Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 66.77
Liaison Paul Edlund
Submission Date May 31, 2023

STARS v2.2

Montana State University
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.33 / 2.00 Ariel Donohue
Director
Diversity Awareness Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1 

Does the institution have a diversity and equity committee, office, and/or officer tasked by the administration or governing body to advise on and implement policies, programs, and trainings related to diversity, equity, inclusion and human rights?:
Yes

Does the committee, office and/or officer focus on students, employees, or both?:
Both students and employees

None
A brief description of the diversity and equity committee, office and/or officer, including purview and activities:
In August 2016, MSU President Waded Cruzado charged the university community to develop a Diversity and Inclusion Framework that would be infused into the updated MSU Strategic Plan, Mountains and Minds: Learners and Leaders. An independent external consultant with expertise in diversity planning, a visiting ACE fellow with extensive organizational knowledge, and an Advisory Committee of MSU faculty, students, and staff were appointed by President Cruzado to carry out this charge. Since fall 2017, we have had an active Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, appointed by the Provost, responsible for leading DEI efforts at MSU.

Already established at MSU were the Diversity Awareness Office - a unit of the Division of Student Success which focuses on inclusion from a student success perspective - and the Office of Institutional Equity - an office that reports to the President and is responsible for Title IX Compliance, discrimination and harassment claims, and conducting unbiased investigations.

Part 2 

Estimated proportion of students that has participated in cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and/or social inclusion trainings and activities:
Some

Estimated proportion of academic staff that has participated in cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and/or social inclusion trainings and activities:
Some

Estimated proportion of non-academic staff that has participated in cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and/or social inclusion trainings and activities:
Some

If trainings are made available, provide:

A brief description of the institution’s cultural competence, anti-oppression, anti-racism, and/or social inclusion trainings and activities:
ADVANCE Project TRACS: Empirically Investigating Transformation through Relatedness, Autonomy, and Competence Support:
ADVANCE promoted respectful communication, sensitivity to the dynamics of relationships within a culture, and respect for the values and beliefs of cultures. The project team employed the active and vigilant practice of maintaining cultural humility, active attention and ongoing mindfulness, to implement many programs, including diversity depth hires, an faculty search toolkit and equity advocate program, and engaged the MSU community in unconscious bias education (see events throughout the life of the grant). http://www.montana.edu/nsfadvance/culturalattunement/index.html

Diversity Development Certificate Program:
The Diversity Development Certificate program is designed to expand self-awareness as part of the learning objectives for each course and as such, includes a number of experiential and discussion activities rooted in self-reflection and self-disclosure. Confidentiality is asked of all individuals who participate and the degree of disclosure is at the discretion of participants. http://www.montana.edu/hr/development/diversity.html

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s diversity and equity office or trainings is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.