• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• SPH’s Division of Epidemiology and Community Health (EpiCH) updated their DEI committee last fall by inviting new members, including a new committee chair, faculty, staff, and graduate assistants.

Year 2

• All staff and faculty job postings have been updated with language that exemplifies the school’s commitment to antiracism and equity. Employees and supervisors were given guidance on incorporating SPAR-aligned goals into their annual performance evaluation.

Year 1

• The SPH Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Action Alignment Team (AAT) is active. AAT has been meeting monthly to share successes, challenges, and resources across the school. Some wins that have emerged include:
  • Each division now has a DEI committee and a graduate assistant.
  • We have used more than $200K of our GAGE funds (grants intended to help identify and implement effective diversity initiatives); $105K in direct student support.
  • The AAT has helped to bolster the communications work that is connected to SPAR and the school began adding DEI and antiracist language to all leadership job descriptions and into performance review processes.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• SPH’s EpiCH division has a committee chair and staff representative that meets with their research committee chair to ensure that DEI an antiracism are part of their work and to develop a system to promote the development of more NIH Diversity Supplement Proposals.

Year 2

• In fall 2022, the SPH Office of Research conducted a Faculty Directory Survey to gather baseline data about faculty expertise in health equity. Survey results show that 57 percent (76/134) of faculty respondents described their work as related to health disparities and/or health equity.

Year 1

• Some faculty created new curricula or revised existing curricula and syllabi to align with antiracism principles. This work includes engaging paid community members to review syllabi.
• Under the guidance of the associate dean for research, SPH developed goals to ensure that DEI and antiracism are central to the SPH research agenda.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• SPH’s Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity (CARHE) launched their new Ignite the Spark Scholars program that will build capacity for measuring and studying structural racism. The program will provide scholars a 15-month, $72,000 grant for research.
• We are encouraging faculty and staff to submit their work to U of M’s In Your Community project so that we can stay abreast of our community engagement efforts.

Year 2

• The interim dean and director of communications led a comprehensive legislative outreach and advocacy campaign in spring 2023 to request annual direct appropriation to SPH from the taxation of recreational cannabis. Through these efforts, the school successfully received $2.5 million in annual appropriation to establish a new SPH Center for Cannabis Research, which will have a focus on health equity. The new center will study how recreational marijuana is used in Minnesota, its impact on health, and how different populations and communities are affected.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• In fall 2023, SPH Communications and DEI teams hosted the SPAR Anniversary Celebration featuring special Pecha Kucha presentations from SPH students, staff, faculty, and alumni about different topics related to anti-oppression.
• SPH continued its Justice in Public Health series with four seminars focused on abolition, the rise in opioid-related harm, climate justice, and food justice.
• SPH continued to produce monthly columns in our Notes on Antiracism, Justice, and Equity newsletter on topics including equitable data science, the land back movement, an antiracist pedagogy, and how our future depends on education.
• SPH continued to feature SPH students, staff, and faculty and their perspectives on antiracism, their work, and what the school could be doing better through our Agents for Change profiles.
• SPH EpiCH division is currently developing an accessibility task force.

Year 2

• In summer 2022 through summer 2023, the school implemented a communications plan in service of SPAR Year 2 implementation. Goals included: 1) Create transparency and understanding about the plan; 2) Provide timely information about research, community engagement, events, resources, skill-building, professional development and leadership opportunities, mentorship and support, and training; and 3) Model inclusive and equitable approaches through engagement, ample feedback opportunities, multi-channel communications, and accessible publications. Strategies included: 
  • Agents for Change profiles; 
  • “Notes on Antiracism, Justice, and Equity” newsletter; 
  • “Antiracism and Health Equity” printed booklet; social media; 
  • “Making Health a Human Right” landing page; 
  • Mass emails and newsletter placements; 
  • Internal SPAR building signage; 
  • Antiracism animated video series; 
  • American Public Health Association (APHA) exhibit booth; 
  • OpEd placement in the Chronicle of Higher Education; 
  • Advances magazine feature; and
  • The coordination and promotion of Justice in Public Health events, community forums, and BIPOC/AI faculty, staff, and student events.

