Equity Goals
Queensborough's 2021-2026 Strategic Plan includes twelve goals organized into three thematic areas: Campus Culture, Student Engagement, and Curriculum and Instruction. While a commitment to producing equitable outcomes is woven throughout the plan, each thematic area has one of its four goals specifically focused on equity. The three goals are listed below and guide all strategic activities implemented by the Office of Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
Goals
Campus Culture: Create a campus climate that is respectful, affirming and inclusive.
Student Engagement: Create belonging and community through welcoming and inclusive practices.
Curriculum and Instruction: Close equity gaps in retention and graduation rates.
Achieving the Dream (ATD)
Achieving the Dream (ATD) is a network of 300 community colleges from across the nation that share a commitment to institutional transformation to increase the number of students who earn postsecondary credentials and access jobs with living-sustainable wages, benefits, and the potential for upward mobility. The ATD framework is built on the premise that institutional transformation is supported by identifying key opportunity areas where change is needed and building capacity across campus to manage the needed changes.
Last February, ATD announced that Queensborough was one of ten colleges selected to participate in a three-year Accelerating Equitable Outcomes cohort. To support this effort, Queensborough developed a cross-divisional team that serves as core leadership for the initiative.
Overview of Strategies
On September 20, 2022, three Queensborough colleagues co-presented with the Community College Research Center (CCRC) on strategies that support Black, Latinae(X), and limited-income students in experiencing equitable outcomes. During the presentation, the Queensborough team outlines some of the strategies the College has implemented to operationalize the Strategic Plan's commitment to equity.
Climate Surveys
A core element of the Strategic Plan is a commitment to developing a Community of Care that leads to every member of the Queensborough community feeling seen, celebrated, and that they matter. Over the next several years, Queensborough will implement a number of new initiatives to nurture a sense of belonging on campus. To measure how effective efforts are, the College dedicated the 2021-2022 academic year to assessing our community's current sense of belonging.
Curricular and Pedagogical Resource
In Spring 2021, the College convened The Taskforce for Antiracist Curriculum Review. The taskforce was led by Dr. Kerri-Ann M. Smith, Queensborough's inaugural Faculty Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity. The taskforce engaged in professional development that spring and then dedicated the following academic year to developing curricular guidelines for the College community. In Fall 2022, the taskforce launched Queensborough's Anti-racist Curriculum Guidelines.
Task Force Charge
1) Review the curriculum of respective departments to find opportunities for growth and change, using culturally responsive methodology.
2) Ask relevant questions of the overall course offerings.
3) Identify which voices may be most marginalized or invisible in the core curriculum.
4) Examine a sampling of course objectives to find opportunities for more student-centered objectives.
5) Make recommendations for measuring the effectiveness of antiracist pedagogy/curricula.
6) Learn ways to create antiracist, culturally responsive syllabi.
7) Collaborate across disciplines for the benefit of all students
Equity Institute
In Fall 2021, a team of twenty Queensborough colleagues participated in the University of Southern California's Equity Institute, an eight-week course that resulted in action plans to advance equity in four opportunity areas.
Opportunity Areas
- First-semester Retention
- Process Barriers
- Strategies to Diversify the Faculty
- BIPOC Support Programs
Equity Video Project
In fall 2020, the College began its reflective process focused on heightening understanding of student outcomes and the disparities that exist across racial and gender groups. As Queensborough delved into the inquiry about the different experiences students were having, the need to define equity was evident. The Queensborough Equity Video Project arose from this work. The Equity Video Project is a five part series designed to engage the Queensborough community in an informative conversation about equity.
Five Videos
- Queensborough Defined Equity
- Culturally Responsive Curricula and Pedagogy
- OAA Equity Initiatives
- Introducing the Equity Institute
- The final video in the series will be released in Fall 2022
Mosaic Fund
The Mosaic Fund is an application-based initiative that provides financial resources to faculty and staff to host college-wide events that explore, uplift, and celebrate specific cultures, groupings of cultures, and/or gender identities.
Racial, Equity and Justice Institute (REJI)
The Racial Equity and Justice Institute (REJI) is a consortium of institutions of higher education that partner to identify and implement data-informed strategies that close racial equity gaps in student outcomes. Membership in the consortium provides Queensborough's REJI team access to critical professional development.
Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Campus Center
The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) selected Queensborough to host a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center. The only college or university in New York City to host a TRHT Center, Queensborough will lead a multi-year initiative to educate, prepare, and inspire the next generation of leaders to transform limiting narratives about race and beliefs in the hierarchy of human value.
Click here to learn more about Queensborough's TRHT Campus Center.
