Falk College Dean’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion

Established in 2018, the Falk College Dean’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion focuses on diversity and inclusion in the College by providing a nurturing, safe, and hospitable learning environment for students. The Committee’s efforts involve matters of diversity and inclusion that are critical to the life of Falk College ranging from topics of college population demographics, admissions, faculty recruitment, curriculum infusion, research, student, staff and faculty development, extra-curriculum activities, and civility and working environment, among others.

Committee meetings are held monthly throughout the academic year. Students interested in being involved in the Committee should contact Professor Jackson at cmhaste@syr.edu or the Falk College Dean’s office at tbattist@syr.edu.

The committee is chaired by Chandice Haste-Jackson and comprised of faculty members, staff, graduate students and undergraduate students from all academic programs in Falk College.

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee houses the following sub-committees:

The Sub-committee for First-Year Course

This committee is chaired by Chandice Haste-Jackson, associate teaching professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, who was appointed to the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the First-Year Experience charged with developing a 12-week (or semester-long), one-credit S.E.M. 100 course to begin Fall 2021.

The Sub-committee for International Student Support

This committee is co-chaired by Lisa Kennedy and Lisa Liparulo is developing the first-ever mentoring and support program for international students at Falk. With support from the Dean’s office, a welcome luncheon was held to launch the program on September 27 at the Klenk Café. There were 35 undergraduate and graduate international students (and faculty/staff who have volunteered to be mentors) in attendance. The sub-committee is working to gather feedback from international students at Falk to appropriately support their needs.

The Sub-committee on Graduate Assistant Diversity and Inclusion Training

This committee is moving forward with information gathering at the university level regarding training that applies to all graduate assistants university-wide. The aim is to fully grasp the content of the training GA’s already receive during their introductory orientation so that we may, as a college, craft an experience that fills gaps and builds on that training to best fit the needs of Falk’s GA’s. We intend to address department-level needs with grad program directors to build a relevant, accessible, and critical experience for all of Falk’s GA’s thereby improving our ability to support our GA’s and, through them, all Falk students.

The Undergraduate Student Sub-committee

This committee is in the early phases of formation and is led by diversity student leaders Anu Omole and Grace Leslie, with support from Chandice Haste-Jackson and James Byrne. The subcommittee will focus on issues of inclusivity within Falk College and engage undergraduate students in service, leadership and training and advocacy activities.