PaceCast with Marvin Krislov: Episode 9 Pace University's President Marvin Krislov returns with episode nine of PaceCast! This time, he sits down with Pace's very first Chief Diversity Officer Tiffany Hamilton to discuss the importance of inclusivity and diversity in higher ed and on campus at Pace University. Available for listening at: https://soundcloud.com/user-479814349/pacecast-with-marvin-krislov- episode-10

Marvin Krislov: The people of Pace University are doing amazing things and I want you to know more about them. I am Marvin Krislov, the president of Pace, and this is the PaceCast.

Marvin Krislov: Pace University is a vibrantly diverse community. About half of our students come from underrepresented communities. Nearly two thirds are women. Our students come from 47 states and the District of Columbia and from 51 different countries around the world ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe. Nearly half of our incoming first-year students are the first in their families to attend college. More than a third of our students are eligible for Pell grants, which means that they come from low-income families.

Marvin Krislov: We're very proud of that diversity. Our long-standing mission of Opportunitas for us means that we open our doors to all hardworking, ambitious students regardless of their backgrounds. But we want to make sure that we're living up to that commitment. That's why this summer we hired our first-ever Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. Tiffany Hamilton is that person and she's in the studio with me today. Thanks for being here, Tiffany.

Tiffany Hamilton: No problem. Thanks for having me.

Marvin Krislov: Tiffany, I believe you were the first in your family to attend college. Can you tell me about your background?

Tiffany Hamilton: I can and so I'm originally from Kansas City, Missouri. I'm the youngest of two, so I do have an older sister who is six years my senior. And I must say technically she was the first to go to college, but when you think about generations, we both are a part of the first generation of our families to go to college. She went to a historically black college in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and I went to the University of Missouri, Kansas City. And interestingly enough, starting my undergraduate experience in addition to being a first-generation college student, I also was a full-time parent. And so I was able to navigate higher education through a unique pattern and a unique path utilizing the supports and services that my home institution offered for me. And that's where I fell in love with higher education administration as a career.

Tiffany Hamilton: I actually pursued computer science in my undergraduate years, and the semester before graduation changed my major because my mentor, the then- director of multicultural student affairs, asked me what would I do every day for

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free because I loved it that much. And my response was, "I would do your job." And so since then, I pursued higher education administration as a career path because of what it did for me as a full-time parent, a first-generation college student, a woman of color, and a woman of color in STEM. So utilizing those supports and services, I've made a life commitment to return to higher education—what it poured into me.

Marvin Krislov: Wow. It sounds like you had a lot of juggling during those years. I'm guessing you learned time management very quickly.

Tiffany Hamilton: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Sometimes it was trial by fire, but sometimes it was intentional in the time management between the student organizations, the home responsibilities, the academic responsibilities, and I also worked a three quarter time at a local casino to help pay through college.

Marvin Krislov: Wow. Wow. So your own experience sounds like it led you to think about doing this work that you've made your life work is that right?

Tiffany Hamilton: Absolutely. When I think about my overall educational experience, whether it's K through 12 but particularly high school through college, there were very few teachers or professors or faculty members of color specifically in the STEM industry. I did have one female faculty member, but looking for faculty of color during that experience was very far and few between. And then when you look to connect in your field and go into particular industries—I had an internship with a major cellular network provider that was also an environment where there weren't leaders of color or even other employees of color where I could find that network to talk through some of the challenging experiences that I would have.

Tiffany Hamilton: And so being able to utilize offices like multicultural student affairs—or we had a very dedicated vice chancellor for student affairs that was able to connect me with resources and help me to match my cultural confidence with the academic confidence. And so that was very critical in my development as a collegiate and graduate student.

Marvin Krislov: So Tiffany, you've been here how many months now?

Tiffany Hamilton: We are on month two.

Marvin Krislov: Month two. So you're still very new. What have you found since you've been here at Pace?

