University Faculty Are Change Agents
by Tabbye Chavous
There are many critical challenges and opportunities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in higher education — from enhancing access so that we achieve more demographic diversity, to more effectively infusing and valuing diverse perspectives within the curricular, scholarly, and practice work on our campuses, to pathways to academic and professional success for all campus members. While all campus members have important roles, faculty members can make unique and powerful impacts on their college/university environments.
Faculty shape student experiences in and out of the classroom. In recent years, faculty have been challenged to create more effective learning environments for an increasingly diverse student body. The complex pedagogical decisions faculty make around approaching sensitive topics in the classroom and preparing their students to understand and utilize their free speech and expression rights while promoting equity and inclusion for all have critical implications for the quality of students’ learning, engagement, and belonging on campus. These potential impacts are heightened in the current socio-political environment.
Faculty also play daily roles around the production of scholarly knowledge in their academic disciplines. They determine the curriculum, research training and mentoring practices for undergraduate and graduate students in their departments. They make decisions about whom to hire as faculty and how those faculty will be evaluated, including the types of work that “count” as valuable and high impact. Research shows that if not executed with diversity, equity, and inclusion as priorities, these departmental practices can serve more as gatekeeping functions, disproportionately marginalizing and excluding members of different social identity groups (e.g., historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, women, those with disabilities) and faculty positions (e.g. those in adjunct, lecturer and clinical track, relative to tenure track). Finally, some faculty will enter formal leadership positions (e.g., chairs, deans, provosts, presidents, leaders within their disciplines’ professional societies), in which they continue to shape universities’ policies and practices, informed by their prior faculty experiences and perspectives.
Thus, through their teaching, scholarly work, and informal and formal roles in their departments, colleges, and universities’ governance, faculty with openness, understandings, and skills related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) can help create intellectually and culturally rich environments that afford all students the opportunity to thrive. Alternatively, without thoughtful attention to DEI, faculty have the power to help create and reinforce environmental norms that limit potential for some individuals and groups and undermine excellence. That is, faculty can be critical agents of positive change, individually and collectively.
That said, making change is tough. It must be acknowledged that there are faculty who have been working to enhance DEI on their campuses for a long time, and they know the work is hard, slow, requires persistence, and can be met with resistance. As in their scholarly work, these faculty know that effective change is intellectual work — requiring background research, knowledge, and strategic planning. They also know it is not work that they can do and sustain alone — it requires the engagement of faculty colleagues and allies, and other institutional supports.
This series was inspired by a group of faculty at the University of Michigan involved in efforts to gather information on effective practices and share advice for faculty who wish to effect change. Dr. Alford Young Jr., professor of sociology and Afroamerican and African studies and NCID faculty director of scholar engagement and leadership, introduces this series by presenting a framework for faculty as institutional change agents. Diversity scholars weigh in to provide their perspectives on how faculty can act as positive change agents in the work they do.
#facultychangeagents
The National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) mobilizes scholars for social transformation.
