November Meeting Minutes

  • Minute taker: Baylee

  • Review of Reading/Continuing Education (Krystal: 15 minutes)

    • Reflection: 

    • What do we do to hold ourselves accountable:

      • Subcommittee Check-ins during the larger group meetings

      • Transparency — minutes; departmental leadership accountability (seeing change put to action); holding a space to listen to stakeholders - are we representing what really matters to those who we are trying to help?; time in faculty meetings for updates - spreading word of initiatives and priorities (student reps?)

    • Measuring Efficacy

      • Looking at disparities within the major - students dropping classes, joining/ leaving the major, research labs, resources

      • Research labs - diversity amongst labs, providing stronger resumes/ CVs for marginalized students; how aware are students of open lab positions? (posting openings, going to classes, etc.)

      • Number of grad student applicants from different backgrounds; post-application survey

      • Course evals including questions about the diversity of classes: materials, syllabi, topics, are faculty incorporating suggestions?, diverse voices

      • Measuring the change in the culture in addition to numbers (e.g., students, faculty, etc.)

      • Measuring engagement with the DEI webpage - traffic, time spent, using resources

        • Asking people if they’ve seen or are aware of the page; are those who are interacting the same people who are coming to UK; impact on decision to apply; including a link for feedback on the application; clarifying the departments - accessibility

  • Subcommittee Check-in (30 minutes)

    • Transparency Committee

    • Decolonizing the syllabi: 

      • Clarifying the committee’s goals; primary semester goal: find materials that faculty for core courses can use (POC authors, marginalized groups) - database for resources based on area

      • Possibilities for subcommittee: providing a service for first-time graduate students teaching training - constructing a syllabus; syllabus best practices; advertising during TA orientations; potential faculty involvement (discussions about syllabus wording); alternative writing assignments for SONA

      • By end of semester: Finding a library/ database of potential resources for core courses - presenting to faculty as recommendations; for each of the departments

      • Sharing resources for the BIPOC-authored psychology papers Google sheet

      • Feedback: consult with CELT; better utilizing syllabi to increase accessibility of courses - designing better syllabi, reducing extraneous language, making syllabi more useful for students

    • Resources: 

      • Developing resources, template for website; categorizing resources

      • Feedback:Possibly reaching out to the Hive for technical help with the web resources tool

      • Goal: finished template/ developed list of resources

      • Developing Resource list

    • Admissions

      • Clarifying the application process; information gathering — who is accepting students; application fee waiver; increasing access to needed information; accepted students day

      • More equitable interview processes; viewing applicants more holistically rather than just viewing GPA, GRE, etc.

      • Goal: Update the website; developing best practices for holistic application process

      • Leveling the playing field for transportation money for applicants — discussing with departmental leadership fee waivers, providing waivers for applicants with financial hardship

    • Diversifying the Pipeline

      • Meeting Minutes

      • Course evaluation: compile items being used at other institutions; discussing how to disseminate this information

      • Psych Majors Canvas page: updating lab information - contact information, what research is currently being done

      • Psy-Chi: experiences with research labs and how that helps alumni to prepare for careers outside of academia

  • Open Forum (10 minutes)