ACADEMIC YE AR
2020-2021
Report for Racial & Ethnic Diversity
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:12-14
Members of Lipscomb's Respect Leads Council speak with chair Dr. William Lofton Turner. When the Respect Leads initiative was established in 2017, advisors chose Colossians 3:12-14 as their guiding Biblical verse.
A Letter from the Special Counsel
We must not ignore the small daily difference we can make As we continue to navigate our way through an unprecedented period in our global, national and local communities, where the global pandemic continually impacts the daily rhythms of our lives—and where the pain and angst of racial conflict and injustice incessantly gnaws at our collective spirit and soul, I am encouraged by the resilience of our Lipscomb community, the collective spirit to honor the common good and to act on longheld principles of fairness and integrity, recognizing that what impacts one of us impacts us all, and that we are stronger together than apart. As we chart our course forward, let us remain committed to the principles and values that remain central to the transformative experiences we hold dear here at Lipscomb: • A deeply held faith in God, an appreciation and respect for the wonderfully rich diversity of people, cultures and traditions that is humanity; • To continue to strive to harness our intellectual capital to solve society’s most pressing cultural and social issues in this 21st century and beyond; and • To continue to engage in courageous and honest conversations about our own legacies, histories and educational processes in ways that allow us to get proximate to one another. As Bryan Stevenson reminds us in his book, our Lipscomb 2020-2021 common read, Just Mercy, we do so in order to change the narrative so that we can strengthen our resolve to demonstrate the best that is Lipscomb University.
As a university community, our mission is to promote the creation, preservation, instruction and application of knowledge grounded in service to God and humanity. We must not forget that the world we want to see is the one we help to make. Each of us has a role to play in creating a better world. As stated by Marian Wright Edelman in her book, The Measure of Our Success: “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily difference we can make which, over time, adds up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” Blessings, Dr. William Lofton Turner Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Public Policy and Special Counsel to the President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion A Member of the Lipscomb University Executive Leadership Team
About Dr. William Lofton Turner Dr. William Lofton Turner, a member of Lipscomb’s executive leadership team, guides Lipscomb’s efforts to better serve the increasingly diverse student body and advises the administration on strategies for increasing the number of faculty of color and to determine ways the community can become more intentionally responsive to the increasing number of diverse faculty, staff and students. He is also co-chair and architect of the university’s Respect Leads initiative to nurture the on-campus culture of respect, leading everyone to continued unity even in times of conflict. Turner holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s from Abilene Christian University and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech University in human development with an emphasis in marital and family therapy.
He served as faculty at the University of Kentucky and the University of Minnesota before accepting a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy fellowship at the National Academy of Medicine. As part of the fellowship, he worked with then-Senator Barack Obama’s office to craft bills regarding Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, food safety and autism treatment, as well as several key reauthorization bills. He also helped coordinate the initial Senate hearings that contributed to the development of the bill that eventually became the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In 2009 he moved to Vanderbilt University where he developed a research program called the HOPE Center that does research on hopefulness in lowincome and minority communities and determines the best ways to enhance hopefulness in similar communities. He is an elder at Schrader Lane Church of Christ in Nashville.
2020-21 report for racial & ethnic diversity
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HISTORY
Lipscomb University: Moving away from a difficult past to a better future “You can’t be who you need to be, if you remain where you are.” It’s a saying of leadership author Max De Pree that former President L. Randolph Lowry loved to use throughout his tenure. We on campus know it well, and it is a particularly apt sentiment to describe Lipscomb’s journey toward greater diversity and inclusiveness on campus. This report you hold in your hands does not represent the beginning or the end of that journey, but it does document a significant snapshot in time. A time when the university sat on the cusp of a new era, as its former president of 16 years transitioned to become chancellor, making way for the new presidential administration led by Dr. Candice McQueen. Even in 2005, when Lowry arrived at Lipscomb, the city of Nashville was already rapidly growing more diverse. According to the Mayor’s Office, Nashville took in more than 70 percent of the refugees who were relocated to Tennessee by the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program from 2008 to 2015. According to the Nashville Next plan, adopted in 2016, current trends at that time indicated that by 2040, Davidson County is expected to be a majority-minority county, meaning that the majority of the population will not be white, with a prediction that Hispanic/Latino, Black and Asian/Pacific Islander combined will make up 68 percent of the total population. More than 132 languages are spoken in the Nashville public schools where many Lipscomb education graduates teach. According to a study from New American Economy, foreign-born Tennessee residents make up 6% of the state’s workforce and have nearly $6 billion in annual spending power in the state where many Lipscomb graduates will work.
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As a Christian institution that stands on a strong foundation of faith in God, we believe that the paramount truth is that God created humankind and we are to love all humankind, but in our difficult past, that faith has not always been carried out in action. Such demographic trends in our city and beyond as well as our ongoing commitment to transform our students into the loving, globally conscious professionals our world needs and demands made it clear to the Lipscomb community that God was calling us to acknowledge our weakness, confess our sins and re-commit to living out our faith in every aspect of our community. Lipscomb’s administrative leaders in the 1990s took steps to acknowledge our difficult past through establishing the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs and then-President Steve Flatt made a public apology for Lipscomb University, as an institution, believing and acting on Satan’s lies. As the Lowry administration began in 2005, the stage was already set to significantly boost racial diversity on campus. Lowry, who had a Christian upbringing in a multicultural area of California that informed his vision for Lipscomb, stoked that fire by committing in his 2006 inauguration speech to infuse a spirit of community on campus. In the past 16 years, the number of faculty and students from underrepresented groups has increased as a result of a number of factors, including changes in demographics, revised hiring practices, strategic candidate searches and a more inclusive campus environment. The administration has also launched an initiative to promote a welcoming attitude of respect on campus and to set up an advisory council to advise and guide leaders in their ongoing diversity efforts.
HISTORY Lipscomb’s faculty and academic leaders stepped up in 2015 as the driving force behind establishing LIGHT, the university’s academic cultural competence initiative that strives to develop in students a respectful attentiveness to diversity, an increase in understanding of cultural practices, systems and institutional structures, and a response to God’s call to love your neighbor as yourself. Through membership in the NCAA, Lipscomb Athletics was fueled to attract a wider diversity of students from differing economic, cultural and geographic backgrounds. Alumni Relations worked closely with African American alumni to establish in 2018 the Lipscomb Black Alumni Council, committed to supporting diversity, inclusion and participation in the life of Lipscomb. In its pivotal role, the Office of Student Life has boosted its training for student leaders who serve as role models for students, the diversity of its own staff composition and its opportunities inviting students to honestly share in a safe space their thoughts
and concerns for how racial issues play out in daily life on campus. The Community Life Office has been re-structured to encourage greater inclusion of all students in decisionmaking and the implementation of student life programs. These are just a few examples of how the Lipscomb community, as a whole, has embraced the goal to create a stronger level of diversity, equity and inclusiveness on campus over the past 30+ years. As Lipscomb begins a new era of its growth and diversity journey with a new president, the university’s leaders understand that missteps have certainly occurred, they absorb the lessons learned from those missteps and are charting a trajectory forward with an informed plan to actively avoid the pitfalls of the past and proactively bring positive change. A plan that includes everyone of every race. A plan for a better future.
