Salve Regina University
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

The Presidential Commission for Equity and Inclusion advances Salve Regina's mercy, and Catholic mission by seeking wisdom and promoting universal justice. The University's mission is more fully realized when our educational enterprise, institutional structures, University leadership, and community are actively engaged in building a more harmonious, just, and merciful campus as we address the critical concerns of mercy: racism, immigration, women, earth, and nonviolence.

The commission acknowledges and incorporates the work of previous committees on equity and inclusion at the University and develops action steps and measurable results to advance Salve Regina toward a fulfillment of our mission.

The commission is charged with the following duties:

Regular review of Salve Regina's policies and procedures to ensure that they promote our University values and mercy mission and advance an institutional commitment to equity and inclusion.
Review and recommendation of ongoing training and development for students, faculty and staff to foster a culture of equity, inclusion and support for all members of our community.
Sponsorship of University-wide events and programs to promote deeper understanding of the systemic issues of social inequity and injustice and the ways in which a mercy education calls us to respond.
Regular, ongoing data collection to monitor University progress on institutional commitments to equity and inclusion.
Initiatives for 2020-2023
Develop statement to acknowledge and clearly define the University's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and communicate a University process to receive, review and redress bias incidents on campus that violate this statement.
Host an annual equity and inclusion summit for the University community each spring to provide the best thinking on how to promote equity and inclusion on campus and give the University concrete best practices for improvements to its environment.
Design and implement a training process for members of the Salve Regina community, particularly those in high-impact roles, to offer a common vocabulary and understanding around issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion in order to develop a deeper foundation for inclusive conversations and community on campus.
Contribute to the development of a leadership development program for faculty and staff which will include training to better support students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds with an increased awareness on how to leverage the power of our diversity in living our mission.
Review the University admissions and hiring processes and make recommendations for how to recruit, select and support future faculty, staff and students to ensure Salve Regina reflects the diverse backgrounds and gifts of our wider community.
Develop and implement a regular campus-wide climate survey for students, faculty and staff to provide an ongoing measure of the University's commitment to advancing equity and inclusion as central to our mercy, Catholic mission.
Review virtual and physical spaces on campus that support the work of equity and inclusion and make recommendations for modifications and improvement to the president and senior administration.
Current Members
The commission is a standing committee chaired by the president and comprised of representative members of the Salve Regina community. Membership is determined through a combination of presidential appointments based on individual roles on campus and nominations/elections.

Donnie Aikins '23, undergraduate student
Rose Albert, assistant director of multicultural programs and retention
Kelli J. Armstrong, president (chair)
Oyenike Balogun-Mwangi, assistant professor, Department of Psychology
Belinda Barbagallo, assistant professor, Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences
Jennifer Boulay, assistant director for assessment and institutional research (ex-officio)
Tracey Cunningham, graduate student
Santiago Durango, assistant director for programming
Ashley Dwyer '22, undergraduate student
Julie L'Europa, assistant professor, Department of Nursing
Jody Mooradian, director of athletics
Sami Nassim, assistant vice president for diversity initiatives and retention
Teryn O'Brien, writer/content strategist (ex-officio)
Tracy Pelkowski, assistant professor, Department of Education
Izabella Mangual-Solivan '22, undergraduate student

The Office of Multicultural Programs “I Believe I Can” mentorship program. Its purpose remains to facilitate the transition into college for incoming students at Salve. The goals of the Seahawk to Seahawk mentorship program are as follows:

Facilitate the transition into college for incoming students
Create a community between fellow mentors and mentees involved in the program
Bring students with social anxiety within the multicultural community to allow the office to be a better resource for the students.


Hour to Empower:
The Office of Multicultural Programs and Retention in collaboration with several student leaders and student organizations continued to capitalize on the success of the "Hour to Empower" program and offered it during the Week of Welcome. The main goal was to provide our incoming first-year students' group with a better understanding of the diverse cultures represented by our University community and to empower students to be proud of their different backgrounds and cultures. Also, the program is meant to inspire incoming students to act as advocates for universal justice by hearing personal stories of struggles and success from their upperclassmen peers.

