Regular evaluation of the effectiveness of the above-listed measures.

The UNTHSC must report each semester to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, including the racial and ethnic diversity of its student body (headcount) and faculty (full-time and part-time), as well as the number of international students. Hence, the UNTHSC has a continuous record of the racial and ethnic diversity of its student body and faculty. This information is shared with the schools and, hence, provides the data for our tracking of these populations.

With regard to the student body, the Office of Admission and Academic Services tracks the result of its recruitment activity by noting the number of students inquiring, applying, and enrolling, and their race and ethnicity. Based on this information, the OAAS alters its

recruitment efforts to be more effective in subsequent years. For example, although the School continues to do some recruitment fairs to attract Hispanic students, greater efforts are now made to attend placement fairs, as these have proved to be more effective. Contacts with Tarrant County Community College are too recent to establish an effect, as too few students have graduated from bachelor’s programs.

Widespread advertising of positions and attendance at national meetings have been the most effective in recruiting diverse faculty members. However, our number of diverse faculty is small, so it is difficult to identify if any of these methods have been more effective than others.

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1.8.b. Evidence that shows the plan or policies are being implemented. Examples may include mission/goals/objectives that reference diversity or cultural competence, syllabi and other course materials, lists of student experiences demonstrating diverse settings, records and statistics on faculty, staff and student recruitment, admission and retention.

1. The newly adopted values for the Health Science Center clearly articulate that one of the behaviors associated with the value of Respect is the promotion of diversity of thought, ideas and people.

2. See the Table 1.8.a.1 for a description of the results of student, faculty, and staff efforts to create diversity in the SPH.

3. Of the field experience sites used by students during the 2012-2013 and 2013-14 academic years, 32% of them serve or collaborate with individuals who are racially and/or ethnically diverse.

4. The SPH offers 12 courses that specially address racial and ethnic diversity and the causes and consequences of disparities among these populations.

1.8.c. Description of how the diversity plan or policies were developed, including an explanation of the constituent groups involved.

Planning for the diversity of the student body is primarily the responsibility of OAAS under the direction of Dr. Matt Nolan Adrignola, Associate Dean for Administration and Student Services. As noted above, planning and execution of efforts to increase or maintain diversity involve

relationships we have established with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, as well as with those of our alumni who are from these institutions and have subsequently earned a degree from the SPH. We also use records of city demographics to focus our efforts on institutions that predominantly enroll African American and Hispanic students. This planning and implementation is reviewed by the Master’s, PhD, and DrPH Committees and, subsequently, by the Dean.

Plans for faculty diversity in each department are development by the Chair, faculty members, and search committees. Again, diverse alumni from the doctoral programs may be consulted as the procedures for recruitment of diverse students.

1.8.d. Description of how the plan or policies are monitored, how the plan is used by the school and how often the plan is reviewed.

The plans for recruitment of a racially and ethnically diverse student body are monitored by the OAAS and the admission committees for each of the major programs. This review occurs annually and as the SPH decides how to allocate resources for the coming academic year and reset its recruitment plans. Through these processes both faculty and staff contribute input to the review. Final review is conducted by the Dean based on the recommendations of these groups.

Review of faculty recruitment efforts is conducted by the departments. The number of positions open for recruitment is typically limited to one or, at most, two individuals over a one to two year period. Hence, departments have limited feedback on which to base subsequent efforts to expand the diversity of its faculty. Department are likely to use all methods available to them rather than restricting their approach based on limited past experience.

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1.8.e Identification of measurable objectives by which the school may evaluate its success in achieving a diverse complement of faculty, staff and students, along with data regarding the performance of the program against those measures for each of the last three years. See CEPH Data Template 1.8.1. At a minimum, the school must include four objectives, at least two of which relate to race/ethnicity. For non-US-based institutions of higher education, matters regarding the feasibility of race/ethnicity reporting will be handled on a case-by- case basis. Measurable objectives must align with the school’s definition of under-

represented populations in Criterion 1.8.a.

The measureable objectives for achieving diversity are:

1. 15% of the student body will be black students with US citizenship 2. 10% of the student body will be Hispanic students with US citizenship 3. 10% of the faculty will be black or Hispanic

4. 20% of the staff will be black or Hispanic

The results for these measures are presented in Table 1.8.a1 above.

1.8.f. Assessment of the extent to which this criterion is met and an analysis of the school’s strengths, weaknesses and plans relating to this criterion.

This criterion is met with commentary.

Strengths:

The SPH has been successful in creating a culture that is supportive of a culturally diverse student body, faculty, and staff. Students from diverse backgrounds have assumed leadership positions within the SPH and have achieved the highest honors based on their academic achievement and recognition by the faculty and their peers. For example, of the 12 officer positions for the PHSGA over the past three years, nine of the officers were African American and three were Asian or Asian- White. Of the nine major awards for students each year, two have gone to minority students each year for the past three years. Finally, African American students created the Society of Black Public Health Professionals during the 2011-2012 academic year to promote minority enrollment.

Weaknesses:

The SPH has not succeeded in recruiting Hispanic students at the level it desires. With the growth of this population in Texas, the SPH will continue to focus on this population in its recruitment efforts. In addition, the SPH has not achieved the diversity in its faculty that it sought. This is a difficult area of recruitment, especially given the competing demands for faculty in specific concentration areas of each discipline and the limited number of minority graduate students. However, in its awareness of both of these issues, the SPH currently has five Hispanic doctoral students (four in the PhD program and one in the DrPH program) and five African American doctoral students (1 in the PhD program and 4 in the DrPH program). We have also had racially and ethnically diverse students in the past in these programs.

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Plans

Our plans to increase student and faculty diversity focus on the Hispanic population. As noted, there is a large Hispanic population in Texas and in the metroplex. We must continue our effort to increase the awareness of public health as a profession in this population through our work with the Hispanic Wellness Coalition and through greater involvement with the Tarrant County

Community College (TCC). We recruit heavily at the two major local universities, the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of North Texas at Denton. However, we believe that we must start earlier in the careers of these students and, hence, must expand our activity with more extensive recruitment at TCC.

With regard to faculty, the pool of Hispanic faculty and graduate students in public health from which we can recruit faculty, both in Texas and throughout the United States, is small. Awareness of the quality of instruction and research at the UNTHSC and in the SPH is growing, but other universities and schools seek these faculty members as well. We must be sure that Hispanic graduate students nationwide are aware of the benefits UNTHSC offers, which include a committed involvement in public health at the local level and throughout the state of Texas.