate Director of Development, Foundation & Government Relations at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), says similarly, “the leads are not the decision makers. What I see my role as is keeping the train on the track and keeping it moving.”

Over the past two years, keeping things on track became especially challenging with the COVID-19 pandemic. Like most activities at the University, almost every aspect of DEI work was conducted virtually. “What we’ve seen during this time is [that] people don’t necessarily feel they have the same outlets to express themselves. It’s harder to do virtually. As we work towards 2.0, we want to hear the experiences of our students, as well as our faculty and staff. There are a lot of silos that happened in this hybrid environment, so we’re trying to hear different perspectives and voices and bring the groups together,” says Lauren Davis, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Community at the School of Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). Ensuring that students, faculty, and staff know who their DEI lead is, and knowing that there are regular opportunities to get involved, will be imperative as this work continues throughout the transition to DEI 2.0.

Advancing Priorities

Lauren Davis, who formerly served as the diversity lead at the School of Social Work before joining SEAS in September 2021, has the unique perspective of serving as a lead for two schools, each of which had very different approaches to DEI efforts prior to the implementation of the DEI strategic plan. Many in the social work field were more attuned to the language and community work inherent in advancing DEI simply by the nature of the people they work with.

“The environmental sciences as a whole tends to be very white. So we’re trying to shift the perspectives that we’re bringing to the work and the curriculum, and how we’re supporting the students and what that means in their careers,” says Davis. She highlights the Decolonizing SEAS Initiative, which brought together faculty and students to review class syllabi, providing compensation to students as they worked to make sure that equitable voices and perspectives are being taught.

This epitomizes a core theme that takes place across units, which is integrating DEI work into the actual curriculum being taught to students. The topics that are taught, how they’re taught, and the overarching content for many schools can be seen as somewhat immutable, with a core foundation taught to generations. Yet much progress has been made across units these past several years.

By inviting students into the curricular discussions, as they have done at SEAS, or by creating programs like the Equity in Architectural Education program at Taubman, both faculty and students learn from one another while ensuring that a variety of voices are heard.

Inclusive Conversations & Tailored Plans

As a public space, whose audience ranges from scholars to families, the University of Michigan Museum of Art’s (UMMA) diversification goals are somewhat unique. That is where the personalization from the strategic plan becomes most evident. Anna Sampson, who is a co-lead along with her colleague Alisunn Jones, said that the DEI strategic plan came at a critical juncture for the museum. Christina Olsen was appointed museum director in 2017. After conducting listening sessions, students in particular expressed that they didn’t feel that the museum was a welcoming space.

“They didn’t see themselves there,” summarizes Sampson. “There was very little contemporary art, the largest painting in the space was of a slave owner. [Olsen] took that to heart and 90 percent of the art was reinstalled.” The museum is “now everybody’s place,” says Sampson, a point that she says is illustrated by an increase in participation in activities ranging from student engagement councils to virtual programming—if not currently in visitors—as the museum has largely been closed to the public for the past two years due to the pandemic.

“[People] didn’t see themselves there…[now] the museum is everybody’s place.” —Anna Sampson, UMMA

The museum is excited to bring back in-person field trips in the coming school year—with a goal of serving only high-needs classrooms that would not otherwise have access to a museum outing—which are being “redesigned to be completely trauma-informed to meet the needs of our students.”

As in the academic units where faculty and students are in dialogue with one another, DEI work at UMMA is present in nearly all department meetings, with additional input from the volunteer docents and facilities staff. In fact, it was an exhibition technician—the person responsible for hanging the artwork in the galleries—who reported that the placement of the museum’s donation boxes was a hindrance for visitors.

“The people who were in the galleries all the time would see people entering and seeing our donation boxes and turn around and leave,” recalls Sampson. “With that information, one of our goals of inclusion is making the museum a truly welcoming place. We moved the donation boxes, and we changed the language on them. We’re getting less money for sure, but we’re creating a more inclusive space. Without those voices on the committees, we wouldn’t have known that.”