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HISTORY
Lipscomb’s racial and ethnic diversity journey in the past half century From its very beginning, Lipscomb was an institution that strove to allow space for God’s unconditional love, rather than the wisdom of man, to lead its journey.
Harry Kellum, Lipscomb’s first African American student, graduates.
Appointment of First African American member of the Board of Trustees, Jack Evans.
1982 1968
1998 1993 Lipscomb establishes the first Office of Multicultural Affairs and Bill Davis becomes the first director.
Hiring of the first African American instructor Robert “Bob” Jackson.
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Lipscomb has not always been committed to or successful in this journey. Certainly mistakes have been made, and Lipscomb’s leaders know this is a long journey. But it is a continual journey, one that is ongoing and picking up speed. It is a journey that requires continual evaluation, reassessment and community
As a response to feedback from underrepresented and international students, then-Lipscomb President Steve Flatt publicly apologizes for the university’s racial policies of the past and resolves to make the campus a welcoming atmosphere.
2000 “Sadly, instead of leading the way, otherwise devout white Christians were blinded by culture and Satan’s lie that white and Black students should not be educated in the same setting. Although I was not there, I look back and I hate that. I deeply regret that, and as president, I now apologize for that.” —Steve Flatt, president of Lipscomb from 1997-2005, in a public chapel speech in 2000.
growth, but it is a journey we embrace and face each day with enthusiasm. Only with a diverse set of people, backgrounds, experiences and ideas can we be a place that pursues and champions innovation, develops global citizens, leads with integrity and serves communities with compassion and care.
Hiring of Dr. Norma Burgess as founding dean of the thenCollege of Arts & Sciences, the first African American on the academic leadership team.
2010
2007 2009 First Hispanic Forum, Abriendo Peurtas, is held on campus with speeches by then-President L. Randolph Lowry and then Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.
Hiring of the first African American member of the senior leadership team, Dr. Bennie Harris, vice president of development and alumni relations (2007-14).
Lipscomb establishes the Latino Scholars Program.
“Lipscomb is an institution with which I had a relationship that began in segregation. Their conferring a degree on me,... was an act of reconciliation for both me and for the university. It was a powerful event that spoke to not only my life and work, but the changes that have occurred at Lipscomb University, in the church and in society.” —Fred D. Gray, civil rights movement lawyer, graduate of Nashville Christian Institute, namesake of Lipscomb’s Fred D. Gray Institute of Law, Justice & Society, commenting on the 2012 awarding of an honorary degree from Lipscomb, in Bus Ride to Justice, Epilogue to Revised Edition Lipscomb establishes a formal relationship with civil rights era attorney Fred D. Gray, resulting in the Fred D. Gray Institute and annual community events.
“What does it mean to be part of the Lipscomb community?... A community that models for the world the difference God makes when we are bound together by love. A community that doesn’t allow our differences to divide us with the seeds of discord, but rather a community that loves in ways that only God’s people can love.” —David Scobey, chair of the Lipscomb Board of Trustees, 2011 to 2017, at the 2017 Convocation ceremony in Allen Arena. Office of Multicultural Affairs establishes annual Welcome to Our Worlds event.
2012
Hiring of Dr. William Lofton Turner as the first African American Distinguished Professor.
Lipscomb establishes LIGHT, its intercultural competence initiative for undergraduate academic programs. Lipscomb establishes Respect Leads initiative to promote a culture of respectfulness in all quadrants of the university.
2014
2016
2017
Dr. William Lofton Turner appointed as the first African American member of the executive leadership team.
2020
9.5% to 24.2%* Underrepresented student growth at Lipscomb from 2005 to Fall 2020.
“Fundamental to our mission... is respect for all persons and the diversity they bring to our community. The term ‘Respect Leads’ was selected to reflect our set of core values… and it suggests that, in every situation, particularly where conflicts might arise, we begin with the tenet of respectfulness and seek to develop a campuswide culture reflecting that virtue.” —L. Randolph Lowry, president of Lipscomb from 2005 to 2021, describing the Respect Leads initiative begun on campus in 2017.
*For the purposes of this statistic, the term “underrepresented student” refers to anyone, including non-resident aliens, who self-reported in one of the following race/ethnicity categories: Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander or two or more races.
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LEADERSHIP
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LEADERSHIP
As an institution, we are committed to following Christ in his call to love others across differences of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, age and other distinctions. At Lipscomb, more representation of diversity on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Academic Leadership Team (ALT) and in all leadership positions is welcomed, encouraged and intentionally considered in hiring decisions. Diversity Leadership Three specific leadership positions have been established in the last few years to provide thoughtful leadership on diversity, equity and inclusion holistically throughout all operations of Lipscomb University: administrative, academic and the student experience.
Dr. William Lofton Turner, Ph.D.
Special Counsel to the President for Diversity and Inclusion Turner, a member of the president’s Executive Leadership Team, works to find avenues for Lipscomb to better serve the institution’s increasingly diverse student body while working to grow diversity in other aspects of the institution.
Dr. Norma Bond Burgess, Ph.D.
Associate Provost for Diversity, Inclusion and Special Initiatives After serving as dean of Lipscomb’s largest college, Burgess was appointed as a member of the provost’s team to increase diversity among faculty and students and to develop academic initiatives for cultural awareness on campus.
Dr. Prentice Ashford, Ed.D. Dean of Community Life
In his role in the Office of Student Life, Ashford oversees student organizations and productions, social clubs, the Student Activities Board and the Student Government Association as well as the Office of Intercultural Development which works to foster an inclusive environment for students by striving to ensure the participation of underrepresented students in university life.
Campus Environment Team In 2020, a Campus Environment Team (CET) was established to provide a more welcoming and inclusive community through active listening and responsiveness, addressing instances of microaggression and other
experiences of bias on campus and opportunities for education and conversation regarding biases that involve the Lipscomb community. The team is made up of two faculty and one representative each from Student Life, Safety and Security, and Human Resources. The CET reporting system for Lipscomb University undergraduate and graduate students, does not recommend punitive or disciplinary action against members of the Lipscomb community. The CET “Report an Incident” option is available on the university website and is communicated to students, faculty and staff through freshman orientation, RA trainings, Title IX trainings, faculty/staff orientation meetings and through email correspondence. Students may use a variety of means to bring situations of concern to the attention of the CET including formal incident reports or informed conversations and private meetings.
