2022 UMB Cultural Diversity Report

UMB provides DEI-explicit initiatives for students at the institutional, school, and academic program-level. Selected examples of these initiatives include:

• The UMB Intercultural Center provides support for students from marginalized and underrepresented communities and co-curricular experiences that positively influence students' cultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
• The UMB Community Engagement Center provides DEI-centered programs, services, support, training, and activities for students, faculty, staff, and nearby residents of Southwest Baltimore.
• A Student Pantry assists students experiencing food insecurity.
• A name administration form was implemented allowing students, faculty, and staff to indicate their preferred/primary name to be used in university information systems.
• The Division of Student Affairs (DSA), the Office of Human Resource Services (HRS), and partners provide resources and programming focused on students who are caregivers.
• The Office of Educational Support and Disability Services (ESDS) coordinates services to assist students with disabilities in obtaining reasonable accommodations through an interactive process involving the student and the school.
• DSA maintains support websites for diverse student populations (e.g., Transgender and Non-Binary Resources, Student Veterans, Student Parents and Caregivers, Off-Campus Housing Information during COVID-19, DACA and Undocumented Student Resources, online students).
• Several schools including Law, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work, maintain diversity scholarships and collateral programming to support the success of graduate and professional students from marginalized and underrepresented populations.
• The School of Social Work curriculum requires completion of the Structural Oppression and Its Implications for Social Work course, promoting student understanding of the causes, impacts, and strategies that address all forms of structural oppression based on dimensions of identity.
• The Graduate School is developing a Master of Science in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership (MS-DEIL), the first in Maryland.
• To support inclusion in the training of predoctoral students, the School of Dentistry (SOD) will establish a mentoring program where faculty who work with third year students in the clinics will be trained to support the students as mentors and to foster a more inclusive learning environment for the students and a more patient-centered care environment. 
• The Francis King Carey School of Law (SOL) hosts the Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice, dedicated to improving immigrants' lives and their families while providing invaluable training for future lawyers.

• The UMB Faculty Leadership Academy now includes a Strategic DEI Leadership Institute that features a discussion on Inclusive Excellence, strategic diversity leadership, and allyship. Other relevant DEI concepts on which faculty are trained include microaggressions and unconscious bias and their impacts and roles in learning environments and in the workplace. Dr. Williams will also share simple, yet effective strategies for how leaders can work to confront and address their biases to become stronger allies to diverse and marginalized communities—helping leaders to level-up from bystander to up-stander.
• The UMB Intercultural Center provides DEI programming for faculty and staff such as the Intergroup Dialogue Program that improves employee capacity to engage in effective communication with individuals from different identity groups.
• The Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (OEDI) is working with the Center for Information Technology Services (CITS) and HRS to develop an interactive, online dashboard and accountability profile that will promote assessment of progress toward achieving DEI-explicit goals related to faculty appointment, promotion, tenure, retention, and other performance measures.
• OEDI is working with Academic Affairs and the Office of Accountability and Compliance (OAC) to identify and revise policies to require faculty candidates for managerial roles to submit Contributions to Diversity Statements for evaluation by appointment and promotion committees.
• The Culture Transformation Initiative in the School of Medicine is a multi-year, school-wide initiative to advance gender- and race-based equity in faculty appointment, promotion, tenure, retention, and compensation.
• The School of Nursing (SON) received the 2021 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine in recognition of annual learning objectives focused on cultural competence, education, and training included in faculty and staff performance reviews, integration of Restorative Justice practices, and facilitating dialogue and cultural and racial awareness through a Booked for Lunch Club.
• To strengthen health equity in the predoctoral curriculum, the SOD will review the existing curriculum and build upon current initiatives from the first through the fourth years curriculum that will support the training of dentists who understand health equity, social determinants, and their role and responsibility in providing equity-focused care. Additional reviews will occur within the hygiene curriculum. 
• The Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in collaboration with senior leaders, HRS, Institutional Effectiveness, Strategic Planning and Assessment, and other partners at UMB are diversifying their recruitment efforts to hire qualified individuals from underrepresented groups through assessment of trends and inclusive hiring training.
• HRS is managing programs to combat anti-Asian hate and other emerging areas of concern during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The University provided best practices for faculty and staff displaying pronouns in email signature lines.

