February 13, 2018 Meeting of Diversity Committee

Minute Taker: Emily Kasak

1. Approve January meeting minutes – All
2. Additions/changes to the agenda
3. News and Updates
   • Training from ISSS held on Feb. 6 – Cindy and Zoe
   • Cultural Connections Series for Spring
     • Panel with Students from Africa – March 9, 12-1, 106 Library
     • Peace as a Means for Cultural Connections – March 30, 12-1, 106 Library
   • Culture of Disability Expo April 2018 – JJ
   • iSchool Event Friday evening April 27 and Saturday/Sunday April 28/29
     Topic: “Conquering Racism”
     Featuring: * A conversation with Jessie Carney Smith, PhD 1964, Dean of the Library at Fisk University
     * Alumni-faculty-student panels
     * Faculty workshops on designing culturally responsive pedagogy
4. Welcome Week 2018 (University Y/New American Welcome Center) – Emily
   * Do we want to be involved?
5. Moving Forward with ClimateQUAL/Library Building Communities: See Attached Documents
   * Cindy is meeting with Dean Wilkin at 11:30 Feb. 13 to discuss this
6. Communication Plan – Emily

Next Meeting: March 13, 2018
JJ Pionke, Minute Taker

Cindy Sue Ingold, Zoe P Revell, Atoma Batoma, Qiang Jin, Emily Kasak, Laila Hussein-Moustafa, Heather Murphy, JJ Pionke, Donna Hoffman, Jessica Ballard

Minute Taker: Emily Kasak

1. January minutes were approved as amended.
2. No additions/changes to the agenda.
3. News and Updates
   • Update and feedback on ISSS training held on Feb. 6:
     • ISSS offers trainings to help students, faculty, and staff learn how to contribute to the creation of a more culturally inclusive university environment. Amara ran the training, “Cultural Communications in the Workplace”, which is a new program for ISSS. Eleven people attended and feedback from attendees was positive, though the training focused less on workplace culture. The committee does not have any further trainings lined up, but we continue to view ISSS as a valuable partner and resource. More information on ISSSTRAINS: http://www.isss.illinois.edu/publications/training.html
   • Cultural Connections Series for Spring
     • Atoma is organizing the panel with students from Africa on March 9, 12-1 pm, 106 Main Library. The panel will include students from Kenya, Senegal, and Zimbabwe.
     • The Mortenson Center is organizing the “Culture of Peace” panel with guests speaking on cultural and community perspectives on peace. The panel will be held Friday, March 30, 12-1 pm, Main 106 Library.
   • Culture of Disability Expo April 2018
     • The expo will be held Wednesday, 11 April, (tentatively 10am-2 pm) in Marshall Gallery and Room 106. The event is organized and sponsored by DRES and will include therapy dogs, counseling services, relevant RSOs, library services/info, wheelchair basketball (Room 106), and other tables.
     • JJ is coordinating logistics with DRES, including facilities reservations and requests and event promotions.
     • Zoe and JJ will coordinate purchasing snacks (e.g. fruit snacks).
     • JJ plans to table the event, but would gladly welcome help covering the table for a short break.
   • iSchool “Conquering Racism” series, April 27-29
     • The iSchool is hosting a series of events around the topic of “Conquering Racism”, including a conversation with Jessie Carney Smith, PhD, Dean of the Library at Fisk University, alumni-faculty-student panels, and faculty workshops on designing culturally responsive pedagogy.
     • The Diversity Committee will help raise awareness and promote the event.
4. Welcoming Week 2018 (University Y/New American Welcome Center)
   • Welcoming Week 2018, 14-23 September, is an annual series of events hosted nationally that brings together immigrants, refugees, and native-born residents to raise awareness of the benefits of welcoming everyone.
   • Emily invited others from the committee to join for the March 6 Welcoming Collaborative meeting. Jessica and Cindy indicated they might be interested in attending; Emily will forward the meeting information.
5. ClimateQUAL & Library Building Community Committee (LBCC)
   • Cindy is meeting with Dean Wilkin at 11:30 Feb. 13 to discuss both ClimateQUAL and the proposed LBC Committee.
   • The committee is interested in better understanding where ClimateQUAL and LBCC fall within Dean Wilkin’s priorities.
     • Regarding LBCC, there is hesitation from Administration around forming a new committee. As such, the Diversity Committee (along with LSSC, Staff Development, and L-CAP) is open to the proposal of a subcommittee. Additionally, it was suggested that perhaps the Diversity Committee might consider redefining our charge and name to better incorporate some of the proposed charge of LBCC. Another idea was that respective committees have a ‘joint mission’ that addresses the LBCC charge, and we could collaborate on projects, ideas, and small scale social events.
     • With respect to ClimateQUAL, the committee sees ClimateQUAL as a big investment and would like to know the Administration’s view on the current climate, what our priorities for implementing ClimateQUAL report recommendations are, and how we aim to address the need for transparent and clear communication between staff, faculty, and administration.
6. Communication Plan
   • Emily shared the latest iteration of the communication list and promotional tool. The list is incomplete in its current state, with many key centers and units on campus still needing to be added. Emily will update the formatting, will add a ‘guidelines’ tab, and then will send to the committee for further updating and use.

Next Meeting: March 13, 2018
JJ Pionke, Minute Taker