Cultural Competency Training for Senior Leadership Team and Board of Trustees The ELT, SLT, ALT and the Board of Trustees completed one round of cultural competency training in 2018, and a second round of training will be conducted in 2021 by the Racial Justice and Unity Center (RJUC), a respected and well-established Christian research and training organization that provides Bible-based training and assessment resources for Christian colleges and universities. RJUC was contracted to conduct a March 2021 campus racial/ethnic climate survey, to hold focus group discussions and to develop trainings for leadership, faculty, staff and students to be held later in 2021. All the RJUC trainings are informed by the March survey results, which provided customized insights on the Lipscomb campus climate, such as perspectives regarding notions of race and diversity, perceptions regarding tensions and guidance on race and diversity, how courses, campus activities and administration reflect race and diversity and individuals’ participation in diversity efforts. In addition to participating in these carefully crafted cultural competency training workshops, various member of Lipscomb leadership have attended and sponsored various campus events and activities exploring racial issues and cultural awareness, thus providing an intentional demonstration to everyone in the organization that diversity awareness is a high priority.
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LEADERSHIP
A diversity of leading voices We have come a long way from an institution that was led by an entirely white male board for much of our history. While significant changes have occurred, we are still continuing that journey toward the objective of true diversity on our board. While the personal and professional lives of the trustees vary, they are united in their passion for Lipscomb University and Academy, and each brings their own life experience and professional expertise to the important work of the board to set policy for the entire institution.
African American Members of the Board of Trustees
Women Members of the Board of Trustees
Jack Evans (1993-1997)
Dr. Jean S. Walker (’69) (1993-2005)
Then-President of Southwestern Christian College
Countess Metcalf (2002-2006)
Then-Professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School
Neika Stephens (1995-2011, 2013-present)
Retired New York City Department of Human Resources
Co-founder Stephens Christian Trust
William Thomas (2003-2015)
Realtor
Administration and then-Lipscomb University faculty member Then-Executive Director, Bridgestone Americas
Dr. J.W. Pitts (’76) (2008-2019) Internal medicine specialist and minister at
Woodland Park Church of Christ
Cicely Simpson (2008 to present)
Linda H. Johnston (’63) (2001-2013)
Countess N. Metcalf (2002-2006) Retired New York City Department of Human Resources Administration and then-Lipscomb University faculty member
Harriette H. Shivers (’66) (2003-2018)
Retired Attorney
Founder, President and CEO of Summit Public Affairs
Robbie B. Davis (’74) (2004-2016)
Dr. Major Boglin (2018-2019)
Community Volunteer
Executive director of the Genesis Center for Counseling at the North
Sandra W. Perry (’82) (2004-2012)
Atlanta Church of Christ
Dr. Bennie Harris (2021 to present) Chancellor, University of South Carolina Upstate
Homemaker
Paula Harris (2018-2021) Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Barge Design Solutions
Cicely Simpson (’96) (2008-present) President and CEO of Summit Public Affairs
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TRUSTEES FROM UNDERREPRESENTED RACIAL GROUPS OR WOMEN HAVE SERVED ON THE BOARD SINCE 1993
Lori S. Bridges (’85) (2013-2017) Community Philanthropist
Sallie W. Dean (2013-2020) Retired CPA and university accounting professor
Diane Creel (2015-present) Consultant at Environmental Financial Consulting Group
Vicki Smith (’79) (2015-present) Retired Senior Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility at Nissan North America
Dr. Lisa Piercey (’98) (2020-present) State of Tennessee Commissioner of Health
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LEADERSHIP
Lipscomb’s Faces of Diversity In the 2020-21 school year, two new board members were added to the Lipscomb Board of Trustees, bringing the total women currently serving on the board to six and the total members from underrepresented groups serving on the board to two.
Dr. Bennie Harris Harris, is no stranger to Lipscomb and how it works. Having served as Lipscomb’s vice president for development from 2007 to 2014, he helped make many of the opportunities Lipscomb students enjoy today possible through his leadership of portions of two Lipscomb fundraising campaigns. He now serves as chancellor of the University of South Carolina Upstate.
Dr. Lisa Piercey Piercey (’98) has been the Tennessee Commissioner of Health since January 2019 playing a key role in Tennessee’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Piercey began her health care career as a pediatrician at the Jackson Clinic in Jackson, Tennessee. Following that, Piercey spent a decade in health systems operations, most recently as executive vice president of West Tennessee Healthcare, a public, notfor-profit health system with more than 7,000 employees servicing 22 counties.
Both Harris and Peircey are the parents of Bison students who attended Lipscomb in the 2020-21 school year.
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LEADERSHIP
Respect leads our continual journey Respect Leads Advisory Council launched in fall 2020 Lipscomb University’s journey toward a more inclusive community is a Christian journey that is moving ever closer to the community God has called us to be. In 2016-17, an important step on the journey was taken with the establishment of the Respect Leads initiative. A committee was created to generate ideas for promoting a culture of respectfulness in all quadrants of the university and to identify specific initiatives that the university might undertake, laying the groundwork for a lens through which future conflicts and situations could be addressed while also leading to a more respectful university climate. At that time, the Respect Leads committee identified a set of core factors associated with our understanding of what it means to be respectful. In 2020, the university added a new task force, Respect Leads: Lipscomb’s Council on Diversity & Inclusion, charged to further the promotion of a culture of respectfulness throughout campus from 2020-2022, to provide counsel to university administrators in planned initiatives and to lead actions and activities focused on diversity, inclusion, equity and community engagement. In recent years, Lipscomb has used a collaborative approach to empower and encourage individual areas of the institution to develop and pursue intentional diversity and inclusion plans, foregoing a formal top-down approach. The leaders of the Respect Leads Advisory Council have now been charged with coalescing this
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ongoing work into a comprehensive plan that can be evaluated and modified going forward. During the 2020-21 school year, the Respect Leads Council has provided leadership for the implementation of a campuswide race/ethnic climate survey by Renew Partnerships, providing input into the questions used, advising on the development of focus groups and working to make incentives possible to boost participation in the survey. Dr. William Lofton Turner, special counsel to the president for diversity and inclusion, is chair of the council, assisted by co-chairs Dr. Norma Burgess, associate provost for equity, diversity and inclusion, and Dr. Prentice Ashford, dean of community life. The council has developed plans and strategies for university leaders to draw on throughout the 2021-22 school year to enhance and further develop a more respectful university climate. Agenda items in 2020-21 for the Respect Leads Council included: • Issuing a regular newsletter updating the Lipscomb community on diversity issues; • Developing an annual report on diversity with the first edition in 2021; • Leading efforts for regular campus climate surveys with the first survey conducted in spring 2021;
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Creating an open conversation path with the Lipscomb Black Alumni Council and other alumni of color; Hosting Respect Leads events and activities that foster a welcoming community and advance diversity and inclusion on campus; and Providing leadership for a comprehensive diversity and inclusion website: lipscomb.edu/diversity.
