The first winners of the new Dive In and Deliver (D2) challenge, launched by the Inclusion Council with support from the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity, have been chosen.
The four ideas on how to integrate diversity and inclusion into the UNH community came from the following groups.
Partnering for Successful Student Transitions: The UNH Manchester College Readiness Program
PI: Carolyn Gamtso, Head of Reference & Instruction at the UNH Manchester Library
As a result of demographic changes in the city, the percentage of students in the Manchester School District who are Latinx, are English language learners (ELL), and/or are eligible for free-and-reduced lunch has increased significantly during the last 10 years. In an effort to reach out to the Manchester area’s diverse secondary school population, and to help prepare students for the transition from high school to college, the UNH Manchester D2 team plans to develop and deliver an annual 9-12 teacher professional development (PD) workshop designed to address the unique writing, critical thinking, and research challenges faced by first-generation college students and multilingual learners.
Expanding Inclusivity and Reducing Compassion Fatigue: Online Empathy Training Modules for Library Faculty and Staff Who Interact with Students of Diverse Backgrounds
PI: Eugenia Opuda, Health and Human Services Librarian
This initiative seeks to develop online training modules on the topic of exercising empathy in the physical and digital library environment in order to reduce barriers for students seeking help. Training will 1) explore student perspectives and barriers to library engagement; 2) identify the unspoken needs of marginalized students; 3) distinguish misconceptions about students that make the practice of empathy challenging; and 4) provide strategies for practicing mindful empathy through immersive case studies.
Diving In and Delivering On Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Volunteers, the Face of UNH Cooperative Extension
PI: Malin Clyde, Community Volunteer State Specialist with Cooperative Extension
The proposal seeks support for UNH Cooperative Extension and NH Sea Grant to explore methods for raising the cultural proficiency of its volunteers and create a plan for institutionalizing effective methods for increasing diversity, inclusion and equity throughout its volunteer networks. It addresses the need to educate and incorporate UNHCE volunteers into the university’s initiative to institutionalize diversity, inclusion and equity.
Connecting with the Local Indonesian Community
PIs: Jeanne Sokolowski, Director of the Office of National Fellowships, and Paula DiNardo, Coordinator of State & National Exchange Programs
In connection with UNH’s strategic goal to Embrace New Hampshire, we seek to develop mutually beneficial ties between the university and the local Indonesian community: establishing a pipeline to recruit students to UNH; creating robust resources and programs to support those students on campus; integrating local migration history and cultural knowledge into academic courses; and facilitating some mechanisms through which UNH students, both Indonesian and non-Indonesian, can partner with the local Indonesian business and non-profit community (including Little Indonesia).
D2 will assist the campus in the president’s strategic goal of elevating us into the top 25 percent of the nation’s public schools.
