Faculty and Staff Resources
We recognize that professional development and service advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice can be a broad range of things. Demonstrating efforts may be more accessible for some based on their current job function than others. The Diversity, Outreach, and Inclusion office, in partnership with multiple University organizations, has created a space to support the ongoing growth and development of all employees no matter their role. In addition to a myriad of live and on-demand training, workshop series, and seminars, the DOI office also offers the Inclusive Excellence certificate as an option to support professional development.
The Inclusive Excellence (IE) framework guides and empowers members of the Engineering and Knowlton community to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence into daily operations and set expectations that each staff or faculty member is responsible for efforts. The Faculty and Staff webpage offers resources to help increase our leadership skills, support inclusive teaching and hiring, and build professional networks and mutual respect.
For Staff and Faculty
Informal Networking Groups and Employee Resource Groups (ERG’s) are opt-in, employee-led groups that offer a place to connect with colleagues from across campus, lead initiatives to enhance the Ohio State experience, and create an overall feeling of belonging.
COE and KSA Fam and Familia Network for Faculty and Staff - Lisa Barclay.4 and Andre Palmer.351
Women Engineering/Knowlton Faculty Network - Rachel Kleit, PhD
Campus Wide Women's Faculty Network
Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Employee Resource Group - Membership Info or Contact - APIDA@osumc.edu
Black Women Professional Staff and Faculty Contact: Daryl Griffith
Diversabilities Disability Services at Ohio State for ERG info contact Ashlee Leslie
LGBTQ+ LGBTQ at Ohio State or www.go.osu.edu/lgtbqerg
Organization of Latinx/ Hispanic Employees: www.go.osu.edu/ole or contact OR-latinxstaff@osu.edu
Salaam Employee Resource Group
Email Veterans group
Contact Women of Color
The College of Engineering and the Office of Human Resources offers opportunities for professional development and formal training, including management and leadership programs, online courses, team effectiveness retreats, diversity and inclusion workshops and online tools.
Engineering Learning Opportunities
HR Learning and Development - BuckeyeLearn
Kirwan Institute Implicit Bias Training introduces online courses to introduce insights about how our minds operate and understanding the origins of implicit associations. You will also uncover some of your own biases and learn strategies for addressing them.
Inclusive course design includes many strategies – some simple, some complex – to create a learning environment that provides each student with a sense of belonging and equal opportunity to learn.
- Use diverse and inclusive course content: Course design that acknowledges DEI recognizes that students learn differently and need various ways to show what they know. This approach includes how students learn and their learning capacity, disabilities, conditions, preferences, and available resources. Review the Diversity Calendar.
Consider this scenario: Your online course has 30 students, and several have one or more of the following conditions:- Blind
- Deaf
- Motor function impairment
How can you accommodate these students?
Allow assistive technologies: Some students may need to use assistive technology to engage and interact with your class content. Assistive technologies should be compatible with other technologies such as the LMS, online proctoring, video conferencing, and any multimedia
Examples: For students who are blind, screen readers can convey text and images displayed on the screen into speech or touch. For students that cannot type, assistive keyboards can help overcome motor function impairments.
- Use multimedia with text alternatives: Multimedia elements such as audio, video, and images can help students engage with course content, but you have to meet web accessibility standards to cover things like:
- Captioning, subtitles, and transcriptions
- Alternative-text and descriptions
- Appropriate color contrasts
- Font sizes and types
- Organization and structure
- Use emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence helps educators build relationships with students by using empathy, self-awareness, and good judgment. Many people believe that emotional intelligence is something you have or don’t have. But like most skills, it takes continuous practice to improve.
- Provide different ways to participate: Students need options to participate and engage with your online course, and they need to understand what options are available.
What if students can’t afford the technology requirements? While most students have a laptop or computer, some don’t have the resources or the ability to purchase them.
Consider this scenario: a student’s webcam broke and they can’t afford to buy another. How can they engage and interact with your class? If their webcam is broken, provide them with other options, such as speaking or using the chat during a live lecture.