Year 1

SPAR Launch Communications Plan

• In spring through fall 2021, the school developed and implemented a communications plan for the SPAR launch. It had three key objectives: 1) Make sure every member of our school knows what SPAR is and the role they play; 2) Showcase leadership commitment to the plan; 3) Engage people by educating and inspiring them to act.
• Communications strategies included meetings; development of the SPAR theme, “Building Equity, Driving Justice: Commit | Challenge | Change” and related design assets; key messages; videos; decal and letter mailed to SPH faculty and staff; mass emails and newsletter placements; social media; and an Advances magazine feature.

Ongoing SPAR Communications Plan

• In summer 2021 through summer 2022, the school developed and implemented a long-term communications plan in service of SPAR. Goals include: 1) Create transparency about who is leading, planning, and implementing SPAR and how others can get involved; 2) Model equitable approaches through engagement, feedback opportunities, and multi-channel communications; 3) Provide support, guidance, and resources to divisions and units; 4) Provide timely information about research, events, community engagement, resources, and training; 5) Reinforce that DEI and antiracism are top priorities for the school.
• Strategies included events; Agents for Change profiles; “Notes on Antiracism, Justice, and Equity” newsletter; “Antiracism and Health Equity” printed booklet; social media; videos; DEI website redesign and new web landing page; mass emails and newsletter placements; internal building signage; American Public Health Association (APHA) exhibit booth; promotional materials; and newsletter templates and webpages for divisions.

Hiring

• SPH hired an internal communications and antiracism strategist in spring 2022 with key responsibilities that include the ongoing implementation of the SPAR communications plan.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• The SPH DEI team has restructured our schoolwide DEI Action Alignment Team (DEI AAT) to better engage our SPAR lead stewards, schoolwide unit representatives, divisional representatives, and student leaders.
• SPH’s DEI team has established a new tracking system that collects input from divisions and units on SPAR-related projects on a regular basis. The SPAR Progress Update webpage will now be updated every six months (instead of annually) to more accurately track our progress in real-time.

Year 2

• In fall 2022, the school conducted its second biennial climate assessment. Several changes were made to the 2022 assessment, including deepening a focus on the survey itself rather than on focus groups or interviews; rewording several questions for more accurate data; and adding some questions about antiracism. Compared to the 2020 climate assessment results, SPH saw significant improvements in the diversity of its employees as well as in its climate, feelings of belonging, and trust in leadership’s commitment to DEI.

Year 1

• In SPAR’s first year, the school began developing a standardized and authentic model for gathering, analyzing, and reporting data.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• SPH EpiCH division has student representatives that are voting members of our Division Training Committee to make policy recommendations. Postdoctoral scholars are included in our Research Committee, and we continue to hire graduate assistants to serve on our DEI committee. We have also finalized hiring guidelines and equitable hiring practices for various job positions.

Year 2

• The student services office worked with the communications team to identify priority websites to update with key student resources. Mental health resources have been updated on the website.
• The student services office provided one-on-one counseling sessions for admitted and prospective students to discuss funding options and opportunities. Student Services created a standard approach to advertising and engaging students in available funding opportunities.
• SPH’s Diversity Network hosted an applied practice experience (APEX) event where presenters talked students through the process of submitting the necessary paperwork for their APEX. This session was also recorded and shared to students upon request.

Year 1

Student Representatives on SPH Committees

• There is now student representation on the DEI Action Alignment Team, EDIT, Orientation Planning Committee, Commencement Planning Committee, SPH Alumni Society, and Research Committee.
• The SPH student senate president was appointed to the Education Policy Committee (EPC) as an ex-officio member.
• There is additional student representation in various committees at the program and division level as well.
• SPH secured stipends for student leaders of the Diversity Network.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• SPH hosted its annual BIPOC/AI welcome event for students to network and build community. A spring networking brunch is currently under development.