LEADERSHIP
March 2021 Race/Ethnic Campus Climate Survey
Since 2016, the Respect Leads initiative has spoken into a number of respect-themed activities on campus, an academic intercultural competence initiative called LIGHT, an increase in the ethnic diversity of faculty, executive leadership and staff, and cultural competency training for students in authority positions.
The members of Respect Leads: Lipscomb’s Council on Diversity & Inclusion are: Beki Baker, Chair of the Theatre Department Rebecca Clark, Program Director for Social Work Dr. Kirsten Dodson, Assistant Professor of Engineering Dr. David Fleer, Professor of Bible and Director of the Christian Scholars’ Conference Dr. Chris Gonzalez, Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Program Julie Harston, Director of Beaman Library Dr. David Holmes, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dr. Richard Hughes, Scholar-inResidence in the Center for Christianity and Scholarship
Dr. Cori Mathis, Director of the LIGHT Program Dr. Florah Mhlanga, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dr. Kam Nola, Professor of Pharmacy Dr. Alfa Nyandoro, Chair of the Information Technology Department Dr. Lauren Pinkston, Assistant Professor of Business Juan Reveles, International Student Services Coordinator Julie Simone, Instructor of Education Dr. Michelle Steele, Associate Dean of Academics of the College of Leadership & Public Service Dr. DeAndrea Witherspoon-Nash, Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Rebecca Zanolini, Director of Global Learning
In fall 2019 university leadership engaged the Racial Justice and Unity Center (RJUC), one of the nation’s leading research firms that has partnered with more than 30 universities across the country, to conduct a Race/Ethnic Campus Climate Survey to assess the racial and ethnic climate of the university, gather information and insights, and provide essential training that will be invaluable to us as we plan for our future. “No one knows our university better than our own faculty, staff and students,” said Dr. William Lofton Turner, special counsel to the president on diversity and inclusion. “A climate survey allows us to quickly and easily gather their input, analyze the data and determine action steps.” “We went into this process knowing that we may find out some things that we may not like. It’s a risk to step forward and seek reality," said thenLipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry. “But we as leaders decided that it is very important to understand the reality here on this campus, and we are willing to learn, even if it is a difficult lesson.” The survey, said Turner, is allowing Lipscomb’s diversity leaders to answer questions such as 1) How are we doing with our efforts? 2) Where are our strengths and weaknesses? 3) Who is having positive and negative experiences? 4) Why, where and how should we make changes? 5) Which programs should we add, keep or drop? and 6) Are we making progress? After a delay due to Covid-19, the survey was launched in 2021 and sent to all Lipscomb University faculty, staff and students. Response was high, with 921 students and more than 500 faculty and staff completing the questionnaire, percentages that were above those experienced at other universities, according to Turner. To collect additional information about racial dynamics at Lipscomb, RJUC conducted 10 focus group discussions with both students and employees of various races and ethnicities picked at random from survey respondents. RJUC will work with the Executive Leadership Team to develop a plan to address what has been learned from the survey, and in the ensuing months, leaders will be using its results to consider creating new programs, reviewing policies, determining next steps and providing broader training within the Lipscomb community.
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STUDENTS
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New Academic Programs An African American Studies minor debuted in spring 2021 with College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean Dr. David Holmes teaching the first course, Introduction to African American Studies, a sophomore-level engagements course with 40 students enrolled. The interdisciplinary 18-credit minor will serve future professionals in relating to cultures beyond their own, dealing with conflict and exploring their own role as one member of many in God’s Kingdom, Holmes said. In the College of Leadership & Public Service, Dr. Michelle Steele, associate dean of academics, provides leadership for an urban studies major, intended to immerse students in real-world issues facing an urban world population. In this program, students explore historical forces that create urban contexts including racial and ethnic inequities and structural poverty, and current forces shaping urban settings, such as demographic, economic, cultural and environmental forces.
Significant Conversations The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences dean, Dr. David Holmes, hosted a monthly conversation series for 25 students at Lipscomb and four other local universities—Trevecca, Belmont, and HBCUs American Baptist College and Fisk—to discuss racial issues, white privilege and how to address those issues on college campuses. The group read How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, leading up to a chance to hear a talk by Kendi, one of America’s foremost experts on antiracism, at Lipscomb’s Christian Scholars’
Conference in June 2021. These conversations were sponsored by Lipscomb’s liberal arts, education and leadership colleges, its Center for Christianity and Scholarship, the Student Government Association and the Lipscomb Black Alumni Council.
LIGHT Features Just Mercy
LIGHT, the university’s academic intercultural competence initiative, coordinated a common read project along with accompanying events throughout the semester to explore the issues raised in Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson’s bestselling book exploring flaws in America’s system of justice. Cyntoia Brown-Long (’19), a Nashvillian who personally experienced and overcame the biases inherent within the justice system over the past decades, spoke virtually to students as the LIGHT guest speaker in the fall semester. In addition two of Lipscomb’s foundational courses that are mandatory for all students, Lipscomb Experience and Lipscomb Engagements, are LIGHT courses required to include investigation of intercultural issues, and most majors that Lipscomb offers incorporate LIGHT content in at least one course.
Enhanced OID Funding Extracurricular experiences such as studying abroad, joining a social club or presenting at an academic conference all contribute to students’ ability to make lifelong relationships, develop into student leaders and be exposed to perspectives and worldviews that will last far beyond graduation. To enhance those extracurricular experiences for Lipscomb students from underrepresented groups, the
STUDENTS
As an academic institution preparing students for a working world that has rapidly become ever more diverse and global over the past few decades, Lipscomb’s primary academic objective is to be a place where diversity, inclusion and cultural competency are intentionally woven into all aspects of its community, thus making students feel welcome and valued. Academic inquiry and Student Life programs and opportunities are designed to reflect our foundational beliefs in dignity and respect for all women and men.
Office of Intercultural Development launched a fundraising campaign in fall 2020 to raise funds for students to apply toward academicrelated expenses (books, electronics, supplies, etc.), academic conference travel, study abroad fees, mission trip fees, social club dues and other extracurricular activities. To support this effort, go to give.lipscomb.edu.
SGA Diversity Committee The Student Government Association established its own Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Affairs Committee for the 202021 school year. The committee has involved eight to 10 students throughout the year and has expanded the scope and reach of student activities such as Black History Month events, coordinated by the Black Student Union, and the annual multicultural celebration called Welcome to Our Worlds (WOW) Week.
DIVERSITY- FOCUSED STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS† Association of Latino Professionals For America* Society of Women Engineers*
Student National Pharmacist Association*
Women in Technology Tennessee Women Get IT
Black Student Union* Collegiate 100*
African Student Association* Asian Connection* Raices*
W.E.B. Dubois International Honor Society* Hablemos (Spanish Conversation Partners)*
* These university-sponsored organizations do not limit membership by sex, race or ethnicity and are open to all students regardless of sex, race or ethnicity.