• The Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) provides funding and support for development and programming of employee affinity groups. These identity-based, employee-led organizations support the networking, growth, and mentoring of UMB staff and faculty.
• OEDI is working with OAC to draft policy that requires candidates for managerial staff positions (director-level and above) to submit Contributions to Diversity Statements for evaluation by hiring and promotion committees.
• OEDI is working with HRS to formally integrate DEI performance measures and development goals into staff performance evaluations by summer 2023.
• HRS facilitates a Managing for Diversity module in its Management Essentials training for new staff managers.
• The Division of Administration and Finance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee leads projects such as staff surveys and hosts programs to advance DEI outcomes within the largest staff division at UMB.
• UMB PACE (Professional Administratives Committed to Excellence) is an initiative of UMBrella that explicitly works to develop and support women advancing through the ranks of administrative staff roles from entry level assistants to senior administrative support leaders. Programming is open to staff of all genders.
• The Center of Excellence on LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health Equity in the Institute for Innovation & Implementation at the School of Social Work provides health care practitioners with best and evidence-based practices and strategies that reduce disparities among the LGBTQ+ population across mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
• OEDI is working with academic diversity officers across campus to plan and implement a DEI Summit in spring 2023
• UMB CURE (Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences Program) Scholars is a comprehensive science pipeline initiative that excites students from three middle schools in the disinvested neighborhoods of West Baltimore about science and exposes them to careers in health care, cancer research, and STEM. Staff, faculty, and students at UMB serve as mentors and advisors to CURE scholars.

• UMB hired its first chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer and vice president (CDEIO/VP) on July 1, 2021. Reporting to the president, the CDEIO/VP serves as an advisor, leader, and catalyst for institutional change focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• OEDI is developing plans to enhance leadership programming that builds and reinforces the capacity of assistant vice presidents and above to assess and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion at the departmental and institutional levels.
• OEDI is developing DEI key performance indicators for the review, evaluation, and development of senior leaders, including deans and vice presidents.
• The School of Social Work’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and HRS developed a training to support search committees for managerial and leadership positions in attracting and fairly evaluating highly diverse pools of qualified candidates. This training is delivered to Dean and VP search committees by the CDEIO/VP.
• The UMB President is a member of the Anchor Learning Network (ALN), a consortium of institutions of higher education who have committed to developing, sharing, and applying best and evidence-based practices to advance equity and inclusion in institutional hiring, procurement, real estate development and other economic activities. ALN initiatives are managed, on the president’s behalf, by the Office of Community Engagement.

Governing, administrative, and coordinating entities focused on DEI exist at the institutional, divisional, and organizational levels at UMB and its seven constituent schools. Examples of such bodies include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (OEDI) was established in July of 2021, led by a CDO/VP, and staffed by 2 team members – a Director and Executive Assistant - to advance the Office’s strategic vision and direction. OEDI provides leadership, direction and campus-wide support in DEI strategic planning, implementation, assessment, and accountability, building capacity and depth in all seven schools and administrative units.
• The UMB Intercultural Center is an office within the Division of Student Affairs dedicated to promoting student belonging, assessing and improving campus climate for DEI, providing resources for affirming educational experiences, navigating the impact of racial/ethnic/cultural stress on students, identifying and connecting students to resources aimed at success for historically marginalized and underrepresented students, and more.
• The Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) advises University leadership and consists of representatives across each School and the central administrative units. Some members of the DAC established an Anti-Racism Action Committee in summer 2020.
• The School of Nursing has an Office of Diversity and Inclusion, led by an assistant dean for diversity and inclusion, a director of diversity and inclusion, and a diversity and inclusion coordinator.
• The School of Social Work has an Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, led by the Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, established to build and foster diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, anti-racism, anti-discrimination, restoration, reconciliation, and accessibility.
• The Graduate School benefits from a Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and a Chief Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer as it develops its first strategic plan for DEI.
• The schools of Medicine, Law, and Dentistry each have an associate dean, assistant dean, and or director of DEI who serve as school-wide leaders. The School of Pharmacy is currently undergoing a process to appoint its first assistant dean for DEI in 2022.
• The President’s Council for Women was established by the UMB Office of the President to foster an environment of equity, opportunity, and fulfillment for all women in the UMB community.
• UMBrella is an institution-wide employee committee that works to support the success of women and those who identify as women at UMB by building community and helping them achieve their personal and professional goals, enhancing their leadership skills, and championing women at all levels of the organization.
• The Administration and Finance Division’s DEI Committee provides advice to the UMB Chief Business and Finance Officer on DEI policies, practices, outcomes, and issues impacting or potentially impacted by staff in the division.
• The Office of Educational Support and Disability Services (ESDS) coordinates services to assist students with disabilities in obtaining reasonable accommodations through an interactive process involving the student and the school. The office also works with a number of advisory boards to proactively solicit and act upon guidance to improve accessibility on campus.

UMB is currently building out its DEI data development agenda—a map of the metrics it must collect, analyze, and report disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, and other dimensions of identity—as part of its efforts to advance campus-wide DEI assessment and accountability. Examples of current and planned assessments and actions taken based on the results of those assessments are listed below.