Inclusive Reading Club:
The Office of Multicultural Programs in collaboration with the McKillop Library created monthly readings to engage the Salve community in passive programming around diversity. The readings explored this past year covered diversity and multiculturism in various communities including LGBTQ+, Native Americans, Black Americans, women's history, and Arab Americans. The members are very satisfied with the length of the readings and the monthly timed discussions.
The mission of the Inclusive Reading Club (IRC) is to engage faculty, staff, and students of the Salve Regina community in exploring issues of diversity and multiculturism through short readings and discussions. The IRC provides an inclusive environment that encourages participants to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of different identities, cultures, and communities. We currently have a membership of 60 people on campus. Participants
• Are invited to explore challenging topics and personal vulnerabilities through honest conversation in a non-judgmental space
• Respect one another’s thoughts and opinions in a caring exchange of ideas

SISTA CIRCLE:
The Office of Multicultural Programs in collaboration with the Office of Student Engagement created Salve’s Sista Circle support group. This space has been carefully created for people who are female-identifying as Black or a part of the Black Diaspora. We meet once a month for one hour on Sundays. The goal is to create a supportive space where members can lean on each other and address issues that they encounter at Salve. This is a brave space where faculty, staff, and students are welcome to share their stories and life experiences. Through facilitated group discussions, the hope is to inspire confidence, and self-love, and foster a deeper understanding of life through healing conversations.

Multicultural Education Week:
The Office of Multicultural Programs Multicultural Education Week during the last week of February and October. The learning goals of the week:

 Provide students with opportunities to increase their diversity awareness;
 Provide intentional opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and dialogue among students;
 Provide the majority of students with avenues to enhance their cross-cultural competencies;
 Identify how the structure of dominant culture privilege can influence institutional policies and procedures and lead to patterns of discrimination.

The Salve Regina Multicultural Living Learning Community:

The Office of Multicultural Programs in collaboration with the Department of Religious study and Residence Life created Salve Regina University’s first multicultural living-learning community in the fall of 2014. The community has both a curricular and co-curricular component.
Curricular and Co-Curricular Component
The curricular component was in the form of one three-credit courses which were available for students who were participating in the Learning Community. The course offered was RTS 210- Christianity in Dialogue with World Religions and facilitated by Dr. Sean O’Callaghan. The purpose of this course is to further their understanding of issues of institutionalized privilege and oppression.
Objectives of the community
• To promote cultural competence skill development and self-awareness.
• To provide a learning opportunity for students to explore issues of race, culture, and socially constructed identity outside of the classroom.
• To connect students with others who are interested in issues pertaining to multiculturalism and cross-cultural understanding.
• To develop a community of learners where students engage with others to exchange ideas while contributing to the group and individual success.
Advantages
• Connects students who are interested in multicultural issues with one another and faculty/staff members.
• Showcases support avenues for multicultural students on campus for prospective students, faculty, staff, and parents.
• Raises institutional awareness of needs in supporting multicultural students.
• Enhances partnership between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs.
• Provides an opportunity for students to showcase their connectedness and long-term projects with faculty, staff, and other students.
• Introduces students to potential faculty mentor relationships and academic concepts associated with cultural competency.

The Multicultural Living Learning Community has one of the highest retention rates on campus.

Salve Intercultural Competence Development:

The Intercultural Competence Development Program was established to advance DEI work on campus based on recommendations from both The NECHE Report and the Campus Climate Survey.

In commitment to our mission, a small exploratory committee, the Intercultural Competence Development Committee (ICDC), was activated over the summer to consider how we could build a common DEI language and assess the impact of our efforts at Salve.

The purpose of the program is to build a common language and culture, develop intercultural competence skills and assess the impact of our efforts to create a more inclusive and welcoming community. It also allows us a space to have vulnerable conversations in a non-judgmental way and have intentional learning opportunities around diversity, equity, and inclusion.