The TFRE has put forth to the university a number of recommendations to advance racial equity at JMU. Each recommendation has come from a task force working group and has gone through an evaluation and feedback process. Recommendations will continue to be evaluated through the implementation process. To learn more about the recommendation and continual feedback process click here.
Recommendations were created with the best working knowledge available at the time. They may be refined and improved throughout the evaluation and implementation process.
The full description of a recommendation is available on the linked PDF. Use the green drop-down button to read a brief summary and learn the recommendation's champion and date assigned to the division. Each recommendation is mapped to the overarching themes identified by the Narrative Project on Race at JMU.
Status Explanation:
- Active: The recommendation is currently being worked on by the university.
- Completed: Work on the recommendation has finished and all deliverables/tasks have been completed.
- Merged: The recommendation has been merged with a related recommendation or current university initiative for implementation and alignment.
Statuses last updated: May 2023
The table below is best viewed at horizontal orientation on your device.
| Recommendation | Status | Division | Description | Implementation Champion | Date Assigned to Division | Theme from Narrative | Updates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Required Faculty Syllabi Statement on DEI & Access PDF | Completed | Academic Affairs | Create a statement that provides a declaration of inclusivity for students that is clearly stated in their academic course description. | Hakseon Lee | 9/30/21 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | Optional syllabus statement approved for use. |
| Strengthening DEI Within the General Education Program PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Academic Affairs | The General Education program just completed its Academic Program Review. Between that process and this recommendation it is important to determine how DEI is central to the teaching within the overall program. | Meg Mulrooney | 11/29/21 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Courses with an inclusive focus can now be identified with equity tags. |
| Mentoring Champions PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Academic Affairs | Continue to build faculty mentoring systems that provide support through the teaching, research, promotion and tenure process. | Gilpatrick Hornsby and Narketta Sparkman-Key | 9/30/21 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Mentoring program was introduced in 2022-2023 and began with training for AUHs and for faculty in three “Lunch and Learn” sessions. In 2023-2024 a certificate training will be offered to faculty and staff with interest in becoming trained mentors. |
| Graduate Students DEI Programming PDF | Active | Academic Affairs | Expand and evaluate DEI graduate student programming. | Linda Thomas | 1/31/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Program planning in progress. |
| Catalog, Curriculum and Pedagogy Audit PDF | Active | Academic Affairs | Conduct an audit of the catalog looking for racial inequities throughout the courses, policies and procedures. | Elizabeth Oldmixon | 1/18/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Program planning in progress. |
| Sound the Alarm – Early Academic Retention Navigating Success (EARNS) PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Merged | Academic Affairs | Take a look at the various supportive structures in place to guide and support students throughout their academic career. Connect with the Quality Enhancement Plan to develop systems that ensure students success and early intervention as needed. | Paul Mabrey | 2/2/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Program merged with QEP activities. |
| Co-Curricular Experience / Education Gen Ed Requirement PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Student Affairs, Academic Affairs | Jonathan Stewart, Meg Mulrooney, Myles Surrett, and Claire Lyons | 2/28/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | We have established that this should be a joint recommendation between SA and AA, rather than simply SA. We have connected Meg Mulrooney and Claire Lyons as co-champions representing Academic Affairs. Bringing together the co-champions of this recommendation across divisions is already taking care of one of the core aspects of the recommendation (Establish a committee of Faculty and Student affairs personnel who will work together to evaluate how co-curricular activities can be woven into the general education curriculum..) There's already been great sharing/learning across units regarding the state of various projects and efforts connected to this idea. 2. Great conversations looking at existing practices on campus that could be modeled or modified to continuing moving forward. For example, Health Passport is a great partnership between Gen Ed and SA. We are exploring this program as a starting point. 3. Established that creating a new unit within SA is not feasible or necessary in order to be successful. Additional information: 1. Confer with Health Sciences dept and Wellness faculty to evaluate HTH 100 Passport for modification (Jan-March, 2023). 2. Evaluate other opportunities for connections, including the TAG initiative (March-May, 2023). 3. Establish broader committee and process as necessary | |
| Bias in Student Evaluation of Teaching PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Academic Affairs | Research best practices to determine if there are equitable ways for students to evaluate BIPOC/Women/Queer and other faculty from under-represented populations. | John Burgess | 3/14/22 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Use of student evaluations for promotion and tenure is under review. There is a focus on de-emphasizing bias of student evaluations. |
