Best Practices for Departments
Personal Mission Statements & DEI
In the fall of 2023, the Department of Theology began to ask faculty if they would volunteer to discuss their reasons for getting into higher education and discuss their views on DEI matters. The faculty member would speak for about 3-5 minutes uninterrupted and, when finished, there would not be an opportunity for questions. The goal has been to simply listen. This practice would typically take place at the beginning of a regularly scheduled faculty meeting so that the department would not quickly dive into the more administrative decisions on the agenda.
Sometimes the very brief listening sessions would more pointedly cover personal views of DEI matters. Again, the point has been to simply listen to the faculty member. The chairperson might decide to follow up on some related matters at subsequent faculty meetings but the chairperson would have to use his/her discretion as to the timing of such follow-up discussions if there would be a follow-up at all.
This practice has been completely voluntary and at the will of the faculty. Some faculty do not feel comfortable sharing their own narrative.