Daniels provides updates on Johns Hopkins University's diversity, inclusion efforts

In a message to the Johns Hopkins community today, JHU President Ronald J. Daniels provided an update on the university's diversity efforts, reporting that the JHU Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion is on track to be completed this fall, the Faculty Diversity Initiative is yielding some early results, and more training for students is under way.

In addition, the university has created two new administrative positions related to diversity and is preparing to release its first report to detail the diversity of the faculty down to the department level.

Diversity and inclusion roadmap

The Johns Hopkins University Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion, released in November 2016, lays out specific actions to promote diversity, inclusion, and equity across the Hopkins community

"Over the past academic year, we announced several significant initiatives related to the diversity of our university, and committed to keeping you apprised of our work," Daniels wrote. "It is important for us to have clear strategies and goals that guide our efforts, but the ultimate test for progress will be concrete actions and our demonstration of changes in outcomes—a more diverse faculty and student body; greater opportunities for our staff to secure professional advancement; and a more dynamic intellectual environment that fosters difficult, challenging conversations in a respectful and civil manner. These changes will take time and collective effort."

The JHU Roadmap on Diversity and Inclusion, a comprehensive report on the university's ongoing efforts to address race, diversity, and equity across the institution, was released in draft form in February. Since then, the administration has collected feedback through discussions, emails, and meetings with a wide variety of university stakeholders.

Daniels said the final document will include a summary of the comments, progress reports, and new ideas.

"I can't emphasize enough how important this undertaking is to our diversity efforts," he said. "Once endorsed by the university's Board of Trustees, the roadmap will stand as the cornerstone document of our diversity program."

Input is still welcome on the roadmap website or by emailing diversityroadmap@jhu.edu.

Daniels announced that the university will soon publish the JHU Report on Faculty Composition with data about the number of female, minority, and underrepresented minority faculty in each division and department. The report is intended to increase transparency and hold the university accountable to the aims of the Faculty Diversity Initiative.

That initiative has had several accomplishments since it launched last fall. Each of JHU's nine schools has prepared a faculty diversity action plan and adopted new protocols for faculty searches; the Target of Opportunity fund supported the hiring of 10 underrepresented minority tenured and tenure-track faculty in this academic year; the Visiting Professor Fund facilitated campus engagements by five diverse scholars; and the university has hired 38 underrepresented minority faculty who will join Johns Hopkins during the 2016-17 academic year.

In the spring, JHU honored Lisa A. Cooper, the James F. Fries Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine, with the first Provost's Prize for Faculty Excellence in Diversityl. Over the summer, it awarded eight one-year fellowships to outstanding diverse scholars through the Provost's Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

Daniels pointed to several additional diversity activities:

• The university created a new stand-alone position of vice provost and chief diversity officer, which is being filled on an interim basis by James Page, vice president of diversity and inclusion at Johns Hopkins Medicine. It also hired Jamie Riley as the first associate dean of diversity and inclusion in Homewood Student Affairs.

• University departments, programs, student groups, and others are offering a growing selection of programming related to diversity. Upcoming events include the Forum on Race in America at Shriver Hall (sept. 27) and the annual conference of the JHU Diversity Leadership Council (Oct. 21).

• During orientation, first-year students on the Homewood campus took part in expanded discussions of critical aspects of diversity, inclusion, and what it means to be part of the JHU community. In response to student feedback about the campus climate, between November and March every first-year student will attend a two-hour interactive workshop called "Identity and Inclusion at Hopkins."

"The efforts to sustain a diverse and inclusive community at Johns Hopkins depend on each of us—how we handle everyday interactions on campus; how we teach or learn as our own ideas are tested; how we listen to each other," Daniels said. "Each of us must play our part in addressing needs and disparities on our campuses, within our city, and beyond."