| Academic Unit Head Leadership Development PDF | Active | Academic Affairs | Provide resources and information to assist Academic Unit Heads with retention, support and culture creation in support of BIPOC faculty and staff. | Elizabeth Oldmixon | 4/12/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | AUHs have a regular and ongoing set of scheduled trainings. |
| Pipeline Program From Four-Year HBCU Graduates Into The Graduate School Admittance at JMU PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Academic Affairs | Explore the opportunities and partnerships to recruit students from HBCU’s into JMU’s graduate programs. | Linda Thomas | 4/12/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Program planning in progress. |
| Making Faculty Awards Processes and Decisions Inclusive and Equitable PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active |
Academic Affairs | Evaluate the processes, selection and awarding to faculty awards. To ensure equity and promotion especially to the BIPOC faculty community. | Besi Muhonja | 5/16/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Workshop to review award process and identify equitable practices took place May 2023, and changes will be incorporated for the future. |
| Developing a Faculty Response and Advocacy System at JMU PDF | Active | Academic Affairs | Develop a system that supports BIPOC faculty in crisis and/or advocates for them. | Ruben Graciani | 5/2/22 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Committee formed to develop advocacy and response system, and data gathering is underway |
| Academic Unit, PAC Chair Leadership Development PDF | Active | Academic Affairs | Ultimately, this recommendation aims to ensure that the academic unit is one in which BIPOC faculty report fair treatment, feel successful and belong, and that the process of promotion and tenure is fair and equitable. | Elizabeth Oldmixon and Narketta Sparkman-Key | 4/20/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Strategy to address recommendation in development. |
| New Student Experience PDF | Merged | Access and Enrollment | Continue to explore the experience of local BIPOC students in the recruitment process to JMU. Build and enhance upon successful initiatives. | Donna Harper | 4/1/21 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Accomplishments, developments, deliverable: Previously a pilot local drive-by welcome was implemented for local admits; there was limited participation from the admitted students. Recently the Office of Admissions invited all local admitted students and their families to a basketball game. They received a JMU welcome. This was well received and will be continued. The pool of diversity-represented admissions professionals is limited; as searches are implemented efforts will be extended to recruit diverse applicants. Campus tours and the role of student ambassadors have incorporated information on diverse student opportunities and resources. The Admissions Office does meet with all guidance counselors across the state on a regular basis; the office is also organizing a Rockingham County/Harrisonburg Day for counselors and students to visit the campus. For the past two years the Admissions Office has coordinated a comprehensive handwritten postcard campaign to admitted students; the colleges have utilized relevant student organizations associated with their majors as well as the students in their majors to participate in videos, phone calls, and other communication strategies to connect with admitted students. A third CHOICES program was implemented to support students and their families to learn more about JMU. Duke for a Day program invites students to visit the campus and see what student life is like. |
| Creation of PreK-12 Youth Program Directory PDF | Merged | Access and Enrollment | Ongoing work of tracking JMU’s programs and continuing to develop methods to share the variety of programs especially with the BIPOC community. | Donna Harper | 5/13/21 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Accomplishments, developments, deliverable: A list of summer programs was compiled to determine strategy for communicating and promoting about the opportunities; this is an on-going discussion. Keeping the list accurate and current is yet to be resolved. Best practices for marketing strategies for these events/activities will be explored and innovative ways to publicize such as church and community newsletters. Including a diversity statement in all publications will be explored. Including an option on registrations to pay for another child to attend an event/activity will be explored. Next Steps and Milestones: Utilization of an institutional CRM will facilitate the capturing and utilization of information from the Pre-K programs. Communication/requirement of including certain information on promotional pieces would demonstrate our commitment to diversity. |
| Increase Participation of BIPOC Youth in Existing Programming PDF | Active | Access and Enrollment | Continue to create pathways for BIPOC youth locally, regionally and within the Commonwealth to learn about JMU programs and thus enroll to participate. | Donna Harper | 5/13/21 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | This will be an ongoing conversation across the university, not just PCE and/or UCM. This was put on the agenda for the next UCM directors meeting to ensure we are operating off of the same guidelines and understandings. Khalil and I have brought this up for discussion at the next Communications Council meeting in October. A deeper dive will take place at the following Communications Council meeting with folks from areas who are already doing great work in this area. Our Social Media team is aware of this recommendation and will cover the awareness piece in conversations they have with new social admins and during future workshops and meetings. Mary Hope will be talking within the next week with PCE as well. |
