Dear Colleagues,

We hope that this finds everyone doing well. It is with great excitement that we are writing today to announce the launch of our syllabus assessment tool and the beginning of a process to take a close look at how we as a School are doing in ensuring that our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice is being translated to the classroom. Teaching is a core principle of BUSPH, and it is a vital pillar of the school’s 10-point plan. This initiative aims to provide instructors with guidance on how to engage effectively with DEIJ in the classroom.

This tool is the culmination of over a year of development and coordination by the Education Committee and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Committee. We are also immensely grateful to those who offered input and guidance through the development process, including Governing Council, Faculty Senate, and several student leaders.

The goal of this process is for instructors to do a self-evaluation that will allow them to identify areas of strength and areas that can be improved towards ensuring that all our teaching aligns with our DEIJ goals. This process is non-evaluative and is meant to help guide faculty to improve their own courses. We are hoping that through this process instructors will feel better informed to make changes to their syllabi that create a more inclusive classroom environment and a better learning experience. The findings will also inform how the School provides trainings and tools moving forward to best support our instructors and students. All instructors who engage in this process will be provided with language to add to their syllabus noting that the syllabus has been a part of this process.

The syllabus assessment tool, adapted from our colleagues at Rutgers University School of Public Health, evaluates the following dimensions of DEIJ: Inclusion of perspectives, Accessibility, Critical engagement, Diverse pedagogical teaching techniques, Respect for student needs, Respect for student identity, Attention to language, and Facilitating discussion of different perspectives.

We are requesting all instructors who taught Summer 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022 courses to complete an assessment of their own syllabus using this structured tool by mid-October of 2022. Instructors who did not teach in this timeframe are welcome and encouraged to participate as well at this time; we expect all instructors to have completed this assessment process by March of 2023. We will be following up with an instructor-specific email soon.

To assist instructors in this endeavor, we will be hosting several workshops over the next several months. More information will be included in the instructor specific email. For those who would like one-on-one support or have specific questions, we will also be scheduling meetings upon request with Dean Sullivan or Dean Cozier.

Thank you in advance for engaging in this effort to ensure our commitment to DEIJ in the classroom. For any questions, please contact (sphdi@bu.edu).

Thank you,

Yvette Cozier, DSc
Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
yvettec@bu.edu

 Lisa M. Sullivan, PhD
Associate Dean for Education
lsull@bu.edu

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