This presentation was given by Phil Sisson, Max Hallsett, Karen James, and Peter Shea at the AAC&U Diversity, Learning, and Student Success conference in San Diego on March 27th, 2015.

1. AAC&U Diversity, Learning, and Student Success (Friday, March 27th)
Changing the Culture: Using Professional Development
to Promote Inclusion and Belonging

2. Philip Sisson
Provost/
Vice President,
Academic Affairs &
Student Affairs
Peter Shea
Director,
MCC Professional
Development
Max Hallsett
Academic Counselor,
Advising/ Student Affairs
Karen James
Career Counselor,
Advising/ Student Affairs

3. Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts)
Lowell Campus Bedford Campus

4. Learning Outcomes
Participants will:
1. Gain strategies for
promoting a culture of
inclusion through an
all‐college
Professional Day.
2. Develop ideas for
creating digital toolkits
for supporting
inclusive culture-
building.

5. MCC and Service Area
To serve our communities, MCC is striving to match
enrollment with our population.
68%
7%
11%
14%
78%
5%
10%
7%
53%
7%
22%
18%
Caucasian African American Asian Hispanic
MCC
Middlesex County
City of Lowell
[Source: MCC Office of Institutional Research]

6. Demographic Shift
The percentage of Asian, Hispanic, and African American students
will increase by 2020 in Middlesex County.
90.05%
84.96%
78.59%
72.26%
2.71%
3.63%
4.86%
5.86%
3.70%
6.64%
9.81%
13.36%
3.41% 4.62% 6.59% 8.36%
1990 2000 2010 2020
Hispanic
Asian
African American
Caucasian
[Source: MCC Office of Institutional Research ]

7. What Led Up to Our Professional Day?
• National interest in Closing the Achievement
Gap.
• State interest and performance funding
connected to Closing the Achievement Gap.
• Local commitment to student success.
• Alignment with our mission, values &
strategic plan.
• College-wide commitment to articulating
diversity as an organizational asset.
• Diverse team attended the Bridgewater State
University “Leading for Change” conference
on diversity and inclusion.

8. Leading for Change 2013
“Perfection is impossible but
progress is essential.”
“If you have privilege, it’s your
responsibility to end the oppression
in that area where you have
privilege.”
“Ally with someone and get the
work done.”
“We quit trying to fix our students
and worked on ourselves.”
Dr. Sabrina Gentlewarrior
Director
Office of Institutional Diversity
Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater, MA

9. How we established an MCC Diversity
Working Group
1. Met the week after the BSU
Leading for Change 2013
conference
2. Committed to identifying strategies
for broad institutional learning
about Achievement gap & role of
diverse workforce on Student
Success
3. Needed a sustainable response
4. Identified key stakeholders who
were missing from the conversation

10. Our CAG Working Group
Vice
Presidents/
President’s
Office
Deans Directors Faculty Staff
President’s
Office
1
Academic &
Student Affairs
1 6 3 3
Enrollment,
Research &
Planning 1 1 1
Administration
& Finance
2 1

11. Creating an Action Plan
1. Identify partners to help with organizational
learning (Faculty Staff Association’s
Diversity Committee, Multicultural Center,
Institutional Research, CAG working group).
2. Determine what people think or already
know about the achievement gap at MCC.
3. Deliver a college-wide professional day that
will provoke reflection and dialogue.
4. Develop a toolkit that is accessible and
relevant for MCC.

12. The planning meetings
• The planning took 8 months
• Everyone committed to meet
regularly
• Meetings had clear agendas &
action plans
• We had subcommittees (data,
literature review, logistics,
marketing)

13. Established Professional Day Goals
• Increase awareness of MCC
achievement gap data
• Provide strategies, and support for
all of us to close the achievement
gap
• “Help participants reflect on the
underlying structures of their local
academic and support programs as
they relate to success of a diverse
range of students” (source BSU –Dr.
Thomas Kling);
• Identify the ways in which we can
continue this work after Professional
Day.

