2019-2020 Diversity Report College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) As noted in previous reports, the College of Arts & Sciences provides a majority of the University’s core curriculum. A significant portion of this curriculum is primarily focused on themes of diversity and inclusion. Examples include courses focused on understanding people from other cultures, the social dynamics of race and racism, and the historical relations and conflicts between groups and nations. In addition, Arts & Sciences faculty members frequently encourage their students to attend extra-­­curricular activities, such as Beyond-­­related events. 1. What actions were taken to address/implement initiatives that are in the current diversity and inclusion plan? a) Quantitative Reasoning Project: With support from a multi-institutional, multi-year NSF grant, the Mathematics Department has developed, implemented, and expanded an innovative sequence of courses (Quantitative Reasoning I, II) that replace traditional algebra instruction and improve retention. Unlike many institutions that offer quantitative reasoning courses, the courses developed for FSU students include enough algebra for a student to change majors with needing to take additional math courses. Another feature of the program is its breadth. With support from the grant, the QRI, II courses have been revised to serve students in business (all areas), Social Work, and Nursing. Since the courses are designed to promote collaboration in an inquiry-based format, students are given opportunities develop interpersonal skills called for by employers. These courses, because they emphasize concepts over procedures, allow students to focus their thinking on big ideas rather than memorization. This helps reduce anxiety and helps students to see mathematics in a more positive light. Results of this project have been disseminated through published articles and conference presentations. b) C4 Program: The C4 Scholar Program (Cross-Curricular Career Community) is a multi- semester learning community program for General Studies students with developmental placements in English composition, mathematics, and reading. Program courses and related activities are guided by a framework from business management literature that focuses on personal accountability. To reduce student debt and time-to degree, students are accelerated in English composition and mathematics. The program also features a strong relational advising component. Academic performance data from the first three cohorts show strong gains in first- year retention, GPA, DFW rates in comparison with students with similar placements who did not participate in the program. Results of this project have been disseminated through published papers and conference presentations. c) In-Service Teacher Certificate and Concentration Program: In an effort to expand the University’s dual and concurrent enrollment footprint, Erin Militzer and Sandra Brigance developed a graduate math certificate for in-service secondary teachers. The distinguishing feature of the program will be its focus on teaching and learning issues. Participants who complete the program will be qualified to teach dual and 1 | P a g e concurrent enrollment courses for the University. With its focus on teaching and learning issues, participates will be better equipped to work with students who find the study of math to be particularly challenging. d) S3OAR: Sustainable, Scalable Scholarships, Opportunities, Achievement, And Results (Hengli Jiao, Brent Williams, Kirk Weller Anne London, Angie Mishler, Brad Isler, Kent Sun, and Mark Thomson). S3OAR is a four-year program that seeks to recruit, retain and graduate academically talented students with financial need in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. S3OAR is fund by a $1.2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The program admits 36 students each year for four years. S3OAR Scholars participate in an orientation, a freshman seminar, a learning community, entrepreneurship education and a variety of co-curricular and enrichment opportunities, in addition to being assigned a mentor. Project S3OAR seeks to (1) increase the STEM enrollment, (2) achieve a 90 percent retention rate, (3) increase the retention and graduation rates, (4) document the program’s sustainability and scalability, and (5) determine the effectiveness of job shadowing STEM professionals on the retention rate of S3OAR Scholars. e) Collaborative Research: Foundational Community-Based Research for Ethics in Mathematics. During this one-year ER2 incubation grant, funded by the National Science Foundation, Victor Piercey, Rochelle Tractenberg (Georgetown University), and Catherine Buell (Fitchburg State University) aim to gather foundational research and impressions of ethical guidelines in the mathematical community through focused surveys. They will use the information from these surveys to write a standard ER2 grant to further the research in this area and impact of this work. Specifically, they will conduct a survey based on mathematics-adjacent ethics guidelines from the American Statistical Society (ASA) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to determine (a) which guidelines mathematicians believe are relevant to mathematics, and (b) which elements are missing from current guidelines. The results of this survey will be shared with stakeholders and members within professional mathematics societies, published in a white paper, and will form the basis for the full three-year standard ER 2 proposal. f) Accelerated Algebra for At-Risk Students: As part of the LEAD By Design program (Student Select Support Services (4S) grant from the Michigan Talent Investment Agency Workforce Development King · Chávez · Parks (KCP) Initiative), Lauren Cavner Williams (lead instructor) and Kirk Weller (assisting) are offering an accelerated intermediate algebra course for freshman LEAD participants as a way to reduce time- to-degree and enhance first year retention. The accelerated intermediate algebra course (MATH 115) is based on the MATH 115 course that is part of the C4 program. g) The School of Education provided some programming for students through the 4S grant. These were professional development opportunities for students and staff to participate. Sessions titles included Understanding LGBTQ+ Students; Understanding how poverty effects classroom equity; and Understanding student trauma from different perspectives. This year we are doing professional development on Implicit Bias. 2 | P a g e h) The Social and Behavioral Sciences Department has diversified holiday office decorations to include Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. They are still looking for new art after the remodel and will factor this in. So far we just have a print of Woodbridge and crew plus an abstract piece, but we did add a signboard that we will populate with inspirational sayings from people of diverse backgrounds along with their photograph (currently featuring Katherine Johnson). i) The Social and Behavioral Sciences Department worked during their office remodel to remove a lot of the excess furniture and make the office more open and easy to navigate with a wheelchair. j) Our college continues to have the Native American tribal art from the Canadian Collection in the Science Building outside the 120/126 lecture halls as well as in the Science laboratory wing on the second floor between the Greenhouse and the ASC walkway. k) A collection of photos from Strong is the New Pretty by Kate T. Parker was installed in the Dean’s Office Conference room. The photos feature girls and women as they are “loud messy, silly, fearless, independent, confident, and fierce.” l) A collection of portraits of Hampton-Ferris Students are displayed in the lobby of the Dean’s Office. The collection includes R. Dixon, W. Gibson, B. Lawson, P. Fitzgerald, P. Prattis, and G. Smith. All African American men who graduated to become dentists, executive editors, professors, attorneys, and a Ferris Football coach. m) CAS has continued to promote the living learning community POSIT (Pharmacy, Optometry and Scholars in Training). A primary goal of this program is to increase the diversity of students eligible to apply to pharmacy, optometry and other professional schools and to increase retention of students enrolled in the BS degrees within Biological Sciences. Biological Sciences Faculty member Anne Spain has served as the director of the program and an advisor to these students. n) Faculty from the Departments of Biological Sciences, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences along with faculty from the College of Engineering Technology continued to offer STEM Super Saturday workshops. Laura Forbes a laboratory technician in the Department of Biological Sciences coordinates this event. Middle school students in the Mecosta-Osceola Intermediate School District (MOISD) are invited to attend 2 ½ hour session for 6 consecutive weeks to perform hands-on activities designed to enhance their interest in the science and engineering fields. This has been disrupted by the Pandemic but will return when safe to do so. o) Social Work Department faculty Carrie Thompson and Joanie Hazelton had about 150 students who participate in the Poverty Simulation. The simulation is an interprofessional event used to encourage students to explore what living from day to day in poverty looks/feels like. Students experience hardships, barriers and successes as it relates to housing, jobs, family and economic issues. (November 8th, 2019; February