I am pleased to announce the launch of the nomination process for committee members for the new SJSU Campus Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CCDEI). This inaugural thirty-two person presidential campus standing committee of students, staff, administrators, faculty, and alumni will assess issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion at San José State University. The CCDEI will identify equity gaps and make recommendations to me on addressing systemic historical inequities on an annual basis.

Our Chief Diversity Officer, Kathy Wong(Lau), will be chairing this committee. The CCDEI will have two co-chairs, including one tenured faculty member and a staff member. The CCDEI will utilize a systemic change lens to:

• Engage campus communities through public forums to gather input and information from a broad representation of its students, staff, and faculty across units and institutional divisions
• Identify priority areas and issues for increasing systemic change on equity for historically marginalized groups
• Identify priority areas and issues for improving campus climate for students, staff, and faculty
• Assess relevant and available data and reports (Task force reports, WASC, enrollment data, climate survey data, available survey data from units such as Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, University Personnel, Bursar’s Office and other units, as well as traditional institutional data) to support the identification of inequitable outcomes and practices as well as equitable outcomes and practices
• Identify effective programs, practices, and initiatives that could be replicated and increased at scale to effect increases in diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Innovate and recommend effective programs, practices, and initiatives

• Produce an annual report with findings and recommendations to my office by June 1 of each academic year

I will meet with the committee twice a year to report on progress from the previous year’s recommendations.

Members will serve a two-year term. In the initial year, some committee members will be appointed to a three-year term so that there can be a staggering of appointment terms to support continuity and institutional memory in the work of the committee.

The committee will form subcommittees, which will have formal liaisons from the CCDEI.  Subcommittee members may be nominated from outside of the CCDEI. The CCDEI will invite subcommittee members based on expertise, content knowledge, and ability to work collaboratively in teams on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The recommended nominees for appointment will be made with the aim to optimize the range of expertise necessary to address historically recognized equity issues and the range of organizational units, positions and disciplinary areas of the campus.

Below are the positions available on the committee. Please submit your nomination online by December 21, 2020 for full consideration. The appointment will begin Spring semester of 2021.

• Associated Students Representative (1)
• Greek Student Organization Representative
• Open Student Representatives (2) –1 STEM major; 1 Non-STEM
• Student-Athlete Representative (1)
• Student Success Center/Student Success Task Force  Representative (1)
• Graduate Student Representative (1)

• Solidarity Network Representatives (2)
• Athletics Representative (1)
• Trades Staff Representative (1)
• Staff Council, Classified Staff Representative (1)
• At-large Staff Representative (1)

• Faculty Diversity Committee Representative (1)
• Tenured Faculty Representative (1)
• Tenure-track Faculty Representative (1)
• Lecturer Faculty Representative (1)
• At-large Faculty Representative (2) (Tenure, Tenure-track, or Lecturer)

Alumni (2) — Alumni representatives with expertise in equity issues:

• 1 alumni of 2-10 years
• 1 alumni of 10 or more years.

• Vice Provost for Faculty Success (or designee)
• Academic Senate Chair
• Special Assistant to the Provost on Racial Justice Initiatives
• Director of Co-Curricular Learning, Educational Equity, and Assessment, Student Affairs
• Director of Black/African American Equity
• Director of Advocacy for Racial Justice

I encourage nominations of colleagues as well as self-nominations to serve on this committee. I look forward to the launch of the Campus Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Spring 2021.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mary A. Papazian
President