|
Take survey now! Here is an opportunity to participate in a campus-wide research project! If you are over the age of 18, you can participate in our survey that measures your thoughts about the campus climate for LGBTQ individuals. It will only take about 20 minutes to fill out the survey. You may even enter your name into a raffle for all kinds of prizes! |
SUNY Fredonia has been selected as one of 10 campuses to receive a grant from the SUNY Office of Diversity and Educational Equity as part of the second annual Explorations for Diversity and Academic Excellence initiative.
Fredonia proposed a “Reaching OUT to SUNY” (click for project website) project that was funded by the initiative. Fredonia's goal is to achieve the holistic integration of lesbian, gay, bi‐sexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people into the academic culture, thus impacting student and faculty recruitment and retention, along with the curriculum, and the overall campus climate for LGBTQ individuals.
“Reaching OUT to SUNY was designed with a vision towards sustainability at the individual campus level and, longer-term, with the broader SUNY system in mind,” said Dr. Virginia Horvath, Vice President of Academic Affairs, who serves as the Project Director, supported by the SUNY Fredonia Professional Development Center.
SUNY institutions recognize that increasing visibility of diverse populations and the challenges faced by minority students, faculty, and staff are important endeavors. Although diversity should be broadly defined, many believe that the unique needs of LGBTQ students, faculty, staff and administration are often misunderstood or ignored.
The grant, which includes three prongs, has three initiatives. The first is to pilot a campus climate survey that will assess current policies and practices relative to LGBTQ issues on campus. The results will lead to the formation of an interdisciplinary task force that will create action steps to design an overall implementation plan for making changes at SUNY Fredonia regarding LGBTQ issues. The model created for the survey may be shared and implemented by other SUNY campuses.
The second initiative is a webinar series that will disseminate best practices of what SUNY Fredonia does relative to LGBTQ support as well as its training with other SUNY schools. Webinars are a cost-effective mean of broadly disseminating information in real-time and offering an interactive component to participants. Two webinars, or “FREDwebs,” will be presented in the funding year (one in each term).
The final initiative will permit colleagues to conference and present best practices from other campuses, encourage collaboration in SUNY, provide professional development activities for faculty and staff, and bring expertise to augment education efforts to date. The two-day conference in June will include 50-minute round tables, training sessions, featured guest speakers and social networking opportunities. Topics will range from curriculum infusion of LGBTQ, to gender identity and expression on campus.
To learn more, contact Psychology Professor Ingrid Johnston-Robledo at 716-673-3893 or robledij@fredonia.edu .
