Best of CASE District II Award
 

Institution: Ursinus College

Title of entry: Alumni Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group

About this entry: The advancement office at Ursinus College piloted a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group beginning in January 2021 with the purpose of advising and informing the office of advancement of unconscious bias related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, socioeconomic status, and other topics that hinder an inclusive environment for all alumni. This group was created with a long term strategy to independently evaluate existing programs and services for alumni with the purposes of making recommendations to programming that address diversity, equity and inclusion, helping to remove barriers to engagement amongst a more representative population of alumni, and encouraging the elevation of alumni leaders into volunteer roles who were previously not represented. In the pilot year, 18 alumni leaders were recruited. The volunteers collaborated on an Alumni Inclusivity Survey, which was sent to the alumni database and yielded 400 responses. The group created an intentional planning document outlining tangibles and deadlines for our community to hold us accountable in year two. While there is tangible data from the survey that will be invaluable to the advancement office for future alumni programming, perhaps the most positive result of this group was the opportunity to connect with marginalized groups, build relationships with alumni who were not already engaged with the college, and be a listening ear for suggestions to increase diversity in our programming.