• Student Affairs Campus Climate Survey for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has been conducted on a bi-annual basis at UMB since 2018. Student Affairs used the survey results to inform the development of support websites for diverse student populations (e.g., Transgender and Non-Binary Resources, Student Veterans, Student Parents and Caregivers, Off-Campus Housing Information during COVID-19, DACA and Undocumented Student Resources, online students). Campus climate results will also inform diversity strategic planning using an anti-racism lens within UMB Student Affairs. The 2022 survey will be part of a holistic all-stakeholders survey effort that will also include surveys of faculty and staff.
• The Campus Climate Survey for Sexual Assault is conducted on a biannual basis by the office of Accountability and Compliance and reported to the University System of Maryland and Maryland Higher Education Commission. Results of the survey have been used to assess and improve resources and educational programming for the general student body as well as students reporting sexual misconduct.
• The Gallup Employee Campus Climate Survey for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was conducted in 2017 and 2019. The results were presented to the DAC and campus leadership for consideration in institutional goal setting and decision-making related to eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion gaps.
• The Office of EDI is leading the development of The UMB Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dashboard and accountability profile in collaboration with CITS, HRS, Student Affairs, and other campus partners. The interactive, online dashboard will promote strategic planning, organizational decision-making, institutional transparency, and continuous improvement related to DEI outcomes across the institution.
• UMB systematically and routinely collects, reports, and archives enrollment and representation data for students, faculty, and staff, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender. See Appendix 3 for more information.

In addition to surveying students across campus, UMB benefits from students serving in formal advisory and shared governance capacities on several boards and councils across the institution. Examples of such activities include, but are not limited to:

• The Student Affairs Advisory Board includes students who advise the assistant vice president and other student affairs leaders on issues related to student experience at UMB, including diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• The Student Health Insurance Program Advisory Committee is composed of UMB students and staff/faculty who provide feedback on a number of items related to the student health insurance plan and the diverse needs of the UMB student population. The committee may also provide feedback on other student health, counseling, wellness, and insurance matters.
• The COVID-19 Recovery Task Force consists of 12 Focus Areas and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workgroup. The Co-Curricular Focus Area and University Health Focus Area include student representation. Additional communication efforts were established during the pandemic to facilitate communication between students and University leaders. For example, since March 2020, the AVP of Student Affairs attended monthly University Student Government Association (USGA) meetings to facilitate communication between students and the COVID-19 Focus Area leaders. UMB Student Affairs and USGA invited University leaders to participate in Community Discussions to address student’s concerns.
• The Intercultural Center coordinates an Advisory Board for Student Caregivers that serves as an opportunity for student parents and caregivers at UMB to connect with other students, share their experiences, and advocate for their needs.
• The Office of Educational Support and Disability Services utilizes a liaison-ship with each school at UMB to endorse and coordinate students’ academic accommodations, as well as act as a supportive ally to students with disabilities within their respective programs.  Additionally, in Spring 2022, ESDS partnered with the Intercultural Center to launch a Students with Disabilities Advisory Group (SDAG) to further the discussion and provide feedback to ESDS and UMB on matters of access, equity, and inclusion to those with disabilities.
• The President's Symposium engages students from the schools of dentistry, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore on a yearlong research project (5-7 students). The presidential fellows have offered recommendations to university leadership with a strong record of integration and implementation over the years (e.g., global education, health equity and sustainability). This year’s focus was EDI as a strategic institutional priority, exploring what UMB’s role will be in creating working and learning environments that foster an authentic sense of belonging for students, staff, faculty, and neighbors. The students’ research and recommendations specifically focused on inclusive pedagogy and leadership at UMB.
• The Diversity Advisory Council reserves two seats for current students as full, voting members of the organization that provides recommendations to university leadership that promote the University’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Students participate in Student Government Associations at the institutional level and within each of UMB’s seven professional schools. In addition to providing advice to campus leaders, delivering programming to fellow students, and hosting events, many of these bodies include executive staff or committees specifically dedicated to advancing DEI at the interpersonal, organizational, and institutional levels.

A subgroup of the UMB Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) developed a statement on cultural competence. The original purpose of the statement was to develop a common definition across the university. The subgroup used the definition of cultural competence established by the National Association of Social Work’s (NASW) National Committee (2001) and endorsed by the NASW standards of “cultural competence” in social work practice, with some small modifications.