† These organizations include those that are universitysponsored, have student chapters established on campus and/ or are community organizations which include Lipscomb students or faculty as members.
2020-21 report for racial & ethnic diversity
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STUDENTS
A diverse student body
31% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
OF THE FALL 2021 FRESHMAN CLASS IS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED RACIAL OR ETHNIC GROUPS (AS OF AUG. 23, 2021)
Retention Rate of Underrepresented Students 2018 Beginning Cohort 85.9%
81.8%
83.8% 73.7%
73% 71.4%
78.9%
64.5%
National* Lipscomb
African American
Hispanic
Asian
White
*Source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, First Year Persistence and Retention, Summer 2019
LIPSCOMB FOUR-YEAR GRADUATION RATE FOR FALL 2016 STUDENT COHORT
43%
AFRICAN AMERICAN
83%
ASIAN
46%
HISPANIC
63%
WHITE
Four-Year Graduation Rate For Students of Color 2013 Cohort
TICUA* Four-Year Graduation Rate For Students of Color
40%
42%
*Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA) member institutions
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Lipscomb Four-Year Graduation Rate For Students of Color
STUDENTS
Lipscomb’s Faces of Diversity Ruby Aguilar Aguilar, born to Salvadorian immigrant parents, was a December 2020 Lipscomb University graduate who was truly empowered. Not only was she the fifth member of Lipscomb’s inaugural cohort of the Pionero Scholars, a scholarship program to recruit Nashville students who reflect the diversity of Nashville to go into the teaching field, but she was also selected as a student leader in the Education Trust’s EmpowerED project, which advocates for equitable education for historically underserved students across the state. As part of the EmpowerED project, Aguilar wrote a blog about her experience in the Pionero program; she was a panelist and comoderator for a series of Ed Trust’s student panel discussions about the student experience under Covid; and she participated in leadership and advocacy workshops, learning from Tennessee and national leaders. She also worked with Nashville Public Television on a video on the topic of diversity in education during Covid for their Next Door Neighbors series. Aguilar is now teaching at Nashville’s Glencliff High School, her alma mater.
STUDENT BODY BREAKDOWN FALL 2020
51
NATIONS REPRESENTED WITHIN THE FALL 2020 STUDENT BODY
475
UNDERREPRESENTED GRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE 2020 STUDENT BODY
708
UNDERREPRESENTED UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE 2020 STUDENT BODY
PROPORTIONAL GROWTH OF UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS ENROLLED 2005—2019** Portion of Underrepresented Students Enrolled in 2005
200%
Lipscomb University
growth †
7.7%
Portion of Underrepresented Students Enrolled in 2019
23.1%
Four-year Private Universities Nationwide*
44%
growth
21.9% Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association Member
31.5%
38%
growth
19.3%
† “Growth” refers to the increase of underrepresented students as a portion of the whole student body. * Source: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Fall Enrollment Survey 2005 & 2019. ** Numbers do not include non-resident aliens.
26.7%
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STUDENTS
Lipscomb’s many faces, unified in one body Every part of the body plays a crucial role in meaningful success for the whole body. Lipscomb strives each day to eliminate obstacles and clear a path to success for every student, no matter their individual traits, background or challenges. Nothing evidences the outcome of this goal better than individual Lipscomb students, succeeding and thriving in today’s world. Eden Melles (’20)
“In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others,” ‑ Romans 12:2
Admitted to Northwestern University for graduate school Melles, an honors graduate, was awarded the American Political Science Association Diversity Fellowship, a $4,000 award presented to only 12 to 14 students in the nation each fall. The fellowship is designed to boost the number of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in the political science discipline. She was awarded a full-scholarship to attend Northwestern. Melles was also selected as a fellow to attend the Moore Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and to participate in a 2019 trip to South Africa with Equity in Education, a nonprofit organization which focuses on global education and the historical inequities that disproportionately affect students of color or from low-income households.
Anna Pollard (’20)
Personal banker at Fifth Third Bank After obtaining her Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in management, Pollard is now on the fast track in Fifth Third Bank’s management training program. During her time at Lipscomb, she served on the Quest Team, the Student Activities Board and as a mentor in Lipscomb’s program for students with intellectual disabilities. In addition to three internships in marketing, she also served as sales director for Wearthy, a fair trade clothing retailer founded by a Lipscomb business as mission faculty member.
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STUDENTS
Bana Faraj (’21)
English teacher at Nashville’s Hume-Fogg High School Faraj, of Nashville, was selected by the student body as 2020’s Miss Lipscomb, a title representing the “ideal” female student due to involvement in on-campus organizations and her embodiment of the ideals of the Lipscomb community. Faraj was an officer in the Diverse Student Coalition, a member of the Black Student Union and has led programs for the Office of Intercultural Diversity breakout chapel on substantial topics including the benefits of self-affirmation and what domestic violence looks like on a global scale. “Receiving the title means it wasn’t about being the ideal student. I showed up every day just being myself and, somehow, that was award-worthy, Christian or not,” said Faraj, a Muslim, Kurdish-American student. Faraj was also a member of the university’s Pionero Scholars program, a pipeline program intended to bring diversity to the Nashville public school teaching ranks.
Josiah Jordan (’18)
Admitted to Marquette University School of Law Jordan was one of Lipscomb’s 15 Fred D. Gray Scholars, law, justice and society majors who are working toward a career in effecting social change through the legal field. During his college career, he grew as a person and a leader by serving a president of the Collegiate 100 chapter and as a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success, the Black Student Union, the International Justice Mission and the African Student Coalition. He was also awarded the Charla S. Long Leadership & Advocacy Award. As an attorney, he hopes to “use the power of words to have a positive impact on the lives of many people.”
Marie Arellano (’20)
Staff tax accountant at Cherry Bekaert Arellano was a first generation college student majoring in finance. She graduated a semester early, ready to sit for the CPA exam, while also completing six internships at the Metro Nashville Government Office of Minority and Women Business Assistance, the Nashville Financial Empowerment Center, the Nashville Career Advancement Center and two internships at Kraft CPAs in audit and tax positions. She was also heavily involved on campus serving as an IDEAL mentor, Presidential Ambassador, on the COB Dean’s Student Leader Council and member of the Delta Mu Delta international academic honor society in business.
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EMPLOYEES 18
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Our students’ transformation into citizens of integrity is positively affected by diverse faculty and staff with different backgrounds, world views and cultural heritage. Bringing such scholars and colleagues together to form a cohesive community to benefit students is an important part of Lipscomb’s educational mission, as is providing the resources, inspiration and education needed for those employees to coalesce into a welcoming and diverse community.
Lipscomb’s faculty of color have made strides in the past year to benefit academic rigor for students and academia.
