DEI Plan and Progress

The Road to Creating an Equity and Belonging Plan at the School of Nursing

Staying true to our motto of embodying Excellence in Action, Rutgers School of Nursing was among the first Rutgers’ schools to take several initial steps to actively work against racism and bias, while intentionally cultivating a community of diversity and inclusion at the school.

In July 2020, Rutgers School of Nursing Dean Linda Flynn launched a three-part approach to actively combatting racism and bias at School of Nursing. This initial tripartite initiative included:

1. The formation of the Dean’s Committee on Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias
2. The implementation of “Impact Dialogue Circles”—a series of listening sessions with faculty, staff, and students designed to listen to the community and implement action based on feedback
3. The development of an anonymous digital hotline to report incidences of racism and bias directly to the dean.

In January 2021, President Jonathan Holloway announced five priorities that encapsulated areas where Rutgers University needed to make progress to further the University’s institutional commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Those priorities include:

1. Recruit, Retain and Develop a Diverse Community
2. Promote Inclusive Scholarship and Teaching
3. Define Sustainable and Substantive Community Engagement
4. Build the Capacity of Leaders to Create Inclusive Climates
5. Develop an Institutional Infrastructure to Drive Change

Following President Holloway’s announcement of these five strategic priorities, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) created the RBHS University-Wide Diversity Strategic Planning Committee to develop a plan for achieving the President’s goals.  Rutgers School of Nursing Dean Emeritus Linda Flynn was honored to chair this Committee with Dr. Sangeeta Lamba, Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion.

In Summer, 2021, each of the eight healthcare professional schools comprising RBHS submitted a 5-year plan for achieving the President’s vision. The School of Nursing’s DEI goals for 2021-2022 are finalized and the following plans are underway to achieve these goals:

University Strategic Priority	SON 2021-2023 Goal	Metrics	Progress/Status	Responsible Person/Department
Recruit, Retain & Develop a Diverse Community	1) Analyze faculty appointment and promotion patterns by race and other demographics; analyzed yearly.	Reappointment and promotion data retrieval and analyses. Then goal will be refined.	Initial Analyses Completed to Include AY 22/23 Data. Additional Analyses In Progress to Include AY 23/24 Data.	SON Office of Institutional Research & SON Office of Faculty and Staff Resources
Recruit, Retain & Develop a Diverse Community	2) Student retention & graduation rates by race; analyzed yearly.	Student data retrieval & analyses is completed. Then, goal will be refined.	Initial Analyses Completed to Include AY 22/23 Data. Additional Analyses In Progress to Include AY 23/24 Data.	SON Office of Institutional Research & SON Office of Student Admissions and Recruitment
Recruit, Retain & Develop a Diverse Community	3) Data and benchmarks for staff retention; analyzed yearly.	Staff retention and separation data is retrieved and analyzed to create baseline. Then goal will be refined.	Initial Analyses Completed to Include AY 22/23 Data. Additional Analyses In Progress to Include AY 23/24 Data.	SON Office of Institutional Research & SON Office of Faculty and Staff Resources
Recruit, Retain & Develop a Diverse Community	4) Explore feasibility of holistic admission process.	Holistic review workshop is scheduled. # of attendees. Attendee evaluations of workshop. Following workshops, a task force is created this AY to assess feasibility and provide recommendations.	Initial Workshops on Holistic Admissions Presented During AY 21/22. Further Plans On Hold Pending Further Guidance On Holistic Admissions at Rutgers University.	SON Office of the Executive Vice Dean and SON Office of Student Admissions and Recruitment
Promote Inclusive Scholarship & Teaching	5) Faculty will adopt a range of approaches to teaching that deliberately considers diverse needs and backgrounds of students – students have equal access to learn.	Workshops are scheduled that focus on inclusive and culturally competent teaching strategies. Add item(s) to student course and faculty evaluations to track improvements.	Consistent Workshops and Discussion Groups Implemented with Consistent Scheduling of Additional Sessions.	SON Office of the Executive Vice Dean and Academic Division Deans
Define Sustainable & Substantive Community Engagement	6) Create distinct community advisory boards for New Brunswick and Newark to empower and sustain community-SON partnerships.	Structure of community advisory board created, members identified, members invited, and meetings scheduled.	Initial Goal Updated: Members Invited to Participate with First Meeting Scheduled for October, 2023.	SON Office of the Senior Vice Dean and Executive Director of the SON FXB Center
Develop an Institutional Infrastructure to Drive Change	7) Include DEI activities as a component of senior leaders’ annual performance evaluation.	DEI goal and activities added to each senior leaders’ performance review.	Completed annually all of management within the SON. This has also been implemented for all staff within the Division of Student Affairs within the SON.	SON Office of the Dean
Build the Capacity of Leaders to Create Inclusive Climates	8) SON leadership is empowered to create inclusive climate for faculty, staff, and students.	Ongoing leadership training programs for skills to support equity and inclusion policies will be held.	Education and discussion occurred among senior leadership of the SON during AY 21/22.	SON Office of the Dean and SON Offices of the Executive and Senior Vice Deans
Build the Capacity of Leaders to Create Inclusive Climates	9) Foster and enhance an equitable and inclusive climate where all faculty, staff, and students feel valued and respected by each other.	The Eatman brothers (inclusive climate experts) will reinstate dialogue sessions with faculty, staff and students. Annual Climate Survey will quantify progress toward goal.	The Eatman brothers provide consistent	SON Office of the Senior Vice Dean and SON Office of Institutional Research

Contact us at: DEIattheSON@sn.rutgers.edu