In November 2018, the Deans discussed the statement on cultural competence developed by the subgroup. The subgroup considered the feedback and shared the new draft with the DAC in February 2019. The following is the final statement on cultural competence adopted:

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is committed and pledges to embrace cultural competence at all organizational levels and programs to improve outcomes for students, faculty, staff, and the community at large. “Cultural competence responds respectfully and effectively to all people in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each (all).”[1] The University will develop policies and engage in education, scholarship, and service delivery that promote and support cultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Together as a university community we commit to self-assessing and strengthening our own cultural competence by creating a climate that celebrates diversity and inclusion.

We propose that as a university we engage in the following activities to be able to implement this statement and achieve its purpose and outcomes:

1. Develop a process to engage each school at the leadership level and as a whole to implement and execute this statement within their respective schools.
2. Encourage the Center for Interprofessional Education (IPE) to develop IPE experiences for students of all schools in the area of cultural competence.
3. Create a clear message to the University community about this statement and the expectations for each member of the organization

The 2017-2021 Strategic Plan (the “Plan”) embeds the UMB diversity plan. UMB requires each school dean and vice president to align its unit plan with a comprehensive strategy addressing six priority themes. All units completed this alignment by the conclusion of FY17.

Theme 1 – Health, Justice, and Social Impact and Theme 4 – Inclusive Excellence direct efforts to impact DEI outcomes in UMB’s internal and external environment. Twice yearly, each unit updates the status of the goals in its aligned plan. The Plan’s annual reports and summaries are available for review at https://www.umaryland.edu/about-umb/strategic-plan/2017-2021-strategic-plan/progress-report/.

UMB released its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan in December 2021, and it will begin implementation by July 1, 2021.  One of its six strategic themes for which all administrative units must develop strategic implementation goals focuses on university culture, engagement, and belonging. New initiatives tied to that theme and others will advance anti-racism, DEI, and social justice efforts. This plan will also serve as a foundation for developing the UMB Strategic Diversity Plan 2023-2027.

STUDENTS

• Enrollment by Race and Gender
• Fall Enrollment Report (2009 to Present)
• Table 5 (All Programs by Degree Level – Gender)
• Table 7 (All Programs by Degree Level - Race)
• Table 11b (Graduate School by Program – Gender)
• Table 11c (Graduate School by Program - Race)
• Spring and Summer Terms (2012 to Present)
• Headcount Enrollment by Race (All Programs by Degree Level)
• All Terms (Fall 2009 to Present)
• School Enrollment Summaries
• Degrees by Race (FY 2019 to Present)
• Fiscal Year Awards Conferred by Race (All Programs by Degree Level)
• Undergraduate Graduation and Retention Rates
• Graduation Rates at 150% Time to Degree by Race
• Pell-Eligible Graduation Rates at 150% Time to Degree by Race
• One-Year Retention Rates by Race
• Pell-Eligible One-Year Retention Rates by Race
• Graduation Rates at 100%, 150% and 200% Time to Degree for Primary Professional Programs by Race (2015 to Present)
• Retention Rates for First, Second and Third (where applicable) Year for Primary Professional Programs by Race (2015 to Present)
• Financial Aid Awards by Program and Award by Race and Gender (FY 2010 to Present)
• Applications and Admissions by Program by Race and Gender (FY 2010 to Present but only those Programs Utilizing Banner for Applications and Admissions Data)
• Academic Performance
• Term GPA by Program by Race and Gender
• Cumulative GPA by Program by Race and Gender

FACULTY

• Fall Census Data (Fall 2010 to Present)
• Faculty Table 6a – Headcount by School and Race
• Faculty Table 6b – Headcount by Class and Race
• Faculty Table 7 – Profile by Tenure, Status and Race with Gender
• Faculty Table 7a – Profile by Tenure, Status and Race with Gender – No Adjuncts
• Fall Census Data (Fall 2010 to Present)
• Faculty Table 8 – Headcount by School and Race with Gender
• Faculty Table 9 – Headcount by Rank and Race with Gender
• Faculty Table 10 – Headcount by School, Rank and Race with Gender
• Faculty Table 10a – Headcount by School, Rank and Race with Gender – No Adjuncts
• Time in Rank by Race and Gender
• Time to Tenure by Race and Gender
• Retention / Termination (length of employment) by Race and Gender

STAFF

• Fall Census Data (Fall 2010 to Present)
• Employee Table 8 – Headcount by School and Gender
• Employee Table 9 – Headcount by School and Race
• Fall Census Data (Fall 2010 to Present)
• Employee Table 10 – Headcount by Job Category and Race with Gender
• Employee Table 11 – Headcount by School, Job Category and Race with Gender

[1] This is the definition of cultural competence by the National Association of Social Work’s (NASW) National Committee (2001) and endorsed by the NASW standards of “cultural competence” in social work practice with some small modifications.