Year 2

• SPH hosted a number of events centering BIPOC and American Indian student experiences to bring students across divisions together, build connections, and exchange resources for year-long support. SPH’s Mentor Program brought together mentors and mentees of similar identities to build networking and supportive relationships for students. 
• Diversity Network executive board received stipends for their work through 2022-23.
• While there is not a specific system to keep track of resources, additional opportunities have been made available to students throughout their educational experience such as: orientation; engagement events; more regular scholarship opportunities; and SPH’s Career Canvas course.
• Career Services has supported students to continually meet and exceed the CEPH employment requirement of 80% of students employed within a year of graduation through individual appointments and online workshops. For the 2022 calendar, SPH had a 99% employment rate.

Year 1

Affinity Spaces

• SPH In/Color was developed in 2020 to provide BIPOC students an opportunity to connect and build community. SPH In/Color hosted virtual sessions in fall 2020 and spring 2021, and was active in fall 2021 for current and incoming BIPOC students.

Professional Development

• SPH held an event for BIPOC students to engage with BIPOC public health professionals (including SPH alumni) currently working in the field.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• The student services team visited Minnesota colleges and universities, with a special emphasis on those that have a large population of historically underrepresented students. SPH participated in recruitment events put on by historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Student services provided a recruitment toolkit that was shared with faculty and staff with specific information on recruiting students of color.

Year 2

• The school strengthened relationships with St. Paul and Shakopee public schools through events and programming. SPH hosted a number of students from St. Croix public schools during a healthcare exploration program in June 2023.
• The SPH enrollment application questions and requirements were updated with inclusive language and an annual review process was established.
• SPH has developed reports on recruitment and enrollment numbers disaggregated by race and citizenship. Through the alignment project, the enrollment management committee will receive monthly reports on admissions numbers.

Year 1

Student Counts by Race/Ethnicity

• 2021 total headcount 1,428; BIPOC 24.26%; nonresident international 14.10%; white 56.89%; unknown 4.75% (Data pulled on August 12, 2021, from “2021 SPH Current Student Counts for Official Reporting”)

Applications and Scholarships

• SPH reviewed application materials to ensure language is inclusive, antiracist, and free of implicit bias. SPH reported to the Associate for Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) implicit bias in boilerplate language that is common across U.S. applications. In these materials, the school also acknowledges the past harms done to BIPOC applicants in the application process and invites applicants to consider their role in antiracism and anti-oppression.
• SPH updated scholarship processes to increase BIPOC applicants and recipients.
• The school began to review SPH admission and graduate program websites to ensure that the language is inclusive and antiracist. Sites are also reviewed for coded language and implicit bias.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• Student services developed a recruitment toolkit to recruit students of color as part of the student services alignment project. Regular reporting on enrollment information, including race and ethnicity data, is underway.

Year 2

• The student services alignment project is underway. Increasing student scholarships and other funding is within the project’s scope.
• A holistic review of the application process and Implicit Bias Training Canvas course were created and approved by the Office of the General Counsel (OGC). This will be a required training for all admissions committee members and student services staff who work in admissions beginning in fall 2023. (Note: The recent Supreme Court ruling may require us to modify as necessary.)
• 10 programs were reviewed for the fall 2023 admissions cycle on their application decision practices, and modifications were made to the scoring criteria and affiliated rubrics as appropriate.
• SPH shared decline survey information with programs and the information will be evaluated with division heads in July 2023. Ongoing reporting will be covered by the student services alignment project as part of the enrollment management committee.

