Second Dean’s Annual Report on Diversity and Inclusion highlights progress, next steps

March 16, 2016 — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health released its second Dean’s Annual Report on Diversity and Inclusion on March 3, 2016. The report highlights efforts across the School to recruit and retain diverse students, staff, faculty, and researchers, and to create a climate of inclusion for all individuals.

Associate Dean for Diversity Meredith Rosenthal and Acting Dean David Hunter hosted a Town Hall meeting on March 9 in Kresge G-1 to discuss the report with the School’s community.

In her introductory remarks, Rosenthal thanked those who have contributed their time and ideas toward the School’s diversity and inclusion efforts. While she noted several areas of progress since last year and new initiatives, Dean Rosenthal also acknowledged that challenges remain, particularly regarding faculty diversity.

The report cited key steps that have been taken in the past year:

Diversity Dashboards: ODI Director of Recruitment Programs Felisa Nobles created an online tool in March that compiles and analyzes data from the Office of Faculty Affairs, Human Resources, Office of Financial Aid, and the Office of Admissions to gain insight into the Harvard Chan community. The aim of the Dashboards is to increase transparency around constituencies at the School, to provide evidence for improvement, and to offer prospective students insight into admissions trends. An additional seven Dashboards with departmental-level data were created and will be released in the coming weeks.

Climate assessment: Under the direction of Director of Inclusion Programs Kim Truong, surveys for faculty, staff, research scientists, and postdoctoral fellows assessing the climate around diversity and inclusion at the School were launched over the winter by The Culturally Engaging Campus Environments Project. The survey team will share findings and recommendations for improvement with the Harvard Chan community in May.

In April, Nobles and Truong will offer two sessions for the Harvard Chan community to discuss in greater detail the Dashboards and climate assessment.

Recruitment: Nobles is working with the Office of Admissions on initiatives to advance diversity with a view towards long-term investments in developing future students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty. Activities include outreach to diverse students and development of summer and post-baccalaureate programs. Human Resources efforts have included outreach at conferences and in media that attract people of diverse backgrounds and a new training for hiring managers.

Community engagement: Ra’Shaun Nalls was hired as the School’s first associate director of community engagement. Since his arrival at the beginning of the academic year, Nalls has been meeting with the School’s neighbors in Mission Hill to build a foundation of trust and engagement.

The final section of the report noted upcoming diversity and inclusion efforts at the School, including launching an anonymous bias-related incident reporting mechanism, and addressing bias in searches and admissions. A long-term goal is to improve “the capacity of all community members to recognize and mitigate the ways in which our policies, speech and behavior marginalize some groups and individuals, participate in difficult conversations, and embrace inclusion as a practice and a mindset,” the report’s authors write.

— Amy Roeder