Shenandoah University is committed to fostering a diverse community supported by an equitable, inclusive campus climate. We are intentionally working toward this goal in the following ways:
Diversity in Hiring of Faculty and Staff
Fall 2017 pilot program which provided diversity in hiring workshops for Search Committees tasked with hiring new faculty and staff members. This is a goal included in the university’s current strategic plan.
Campus-wide Diversity Training
Delivering training in multicultural competence/awareness/appreciation for different groups of students, staff, faculty, and administrators in the following areas:
- Step UP! Bystander Intervention
- Safe Zone – Sexuality and Gender (more than 400 people trained!)
- Navigating Intercultural Understanding
- How to Have Difficult Conversations
- Creating Inclusive Classrooms
- Who are you? Self Identity Exercises
- Cultural Competency in Pharmacy
- Cultural Competency in Respiratory Care
- Listening and Empathy
- Privilege and Oppression
- How to work with Student Veterans (training coming soon)
Forming a Diverse, Presidentially Appointed Task Force
“President’s Representatives on Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity” (PRIDE) to develop and implement:
- Comprehensive campus Diversity Action Plan
- Campus Climate Survey
Support for Students from Diverse Backgrounds and Academic Preparation
Academic, Co-Curricular, and Student Life support, centrally located on main campus, in the following areas:
- Veteran, Military, & Family Resource Center
- [Not Just] Women’s Center
- Interfaith Prayer and Meditation Room in Goodson Chapel
- International Programs
- Accessibility for students transferring from community colleges
- Disability and access services
- Bias Response Plan and Incident Reporting System
- Transgender Task Force – addressing policy and structure related to transgender and gender non-conforming students
Diversity Built into Academic Requirements
- Student Life 411, which all students see during Welcome Week, begins with a message about Diversity and Inclusion
- Going Global: First-Year Seminar has a learning objective of promoting multicultural understanding
- Nursing Cultural Care Conference and Celebration
Diversity in Co-curricular Opportunities
- Global Citizenship Project — annual university-funded international trips to five foreign countries
- Opportunities to study abroad
- Year-round programming sponsored by the Mosaic Center for Diversity
Dedicated Diversity Staff
- Faculty Representative for Diversity (Michele Pye)
- Mosaic Center for Diversity with 18 student staff
- Director of Inclusion and Diversity (Maggie McCampbell Lien)
- Diversity Programs Coordinator (coming soon)
Dedicated Space: Mosaic Center
Located in the heart of the Brandt Student Center, the Mosaic Center for Diversity is a brand new space that focuses on valuing and fostering the diversity reflected in our lives at Shenandoah and in the world beyond our campus. Room 120 now features a student lounge; a resource library; hands-on resources for health, responsibility and advocacy; and a work area for the dozens of students who run the center and plan events. 100+ programs and events a year focus on celebrating, education, advocacy, and leadership development. Also available: one-on-one student advocacy and support
Diverse Student Organizations and Service
- Scholars’ Latino Initiative – college students mentor high school Latinx students to create access to college
- Multicultural student organizations
- Black Student Union
- Estudiantes Unidos (Latinx)
- International Students Association
- Saudi Student Association
- Shenandoah Conservatory Students of Color
- Spectrum (LGBTQ+)
- Multicultural religious groups
- Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International
- Fellowship of Christian Athletes
- Harambee Gospel Choir
- Jewish Student Union
- Muslim Student Association
- Shenandoah University Catholic Campus Ministry
President’s Representatives for Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity (PRIDE) diversity Task Force
PRIDE is a task force carefully drawn from an intentionally diverse array of stakeholders across all areas of the university. PRIDE is capitalizing on the established momentum of the strategic plan and helping Shenandoah to realize its goal of being a forward-thinking institution. This task force, which began convening early in 2018, assessed the University’s campus culture to establish an environment of readiness for action. PRIDE is currently focused on steps and resources needed to move forward through a university action plan.
Step 1: PRIDE will:
- Assess the University’s campus culture.
- Establish an environment of readiness for action.
- information gathering
- planning and identifying steps and resources needed to move forward
- developing a university action plan
Step 2: Work on Action Items from the Campus Climate Survey and other assessment measures:
- Establish institutional oversight to conduct regular review and assessment of inclusion, diversity, and equity.
- Create shared university language for inclusion, diversity, and equity.
- Establish a clear, campus-wide policy to address discrimination, harassment, and bias.
- Recruit and retain diverse undergraduate and graduate students.
- Recruit and retain diverse Faculty, Staff, and Administrators.
- Commit to a physically accessible campus by going beyond minimum standards.
- Establish SU as a model for open dialogue to embrace political diversity.
- Build cultural competence on and off campus through educational experiences.
PRIDE is a temporary task force made up of individuals who work full time across campus. PRIDE’s focus is on assessment, recommendation, and consultation, including advising SU’s Senior Leadership (President and Vice Presidents). Initiatives started by PRIDE (such as Diversity in Hiring workshops) must transition into permanent offices and staff on campus.
2020-2021 PRIDE Members:
PRIDE Co-Chairs:
- Maggie McCampbell Lien, Assistant Dean, Student Leadership and Development
- Michele Pye, Associate Director Performing Arts Medicine Program and Assistant Professor Division of Athletic Training
Members:
- Becky Layne, Media Relations Coordinator, Office of Marketing and Communications
- Carmen Mazyck ’22, Nursing student
- Dr. Bryan Pearce-Gonzales, Professor of Hispanic Studies, College of Arts and Sciences
- Dr. Deran Whitney, Assistant Professor; Program Coordinator for Education Administration
- Dr. Iain Pritchard, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
- Joshua White, Freshman Admission Counselor
- Niccole Gatliff, Assistant Registrar, Veterans & Technology Specialist
- Sara Downs ’21, Public Health and Political Science student
- Tamiya Earley, Administrative Assistant & Interfaith Coordinator, Spiritual Life
- Dr.Ting-Yu Chen, Associate Dean for Student Affairs; Professor of Dance
- Dr. Anne Marchant, Director of the Division of Applied Technology
- Yolanda Sheilds, Adjunct Professor, School of Business
- Kayla Lyles ’21, Conservatory, Shenandoah Alumni
TBD: Representatives from Athletics & Nursing