Strategic Priorities

A more diverse faculty and staff

  • Create a targeted initiative for hiring and retention
    • Consolidate hiring resources in a single portal for ease of access
  • Enhance the postdoctoral hiring program by building a pipeline and establishing accountability

A more diverse student body

Undergraduate

  • Conduct a holistic research project to develop a robust understanding of barriers for enrolling more undergraduate students of color.
  • Enhance privately funded scholarships, as well as student support and mentoring opportunities, for incoming first-year students from specific high schools in NH and MA and for currently enrolled UNH students from these schools who are at risk for attrition.

Graduate

  • Secure funding for NEAGEP efforts (Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) to increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented graduate students.
  • Create a peer mentorship program for URM graduate students to foster community, networking, and support.

An inclusive and welcoming environment for all, especially people of color

  • Provide ongoing diversity training for all staff, faculty, and students, especially those in leadership positions, utilizing UNH expertise wherever possible
  • Develop and enforce accountability structures for faculty, staff, and students who do not act in accordance with stated UNH community values
    • Rethink/revamp Report It (system for reporting/responding to racist incidents)
    • Re-assess consequences in the Student Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities document

All students prepared to function effectively in diverse settings, at UNH and beyond

  • Incorporation of diversity, equity, and inclusion into the curriculum
    • Faculty Senate is developing plans for the Discovery Program
    • Coordination/promotion of diversity and racial justice across the curriculum
  • Increase extracurricular opportunities, e.g. pre-arrival programs, learning communities
    • Potential partners include Howard University and UT San Antonio
  • Expand internships and placements in diverse communities

Our research will include issues of racism, diversity, and inclusion

  • Create internal funding opportunity through the CoRE or other seed program that could support diversity and inclusion research/scholarship and engagement activities. 
  • Build and strengthen research, engagement, and innovation partnerships with minority-serving institutions.
  • Develop and host workshops and training opportunities for researchers that focus on changing research practices at UNH, including finding and pursuing funding opportunities that focus on diversity and inclusion, inclusion of broadening participation in proposals, and creating and sustaining anti-racist research programs. 
  •  Provide research-based programs through Cooperative Extension and university outreach programs that are relevant and accessible to all.
    • Implement an Outreach and Engagement Council with broad university representation. One focus of the council will be to recommend best practices and provide resources that support universal program design, accessibility and educational equity for programs offered by UNH to external participants and communities.

Leadership teams will proactively address diversity and inclusion

  • These issues will be on the agenda of all leadership teams at least monthly
    • Teams will engage in frequent DEI learning experiences
    • Teams will create and monitor performance metrics, and communicate progress
  • All members of the President’s Leadership Council will have DEI as a performance goal

Structures to facilitate the above actions

  • Continue and reinvigorate the University Commission on Community, Equity, and Diversity
  • Create council of diverse students
  • Create a centralized information system so all diversity, equity and campus climate initiatives are more visible