Best Practices and Potential Best Practices

This compilation of Best Practices and Potential Best Practices highlights practices that were identified by the
2014 Framework Review Teams that evaluated Penn State strategic planning units’ diversity updates and
planning as presented in the 2014–15 through 2018–19 unit strategic plans.

Framework best practices are defined as processes, programs, and procedures that most successfully lead to the unit's ability to reach the University's diversity goals and can be validated through measurable outcomes.
Potential best practices show promise, but do not have substantiating evidence.

The Review Teams developed the list of potential and best practices from those that were self-identified by the unit and from the team’s own evaluation of the unit plan. Cases where substantiating evidence may have been incomplete or where promising initiatives were new were identified as “potential best practices.”

In addition to this full compilation of Best Practices and Potential Best Practices, a summary analysis that outlines common themes and types of practices that reflect the specific practices identified by the Framework Review Teams can be found at http://equity.psu.edu/updates/analysis/best-practices-summary-analysis. Best practices for effective incorporation of diversity strategic planning within overall strategic planning can be found in "Characteristics of Effective Diversity Strategic Planning" at http://equity.psu.edu/updates/analysis/characteristics. 

Best Practices

Campus Climate and Intergroup Relations

Challenge 1: Developing a Shared and Inclusive Understanding of Diversity

• No Place for Hate initiatives. (Penn State Abington)
• Evidence-based, data driven approach to programming, decisions, and implementation. (Undergraduate Education)
• Encouragement from unit leadership for staff to seek membership in the President’s commissions for equity. (Information Technology Services)

Challenge 2: Creating a Welcoming Campus Climate

• Center for Intercultural Communication and Global Awareness activities. (Penn State Abington)
• Distribution of the civility statement. (University Libraries)

Representation (Access and Success)

Challenge 3: Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Student Body

• Summer College Opportunity Program in Education (SCOPE). (College of Education)
• Global Dialogues. (Penn State Abington)
• Student-Veterans’ program. (Penn State Abington)

Challenge 4: Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce

• Multicultural Committee Member representation on each campus search committee. (Penn State Abington)
• The checks and balances of the multilayered process for conducting searches, assessing candidates, and including diversity on search committees. (Penn State Erie, The Behrend College)
• Advertising jobs nationally. (Information Technology Services)

Education and Scholarship

Challenge 5: Developing a Curriculum That Fosters U.S. and International Cultural Competencies

• Presentations in Spanish by extension educators. (College of Agricultural Sciences)

Institutional Viability and Vitality

Challenge 6: Diversifying University Leadership and Management

• Support for participation in Leadership Centre County by sponsoring diverse candidates. (Finance & Business)
• Faculty Mentoring Program. (Penn State Lehigh Valley)

Challenge 7: Coordinating Organizational Change to Support Our Diversity Goals

• The Office of Multicultural Programs led by an assistant dean who actively participates in all areas of the college’s shared governance. (College of Education)
• Establishing the Office of Diversity & Inclusion and appointing a director who has oversight to coordinate and develop diversity efforts across the unit, providing the director a straight reporting line to the senior vice president for Finance and Business/Treasurer in addition to being part of the leadership team. (Finance & Business)
   

Potential Best Practices

Campus Climate and Intergroup Relations

Challenge 1: Developing a Shared and Inclusive Understanding of Diversity

• The level of engagement and activity of the Diversity and Community Enhancement Committee and their collaborative work with the assistant dean. (College of Education)
• Integration of diversity throughout the Vision, Mission, and Statement of Values as well as the Strategic Goals. (Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus)
• Adequate staffing (associate dean, director of recruitment, and staff assistant) to promote diversity. (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences)
• The First-Year Seminar that includes a section containing a diversity focus and the World in Conversation Project. (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences)
• The Diversity Council, which meets regularly and represents every constituent group in the college. (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences)
• Plans to appoint a student/faculty/staff diversity committee with a specific charge to implement the Framework and make recommendations for planning and improvement to the dean and faculty. (Dickinson School of Law)
• A central web page entitled, “Diversity, Fairness, and Equity,” provides resources, contacts, and information for the campus community is a potential best practice. (Penn State Beaver)
• Several diversity initiatives, such as Hispanic Heritage Month and Pride Month. (Penn State Berks)
• Comprehensive diversity website. (College of Agricultural Sciences)
• Diversity Book Club. (College of Agricultural Sciences)
• Coordination between ITS Human Resources and the Climate and Diversity. (Information Technology Services)