Year 1

GRE & Holistic Reviews

• The school permanently eliminated requirements for the GRE and instituted a holistic review of all applicants beginning with the 2021-2022 admissions cycle.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• All search committees involved in hiring SPH faculty must participate in a training on conducting an antiracist search in collaboration between the Office of Faculty Affairs, SPH HR, and our DEI team. Our EpiCH division requests a DEI statement as a part of their job application process.
• The SPAR faculty subcommittee has drafted a document of key elements to be included in all SPH faculty job postings. Feedback is currently being accepted by divisions and will be completed early March 2024, then will be incorporated in the position posting template.

Year 2

Faculty Counts by Race/Ethnicity

• 2022 total headcount 123; BIPOC 27 (21.95%)
• 2023 total headcount 129; BIPOC 30 (23.3%)
• Notes:
  1. Data reflects workforce snapshot counts taken spring of 2022 and 2023 of full-time faculty
  2. Data include all faculty who were paid when the snapshot was taken
  3. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Ethnicity Calculation is used to align with the student demographic reporting.
  4. Our retention rates for our faculty and staff have remained consistent.

Hiring Practices

• The SPH HR team, Office of DEI, and Office of Faculty Affairs are collaborating to provide education and training for each faculty search committee on how to conduct an antiracist job search.
• SPH continues the processes it began last year of 1) Coaching faculty on active recruiting methods with a focus on recruiting faculty from diverse backgrounds; and 2) Advertising faculty searches in outlets with a broad reach, especially towards professionals of color. HR also continues to refine its process for guiding division heads and faculty search committees through the development of faculty position descriptions that have well-defined and assessable required qualifications and preferred qualifications, with the number of required qualifications minimized.
• The SPAR faculty subcommittee has reviewed faculty position postings to 1) Build consistency across divisions in language related to antiracism and SPAR; 2) Align language with our specific SPAR goals; and 3) Build transparency about the position, including through the posted salary ranges and benefits. 

Year 1

Faculty Counts by Race/Ethnicity

• 2021 total headcount 130; BIPOC 26 (20%)
• 2022 total headcount 123; BIPOC 27 (21.95%)
• Notes:
  1. Data reflects workforce snapshot counts taken spring of 2021 and 2022
  2. Data include all faculty who were paid when the snapshot was taken
  3. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Ethnicity Calculation is used to align with the student demographic reporting.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• The SPAR faculty subcommittee is currently working with each division on what resources not tied to grant fundings are available to faculty. Next steps include evaluating the allocation of those resources and whether they are equitable and race-conscious.
• SPH’s Office of Faculty Affairs offered $1,000 each for four faculty members to attend the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy National Conference, on top of U of M’s Office of Equity and Diversity’s IDEA coverage of registration costs.

Year 2

• The SPAR faculty subcommittee recently reviewed all divisions’ faculty mentoring plans and discussed strengths, commonalities, and differences, and brainstormed ideas to increase the ability of BIPOC and American Indian faculty to find a senior mentor with shared lived experiences/academic trajectories.
• The Provost’s charge to have a standing Salary Equity Review Committee (SERC) was developed with additional guidance on how to conduct it and with university-wide principles and school-wide principles. The SERC reviewed all full-time faculty base salaries with a focus on equity across track (contract, tenure-track, tenured), race/ethnicity, and legal sex. They have produced a closed report that describes their anonymized review process and makes specific recommendations to SPH leadership on who is needing an equity increase in base pay and how much is recommended. Leadership has reviewed the closed report and followed through with equity raises being granted during the current performance review cycle (effective for FY24). SERC will release an open report in Fall 2023.

