Texas Woman's University is the nation's largest university for primary women and the sixth most diverse with 61% minority students. Our Career Connections Center staff recognized the need to understand our students' challenges and barriers better. We created a year-long professional development plan to explore the different identities of our students. After a whirlwind of a year (pandemic, murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the insurrection), the university felt it was time to challenge societal norms and systemic racism within our practices and to examine diverse student populations through staff professional development while addressing barriers our students face personally and professionally. Through our in-depth internal program, we hope to gain new perspectives to empower students to dismantle social injustice in their careers.
Following this program, you will be able to:
- Use Texas Woman’s University’s internal Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) program year overview to visualize how developmental strategies and assessment tools helped gauge the effectiveness of the program;
- Prepare helpful tips on how to recognize diverse students’ challenges and barriers; and
- Provide clarity and understanding on how DEI work should not only be done on a college/university-wide level but also internally in each department serving students/alumni/campus-community.