Daring to be Equity-minded @ NLU: A Day with Tia Brown McNair
Thursday, February 9th, 2023
Dr. Tia Brown McNair
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC.
Tia Brown-McNair Bio
As the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the TRHT Campus Centers at the AAC&U in Washington, DC., Dr. McNair oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. Dr. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).
Dr. Brown-McNair's Keynote Recording
Tia Brown-McNair's Keynote Address - Thursday, February 9th, 2022
Visit Schedule
The day will begin with a Keynote Address from Dr. Brown McNair followed by two breakout sessions; one for Faculty Senate & Staff Council and one for DEI Council & President’s Cabinet.
Morning Sessions
9:00 - 10:15am - Keynote Address: What We Value: From Equity Talk to Equity Walk
Location: The Atrium at 122 S. Michigan and via Zoom
Keynote Preview: What are strategies for exploring how equity and engaged inclusivity serve as the foundations of effective educational practices? What is our shared responsibility for advancing our efforts to understand inequities in student outcomes and inequities in our common practices, policies, and structures? This discussion will highlight key principles outlined in the book From Equity Talk to Equity Walk, with a goal of providing equity-conscious, practical guidance on how to design and implement effective institutional change strategies that reflect institutional values and establish more expansive and culturally responsive campus cultures that are intentionally designed to achieve equity and student success goals.
10:30 - 12:00pm - DEI Council Members (President’s Cabinet - Optional): Members of the DEI Council and President’s Cabinet will have the opportunity to engage in an informal conversation about how to advance equity-mindedness at NLU. In this closed session, discussions may include but are not limited to addressing possible gaps that currently exist, identifying actionable implementation strategies, and developing institutional messaging around DEI initiatives. Please use this time to utilize Dr. Brown McNair’s expertise as an experience higher education professional and champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Overall Goals
- Explore how equity and engaged inclusivity serve as the foundations of effective educational practices
- Define equity-mindedness in the context of higher education
- Critically examine and interrogate NLU’s practices through an equity and inclusion lens
Guiding Facilitation Questions
- One goal of the DEI Council this year is to deepen and amplify collective DEI efforts across NLU. How can the council and/or senior leadership operationalize “engaged inclusivity” to accomplish this goal.
- Using our strategic plan, we have institutionalized several DEI related initiatives. Yet, many of our employees still feel excluded or have shared gapped experiences from things we have implemented. Any recommendations on how to navigate this?
- What are common pitfalls of setting institutional expectations of equity and inclusion?
- There seems to be a gap in institutional transparency and strategic communication. How can we bridge the gap?
- A question around disaggregating data from the POV of the DEI Council and/or institutional leadership.
Afternoon Schedule
1:15 - 2:00pm - Senators, Senate Leadership, and Staff Council: Join Dr. Tia Brown McNair for an informal conversation about how to advance equity-mindedness at NLU from the perspective of Faculty Senate and Staff Council. In this session, discussions may include but are not limited to, creating inclusive learning environments for students and colleagues, interrogating your personal and professional identities in this work, and other recommendations both groups can implement to move the need on inclusion and equity and NLU. . Please use this time to utilize Dr. Brown McNair’s expertise as an experience higher education professional and champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
2:15 - 2:45pm - Debrief & Sendoff: Provost Phillips and Co-chair of the DEI Council, Anita Moore-Bohannon, will debrief with Dr. McNair and share final takeaways.
Overall Goals
- Explore how equity and engaged inclusivity serve as the foundations of effective educational practices
- Define equity-mindedness in the context of higher education
- Critically examine and interrogate NLU’s practices through an equity and inclusion lens
Guiding Facilitation Questions
- How do we create a learning environment that promotes equity and inclusion for students? How do we do that if we do not feel that exists amongst employees?
- We have begun focusing on interrogating practices from the POV of race. What recommendations do you have for us to expand that interrogation to be more intersectional?
- Faculty focuses on exploring CRP. How does assist us in developing equity-minded classrooms?
- What do you see staff’s role in the conversations of equity-minded practices?
From Equity Talk to Equity Walk Summary
From Equity Talk to Equity Walk offers practical guidance on the design and application of campus change strategies for achieving equitable outcomes. This invaluable resource provides real-world steps that reinforce primary elements for examining equity in student achievement, while challenging educators to specifically focus on racial equity as a critical lens for institutional and systemic change.
Borrow from NLU Library (Sign-in Required)
Courageous Conversations: Debriefing Tia Brown-McNair's Visit
This Courageous Conversation will be a forum to debrief Dr. McNair's visit and plan our path forward.
Friday, February 10th, Noon - 1:00pm CST