Year 1

Salary Equity Review Committee (SERC)

• SPH convened a standing SPH SERC in January 2022.
• SERC co-chairs are SPH Professors Xianghua Luo and Shalini Kulasingam. Other committee members represent diversity across divisions, gender, rank, track (i.e. contract, tenure-track, tenured), and race/ethnicity.
• SERC will meet through summer 2022 to review all full-time faculty base salaries with a focus on equity across track, race/ethnicity, and gender.
• In early fall 2022, the committee will produce an open report that describes its review process. At that time, it will also produce a closed report to SPH leadership with recommendations about individuals needing an equity increase in base pay and how much is recommended.
• In fall and winter 2022, SPH leadership will review the reports and decide on the amount and timing of equity increases.
• References: Guidelines for Faculty Salary Equity Review Process for Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty (UMN, 2022); Guidelines for Faculty Salary Equity Reviews (UMN, 2018); U of M compensation principles and policies; SPH compensation principles and guidance documents.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• SPH hosted its annual BIPOC/AI welcome event for staff and faculty to network and build community.
• SPH EpiCH division currently requires all faculty members in their division to complete the U of M Office of Equity and Diversity certificate program that is free for all staff and faculty. The completion of these certificates are heavily weighted in faculty merit evaluations. The division is currently working on a system to formally track participation in this program over time.

Year 2

• The SPH Office of Faculty Affairs sponsors a monthly assistant professor lunch, including one focused on improving faculty mentoring of our students by having students compile, and periodically revisit and revise with their mentor’s input, an Individualized Development Plan (IDP) for short-term and long-term career planning. Several template IDPs were reviewed and discussed with the goal of understanding that a mentor can help their student find an IDP that works best for them: their experiences, their degree program, and their goals.

Year 1

Networking Event

• The SPH Offices of DEI, HR, Communications, and Faculty Affairs met in May 2022 to share ideas about faculty onboarding and networking events. From that meeting, the group began coordinating an annual networking event for all BIPOC faculty and staff that will also serve as a welcome for new BIPOC faculty and staff.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 1

Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Policy

• SPH revised the tenure-track/tenured faculty Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Policy (7.12 Statement) and the U of M Provost gave final approval in July 2021. SPH prepared an executive summary of the changes in September 2021.

Promotion Dossier CV

• The faculty CV nested within the promotion dossier is required to follow the U of M template. DEI contributions do not currently have specific section(s) in the template CV. The SPH Office of Faculty Affairs holds a promotion workshop each May for faculty who are requesting promotion in the coming academic year. The associate dean for faculty Affairs encourages faculty to include DEI work in all the major sections of the CV (teaching, research/scholarship, service) and to demonstrate (in particular through the teaching narrative, the research narrative, and the service narrative) how DEI work is interwoven throughout those sections.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• All search committees involved in hiring SPH staff must attend a training on “Conducting an Antiracist Staff Search” put together by SPH DEI and HR teams.
• HR is developing guidelines for increasing the equity and transparency of the hiring process for all staff members school-wide.

Year 2

Staff Counts by Race/Ethnicity

• Staff Headcount Trend
  • 2022 total headcount 389; BIPOC 71 (18.25%)
  • 2023 total headcount 358; BIPOC 81 (22.6%)
  •  Notes:
    1. Data reflects workforce snapshot counts taken in spring of 2022 and 2023 of full and part-time staff
    2. Data include all staff who were paid when the spring snapshot was taken;
    3. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Ethnicity Calculation is used to align with the student demographic reporting.
    4. Our retention rates for our faculty and staff have remained consistent.

Hiring Practices

• SPH has revised the DEI statements used in all staff job postings to better reflect our values and to use updated, inclusive language. 
• The SPH HR team has been educating hiring managers about hard and soft skills and how to screen application materials with a primary focus on required qualifications. The HR team has been monitoring for possible adverse impacts in the selection process.

Year 1

Staff Counts by Race/Ethnicity

• Staff Headcount Trend
  • 2021 total headcount 354; BIPOC 56 (15.82%)
  • 2022 total headcount 389; BIPOC 71 (18.25%)
• Staff Hiring Trend
  • 2021 BIPOC 23.1%
  • 2022 BIPOC 31.4%
  •  Notes:
    1. Data reflects workforce snapshot counts taken in spring of 2021 and 2022.
    2. Data include all staff who were paid when the spring snapshot was taken;
    3. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Ethnicity Calculation is used to align with the student demographic reporting.