EMPLOYEES
Dr. Quincy Byrdsong Vice Provost of Health Affairs As the president of the international Society of Clinical Research Associates and a board member for the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection, Byrdsong, a Nashville native, has found his expertise in the historical evolution of research ethics in great demand over the past year as Covid-19 has
brought greater public awareness of racial/ethnic health disparities. His 2020 piece in the SOCRA Source Journal, advocating a more contemporary standard for defining ethical research practices, has drawn attention from academia and a scholarly citation in the past year.
Dr. Han-Sheng Chen Associate Professor of Finance Chen co-led a group of 50 finance students to the top spot in the 2020-21 TVA Investment Challenge, in which students manage a stock portfolio of approximately $600,000. Even in a year characterized
by uncertainty and quick turnarounds, the students beat out universities such as Vanderbilt, Belmont, Tennessee Tech and the University of Kentucky, outperforming the S&P 500 by 17.25 percentage points.
Dr. Michael Watson Professor of Physics Watson, a researcher of black holes and a Campus Champion within the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment program, secured the ability for both he and Lipscomb students to use the eighth most powerful supercomputer in the world. The Frontera was created thanks to a $60 million grant from the
National Science Foundation. Watson and his research team received an allocation of node hours on Frontera and the Graphic Processing Unit and gigabytes of storage to advance their study: “Computational Study of Astrophysical Plasma,” a look at supermassive black holes and plasma jets from active galactic nuclei.
Dr. Douglas Ribeiro Associate Professor of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Science Ribeiro was awarded this summer a renewal of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant that funds his Initiative for Behavioral Health Integration. The initial grants for the initiative, totaling $2.2 million in 2017 and 2019, are the largest federal
grants Lipscomb has ever received. The renewal pumps another $1.36 million into the project that develops and places mental health care professionals onsite in medical clinics to address often unmet needs of medically underserved populations.
Dr. Florah Mhlanga Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Mhlanga celebrated the 10th anniversary this year of the Student Scholars Symposium, an on-campus academic conference for undergraduate and graduate students to encourage their participation and develop their skills in research and scholarly presentations. The
first symposium took place in March 2012, with just 48 student presenters. Now, more than 300 students from all the academic colleges participate annually.
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EMPLOYEES
A diverse workforce
10.8%
OF FULL-TIME TEACHING FACULTY IN FALL 2020 WERE FROM UNDERREPRESENTED RACIAL GROUPS
Full-time Faculty From Underrepresented Groups in Fall 2019
18.8% Four-Year Private Universities Nationwide* †
11.9% Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association Member Institutions*
9.4% Lipscomb University
*Excluding Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HCBUs). † Source: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
EMPLOYEE ETHNIC BREAKDOWN FOR 2020-21
21.7%
OF NEW FACULTY HIRES WERE FROM UNDERREPRESENTED RACIAL GROUPS
35%
OF THE ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP** WERE WOMEN
*Non-academic administrative leaders with job titles of at least director. **Academic leaders with job titles of at least dean.
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46%
OF PART-TIME FACULTY WERE MEMBERS OF UNDERREPRESENTED RACIAL GROUPS
8.4%
OF ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERS* WERE MEMBERS OF UNDERREPRESENTED RACIAL GROUPS
10.4%
OF ACADEMIC LEADERS** WERE MEMBERS OF UNDERREPRESENTED RACIAL GROUPS
Engage Program for Faculty and Staff The Office of Human Resources’ annual Engage program, a series of professional development workshops and seminars available for free to all Lipscomb employees, have included seminars on topics such as “Why This Matters: How Educators Shape the Experiences of Underrepresented Students,” “Understanding our Biases: Building a Better Community at Lipscomb,” “The People You Lead: How to Better Understand Ways to Motivate and Communicate” and “Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce.” In 2020-21, human resources hosted book clubs for employees to read and discuss How to be an Antiracist in the fall semester and Just Mercy in the spring semester. Forty-two employees signed up for the fall and spring sessions. The discussions were led by Lipscomb Scholar-in-Residence Dr. Richard Hughes, author of Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories that Give Us Meaning, and Dr. William Lofton Turner, special counsel to the president for diversity and inclusion.
New Diversity Committees Following the national events and protests of spring and summer 2020, several of Lipscomb’s colleges established new diversity committees or initiatives. The College of Pharmacy established its Committee on Diversity and Inclusion in September 2020. The Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering kickstarted a task force using engineering design concepts to ensure that all students receive an equitable engineering education in August 2020. The College of Business held a
series of discussions among faculty and staff and alumni, including an alumni panel discussion, a webinar for business alumni and a professional development workshop on difficult conversations.
Continued Emphasis on Diversity in Hiring Practices Students of all racial categories are positively affected by diverse faculty with different backgrounds and it is an important part of our educational mission. In 2017 Lipscomb established a Diversity in Hiring Workgroup charged with identifying ways that would broaden and diversify our applicant pools and attract more diverse candidates. The group’s recommendations included, among other things, transforming the hiring process to include diverse job posting sites and notifications in publications likely to be seen by potential faculty members who are diverse. Recognizing that there is still much to do in this area, the institution began a comprehensive review of the hiring and promotion processes in 2020-21 and will recommend further appropriate adjustments or changes. There is a specific statement in university hiring policy for departments to include diversity in search committees either through their own departmental employees or by including faculty and/or staff members from underrepresented racial groups from across the institution to serve on search committees. Each academic dean has developed a diversity hiring plan for his/her college. Going forward, members of the senior leadership team will also be asked to create a hiring plan that considers best recruiting practices for underrepresented groups.
Lipscomb’s Faces of Diversity
Dr. Michelle Steele
As a native Nashvillian, Steele says she enjoys “work that helps to improve conditions for the ‘beloved community’.” As an associate dean and associate professor, she oversees the Master of Arts in leadership and public service program and the Department of Urban Studies, and served as the 2020-21 Presidential Faculty Fellow. As a civic leader, she has devoted more than 14 years to enacting social change in Nashville, working with countless local community groups to teach them to develop the capacity within themselves to affect sustainable and collaborative change. She worked as director of the mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods during the Bill Purcell administration. In 2016, Steele co-facilitated the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County discussions on Race, Equity and Leadership (R.E.A.L. Talks) that brought together more than 1,100 people from across the city. She has also worked with the YMCA of Middle Tennessee to facilitate community discussions about the future of the Northwest YMCA. Now she continues to give back to her community by serving on the boards of Metropolitan Parks and Recreation, the Nashville Civic Design Center and the Association of Leadership Educators.
