Climate

We will provide training for department/program heads on creating a welcoming department, bias, bystander awareness, cross-cultural communication and identity and intersectionality, for the purpose of compliance with federal law. We will use a mix of modalities for delivering training, including workshops, online learning, instructor-led training, case study and interactive performances such as those provided by the Michigan Players, the Cornell Interactive Theater Ensemble (CITE) and the AWED Theater at Florida International University. Theater performances representing real-life situations faced by academics allow scenarios to be presented in a dramatic setting via storytelling. This allows the audience to see situations from the outside and examine behaviors, personalities and complex situations as observers. The outcome is that the audience reflects on real-life situations in ways they may not when involved in those situations themselves. 

We are creating a Department/Program Head Council, similar to the Department Heads Council at Virginia Tech, to facilitate regular meetings with the Provost and other campus administrators. The council will provide informal opportunities for gathering, sharing ideas and strategies on pressing issues and facilitating dialogue between long-standing and newly appointed department/program heads. The council will include two representatives from each school, on staggered appointments, who will meet monthly. Modeled after the Leadership Development Workshops offered at the University of Washington, we will offer quarterly training sessions for department/program heads.

ASPIRE² will replicate the Advocates and Allies Program developed at North Dakota State University (NDSU) to intentionally involve male faculty and leaders in the improvement of our climate and practices. Since its inception, NDSU has helped over 20 institutions and several engineering-based nonprofit organizations to help ensure all faculty are judged on their merits and are treated similarly. The NDSU approach to working with universities seeking to establish Advocates and Allies programs is to: 1) identify a core team at the partner institution; 2) assist in goal development; 3) conduct workshops, if necessary, on being an ally; and 4) establish a formal advocate group on campus. We are proposing two one-and-a-half to two-day visits each year of the project, using grant funds to cover associated costs. 

In years one and three, we will conduct internal climate surveys (e.g., COACHE, Gallup Climate Survey, or others developed by other ADVANCE programs such as those at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin) to assess faculty perception of the climate at UT Dallas.

The use of such established surveys provides an opportunity to compare summary data with peer institutions. Similar to initiatives at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Maryland, we will create an equity dashboard for the University and each school. The dashboard will summarize data on faculty demographics (gender, ethnicity, rank compositions by school) and faculty climate perceptions. It will also be useful in tracking our progress towards our institutional goals. Dashboards make visible the value the institution places on diversity. The administration of the surveys will be handled by the University-wide Climate Survey Committee. The results will be shared with the Provost’s Office for further dissemination to campus leadership.