Creating Access

One of the University’s strategic plan priorities is to diversify its student, faculty and staff composition. That goal is top of mind for all of the units on campus; however, each may have different metrics as to what an increase in diversity means.

“We’ve definitely been successful in increasing our representation of diverse students and faculty and staff by race and ethnicity,” says Dr. Rushika Patel, Chief Health and Academic Equity Officer for the School of Nursing. However, she recognizes that, while gender diversity is also happening, it’s an incremental change. “It’s not as easy, quite frankly, to convince men to be a nurse.”

This is most pronounced at the undergraduate level, as she notes that both the PhD and graduate programs have seen a greater increase in male students than the undergraduate program. In efforts to expand the school’s reach, she described partnering with the Center for Educational Outreach and Wolverine Pathways to recruit high school students to the program, and being asked what she calls “the most basic question. ‘Do guys become nurses?’” Shifting this mindset will be most effective by demonstrating that there are men in the field, as mentorship and allyship are two of the most noted ways for people to envision themselves in a given field.

The Ross School of Business also acknowledges that the diversification of its student body has historically been a struggle. “We’re really talking about accessibility,” says Dr. Thomas Bell, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Ross. “We really need to examine all the access points to the school and understand what the barriers are and think about how to remove them so there is equitable access.”

In particular, he describes that the first-year undergraduate class is an area of opportunity, as “most students that have a singular or multiple minoritized identities are transfer students,” coming both from different schools at U-M or outside the University. Bell details great investment in formalizing affinity and allyship groups at the graduate level, providing space for conversations and access to leadership. The next step, he says, which will begin in the fall, is creating that same kind of inclusive environment for undergraduates.

Continuing the Work

While DEI leads have been an active force across the University for nearly six years, they note that due to the confluence of events over the past few years, from the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impact on communities of color, to the racial reckoning in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, their work—and their community’s involvement and responses—have strengthened since 2020.

“In a nursing school, where people are committing their lives and careers to health—mental health, physical health, as well as social health—in so many ways there’s just a richer sense of conviction and imperative behind our equity and DEI work that I wouldn’t have seen before,” says Patel. “I feel like the level of interest and involvement and commitment to participating in this work, it’s come out of the sadness and trauma and reckoning that people have had to contend with over the past few years.”

As they assess their progress, the leads see great areas of opportunity as they embark upon DEI 2.0. Notes Sampson of UMMA, “DEI 1.0 was so philosophical because it was the first time we’ve ever done it. 2.0 will be so operational. The philosophy is still there—we’re philosophical thinkers and we want to have big goals, but we also want to be able to measure the work we’re doing in concrete ways. We’re always listening.”

“What we did [at Ross] in the first five years allowed us to tackle the bigger issues that we can use as a stepping stone to have deeper conversations,” echoes Bell.

“To see people’s evolution over time is what I get most excited about.” —Lauren Davis, SEAS

For Davis, “to see people’s evolution over time is what I get most excited about.”

While sharing opportunities for growth, the DEI leads collectively see themselves in a better place to ideate and progress as they look towards DEI 2.0. In part, this recognition, from its very inception, that DEI work was not one size fits all, has created a myriad of opportunities and approaches, all under the watchful eyes of the unit DEI Leads.

Featured Photo: DEI Leads gather in Fall 2021

During Mariah Bobo’s senior year of high school, a fortuitous externship unwittingly established a career path for the College of Pharmacy senior.

Bobo also is an alumna of Wolverine Pathways, a college preparatory program for those in under-resourced communities in Michigan.

As a high school sophomore in Southfield, Bobo became part of Wolverine Pathways’ first cohort, dedicating her Saturdays and summer to the highly rigorous program. Wolverine Pathways students accepted into the University of Michigan receive a four-year tuition scholarship.

While this was an incredible opportunity, Bobo said she “didn’t have that much knowledge that Michigan’s such a great school.” She realized she could “actually see (herself) going there.”

