Title:Colleges Convene to Improve Equity in Higher Education

Teams from 18 colleges and universities convened at Georgetown University in June to tackle the toughest questions in higher education at the first annual Summer Institute on Equity in the Academic Experience. This event, hosted by Georgetown and the University of Texas at Austin through the American Talent Initiative, drew schools from around the country, including Princeton University, Rutgers University, the University of California-Santa Cruz, Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Franklin & Marshall College, the University of Pennsylvania, and Smith College.

Focused on increasing successful outcomes for low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students, teams workshopped their projects while also learning from peers and experts in the field.

“It’s a moral imperative for us to do this work,” said Heidi Elmendorf, senior advisor to the president for equity in education and co-director of the institute. “Universities and colleges tend to evolve rather slowly while the world around us changes rather rapidly.”

Randy Bass, vice provost for education, served as institute co-director with Elmendorf. The university’s Red House Incubator for Educational Innovation and the Hub for Equity and Innovation in Higher Education were also responsible for the institute.

The three-day institute comprised guest-speaker presentations, concentrated deep-work time for each institutional team and moderated inter-team problem sessions to discuss national issues in the field of access and affordability. The institute also fostered a sense of community by connecting participants through a dinner and three receptions. Cross-team problem sessions delved into topics such as how to develop a vision for equity, define and measure equity, structure the work for tackling equity and scale and sustain the equity agenda. Topics included how to rethink approaches to teaching and coursework to promote inclusivity in STEM, how to ease transfer students’ transitions and how to increase students’ wellness and sense of belonging.

“We say lots of glorious statements about the importance of equity, but I see in the work of my colleagues here actual action, and that is so refreshing,” said Cassandre Giguere Alvarado, executive director of student success initiatives at UT-Austin. “To be in a space where we’ve said we’re gonna say some tough things, we’re gonna reveal some truths about our campuses that we’re not necessarily proud of, but we’re doing so in the spirit of committing to doing better—I think that’s what’s really encouraging about this work.”

For a video recap of the institute, visit provost.georgetown.edu/atisummerinstitute.