Challenge 2: Creating a Welcoming Campus Climate

• Collaborating with other units to sponsor the Education and Civil Rights conference. (College of Education)
• Campus Diversity Awards and Diversity Training Sessions for Faculty and Staff. (Penn State Abington)
• A diversity website that lists the campus’ diversity mission and vision as well as the members of the Diversity Affairs Committee; the expansion of the academic and co-curricular offerings addressing diversity; and the implementation of campus-wide community service/service learning projects. (Penn State Hazleton)
• Hosting a diversity conference and adding diversity sessions for new student orientation and for orientation leaders. (Penn State Altoona)
• The Science Diversity event. (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences)
• Assessing the campus climate using surveys or focus groups. (Dickinson School of Law)
• Online civil rights training. (College of Agricultural Sciences)
• Encouraging faculty presentations on diversity-focused topics following attendance at diversity conferences. (College of Agricultural Sciences)
• Establishment of the Students, Allies, Friends and Educators (SAFE) Club as a support network for the LGBT community. (Penn State DuBois)
   

Representation (Access and Success)

Challenge 3: Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Student Body

• Food pantry for students in need. (Penn State Brandywine)
• The Global Engagement Network, which is intended to foster global citizenship for students, faculty, and staff and global leadership in scholarship and international engagement. (University Office of Global Programs)
• Developing programs to use domestic students in international student engagement programming to encourage productive synergies. (University Office of Global Programs)
• The Fall STEM Open House and SROP articulations to facilitate the recruitment of underrepresented/underserved students. (The Graduate School)
• Proposed partnerships with regional businesses to recruit underrepresented/‌underserved students to its graduate programs. (Penn State Great Valley)
• The Multicultural Academic Excellence Program, which is a multifaceted support program for underrepresented/underserved students. (Penn State Harrisburg)
• The Diversity STEM Program, Engaged Research Scholars Program, ARL Diversity Outreach Opportunities Research program, and the Postdoctoral Development Program, which support diverse students through their participation in research projects. (Office of the Senior Vice President for Research)
• Plans to expand advising services to not only provide more advisers but to go beyond scheduling duties to help students develop stronger study and metacognitive skills. (Eberly College of Science)
• Numerous initiatives designed to recruit and retain diverse students, such as expansions of partnerships with HBCUs, STEM special living options, and the Millennium Scholars, Pre-First Year in Engineering and Science, and Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity programs. (Eberly College of Science)
• Developing guidelines on best practices in graduate student mentoring. (Eberly College of Science)
• LifeLink PSU, the summer 2014 co-sponsorship initiative for visually impaired high school students, the Thomas Puksar Graduate Assistantships in Education, and additional funding support. (College of Education)
• FastStart, a mentoring program that pairs Penn State students from underrepresented/‌underserved groups with alumni, faculty, and staff. (Division of Development and Alumni Relations)
• FastStart Behrend mentorship program. (Penn State Erie, The Behrend College) 
• The campus’ signature initiative, “Bond of Brothers” Mentorship Program. (Penn State Abington)
• Financial support through scholarships and other means and the enrollment management task force study charged with identifying ways to enhance the recruitment of a diverse student population, with a report expected by fall 2014. (Penn State Hazleton)
• The Multicultural Connections Program, the Diversity Ambassador Program, and Find Your Path speaker series. (Penn State Altoona)
• Chancellor’s meeting with veteran students to discuss ways to improve services and create a more supportive and inclusive environment. (Penn State Altoona)
• An articulated plan for supporting international students through the use of focus groups, monitoring of difficulties, and a faculty and staff workshop aimed at identifying potential problem areas for this population. (Penn State New Kensington)
• The “minority-serving” institutions for faculty and departmental engagement to facilitate transition of students from these institutions. (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences)
• The pre-doctoral Summer Academy’s nine-week orientation, serving as a bridge for underrepresented/‌underserved graduate students. (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences)
• Reinstating the LLM program, which brings in lawyers from other countries to enhance diversity and create opportunities for cross-cultural learning in the classroom. (Dickinson School Law)
• More information is needed to assess whether the support mechanisms used by advisers to identify, track, and support students most vulnerable to not being retained represent potential best practices. (College of the Liberal Arts)
• The veteran student initiatives would have been appropriate to mention as a potential best practice for recruitment and retention. (Penn State Mont Alto)
• It is a potential best practice to create specialized student advising and support services for adult students and veterans. With supporting data outcomes, these endeavors might become best practices. (Penn State Shenango)
• Senior exit survey updated to include a question regarding diversity climate. (College of Agricultural Sciences)
• Securing funding for student research through collaborations with other institutions. (College of Agricultural Sciences)