Tiffany Hamilton: What I found most was the mission of Opportunitas definitely exists and permeates through a variety of spaces across our University, whether that's with faculty and staff, and as I meet with students, I'm hearing it as well. And what I'm also recognizing and learning is that this community has been waiting and are very welcoming to this new role and to this new unit and the work that

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we are charged to continue and elevate as well. So as I'm on what I call this roadshow, to really personalize my approach in doing this work—meeting people in their spaces, hearing their voices, what they expect of the role, what they expect of the unit—I'm learning that there is a willingness to support and a commitment to do the work. And so that is very refreshing when you're building a very new unit that is addressing what for some may be an uncomfortable subject.

Marvin Krislov: What do you think we're doing well and what do you think we could focus on doing better?

Tiffany Hamilton: A couple of places that we are definitely excelling is the diversity of our students. I think we reflect the rich fabric of our country and the students that are represented even in your opening, being able to share the countries that our students come from. So we, we have the diversity in gender, we have it in ethnicity, we have it in religious affiliations and so forth. And so seeing that is really, really good. And then when we think about our faculty and administration, again, the commitment is definitely there. As I go into the academic units and meet with chairs and associate deans and the deans, the commitment is there to do the work. But what is surprising and refreshing is that there's an awareness that we could be doing better.

Marvin Krislov: And what are some concrete steps you think we can take to better support students once they're here at Pace?

Tiffany Hamilton: Absolutely. I think a few, a few things that we can do that we already have in place is ensuring that the places where students go for services and support— that they're resourced appropriately. And that the programs and services that they are providing are relevant for today's student. One of the things as a professional, I'm not married to doing things because they've always been done, right? We want to hear the voices of our students. Looking at the student satisfaction surveys and then talking with our current students to ensure that the programs and services we provide are relevant to their needs and to the, dare I say, 21st century, and so making sure those spaces are resourced and supported appropriately is critical.

Tiffany Hamilton: And then to the academic experience, ensuring that our faculty are supported to exercise inclusive classroom practices, right? Ensuring that all students are participating in the conversation and that all students can see themselves [in] some way reflected in the curriculum or the content that's covered through their academic experience. And so this role has an opportunity to work across every single constituent in every single area of the University to support that student success. Whether it's residential life, career services, or counseling services, academic affairs. We really have a great opportunity to work across the University to get this work done.

Marvin Krislov: We know that our student body is very diverse. Our faculty is less racially and ethnically diverse. How can we work to think about that and to change that? Page 3 of 6

Tiffany Hamilton: I think the first thing that we do as an institution is recognize that we are not the only ones, right? This challenge of diversifying the academy is not a nuance unique to Pace University. This is an area that higher education is looking to address across [the] board. And what that does is that kind of, it doesn't lower the anxiety around that, the disparities or the gaps that exist. It just brings a bit of reality to the fact that higher education as a whole has always struggled with this. Now, the second thing to that is that it gives us an opportunity to dispel the myths that, "Oh, this particular demographic in this particular academic area doesn't exist." It just means that we now have the opportunity to position Pace in spaces where it may not be attractive to those particular groups. And so we... I have found that our faculty have been very responsive and supportive to some of the approaches that we have begun to establish, and that we're building to establish to meet those needs.

Marvin Krislov: Terrific. We record this podcast in the department of media communications and visual arts in Pleasantville. And for today's episode, some students [in] Professor Kate Fink's audio storytelling class spoke to their fellow students about their experiences with diversity. Let's hear what they had to say.

Mayera Radford: Pace, from my experiences so far, it's very welcomed to not just different ethnicities, but you know, like different sexualities, different cultures. And I think it's like a nice big colorful community.

Tommy Relo: I feel like there have been many ways I have benefited from multiculturalism, just from being in Greek life and in a fraternity. There's a lot of aspects that I've learned like, from food to holidays and so many different aspects that I was never aware of.

Jamie Del Toro: In terms of social, like economy background. I think that's an area that we can improve on. There's a lot of students who don't understand the different struggles or different lifestyles or upbringings that someone else may have had in a lower-income family.

Mackenzie Morgan: I think what's important to understand is that Pace Pleasantville is very different from Pace NYC.

Marvin Krislov: That was students [Mayera Radford 00:11:02], Tommy Relo, Jamie Del Toro, and Mackenzie Morgan sharing their thoughts. Tiffany, what did you think about those comments?

