Access, Engagement, and Success Committee

Mandate from Policy B2.0

The Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion shall be responsible for reviewing and, where needed, making policy recommendations concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially regarding the importance of such policies for academic affairs; it shall serve as a clearing house and sponsor for recommendations that can enhance RIT’s success at addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels; it shall consider ways in which Academic Senate’s other standing committees, especially its curricular bodies, can more successfully include and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; it shall work closely with the Division of Access, Engagement, and Success to foster a coordinated and collaborative connection between the work of that division and the work and support of academic governance.

The committee shall consist of one faculty member per college, each to be elected by their collegial faculty; one representative (and one alternate) from Student Government (non-voting); one representative from Staff Council (non-voting); the NTID Director of Diversity and Inclusion or their delegate (ex-officio, non-voting); and the RIT Vice President & Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion or their delegate (ex-officio, non-voting).

Charges for AY 2025

New Charges

1. Establish resources for faculty to engage which fosters best practices regarding content and activities in the classroom.

2. Continue to work through AdvanceRIT to support initiatives to address opportunities for improvement identified in the COACHE data.

3. Explore the possibility of ensuring all academic units attend to AES-related activities in the annual performance review process, potentially modeling it after the HR policy in place for staff appraisals.

4. Identity and assess opportunities to preserve the core institutional values, practices, pathways, and structures in place to help ensure access, respect, and dignity for every member of our community while mitigating risk to theuniversity as we adapt to changes in social and economic conditions.

5. Investigate whether a policy that Deaf Culture training should only be led by Deaf facilitators is appropriate.  Propose ways to implement such a policy, if it is advisable.

6. Follow up on Gender Equity in Teaching load undertaken by Advance RIT, including course distributions for grad/undergrad courses. See if improvements have been made, and assess the current state of affairs.