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EYEBROW
COMMUNITY
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COMMUNIT Y
Lipscomb’s diversity encompasses differences in culture, ethnicity, language, gender, age, socio-economic status, political affiliation, physical and mental ability, experience and education. The wide array of perspectives that results from such diversity promotes innovation, action and the overall success of Lipscomb’s mission and values, both within our campus community and in our surrounding community. ENGAGE Youth Theology Initiative After a hiatus in summer 2020, the College of Bible & Ministry held in July the ENGAGE program, designed to bring together rising high school juniors and seniors from racially diverse backgrounds and Churches of Christ, for a summer institute to explore the contemporary call to racial justice and reconciliation, the histories of both the Churches of Christ and the U.S. civil rights movement, and what it means to live a life of Christian leadership and service. Funded by a Lilly Endowment grant, ENGAGE has impacted the lives and future careers of 80 students since 2017.
Igniting the Dream of Education and Access at Lipscomb (IDEAL) IDEAL is a two-year certificate program designed to encourage and support students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to experience college as their peers do. Launched in January 2014, the IDEAL program includes academic and skill-building classes, exercise sessions, daily internships, leisure time and a daily study period. In fall 2020, 17 students were enrolled in the program. In 2015, the program was awarded a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education funding various initiatives including a job placement coordinator and job training, involvement of more traditional undergraduate and graduate students and development of a summer academy for students.
Fred D. Gray Institute for Law, Justice & Society Lipscomb University’s Fred D. Gray Institute is based on the idea that legal change is one of the surest means to effect social change and aid marginalized and underserved communities. Through its undergraduate degree program and partnerships with national and international organizations, the institute educates and trains students on socio-legal issues and encourages a passion for justice. The annual Fred D. Gray Dinner brings together the community for a night of discussion centered around social, political or legal matters impacting our country. The 2020 dinner commemorated the 100th anniversary of Tennessee’s history-making vote to ratify the 19th amendment providing the vote to women, by gathering, for the first time in history, all six of the former and current women justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court to speak to students and the community.
Lilly Fellows Program’s 2022 National Conference Lipscomb University was selected from among universities across the nation to host the Lilly Fellows Program’s 2022 national conference. Lipscomb’s winning proposal was based on the theme “Implicit Racial Bias and the Academy.” The Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts seeks to strengthen the quality and shape the character of church-related institutions of higher learning in the 21st century. Keynote speakers for the 2022 conference will include: Eddie Glaude Jr., the James S. McDonnell distinguished university professor of African American studies at Princeton University, and Tabatha Jones Jolivet, director of the ethnic and race studies program at California Lutheran University. The 2022 conference will be co-chaired by Dr. Richard Hughes, scholar-in-residence in Lipscomb’s College of Bible & Ministry, and Dr. William Lofton Turner, Lipscomb’s distinguished professor of leadership and public policy and special counsel to the president for diversity and inclusion.
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COMMUNITY
Creating a diverse campus community Since 2016, students have indicated in a survey of graduating seniors that Lipscomb was doing well in meeting the students’ expectations of providing opportunities to gain an understanding for and to engage in diverse communities locally, interculturally and/or globally. Lipscomb’s annual Student Satisfaction Inventory shows that overall student satisfaction with Lipscomb’s “strong commitment to racial harmony on campus” was trending positively through 2019.
GRADUATING STUDENTS WHO AGREED OR STRONGLY AGREED THAT LIPSCOMB PROVIDED OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO ENGAGE AND PARTICIPATE WITH DIVERSE COMMUNITIES LOCALLY, INTERCULTURALLY AND/OR GLOBALLY.*
GRADUATING STUDENTS WHO AGREED OR STRONGLY AGREED THAT LIPSCOMB PROVIDED OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATION FOR DIVERSE COMMUNITIES LOCALLY, INTERCULTURALLY AND/OR GLOBALLY.*
84% 77% 84% 81% ALL STUDENTS
437
STUDENTS OF COLOR
VETERANS AND DEPENDENTS WHO ENROLLED DURING 2020-21, A RECORD HIGH FOR THE UNIVERSITY
889
ALL STUDENTS
KNOWN LIVING AFRICAN AMERICAN LIPSCOMB ALUMNI
STUDENTS OF COLOR
54
STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES HAVE COMPLETED THE IDEAL PROGRAM
*AVERAGE OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF SURVEYS. 24
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EYEBROW
Fixing the broken teacher pipeline Lipscomb’s Faces of Diversity
Dr. Kirsten Dodson
Lipscomb’s Pionero Scholars, a privately funded scholarship program working to create a local pipeline of diverse teachers by recruiting students who reflect the diversity of Nashville to go into the teaching field, celebrated a milestone in 2020 with the graduation of its first five students into the teaching field in Nashville. Six Pioneros graduated in May 2021 and 17 scholars are currently working on their education degree. Lipscomb’s College of Education has also received two grants from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, spanning from 2017 to 2021, to help increase the pipeline of diverse teachers by recruiting educational assistants working in Nashville’s public school system to enroll in Lipscomb and complete a teaching licensure program, thus transitioning to fully licensed teaching positions. In addition, the grants allowed Lipscomb to train minority teachers currently working in Nashville in mentor coaching, in order to mentor the new teachers.
Lipscomb University’s service engineering missions program served as a key turning point in career goals for Dodson (’12) when she was a student. Now as a Lipscomb assistant professor of mechanical engineering, she is building on that experience to use engineering missions to bring greater diversity to the entire engineering industry. Drawing on Lipscomb’s more than 16 years of experience with vocational mission work in engineering, Dodson obtained a $200,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to determine if student involvement in humanitarian engineering projects causes a shift in perspective to better embrace diversity and if this mental shift could have a long-term effect on the professional engineering workplace toward a more inclusive culture. The project will also include developing a model for how best to include such experiences within an engineering curriculum, Dodson said. “Students (who participate in humanitarian engineering projects) come to recognize how impactful their field can be on people around the world. Engineering is thought of as a technical field, but in reality, engineers design for people. These projects help students make that connection,” said Dodson.
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COMMUNITY
Promoting a diverse Nashville community To be a proactive leader in promoting the skills, mindset and moral compass needed to build an inclusive and welcoming community, Lipscomb must look inward, but must also look outward and always be willing to learn and grow from what is discovered. In the wake of national turmoil in the summer of 2020, the 2020-21 school year brought more opportunities than ever before for both students and the community at-large to virtually hear the voices of underrepresented groups on leadership, faith, personal development and social change.
When you see something you like, you are seeing yourself in a mirror. When you see a book, or story or anything you like, you can be sure that that thing you like has a lot of you in it…we all have stories inside ourselves, and we can all tell those stories.” —Yuyi Morales, author of Dreamers, the 2020-21 Nashville Reads pick for the city’s common read, speaking to public school children at a Lipscomb-sponsored virtual event.
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As you are all starting your journey as freshmen in the Lipscomb community, I encourage you to see this as so much more than just an academic experience. You have an opportunity to learn how your life can impact the lives of others and to fully step into what the Lord is calling you to do. I happen to believe that we are all called to justice, and it is all a matter of determining what practicing justice will look like in your own lives.” —Cyntoia Brown-Long (’19), the 2020 LIGHT guest speaker who was convicted of robbery and murder in 2004 at age 16 and was granted clemency from a life sentence in 2019. Long is a Lipscomb University graduate through the LIFE (Lipscomb Initiative For Education) program and now works as an advocate for restorative justice.