Mariah Bobo dedicated her Saturdays and summers to the Wolverine Pathways program and is set to graduate as part of its first cohort. (Photo courtesy of Mariah Bobo)

Wolverine Pathways connected Bobo with an externship with a local CVS pharmacy as a high school senior. She and four peers performed many technical tasks at the pharmacy — although she was not of legal age to dispense medication — which “definitely allowed me to open my eyes to the pharmaceutical industry.”

She also attended a STEM camp on the U-M campus during the summer, exploring different opportunities to connect to the sciences.

During Bobo’s freshman and sophomore years at U-M, she continued working at an Ann Arbor CVS, having applied for her tech license once she became 18. Halfway through her sophomore year, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Bobo suddenly found herself an essential worker, staying in Ann Arbor and working full time at the pharmacy as most of her classmates went home and classes went virtual.

“During the first wave of COVID, I worked 9-to-5 every day,” she said. “I was considered a frontline worker. It was definitely crazy to see how the healthcare system works as an employee. Being in that environment has allowed me to see the different ways health care adapts.”

During this time, Bobo transferred into the College of Pharmacy, solidifying her career plans. In the fall, she will enter the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Along with her studies and work at CVS, Bobo also worked at Michigan Medicine and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital doing inpatient pharmacy work, filling medications taken directly to the patients. She also joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She was used to balancing her schoolwork, pharmacy job, volunteering, and social life from her teenage years.

“It all draws back to that externship in Wolverine Pathways,” she said. “I don’t think I would have ever looked into pharmacy or been able to see how interesting pharmacy work is without that.”

This article originally appeared in the April 25, 2022 edition of The University Record

The Office of the Provost will host two in-person presentations featuring candidates being considered for the University of Michigan’s next chief diversity officer and vice provost for equity and inclusion.

Each candidate, whom a search advisory committee has determined to be strongly qualified, will share their interest in the position and what they bring to the role, and will discuss their experience in DEI leadership.

The first session will start at 11:45 a.m. April 12 and the second will begin at noon April 14. There will be time at the end of each session for questions from those in attendance.

Those within the U-M community who are interested in attending one or both of the presentations must register in advance by noon April 11.

For the purposes of discretion, registrants will be emailed pertinent details about the candidates — including their name, CV, and the location of the presentation — 24 hours in advance of the event. The location capacity for each presentation is 140 people.

While on campus, the candidates also will meet with senior leadership, executive officers, key stakeholders, central administrators, deans, unit directors and staff within the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion and others engaged in DEI work.

A 17-member advisory committee has worked with the executive search firm Spelman Johnson on the national search. The committee is chaired by Ketra Armstrong, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, professor of sports management and director of diversity equity and inclusion in the School of Kinesiology; and professor of women’s and gender studies in LSA.

“The search committee evaluated a very impressive group of applicants,” Armstrong said. “We look forward to having these two candidates join us for further discussions.”

Robert Sellers, who has served as chief diversity officer and vice provost for equity and inclusion since 2016, will step down from the role and return to LSA’s Department of Psychology as a tenured faculty member.

“The university’s work on diversity, equity and inclusion has made important progress under Rob Sellers’ leadership,” said Susan M. Collins, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “We look forward to the opportunity to learn from these candidates about how they would carry this critical work forward.”

The search for the next VPEI-CDO comes at a pivotal time as the university evaluates DEI 1.0 — U-M’s initial diversity, equity and inclusion five-year strategic plan — at the unit and university level. The process will be followed by a yearlong, cross-campus engagement period for the university’s next DEI strategic plan, DEI 2.0.

The VPEI-CDO is a senior leadership role that serves at the helm of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which includes the Office of Academic Multicultural Affairs, Center for Educational Outreach, Wolverine Pathways, ODEI business support team, DEI development team, and the evaluation and assessment team.

The position reports directly to the provost, serves as a member of the provost’s leadership team, and is involved in areas of academic affairs including faculty recruitment and retention, tenure and promotion, and faculty development.

The VPEI-CDO also meets regularly with the president and serves as the principal adviser to the president on DEI issues, providing overall leadership for these efforts.

This article originally appeared in the April 7, 2022 edition of The University Record