14. • 311 people
registered.
• 96 full-time
faculty and 10
part-time faculty.
Attendance

15. I. Celebrate Our Current Work

16. II. Tell MCC’s Data Story
Institutional Research
provided:
• Achievement gap data
• Environmental scan data

17. III. Bring in a Credible Expert
• Make addressing the
achievement gap based in
research yet still doable via
a credible expert
• Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Becky Wai-Ling Packard
“What Each and Every One of
Us Can Do: the Power of
Mentoring in Closing the
Achievement Gap”
Dr. Becky Wai-Ling Packard
Associate Dean of Faculty
Professor of Psychology and Education
Director of Weissman Center for Leadership
Mt. Holyoke College.

18. IV: Two 50-minute Concurrent
Sessions of Workshops
Offered 35 sessions built around
following themes
1. Community building
2. Inclusive pedagogies
3. Power of stories
4. Intercultural conversations
5. Employee engagement

19. Sample Con-Current Session Titles
• An Environmental Scan: Local
Demographics Past, Present, and
Future
• Bystanders and Bias: Intervention for
an Inclusive Community
• No Longer Afraid: Engaging Students
in Conversations about Race
• Building Strong Student and
Customer Service Relationships

20. • Student Stories: Strategies for
Success
• Inclusive Learning Approaches: A
Roundtable Discussion of Learning
Technologies and Universal Design
Strategies for All Students
• From Data to Changes to Data to
More Changes: Inclusive Pedagogy at
Bridgewater State University
• Student Access and Services:
Navigating Challenging
Conversations
Sample Con-Current Session Titles

21. V: Use Social Media to Enhance Awareness

22. VI: Reconvene – Bring in the Student Voice
• “(Un)Intended Impact:
Everyday Micro inequities”
• Student improvisation
performances
• Personal enactments of
micro aggressions
• Faculty & student led
• Topics Addressed:
Socioeconomic class,
Heterosexism assumptions,
Ableism

23. VII: Identify How the Work is
Sustained
• Provide Mini-Grants
funding.
• Provide ongoing
professional
development
opportunities.
• Create toolkits to
support inclusive culture-
building work.

24. Survey Responses: What did you learn through this Professional
Day that will impact your daily practice?
“...that there is, indeed,
an "Achievement Gap"
that I must be more
aware of and work
relative to my daily class
and campus practices to
help narrow that "Gap."
“The micro-aggression activity
was very effective, and although I
have been the recipient of this on
occasion, I know that I could also
be the offender even though it is
not intended. I will be more
mindful of this in my daily
practice.”

25. Professional Day Outcomes and Lessons: What Did We
Learn?
1. Convene a team & meet regularly.
2. Talk candidly & challenge
assumptions.
3. Look at the data.
4. Celebrate what you are doing well.
5. Have presenters from both in and
outside the institution (including
student voices).
6. Indicate institutional support for
ongoing ideas to address the
achievement gap.
7. Provide ongoing professional
development & tools & recognition
of efforts.

26. Building a Culture of Inclusion
[Shortened url: http://goo.gl/tBfbJG]
[Available: Google Play]

27. Things to Discuss
Preconceived cultural expectations
Barriers to success
Conversations to have
Solutions
Case
Studies

28. You Can Make a Difference!
• Use mini-lectures to incorporate advising in
your class.
• Use inclusive examples and images in your
class to cultivate belonging—especially for
underrepresented populations.
• Encourage students to use resources on
campus—and know how to find the contact
information for these resources.
• Ask questions and engage students in advising
sessions and one-on-one interactions.
• Be mindful of your cultural assumptions and
preconceptions you bring to your interactions.

29. How We Are Using the Toolkit
• Embed in New Faculty Advisor
Training
• Embed in First Year
Experience Course Training
• Provide Professional
Development for Inclusive
Practices
• Promote usage for faculty in
department meetings
• Create buy-in from faculty and
deans

30. How to Make Your Own Toolkit
Site 1. Go to www.Wordpress.com.
2. Make sure to use a Responsive Theme.
3. Choose a Theme and select customize to
see how it will appear on different devices.
4. Use www.appsgeyser.com.
5. Select Website and enter the URL of your
wordpress.com site.
6. Follow the directions to publish on the
Android Market.
7. Cost: one time fee of $25 paid to Google.
30

31. Questions?