| Setting Goals for Diverse Student Admissions and Mission Statement Revision PDF | Active | Access and Enrollment | Continue to evaluate the successful admissions practices to recruit BIPOC students. Determine what metrics and standards we can set and what cultural aspects can be established to impact and influence the admissions process for BIPOC students. | Donna Harper | 8/3/21 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | The number of under-represented students has continued to increase, and the percentage of those same students admitted has continued to increase. The financial piece remains as a consideration for matriculating although the university has made strides in the past two years to expand grant and scholarship opportunities for in-state students. A significant effort is underway for pell-eligible students through collaboration with University Advancement, Financial Aid and Scholarships and Admissions. Students from the Valley Scholars program are succeeding at JMU and the first class will graduate in May, 2023. With affirmative action under scrutiny, we remain considering the student’s academic record and course participation as criteria for admission. |
| Student Scholarship Audit PDF | Active | Access and Enrollment | Taking a wholistic approach and view to JMU’s scholarship awarding process. Increase BIPOC applicants and thus awards within JMU’s system. | Donna Harper | 3/14/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Accomplishments, developments, deliverable: Foundation scholarship grade requirements are governed by the requirements set forth by the donor. Institutional aid is governed by SAP (satisfactory academic progress). Federal aid must be applied to courses that lead toward a degree. Financial Aid and Scholarships reviewed data on those that meet qualifications to retain scholarships. The amount of scholarship money is dictated by the percentage available from the endowment (Foundation) or amount allocated by the type of scholarship (donor-based or institutional); there is currently not enough dollars to extend scholarships longer than four years or for summers. Federal aid can be used for summers. Next Steps and Milestones: SAP is actually more forgiving than requiring the minimum 2.0; a student can fall below a 2.0 as they move through toward their degree, though they must make positive progress to maintain the scholarship/aid; students can appeal any loss of aid. Consideration will be given when discussing new donor-sponsored scholarships if the donor would be willing to use a GPA lower than 3.0; however, this GPA is used to provide motivation as the donor wants the student who receives their scholarship to graduate. |
| Demystifying the Value of a Purchase Order PDF | Active | Administration and Finance | Continue to teach and share with members of the JMU community who utilize purchase orders to look and build relationships with SWAM businesses. | Towana Moore | 5/11/21 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Procurement is requesting that this recommendation be removed from the listing. A test of the process required significant time and resources to get the data into a format that may be useable. Procurement lost the two employees that had Tableau experience, and was unable to fill the positions with individuals of a similar skillset. The VP of Administration and Finance and the Procurement Director discussed this effort and determined the time and resources that would be needed are beyond the benefit that will be received by an annual reporting. Even for skilled employees it took several days to get the data from various sources into a usable format. Procurement will review other potential data options to determine ways to enhance SWaM supplier usage across campus. |
| Leadership Messaging / Visibility of Expectation PDF | Active | Administration and Finance | Strengthen the messages around SWAM businesses. Develop a multifaceted approach to communicate and create awareness and culture change to benefit the utilization of SWAM businesses. | Towana Moore | 5/11/21 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | Senior Leadership, by virtue of the recommendation is aware of the interest in including business partners in the discussions related to diversity. Senior Leadership can include business partners, supplier diversity, etc. in their communications as appropriate to enhance their messaging and visibility of the topic. |
| Develop and Execute a Marketing and Education Program PDF | Active | Administration and Finance | Ask the administration to provide leadership in how to market SWAM business and the connection and benefit they bring to the university. | Towana Moore | 5/11/21 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | Procurement engaged a Virginia based, small, minority owned firm to assist with a communications plan and website changes. The firm worked through a review of existing communication and materials. The firm interviewed staff and suppliers about their knowledge of our SWaM initiative. The firm provided recommendations for moving forward. Procurement needs to work on the implementation of recommendations. Procurement has had turnover in our SWaM champion/Marketing position as well as in our IT position. We need time to ensure those staff members are brought up to speed to add value to the process. We expect to begin working on this more, around June and hope to be complete with the initial changes and communications by the end of the calendar year. |
| Woman and Minority Owned Business Connection Forum(s) PDF | Completed | Administration and Finance | Bring together people from these identity groups to connect with one another and JMU departments. Forum completed in May 2022. | Towana Moore | 5/11/21 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | This is complete. The event was held in May 2022. |