Hiring Practices

The school made the following changes to staff hiring practices to prioritize antiracism and inclusivity in the hiring process:

• The school’s commitment to antiracism is now included in all staff job postings to highlight its importance in our culture and the hiring process. Salary ranges are now included in all staff job postings for transparency and to help candidates make an informed decision about whether to apply for a position.
• Some required qualifications in staff job postings have been recharacterized as preferred qualifications, thereby increasing the size of applicant pools rather than automatically screening out candidates as unqualified before consideration.
• Minimum posting time for staff positions has been increased from 7 to 14 days to help create larger, more diverse applicant pools.
• Work arrangement information has been included in all staff job postings to highlight the availability of remote or hybrid work, thereby promoting inclusivity and flexibility leading to larger, more diverse applicant pools.
• Instructions for indicating pronouns and preferred names have been included to promote a more inclusive hiring process for non-binary and transgender applicants.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• HR is currently updating its compensation principles and process document to ensure it has an equity focus. This includes working on completing a full SPH compensation equity review, and working with the interim chief financial officer to secure funds to provide necessary increases to ensure equity across the school.

Year 2

• A SPAR staff subcommittee has been formed and is in the process of creating a compensation process for the school to ensure pay inequities are addressed.

Year 1

Staff Salaries

• Over the past year, the school has made progress toward ensuring equitable, market-competitive staff salaries, including:
  • SPH developed new practices for salary setting and equity adjustments and integrated them with hiring and budgeting processes.
  • Ongoing work involves making this a sustainable practice, codifying it in a policy shared with and accessible to SPH employees (see current school compensation guidelines), and continuing to adjust as we learn from implementation.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• SPH hosted its annual BIPOC/AI welcome event for staff and faculty to network and build community.

Year 2

• SPH provides a monthly new employee orientation that is updated regularly.

Year 1

New Employee Orientation

• In August 2021, the SPH Human Resources Team updated the new employee orientation to introduce the Strategic Plan for Antiracism (SPAR), highlight the school’s commitment and work in antiracism and health equity, and encourage and inspire new employees to live the theme of SPAR, “Building Equity, Driving Justice: Commit | Challenge | Change.”
• SPH New Employee Orientation Participation Trends (May-April; Invitations go out to all faculty and staff hires 0.50-1.0 FTE)
  • 2021 total invites 80, attendees 69 (86.25%)
  • 2022 total invites 123, attendees 84 (68.29%)

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• The SPH Advancement Team highlights a variety of events and opportunities both at SPH and from the broader community that promote DEI and antiracism to our alumni through their newsletter. More specifically, alumni were invited to attend and present at the SPAR Anniversary Celebration last fall.
• SPH Advancement Team is intentional in ensuring opportunities to highlight alumni that are reflective of the larger alumni body. This includes recruiting and selecting speakers for their events to ensure diverse representation.

Year 1

• In September 2021, SPH created a DEI committee on the Alumni Society board. The committee will inform board strategy for engaging alumni around the issues of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in research and community engagement.
• In September 2021, the school completed its Alumni Society board assessment. The assessment found that board membership does not reflect the diversity of our school’s alumni. It also found that our SPH alumni leaders do not receive training from their employers for addressing and leading work around issues of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• SPH Alumni Society board completed DEI training with the SPH DEI office in August 2021.

• In Progress

Accomplishments to date:

Year 2.5

• The SPH Alumni Society Board will be participating in a focus group with CEPH Accreditation Project Manager Annie Marie Hotop. The focus group will be focused on engaging alumni around the student experience, their knowledge of the workforce, and whether SPH students are prepared for a career in public health.
• SPH Advancement Team offers continuing education and professional development opportunities to assist alumni in staying current on best practices in public health as they relate to antiracism and DEI. These opportunities may include our annual Public Health Institute and other University events.