Challenge 4: Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce

• The annual Faculty and Staff Awards to reward employees who have demonstrated a commitment to celebrating diversity. (Penn State Harrisburg)
• Tenure clock extensions after the birth of a child. (Eberly College of Science)
• The proposed “apprenticeship model” for training new hires. (Eberly College of Science)
• Conducting exit interviews with diverse faculty and staff. (Dickinson School of Law)
• Cross-collaboration among the Diversity Committee, Human Resources, and other departments for delivery of diversity training programs. (Penn State Worthington Scranton)
   

Education and Scholarship

Challenge 5: Developing a Curriculum That Fosters U.S. and International Cultural Competencies

• The Institute for Social Justice, which is intended to bring awareness to and engagement in social justice and human rights issues through teaching, research, and service. (Penn State Brandywine)
• Teaching International, which adopts a specific country or region of the world as a common focus each academic year for cross-disciplinary teaching and scholarship. (Penn State Greater Allegheny)
• The Philadelphia Urban Seminar, the Ecuador ESL Program, the Sheppard School Partnership, the Student Teaching Abroad Program, the Hazleton Initiative, and the Commitment to Conducting a College-wide Inventory of Courses with Significant Diversity Content. (College of Education)
• Diversity Leadership Retreat, Diversity Collection Development Plan from the Abington Library, and HOF Exchange Program for Business and IST students. (Penn State Abington)
• The co-curricular model currently being expanded that relies on collaboration between faculty, Student Affairs, the Coalition for Equity, and the International Intercultural Programs Office. (Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus)
• Partnerships with other international universities and organizations (e.g., study abroad programs in Norway and India, the India Initiative, and membership in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Diversity Education Consortium). (Penn State Hazleton)
• The “Country of Focus” initiative, which introduces students to the concept of diversity and the plan to integrate this across the academic curriculum. (Penn State New Kensington)
• The Global Health Minor that introduces diversity into the curriculum. (College of Health and Human Development)
• The plan to permit and encourage students to take up to 6 credits of coursework related to a specific diverse interest. (Dickinson School of Law)
• The Teaching International Initiative launched in 2013–14 is a potential best practice. (Penn State York)
• Development of an educational program at the Regional Medical Campus to support the growth of primary and rural care medicine. (College of Medicine)
• Programming that complements the new diversity-related guidelines that were included in the description of core competencies for librarians. (University Libraries)

Institutional Viability and Vitality

Challenge 6: Diversifying University Leadership and Management

• Positive outcomes for this Challenge that still need to be connected to specific strategic planning endeavors. (College of Communications)
• The Fellows Program. (Penn State Erie, The Behrend College)

Challenge 7: Coordinating Organizational Change to Support Our Diversity Goals

• Identifying strategic indicators at the end of various sections of the unit strategic plan. (Penn State Greater Allegheny)
• The strategic use of data, such as establishing employment goals based on availability percentages obtained from the Affirmative Action Office and numerous performance indicators. (Penn State Harrisburg)
• The “Vulnerable Populations” strategy, which is a multifaceted research effort aimed at expanding knowledge and developing interventions to support the many different vulnerable members of our society. (Office of the Senior Vice President for Research)
• The Navy Yard and other unit partnerships focused around urban development, sustainability, business and industry, and other domains that impact diversity and inclusion in society. (Office of the Senior Vice President for Research)
• Associate department heads for equity and diversity. (Eberly College of Science)
• The change in organizational structure of the Diversity and Community Enhancement Committee to capture the collective interests of students, faculty, and staff, which led to higher visibility and activity and increased committee membership; the creation of a Student Recruitment Task force; and the refined model for student recruitment, retention, and curricular development. (College of Education)
• Nurtured diversity efforts in sub-units like Auxiliary & Business Services and OPP and adoption of the Cultural Competence Continuum. (Finance & Business)
• Formation of the Diversity Affairs Committee. (Penn State Hazleton)
• The hiring of an international student adviser within the economics department is a potential best practice. (College of the Liberal Arts)
• The inclusion of A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State as one of the nine “Campus Roles and Principles.” (Penn State Beaver)
• Asking every employee to report contributions made in support of the Framework. (Dickinson School of Law)
• Disaggregation of data across diverse demographics to identify any areas of disparity. (Dickinson School of Law)
• Visioning Committee. (Penn State Lehigh Valley)