| Staff Community Resource Connections PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Administration and Finance | Part of the faculty onboarding process includes a routine welcome/orientation email from Human Resources (HR) listing campus community resources and information. This process can be paralleled with relatively minor adaptations to be applicable and impactful for new classified and wage employees. | Chuck Flick | 2/14/22 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | HR Recruitment Services has been finalizing a contract to purchase an applicant tracking system to replace the current JobLink system. Included in the purchase will be an onboarding module which we believe will help us complete the TFRE recommendation. Once we finalize the purchase and implementation dates, we should be able to better define when and how we can utilize the new software to complete the recommendation. |
| Staff Recruiting for Diversity PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Administration and Finance | Recognize that JMU needs to invest in people who will continuously look to build and establish methods to recruit BIPOC faculty and staff. | Chuck Flick | 2/14/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | HR converted a vacant position into an additional Recruitment Specialist that is focused on creating and implementing a variety of strategic outreach programs. The new Recruitment Specialist has begun creating a more robust database of local resources that allow HR to advertise staff positions locally in order to attract more diverse candidate pools. We have created a JMU Jobs Twitter account that will also help provide broader outreach for both faculty and staff positions. The Recruitment and Employment Services Team will be implementing a new applicant tracking system this year that includes a recruitment marketing module. This will provide us with more data so that we can learn more about where applicants are discovering about our job postings and where in the process applicants are dropping off without applying. |
| Full-Time JMU Employment Recruiters PDF | Active | Administration and Finance | Expand the JMU recruitment team to hire individuals with direct responsibility to build relationships with BIPOC individuals based on employment classification. | Chuck Flick | 2/14/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Prepared and submitted a 2024 Fiscal Year budget initiative to request three Employment Recruiters. We are prepared to respond to any requests for additional information while the budget request is being considered. |
|
Allies for Racial Equity Training PDF |
Active | Administration and Finance | We recommend that training and other resources be developed and administered that will provide ways the JMU community can become empowered to be vocal allies in the fight for racial equity.< | Gail Napora | 2/4/22 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Equity Allyship workshop (TD6063) was held 2/23/23. The practice-driven content is based upon material in LinkedIn Learning by DEI expert Verná Myers. We are still evaluating the success of this pilot workshop. |
| Exit Interview System Review PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Administration and Finance | Develop a more robust exit interview system that incorporates information and questions by identity, and captures those experiences. | Rick Larson | 4/20/22 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | A literature review has been conducted but is not complete. It is hoped that we will begin reading the various research papers in March to inform us about best practices associated with exit and stay interviews. Once the literature review is further along, we will contact peer institutions and other organizations mentioned in the literature to further determine best practices. Once best practices are determined we will seek input from various stakeholders (yet to be determined), then will create a recommendation for considering since there may be an associated cost. |
| Inclusive Language PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Administration and Finance | Creating physical signage on campus and digital formats that creates inclusivity for all. | 11/15/21 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | No update as yet | |
| Advertising Funding to Enhance Diverse Applicant Pools PDF | Active | Administration and Finance | The goal is to create a centralized funding resources to recruit diverse applicants. | Rick Larson | 4/12/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Funding has been estimated. A permanent budget revision has been completed to set aside $5,000 for departments that require additional funding for unique advertising opportunities that are designed to diversify applicant pools. This amount is informed by HR’s experience receiving requests. HR Recruitment will work directly with departments and will provide funding based on need. |
| Spanish Language Translation of Documents PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Administration and Finance | Creating digital and printed materials that are translated into various languages to create equitable access. | Rick Larson | 4/20/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Quotes for translation are higher than expected, however, a list of vendors who provide smaller scale document translation has been identified. From that list, a vendor has been selected who has provided some translated documents to Human Resources. We are evaluating the quality of their work now. We will move forward with a Request for Proposal (RFP) for more comprehensive enterprise-level document translation through JMU Procurement beginning sometime before the end of March. |
| Providing Additional Support for Athletics Academic Advisors PDF | Active | Athletics | New and additional resources to support athletic academic advisors in their service to BIPOC student athletes. | Jennifer Phillips | 3/21/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | |
| Alumni Student-Athlete Summer Seminar PDF | Active | Athletics | Create a summer leadership and developmental experience for student athletes. Utilizing alumni to create sessions and workshops for currently enrolled student athletes. | Meredith Crawford | 3/21/22 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Response: Accept in in part. Athletics is already connecting a large portion of its Alumni, especially as it relates to professional development and career interests. Through the Athlete Network Program, the Letter Winner Program, and Dukes LEAD-sponsored programming, many connections are already being made between student-athletes and former JMU alumni. The Department acknowledges that implementation of this recommendation could potentially assist with encouraging financial support from alumni; however, such implementation would require a strong level of support from each sports programs’ coaching staff. Summary: Football, Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball have required workouts during the summer months mandated by the NCAA. The rest of the athletic teams have voluntary workouts during the summer months. To be able to capture all the JMU varsity teams the alumni programing will be offered through Dukes Lead once in the fall and once in the spring of each academic year, so every student-athlete has an opportunity to participate in a networking program. The spring Alumni Networking Night will be held on Monday March 27, 2023. The fall Company Networking Night was held on Wednesday September 28th, 2022. Creating a pilot program with football in summer of 2023 to have alumni football players returning during the mandatory 8-week summer training sessions. One speaker a week over 8 weeks to address their personal story as children, student-athletes at JMU, and their professional story. A 50-minute speech with a 15 minute Q&A. |
| Creating a mobile app targeted for JMU student communities of color and commuter students to connect them more efficiently to resources and spaces on campus PDF | Active | Student Affairs, Access and Enrollment | Explore the creation of a mobile app that captures DEI information for prospective students. | 7/31/21 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | No official update | |
| First Year Inspiring Dukes (FYI Dukes) PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Student Affairs | Create a way for current upper students, who represent a number of student leaders’ perspectives, to be mentors to incoming students from BIPOC groups. | Casey Ouren and Rebeca Barge | 3/31/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | The task force co-champions have decided to use the 2023 Orientation season as an opportunity to gather more information from students about their interests and needs. While gathering information, the Office of Orientation and Transition and Center for Multicultural Student Services have committed to inviting specific identity based representatives to lunch during Summer Orientation to aid in students getting connected to these resources. In addition, based on new student’s interest identified through a survey at the end of Summer Orientation, CMSS will offer a virtual session to showcase their resources, hear from upper-class student(s), and start helping new students get connected to each other to begin building their social network. Lastly, CMSS will follow-up with these students a few weeks into the fall semester to hear about their experience with CMSS and personally invite them into the CMSS space as a supporting department during their time at JMU. Meeting Updates: Orientation & Transition will continue to explore having resources available during the lunch hour of Summer Orientation for students to connect to certain affinity type resources (such as CMSS, First Gen Center, Valor, SOGIE, etc.). Orientation & Transition will continue to gather data based on the new questions asked on the Orientation survey to better understand what students are interested in having more information on. Orientation & Transition will work with CMSS to provide an automatic email to new students that select they are interested in more information about CMSS. Goal would be for this email to provide general information while inviting students to an “virtual information session” during the early weeks in August. Goal for the information session would be to not only provide a general overview of CMSS but also provide connection among students in attendance (such as by utilizing breakout spaces, inviting upper-class peers to join, plan engaging conversation topics, provide actionable to-dos between event and move-in). CMSS will explore the feasibility for front office staff (GAs) to make phone calls in mid-to-late Sept inviting students from the survey into the CMSS space for another connection point. At this time, the co-champions do not see a path for implementing an additional peer mentor program beyond the role of Orientation Peer Advisers, First Year Orientation Guides (FROGs), and Dukes First Year Peer Mentors. It should be noted that the Office of Orientation and Transition piloted a new peer mentor program for all new students during Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 and will continue to enhance this experience for all new students who opt into the opportunity. |
| Recruiting and Retaining Indigenous and Native American (I/NA) Students PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Active | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Researching and understanding JMU’s current practices and how to expand them to support this identity group. | Malika Carter-Hoyt | 5/2/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Elevated to Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer |
| OSARP and Student Handbook Audit for Racial Profiling and Bias PDF | Active | Student Affairs | Review the JMU student handbook for equity in policies and procedures especially for BIPOC students. | Dirron Allen | 5/9/22 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | JMU OSARP will complete a program review in spring 2023 with external reviewers using the TFRE recommendation to assess the department’s ability to adjudicate cases related to first-generation, low-income, and BIPOC students. Outcomes: JMU OSARP will annually analyze the demographic information of students involved in its adjudicative process based on information provided by the Student Administration System. JMU OSARP will continue to review the Student Handbook annually with the Accountability Control Board. This process will be evaluated during the external program review in spring 2023. |