- Allow accommodations: Whether students need to use assistive devices, require more time to complete an exam, or have conditions that require bathroom breaks every ten minutes, accommodations are a lifeline for many.
With this example of two students taking a proctored exam on their laptops. How can you provide accommodations?
Student 1: webcam is broken and they can’t afford to buy a new one
Student 2: requires bathroom breaks every ten minutes
For student 1, provide the remote proctor with instructions to bypass the student not using a webcam and face detection can be turned off. A webcam is important for monitoring student behavior, but other remote proctoring features, such as detecting cell phone use and voice detection, can protect different aspects of the exam.
With this accommodation, the student can still complete the proctored exam without using the webcam, but the exam is protected in other ways.
For student 2, provide the proctor with a specific student accommodation that allows bathroom breaks every ten minutes or as needed.
- Provide practice exams: Practice exams and other low-stakes exams are beneficial for a variety of reasons, such as reducing student test anxiety and getting feedback.
A recent student survey indicated that one of the main causes of test anxiety was concerns about technology working correctly. Practice exams can help students understand how the test platform works and feel comfortable using it.
Low-stakes exams can be used to get student feedback. Whether it’s a poll question about how they prefer to learn or a written response about a specific course element, it’s a great way for instructors to learn about their students.
- Use anonymous grading: Use anonymous/blind grading to remove any potential grading bias. With anonymous grading, students submit their assignments with no name or ID.
Most modern LMSs allow you to turn on anonymous grading at the course level to hide student names and automatically distribute their scores back to them.
- Provide students with a list of student resources: Gather a list of student resources such as tutoring services, writing centers, online libraries, study groups, technical support, and any accessibility offices and contacts. Make sure to include yourself as a resource.
Content provided by Honorlock, a sponsor of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Downloads/Links
- Building an Inclusive Classroom Report UCLA
- Inclusive Teaching Checklist
- Syllabus Rubric Guide
- Diversifying Course Readings
The Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning offers a credential in Inclusive Teaching to prepare faculty to support a diverse student body by learning a range of approaches to create an inclusive learning environment. Teaching Resources for an Inclusive Classroom
The Center for Belonging and Social Change offers dialogues, training, and workshops that touch on a wide range of identity development and social justice issues. Along with providing education for students, they offer workshops and training to student-facing professionals at the university. Visit the Center for Belonging and Social Change resource.
Learn about Mitigate Implicit Bias in SEIs.
The National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) is a nationally-recognized independent faculty development center dedicated to supporting scholars of all backgrounds in making successful transitions throughout their academic careers. Membership to NCFDD extends our capacity to support faculty and aspiring scholars and to provide additional resources to those pursuing doctorates and terminal degrees through access to its rich resources.
As an institutional member, Ohio State faculty and associated faculty, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and staff as appropriate have access to the following at no cost to you:
- Weekly Monday Motivator
- Monthly Core Curriculum Webinars
- Monthly Guest Expert Webinars
- Access to Multi-Week Courses
- Access to Dissertation Success Curriculum for graduate students
- Private Discussion Forum for peer-mentoring, problem-solving, & moderated writing challenges
- Monthly accountability buddy matches
- Access to 14-Day Writing Challenges
- Access to the Member Library that includes past webinar materials, referrals, and readings
To claim your free Institutional Membership, complete the following steps to set up an account:
- Go to http://www.facultydiversity.org/join
- Choose your institution from the drop-down menu.
- Select “Activate my Membership”
- Complete the registration form using your institutional email address (i.e. @osu.edu)
- Go to your institution's email to find a confirmation/welcome email. Click “Activate Account” in the email.
If you have any questions about the membership, please email Sara M. Childers, PhD, Director of Diversity Planning, Training, and Assessment for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, or call her at 614-247-1624. This information is also available on the ODI website.
Support for faculty and staff is available at the University and College levels.
