Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The SLHS DEI Council met on March 24, 2022. This was the first meeting of the Council in quite a while, because the Core DEI Committee has been focused on developing the SLHS DEI Plan. Now that the plan is done and approved, we’re returning to a broader focus on DEI programming and initiatives in SLHS. The following is an update on DEI initiatives over the past year:

• We participated in an extensive DEI-focused review of undergraduate program outcomes from 2016-2020, looking at equity gaps in the rates at which students pass classes and graduation times. This review focused on underrepresented minority students (URM; defined as Black / African American, Hispanic / Latinx, and Native American) and examined success rates of students who transfer in from community colleges versus students who are on campus for four years. This resulted in a SLHS DEI plan that aims to improve student success and close equity gaps by addressing curriculum, extracurricular programming, and faculty/staff training and development. Highlights include supporting and further developing mentoring and support initiatives that will benefit all students, including URM, first generation, and transfer students, stipulations for ongoing faculty and staff training in implicit bias and equity-minded teaching, and creating/supporting mechanisms within SLHS to facilitate ongoing DEI-related conversations and education. The review and resulting plan may be viewed here.
• The SLHS DEI Council has been reconvened, providing an opportunity for a larger number of faculty, staff, and students to engage in planning DEI-related programming and addressing issues within SLHS. We are currently developing a mechanism to include students from all SLHS programs to engage in Council discussions and activities.
• We are working to publicize Inclusive SDSU for student reporting of DEI concerns on campus. After initially intending to create a SLHS-specific mechanism for this purpose, we concluded that relying on the University-wide system would better maintain student confidentiality and would assure that appropriate support systems are activated as needed. Any concerns raised directly to faculty or staff members within SLHS will be welcomed and addressed as best as possible, and will be escalated to engage external resources as needed.
• We are working toward expanding mentorship opportunities for our students
  • Coordinating with Rady Children’s Hospital to facilitate mentoring of undergraduate students interested in careers in speech-language pathology and audiology, with a focus on Spanish-speaking clinicians
  • Working toward opportunities to connect current SLHS students at all levels with SLHS alumni
• The SLHS DEI Committee will be appointed as a standing committee, to assure that this work continues to be a supported priority.

In addition to the recent DEI Council meeting, members of the SLHS DEI Council and other faculty in SLHS met on 4/7/2022 for the first DEI Journal club of the year. They discussed the book Gender: Your Guide by Lee Airton,  which provides an accessible overview of the diversity in gender identity and expression, makes a compelling case for honoring every person’s gender identity and pronouns as an important part of supporting their well-being and provides hands-on suggestions for how to honor gender pronouns and to non-defensively correct mistakes when they occur.  A copy of the book is available in the SLHS Speech-Language Clinic and can be checked out by interested students and faculty. Going forward, the journal club will meet regularly, with a goal of 1-3 meetings per semester. 

The SLHS DEI committee and council met on February 25th, 2021. We drafted an SLHS statement in solidarity of the Asian Pacific Islander and Desi American (APIDA) community that can be found on the SLHS website’s DEI tab under Statements. The DEI core committee presented data to the group on SLHS student representation and success data over the past 5 years (enrollment, rates of receiving D’s, F’s or withdrawing from courses, and graduation rates) across student groups (Asian, Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Multiple Ethnicities, White, Other/Not stated, International, Native American, African American, Hispanic/Latinx). These data will be further studied and will provide important information in identifying the most urgent student needs in ensuring equitable educational outcomes.

The SLHS DEI group met on September 24th 2020 to discuss priorities for the academic year and to continue planning our upcoming Discussion Circle between former and current students on navigating graduate school and the profession as a student of color. 

Our goals for the academic year 2020-2021 are to (1) complete diversity planning for SLHS in line with University-wide diversity planning (https://diversity.sdsu.edu/initiatives/planning), (2) create an anonymous student feedback portal for issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and (3) continue creating a supportive environment for our students and clients by building an SLHS library on books with social and racial justice themes and (4) expanding mentoring opportunities for our students.  

The journal club discussed Taking Equity-Minded Action to Close Equity Gaps by Lindsey Malcom-Piqueux & Estela Bensimon, with a focus on the 5 core principles of equity-mindedness: (1) being race-conscious, (2) acknowledging the systemic nature of racial and ethnic inequities, (3) working to reduce inequities through our practice as educators, (4) relying on evidence such as student success metrics and feedback to guide our practice, and (5) to take an action-oriented approach to eliminate inequities in education.      

The SLHS DEI group met on December 3, 2020. We worked with current and former students to further plan the exact logistics of the Current-Former Student Discussion Circle that is planned for January 2021 and will focus on navigating graduate school and the profession as a person of color and other marginalized groups. The DEI group also discussed progress on other goals, including the SLHS diversity plan (AY 20-21 goal 1) and the further expansion of the diversity, equity and inclusion portion of the SLHS website, including the student feedback portal (AY 20-21 goal 2). 

The journal club discussed Language of Appeasement by Dafina-Lazarus Stewart (2017) and   Principles of Antiracist Teaching & Reflection by the Multiculturalism, Race & Ethnicity in Classics Consortium (MRECC)). These articles examine best practices in teaching.

The SLHS DEI group met on September 24th 2020 to discuss priorities for the academic year and to continue planning our upcoming Discussion Circle between former and current students on navigating graduate school and the profession as a student of color. 

Our goals for the academic year 2020-2021 are to (1) complete diversity planning for SLHS in line with University-wide diversity planning (https://diversity.sdsu.edu/initiatives/planning), (2) create an anonymous student feedback portal for issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and (3) continue creating a supportive environment for our students and clients by building an SLHS library on books with social and racial justice themes and (4) expanding mentoring opportunities for our students.  

The journal club discussed Taking Equity-Minded Action to Close Equity Gaps by Lindsey Malcom-Piqueux & Estela Bensimon, with a focus on the 5 core principles of equity-mindedness: (1) being race-conscious, (2) acknowledging the systemic nature of racial and ethnic inequities, (3) working to reduce inequities through our practice as educators, (4) relying on evidence such as student success metrics and feedback to guide our practice, and (5) to take an action-oriented approach to eliminate inequities in education.