| Black Student Experience PDF | Active | Student Affairs | Elevate, celebrate and capture the black student experience at JMU and learn how to build upon successes and improve the experience. | DeAndre Powell, Bayo Ogundipe and Deborwah Faulk | 2/8/22 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Strategy to address recommendation in development. Deborwah Faulk resigned from JMU in May 2023 |
| Increase diversity of images for all PreK-12 Youth Programs on Social Media Platforms PDF | Merged | University Advancement | Ongoing: Share with program owners various ideas on expanding the images used for the advertising of their programs to represent all groups of people. | Mary-Hope Vass | 5/10/21 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | This recommendation started with PCE, but we are broadening it to ensure everyone has awareness of this in all of their channels. |
| Centralized DEI Events Website PDF | Merged | University Advancement | Create a centralized DEI website that lists all events and programs (merged with DEI Website recommendation). | Andy Perrine | 2/14/22 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | Built and delivered a full prototype of the new DE&I website to the VP of Diversity Equity and Inclusion and her team. The site is currently under their evaluation. While the website structure is built and ready to deploy, a new business process is being built to populate the site with fresh content on the a regular basis. I believe the hope is to debut the new site this semester. |
| Alumni Help in Diversity Recruitment PDF | Active | University Advancement | Utilizing and creating space for BIPOC alumni to assist in the undergraduate admissions recruiting process. | Carrie Combs | 5/9/22 | Enhance Accessible Communication and Build Trust | Our alumni chapter and alumni volunteers continue to support Admissions as much as possible and as much as Admissions has bandwidth to manage. We will continue to grow our affinity-based chapters as we are able with the resources available. Resources will continue to be allocated to support the larger University strategy to recruit and retain underrepresented students. |
| JMU Connecting with Alumni PDF | Active | University Advancement | Continue to build and strengthen the ways JMU connects with BIPOC Alumni and engages them to assist JMU with the strategic plan of the university. | Carrie Combs | 5/9/22 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Our Black Alumni Chapter continues to stay steady; there will be new leadership put into place December 2023. Our Latino Network is undergoing a leadership transition; the new team is targeted to be in place June 2023. We initiated our inaugural LGBTQ+ chapter (Lavender Dukes) summer 2020; they continue to build momentum as a chapter. We launched the first ever formal student to alumni mentoring program: JMU BAC Mentor Collective in FY23; to date we’ve matched 188 undergraduate students with 97 alumni mentors (many alumni prefer to mentor multiple students at a time) engaging in nearly 950 unique conversations. This program is anticipated to grow in FY24. |
| Glossary of Racial Equity Terms PDF | Completed | Academic Affairs | The recommendation is for JMU to support a glossary of racial equity terms. The time is now for the university to endorse a glossary that empowers all units across campus to distribute written messages about race that are consistent, accurate and up to date. | Yasmeen Shorish | 5/21/21 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Scholarly researched and supported glossary suggested by the subgroup was linked to the website to be used as an optional reference. |
| Authorized Adult Training PDF | Active | Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Access and Enrollment | Evaluate the training, recruitment and information used in our pre-collegiate programs throughout the university. | Melissa Heatwole, David Owusu-Ansah and Paula Lam | 3/21/2022 | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Program planning in progress. |
| DEI Online Organization Chart PDF Recommendation Update 23-24 |
Completed | Administration and Finance | Create an organization chart highlighting the DEI leadership throughout the university. | Rick Larson | 3/14/2021 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | This recommendation was completed early in the success of the TFRE. Summer 2023, due to sociopolitical realities impacting the safety of employees, names were removed. |
| Data as a Tool to Enhance the Success of Minoritized Students PDF | Active | President's Office | JMU should take an inventory of the data it currently has to meet its goals, determine who needs the data, expand access to the data, maintain transparency of the data, and provide information about how to use it to identify and close equity gaps for students, faculty, and staff. Based on the data, minoritized students’ progress should be reviewed academically and socially at specific intervals throughout the year to inform action and mitigate problems. | Chris Orem | 4/12/2022 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | The new Fact book has been published to the OIR website, providing additional access to the public about trends related to students identifying with different races/ethnicities. The next step is to showcase Fact Book at various group meetings across campus, including President's Cabinet, Academic Council, Unit Head meetings, and others. The purpose will be to inform the campus community about this tool. Deadline: May 15 |
