Committees

University DEI Committee (WU)

Committee Charge: Recognizing that each college has its own diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and/or working groups, this committee’s charge is to actively promote awareness of—and a shared commitment to—diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout Willamette University. It serves as a coordinating body, connecting faculty, staff, and students across the university to develop and share strategies and resources (and avoid the duplication of efforts) as part of our ongoing and collective effort to make Willamette a more equitable institution.

Chair: Emilio Solano, Assistant Provost for Institutional Equity and Community Engagement

Meeting Occurrence: Monthly

Membership: Faculty/staff and student representatives from each college as well as university representatives engaged in DEI related work across the university

Note: Each meeting dedicates time to committee member report outs to discuss DEI related work within their department/school or in relation to emerging issues that impact DEI at the university. If community members have concerns related to DEI, they are encouraged to speak with the chair or a committee member so that they may raise them during meetings.

Willamette's individual school-level DEI committees:

• Atkinson School of Management (AGSM)

  Committee Charge: The AGSM DEI Committee supports the promotion of diversity, equity, and a climate of inclusiveness by facilitating conversations and collaboration among students, staff, and faculty–at the school level—to discuss areas of need and interest while supporting integration and engagement across the broader university community on shared issues. The committee’s specific charges are:

  • Facilitating and encouraging the development of curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular programming that helps prepare students for engaging with diversity, equity, and inclusion issues during their educational and post-graduate careers.
  • Creating a venue for discussion and support of DEI activities and projects related to faculty and staff recruitment and retention, student support services, and faculty committee work that involves DEI issues.
  • Supporting the development, collection, assessment, and socialization of measures of success for AGSM’s social impact, addressing real world problems and improving society, as well as the U.N. Sustainable Development goals, relating to DEI.
  • Providing guidance to the faculty and Dean’s Office in the development and promotion of a climate of inclusiveness in the school.
• College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)
  Committee Charge: The CAS EDI Working Group reports on projects, policies, and proposals from PPC, CAP, and FEC that focus on EDI or have EDI implications. It focuses on CAS faculty governance, specifically in support of the development of policies and practices of faculty evaluations, curriculum & curricular policy, faculty governance policy & practices, and faculty culture. The CAS EDI Working Group consists of one elected member from each of the Faculty Evaluation Committee, the Curriculum & Academic Policy Committee, and the Policy Planning Committee. It also includes one member of the faculty/librarian who is also the representative to the Willamette University EDI Committee and the Faculty Associate Dean for Faculty Development.
  
  The Working Group meets periodically throughout the semester (with preference to once a month). They also receive a report from the Willamette University EDI Committee.
  
  In addition to serving as a conduit for EDI matters between the elected committees, the Working Group also identifies and develops new opportunities to improve CAS culture/conversations around EDI issues. The advocacy and action may include:
  

  • Connecting various CAS constituencies (including other committees, individual (or groups of faculty or staff, etc.) with EDI resources
  • Requesting a task force, working group, or other resources to research/develop/implement specific EDI opportunities
  • Developing faculty EDI leadership training & opportunities in collaboration with the Dean’s Office and/or the Faculty Career Support Committee
  • Connecting larger EDI university groups/initiatives to CAS constituencies
• College of Law (WUCL)
  Committee Mission: Established in 2021 following the College of Law's adoption of its Statement on Racism, Hate, and Violence, the Institutional Equity Committee (IEC Committee) includes students, staff, administration, and faculty. The IEC Committee is committed to creating an environment where every student, staff member, faculty member and administrator feels welcomed, included, heard and equally valued, embodying Willamette’s motto: “Not unto ourselves alone are we born.” We recognize and acknowledge societal and institutional structures of inequity are rooted in Eurocentrism, inequalities that have long been expressed through white supremacy, the ongoing oppression of groups not defined as white, and racist violence.
  
  The IEC Committee believes that a more just, inclusive, and diverse community results in empowered and effective leaders in our community. Seeking to turn WUCL community’s lived and learned knowledge into action, the IEC Committee is charged by the administration with (1) creating a consistent space for productive discourse and learning by hosting and supporting events for students, staff and faculty to grow their understanding of systemic and societal discrimination, (2) providing best practices for inclusion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in curriculum, hiring, and admissions, and (3) serving as a coordinating body at the law school, connecting students, staff, and faculty throughout the law school and broader university community for issues and initiatives relating to diversity and equity.
• Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA)

  Committee Definition: PNCA’s DEI committee is a working group with a representative council model composed of staff, faculty, and students. The committee’s objective is to co-create, propose, and advance a strategic vision for equity, diversity, and inclusion across the college and to work in coordination with the University DEI Committee.
  
  The committee’s primary functions are to:

  • Research and learn about impact areas and goals related to DEI across PNCA 
  • Co-create or adopt proposals for strategic initiatives to target those goals; coordinate those with the university-wide DEI committee
  • Identify and communicate to the wider PNCA community how it will track progress towards goals 
  • Facilitate the measurement and evaluation of enacted initiative