Tiffany Hamilton: You know, I think those comments really reflect what I've seen within the first 60 days of being here. And it's refreshing to be affirmed through our students that the work we are doing is on the right track. So one of the comments that that jumped out was the last comment about understanding that Pleasantville is different than NYC. Yet we're one Pace. And it's a lot like the conversation we have around diversity and inclusion. Just like our campuses are unique, our

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faculty and staff and students that choose us bring unique experiences to the classroom situation or the workplace situation.

Tiffany Hamilton: And so engaging in that diversity, leaning into that difference, but being driven by the same core values, core mission of Opportunitas, is what makes us Pace University. And you know, one student mentioned the socioeconomic differences. When we talk about diversity and inclusion, it is natural for the human mind to default to gender, ethnicity, and religion, yet to hear from our students it's also that socioeconomic status, it's gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation. It is all of those rich key components that make our campus unique, that make our campus a rich and diverse experience. So really grateful to hear our future leaders speak about diversity and inclusion in the way that they did.

Marvin Krislov: Thank you, Tiffany, for helping us think about that. And I just note again that these students who are sharing their thoughts are in the Pleasantville campus. Finally, I want to ask you, what will you see as success in this role after say two years or five years?

Tiffany Hamilton: Very good question. I think short-term, a two-year win for us is seeing diversity and inclusion in areas of the campus that aren't in the suspected places. And what I mean by that is often across colleges and universities, people look to the Chief Diversity Officer or the Multicultural Affairs Office for the answers. And my hope is that after two years we have built relationships, engaged with content, engage[d] with research that whether Tiffany is in the room or not—diversity and inclusion is on the agenda or on the minds of leadership or on the minds of faculty when they're thinking about their curriculum and how to ensure there's adequate representation of who they're teaching and what they're teaching.

Tiffany Hamilton: So in two years, my hope is that we'll be able to look at data, whether that's the student satisfaction survey or looking at how we engage our faculty and staff in surveys asking about their experiences. And also looking at the fabric of our faculty and staff and ensuring that that is reflecting the student populations that we are positioned to serve. And then lastly, I'm a strong proponent of engaging with the community. When our institutions sit in the heart of communities that we serve, I think in two years I'd like to see Pace position in some spaces that perhaps they weren't connected with or more strongly connected with. So I think in two years that that would be a good sign that we're moving in the right direction.

Marvin Krislov: Well, I have to say you've been here only two months and already I think you've helped us jumpstart these important conversations. One more question. You're from Kansas City.

Tiffany Hamilton: Absolutely.

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Marvin Krislov: I'm from Kentucky. I always like to experience new foods. What's the best place for good barbecue in Westchester?

Tiffany Hamilton: Wow. In Westchester. You know, so I've been on the East [coast] only for three years and I have not yet found the best barbecue space for my family and I. So I would really be interested in folks helping me to connect with some spaces. Because—and it will be tough because coming from the Midwest, Kansas City, the birthplace of barbecue—I'm interested to see what Westchester has to offer.

Marvin Krislov: Well, I think that's a challenge to our listeners. You can email me at [email protected] or you can email Tiffany Hamilton at thamilton@pace?

Tiffany Hamilton: Thamilton2.

Marvin Krislov: [email protected]. Or you can tell Professor Fink who will definitely pass this on to us. Thanks everybody and thank you Tiffany for being with us.

Tiffany Hamilton: Thank you for having me.

Marvin Krislov: That's all for today. Thank you to Tiffany Hamilton, our chief diversity officer and associate vice president for diversity and inclusion, and thank you to students Elizabeth [Drightline 00:16:05], Katie Doyle, and [Emiliano Hoker 00:16:13] for recording the interviews with students for this episode. Thanks as always to the department of media communications and visual arts on the Pleasantville campus where professors Kate Fink, [Paul Zeke 00:00:16:21], Luke Ornery, and grad assistant Joe Gonzalez make this podcast happen.

Marvin Krislov: We will be back soon with a new PaceCast. Until then, we'd love to hear from you—whether it's on barbecue or other topics. If you have any comments or ideas, you can write me [email protected]. I'm Marvin Krislov, and I'll talk to you soon on the next PaceCast.

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