| Racial Equity Statement PDF | Active | University Advancement | To establish a public-facing, university-wide statement/stance, we recommend an inclusive process be undertaken to craft an equity statement including associated definitions and commitments. | Andy Perrine | 5/10/2021 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | Handed this process and language over to the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion |
| Elevate DEI on JMU Website PDF | Merged | University Advancement | Create a DEI website for the university to provide data, information, resources and JMU commitment to DEI with an online presence. | Andy Perrine | 1/31/2022 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | This recommendation was merged with the one above, titled Centralized DEI Website. |
| Safe Space for Student Athletes PDF | Merged | Athletics | Create spaces for student athletes from a racial group to feel welcomed and have the freedom to be successful at JMU. | Meredith Crawford | Mitigate Harm and Marginalization | Response: Accept in full. JMU Athletics currently offers various Affinity Groups through its Dukes LEAD Program, and is consistently soliciting feedback from student-athletes regarding their interests and needs to ensure that a Safe Space exists to have both productive and respectful conversation. Athletics acknowledges that often Academic Advisors and Frontline staff, including Coaches, are not equipped with the knowledge and skills to offer guidance to student-athletes needing a safe space to talk. | |
| Orientation Class for Incoming Student Athletes PDF | Merged | Athletics | Explore the creation of a semester long course designed to provide student athletes with a foundation of success as they learn about the JMU community. | Jake Van Roekel | 3/21/2022 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture | Response: Athletics accepts this recommendation in part. Athletics recently re-implemented a program similar to this recommendation with the Football program. Further, parts of this recommendation are covered through a combination of Dukes LEAD programming, Student-Athlete Services and the annual Rookie Symposium. Finally, a newly-implemented Resilience Training Program has also been piloted with the Football Program. |
| Planning - Beyond the Task Force on Racial Equity PDF | Active | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Now that the Task Force has completed its work, determine the next steps and iterations needed to support the ongoing work of supporting the BIPOC community of JMU. | Malika Carter-Hoyt | 12/2/2021 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | |
| Data Collection on Analysis & Transparency PDF | Active | Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Connecting all surveys and instruments that collect data or research that impacts faculty, their experience and ability to make DEI change at JMU. | Malika Carter-Hoyt | 1/23/21 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | Elevated to Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer. |
| TFRE Response-Advisory Team PDF | Completed | University Advancement | A suggestion was created to expand the voices to assist with the DEI responses from the university. The new Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will take the lead in that process. | Nick Langridge | 12/2/2021 | Encourage Sustainability and Accountability | While University Communications (UC) manages the primary social media accounts for JMU and serves as a resource for others, this recommendation touches areas outside of just social media and the scope of UC. There are countless staff members responsible for developing flyers, pamphlets, emails, programming materials, social content, etc. In an effort to support the intent behind the recommendation, I spoke with Diane Strawbridge in the late summer of 2021 to discuss ideas and ways communications and marketing folks could be aware of this recommendation, but also how others could think about this in their future work. During that same time, I spoke with Shonta Sellers (previously the director of marketing and communication and the DEI initiative in PCE) to discuss the recommendation and learn new ideas we could share across campus. She was incredibly helpful in providing challenges they face in documenting and marketing programs/initiatives that are offered within PCE, but also strategies to increase DEI efforts. I also met with Khalil Garriott to discuss the recommendation and we agreed the next steps should be to present the topic at an upcoming Communications Council meeting. In October 2021 – this item was added to the agenda for the University’s Communications Council. We discussed the recommendation, its importance and applicability to communicators across campus. We asked for those council members to share the information and discussion with others, so they are aware. We talked about how to be mindful of how we visually represent the university in an inclusive way. It was agreed that these discussions would be ongoing with this group and we would take time at future meetings to showcase success stories, social posts, etc. with others in an effort to share ideas and continue the conversation. In addition, this has been mentioned at President’s Cabinet and on a regular basis within the University Communication’s team meetings. The social media staff within UC regularly hold office hours and meet with social media administrators from across campus. This is something that is covered in those spaces, along with interns who work with our team. This recommendation is something that will always be ongoing and will not ever be “complete.” In addition, there is also a shared responsibility among staff across campus creating internal and external pieces of communication. The goal is that the New Vice President for DEI will lead JMU responses in this area. |
| Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center PDF | Completed | Task Force Co-Chairs | JMU had a team attend the AAC&U national conference in the summer of 2021. JMU was awarded the status to join and is in the process of establishing a center. | Art Dean | 12/2/2020 | Strengthen Efforts to Change Culture |
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