Institutional Engagement

Engagement Activities

The Northern Ohio AGEP Alliance (NOA-AGEP) institutions will implement several campus engagement activities to improve campus climate and encourage student success. 

Diversity 360

This is a three-hour education module to create “identity safety” across the breadth of human differences, customized for students, faculty and staff. This includes pre- and post-assessments of diversity-related knowledge, as well as ongoing programs, which will support the overall diversity goals of the university. Based on cross-cultural competency research and results gathered from university climate surveys, learning outcomes for Diversity 360 include:

  • Increasing capacity to recognize and engage in dialogue across the breadth of differences;
  • Deepening understanding of how affiliations in privileged and marginalized groups impact treatment on campus, campus climate and productivity;
  • Deepening awareness of types of microaggressions and how they affect experiences on campus and in the local community; and
  • Discovering ways to become a change agent and diversity champion with new knowledge, ideas and resources about university policies, programs and best practices.

 In addition to stand-alone sessions, the Diversity 360 program will be executed in a variety of other places such as Student Orientation, Faculty and Staff Orientations, and Convocation. 

Mentor Fellows

There are four seminars focused on the unique aspects of mentoring URM students:

  1. Cross-cultural Communication;
  2. Unconscious Bias;
  3. Micromessaging; and
  4. Cultural Competency for Effective Mentoring and Sponsorship.

At these seminars, faculty members read and discuss the research literature on mentoring and learn how to apply those lessons in their own mentoring relationships. Eligible faculty include departmental graduate program coordinators and faculty from participating disciplines. Faculty members do receive a stipend for their participation.

Diversity Scorecard

The Diversity Scorecard tracks recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority (URM) students, faculty and staff, as well as degree completion for students. This method was developed at Kent State University (KSU) to assist in planning for and assessing diversity initiatives and programming. Scorecard data can be used to plan, implement and assess goals and strategies to sustain—and enhance where needed—the recruitment and retention of URMs. An NOA-AGEP Scorecard will be adapted to evaluate progress on various outcomes at individual institutions and across the alliance.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers HRD 1432053, 1432864, 1432868, 1432878, 1432891, 1432921, and 1432950. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.