Dear colleagues,

As the summer months end and we look to restart the academic year, we wanted to reach out and summarize our work on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) and point to some emerging new areas of engagement about which we are excited. This message continues to build on our DEIJ initiatives and previous messages to the School.

As articulated through previous communications and in our 11-point plan, BUSPH has long-engaged in efforts to diversify our community, create an inclusive culture and equitable environment, and to develop systems that promote justice. Our SPH Values aim to “strive for a respectful, collaborative, diverse, and inclusive community within our School of Public Health”, and we have had a comprehensive approach over the last 6 years to build the foundations to fulfill this commitment.

In many ways this work has served us well, and we continue evolving together along our journey towards being an ever better, more inclusive community. One of these key evolutions has been the elevation of DEIJ as a core area of work for the school. We have most recently done that through the creation of a permanent DEIJ Committee, embedded in the school by-laws, as one of the permanent committees of the school together with our committees on research, education, practice, and administration.

We are now pleased to also announce the promotion of Dean Yvette Cozier from Assistant Dean to Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. This position further embeds our School’s commitment to our DEIJ efforts in the architecture of the school, reflects Dean Cozier’s leadership of our DEIJ agenda over the past 6 plus years, and makes DEIJ a core part of the concerns of senior leadership joining the other four associate deans who each are responsible for a core pillar of our Think. Teach. Do. core purpose. In her new role, Dean Cozier will sit on the Dean’s Cabinet and will become an integral member of strategic decision-making at the School. Please join me in congratulating Dean Cozier.

Coming back to the subject of this note, we offer below a snapshot of our work towards our DEIJ agenda, organized now by the structures of our School. We are moving to this form of summary of our work from our previous 11-point plan to better illustrate how DEIJ is a part of everything we do at the school. Many of the sentences below embed substantial effort on the part of many. We aim to convey them here succinctly but recognize the enormous amount of work that members of our community are making every day to push this agenda forward—thank you.

THINK

Research and Faculty Advancement

Research and Faculty Advancement is responsible for aspects of faculty recruitment, hiring, retention, and evaluation. Our key DEIJ priorities in this area are the recruitment of faculty of color, collecting DEIJ data on candidates throughout all stages of recruitment, conducting regular assessments of faculty salary, with a focus on gender equity and ensuring that we are creating the best possible inclusive environment to support all faculty, and particularly our faculty of color. This semester, we are also hosting two anti-bias training workshops focused on faculty search committees that are open to all. Additionally, the unit hosts DEIJ-related sessions as part of the Faculty Development Series and evaluates the faculty development resources to ensure the needs of all faculty are met. The unit is currently considering the best way to incorporate DEIJ efforts and activities into the Annual Faculty Review process and considering best practices for recognizing faculty of color that take on extra DEIJ responsibilities.

TEACH

Education

Our Education office has a robust set of DEIJ initiatives. This year’s student orientation now includes additional sessions to address DEIJ at the School. The Education committee is working on implementing a systematic equity review of all syllabi and is considering new courses that focus on DEIJ issues through an anti-racism lens. Additional DEIJ training modules are being incorporated into TA training, and teaching evaluations are being updated to ensure equity in all we do, and to recognize historical challenges to a fair, just approach to all our evaluations.

DO

Practice

The Activist Lab, the practice arm of the School, has just recently announced the plan for “Activist Lab 2.0” under the leadership of Dean Craig Andrade. The principles of DEIJ are infused through this new vision of the Activist Lab. To build a just community, the Activist Lab has hosted Healthy Conversations—discussions with faculty, staff, and students aimed at making difficult community conversations around race and identity less hard and more effective and Practicing Boldly with Dean Andrade—an Activist Lab open house. Additionally, the Lab aims to be responsive to current events and is piloting a support system aimed at class-based support for faculty and staff on LGBTQ and racial equity related engagement. To be a change agent, the Lab manages Impact Grants (formerly Activist Bucks) and Activist Fellowships, and hosts the Activist Meet & Greet Series and the Advocacy Intensive—a workshop opportunity for students to train in activism. Finally, to take a stand, the Lab hosts the Student Advocacy/Activist Group and regularly hosts an Activist in Residence to bring a spectrum of expert advocates and activists to campus. Additionally, the Lab partners with the Massachusetts Public Health Association and with national organizations with missions aligned with our DEIJ mission.

ADMINISTRATION

Administration and Finance

The Administration and Finance department is working to ensure that the principles of DEIJ are incorporated throughout all aspects of how we operate as a School. We now include a mandatory section on DEIJ in all panel interviews, and we continue to require DEIJ training for anyone serving on a search committee. Additionally, we are working to further the School’s engagement with URM vendors and are launching a mentorship program to foster DEIJ initiatives at the School.

Office of DEIJ

The Office of DEIJ sits within the Office of the Dean. The Office of DEIJ is responsible for communication with the School and is undergoing a refresh to more efficiently communicate with the School community. In addition, the Office is responsible for planning and hosting trainings, coordinating the full scope of DEIJ activities at the School and University, and managing all DEIJ initiatives. From the Dean’s Office, Meredith Brown, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives and DEIJ, will be joined by Alysha Noel, Special Projects Manager, in supporting the Office of DEIJ. This allows us to build our capacity to do more and work towards our DEIJ goals in a robust and sustainable way.

DEIJ Committee

As noted earlier, the DEIJ Committee was formally established in 2020 when it was incorporated into the School’s bylaws. This was the result of multiple years of work by the “Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group,” led by Dean Cozier, which laid the groundwork for this committee. The DEIJ Committee includes representation from across the School and meets monthly. The Committee’s current agenda items include conducting the annual collection and review of the School’s DEIJ-related data, as presented at the May School Assembly, sharing information across departments and units, developing a set of principles for the School’s work with external vendors, and developing the School’s language to express our values.

As always, we welcome input from all members of our community on how we can do better towards our DEIJ agenda, and offer various channels of communication including our Digital Comment Box, the annual School Survey, and our DEIJ email, sphdi@bu.edu. We also host regular coffee chats with Dean Cozier open to all.

We are grateful to each member of our community for joining us on our DEIJ journey as we grow and evolve together. Thank you in particular to Dean Cozier for her leadership and to all for contributing to a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive school of public health.

Warmly,

Sandro and Yvette

Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Dean, Robert A. Knox Professor
sgalea@bu.edu

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

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