Emerson joins college diversity consortium

Emerson College recently joined the Leading for Change Higher Education Diversity Consortium, a voluntary collaboration of Massachusetts institutions committed to identifying student, faculty, and employee diversity and inclusion best practices.

The mission of the consortium, which is led by Bridgewater State University, is to identify those best practices through uniform and transparent use of data, institutional benchmarks, and reflective practice.

The consortium will create both short-term and longer-term outcomes that will benefit a range of constituencies. Other colleges in the group are Bristol Community College, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Sylvia Spears, vice president of diversity and inclusion at Emerson, and Robert Amelio, director of diversity education and human relations, held a well-attended presentation this month at a conference for consortium members that discussed Emerson’s ongoing Inclusive Excellence Action Plan, and how that can adapted to the different colleges.

The plan incorporates President Lee Pelton’s identified categories for inclusive excellence, which include increasing access to the College for prospective students, faculty, and staff; developing a more inclusive campus environment, which includes building community and enhancing human relations; innovating teaching, learning, and scholarship to enhance intercultural development; growing scholarly work focusing on diversity and inclusion; recognizing and rewarding innovative practices and enhance accountability for achieving diversity and inclusion goals; and building the infrastructure necessary to achieve inclusive excellence.