Scroll down the page for details on COE support and click on the link for information and resources around broader impacts for Ohio State faculty and staff, including how to request consultations and workshops. Visit Ohio State Broader Impact.
Access to diversity-focused K-12 Outreach programs and current student initiatives for broader impact activities in research proposals. Our DOI programs have long-standing initiatives designed to increase the number of women and students traditionally underrepresented in engineering.
How DOI can help support a supplemental grant:
- DOI currently supports 12 full-time staff members with more than 20 years of combined experience in developing and coordinating programs and curating experiential learning experiences for historically excluded and underrepresented students.
- Within the COE we have access to two full-time staff members dedicated to data reporting and analysis for students’ outcomes.
- Use the College of Engineering's communication resources to increase project awareness, create platforms for broader dissemination of project results
- Opportunity to leverage existing research-based programs, activities, and services with a large diverse pool of students across all disciplines.
- DOI has established relationships with Central State University and Wilberforce University (HBCU’s approx. 60 mi from Columbus) and the Atlanta University Consortium, which includes, Spellman College (all women) Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University, that can be leveraged for undergraduate student engagement.
Potential programs that will enable faculty to extend their teaching and research in a way that encourages and supports the next generation of leaders:
ACCELERATE research and project-based summer program for second-year students designed to accelerate their progress through the engineering curriculum. Academic success enrichment and career development programming will enhance student problem-solving skills, expose them to key concepts necessary for matriculation in their engineering program and provide them hands-on problem-solving experience through team, project-based learning. For details contact Edwin Lee, PhD.
Minority Engineering PREFACE Program is a multi-level program designed to develop our first-year students into high-performing students who are confident, efficient, and results-driven engineers through a holistic approach towards academic and professional success in the engineering environment. The program consists of a three-week summer academic enrichment program, seminar course, and mentoring program to network. Following completion of the 1st year program selected participants will work closely with DOI staff for placement the following summer into undergraduate research positions or internships.
Contact Ron Parker, PhD.
Translating Engineering Research to K-8 (TEK8) Undergraduates are immersed in a summer engineering research experience as a foundation to develop design challenges that teach K-8 students the engineering design process and provide an awareness of engineering careers. Our students work with in-service teachers in an engineering course, where they develop and deliver the challenges to underserved students. Contact Howard Greene, PhD
Women In Engineering Empow(HER)ment Learning Community This residential community is designed to develop confident and inclusive leaders through experiential learning and programming. Empower(HER)ment offers social, academic and professional programming designed to highlight the experiences of women in engineering while serving as a resource for all. Students will explore engineering professions, strengthen leadership skills and develop an appreciation for how diversity and inclusion strengthen engineering practice. Participants will work closely with DOI staff for placement the following summer into undergraduate research positions or internships. Contact Gisell Jeter-Bennett, PhD
As the Knowlton School of Architecture and College of Engineering departments and units align with the Ohio State Strategic Plan, we encourage leaders to reference the Inclusive Excellence Planning page, where they can find resources and a tool kit to guide and support IE strategic planning.
The College of Engineering recognizes that an active commitment and shared vision at all levels of the organization is required to impact the environment, the DOI Office offers an Inclusive Excellence Certificate (IEC) program for faculty, staff, and students.
Review these quick reference on Recognizing and Addressing Microaggressions and You’ve Been Called Out for a Microaggression. What Do You Do?
Be an Active Bystander, I invite you to explore this brief infographic and this short, yet practical video illustrating some of these principles. Download the handout with additional ideas of how to interrupt bias, including phrases you can keep in mind in case you are unsure what else to say.
Please see below for links to information about several relevant components of policy, resources, and guidelines one's rights and responsibilities as an employee of The Ohio State University.
We can exercise our freedom of speech by being an active bystander when we witness identity-based incidents of bias, discrimination, harassment, and/or violence. Visit the College of Engineering anti-racism resource webpage for additional ideas of how to interrupt bias, including phrases you can keep in mind in case you are unsure what else to say.