When you think about the chaos going on in our world, when you think about the racism that exists in our world, you be that one in a million. Don’t turn away, don’t ignore, but you be that one to wake up. You be that one to do something. You be that one—because God’s spirit is inside of you—to roll your sleeves up and to undo racism.” —Dr. Steven Moore, poet, author and professor of English and chair-elect of the Department of Language and Literature at Abilene Christian University, referring to the writings of Henry David Thoreau during the Landiss Lecture
COMMUNIT Y
One of the five steps to becoming a reconciling community is... engaging in reconciling culture-making. It’s acknowledging that the world is broken. We have to create what we want to see tomorrow, today. We don’t have to act like we are perfect; we know sin is coming. But confession is a great thing, and then we can have the imagination to do something different about that. We are always making culture.” —David Bailey, founder and CEO of Arrabon, which equips faith leaders to engage in reconciliation, speaking at Lipscomb’s Virtual Conversations series
Yes, we see now, as a part of being 60 years removed from the movement, that, ‘Hey, these people (civil rights movement activists) were people of faith. They were acting prophetically.’ But guess what? At that time, people thought they weren’t acting prophetically; they were criminals; they were breaking the law. They were not being good Christians. Their faith was even challenged, and these were people coming out of the church.” —Dr. Andre E. Johnson, associate professor at the University of Memphis and scholar-inresidence at the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change and author of The Struggle Over Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, presenting a guest lecture titled “Rhetoric, Race and the Spirituality of Black Lives Matter”
Getting to health equity is not about equality. It is not about giving all of us the same things. To achieve health equity we need to meet people where they are, and it won’t be the same process for all communities.” —Dr. James Hildreth, renowned immunologist and president and CEO of Meharry Medical College, speaking at the 10th Student Scholars Symposium
The opposite of denial is confession. So when you think about, at least in the Christian tradition I came up within, confession is the first step to Christian salvation. You first have to confess your sins in order to step forward and become Christian… It’s the same thing to be anti-racist. You first have to confess and acknowledge and admit the ways in which you’ve been racist.” —Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, one of the nation’s leading scholars on antiracism and author of How to be an Antiracist, speaking at the 2021 Christian Scholars’ Conference
We have seen underrepresentation of African Americans in clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines as well as Covid-19 treatments. Reports also indicate that Black patients are less likely to receive life-saving treatments for Covid-19, such as Remdesivir... These issues must be addressed, if we want to move forward into the future. Until we really get to the underlying cause of social inequities, we will just be treating the symptoms.” —Dr. Klarissa Hardy Jackson, assistant professor at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina and a former member of the Lipscomb University faculty. Jackson researches drug metabolism to better understand the mechanisms and risk factors of adverse drug reactions and thus improve drug safety.
What I have found to be most effective, is that discussion is important, but having decisiveness at the end is critical. You have to cut off the conversation and say, ‘This is what we are going to do.’ And if you have built trust through sincerity and transparency, the people who are part of this team will recognize this is a good plan and we are doing it.” —Dr. Alex Jahangir, chair of the Metropolitan Board of Health of Nashville and Davidson County, speaking at the Don R. Elliott Lecture titled “Leading Through Covid”
Lipscomb University’s 2020-21 Racial and Ethnic Diversity Journey Lipscomb University took many new and significant steps on its journey of multicultural awareness and engagement, diversity, inclusion and equity in 2020-21. The journey is an ongoing dialog, however, that will not end for years to come.
LEADERSHIP AND FACULTY COMPOSITION Percentages of those from underrepresented racial groups
11.11%
0%
10.4%
10.8%
8.7%
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP TEAM*
FULL-TIME FACULTY
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
11.11%
20%
34.4%
47.5%
21.7%
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP TEAM*
FULL-TIME FACULTY
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Percentages of women
Hiring and promotion practices and policies have been instituted to improve the placement of underrepresented racial groups at all levels of the administration, board and faculty. By intentional efforts, tracking our results and accountability we expect to see continued improvement.
RESPECT LEADS: LIPSCOMB’S COUNCIL ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION COMPLETED AGENDA ITEMS IN 2020-21: • Issued a regular newsletter updating the Lipscomb community on diversity issues. • Developed the inaugural annual report on diversity distributed in 2021. • Led efforts for campus climate survey conducted in spring 2021. • Created an open conversation path with the Lipscomb Black Alumni Council (LBAC) and other alumni of color. • Hosted Respect Leads events and activities that foster a welcoming community and advance diversity and inclusion on campus.
AGENDA ITEMS FOR 2021-2022: • Provide guidance for the implementation of faculty/staff/student development activities as informed by the campus climate survey debriefing. • Coordinate campuswide diversity activities and speakers to maximize their benefit. • Examine current policies related to academic freedom and specific faculty concerns associated with the politicization of long-held theoretical constructs and positions, then make recommendations for future policies and implementation. • Provide guidance for updates to diversity webpage and university website. • Continue to publish regular newsletters and an annual report. • Lead efforts to partner with Student Life and LBAC to create welcometo-Lipscomb messages and events for students of color.
*For the purposes of this report, those with titles of director and above in the registrar’s office, ACCESS ability office, academic advising, LIGHT, global learning and communications operations are considered academic leaders. 28
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CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT GOAL
STATUS
NEXT STEP
Campus Climate Survey Completed: The survey was conducted in March 2021 with more than 900 students and nearly 600 faculty and staff completing the questionnaire.
The Racial Justice and Unity Center (RJUC) was engaged to conduct a survey to gather information and insights to assess the racial and ethnic climate of the university.
Results will be used to create new programs, review policies, determine next steps and provide broader training within the Lipscomb community.
Campus Environment Team A Campus Environment Team (CET) was established to provide active listening and responsiveness to students, to address instances of microaggression and other experiences of bias on campus and to provide opportunities for education and conversation regarding biases.
Completed: Made up of representatives from The CET will increase awareness of the CET faculty, Student Life, Safety and Security, and Human reporting system and ensure students’ comfort with Resources, the CET effectively addressed numerous the process. verbal, informal concerns expressed by students.
Review of Hiring Plans A comprehensive review of the hiring and promotion processes was conducted by Human Resources and the Provost’s Office.
Ongoing: Hiring policy now includes a specific statement to include diversity in search committees and each academic dean has developed a diversity hiring plan for his/her college.
Further appropriate adjustments to hiring and promotion policies have been recommended and are under review.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING GOAL
STATUS
NEXT STEP
Diversity Education for Senior Leadership RJUC was engaged to develop and conduct cultural competency training, customized with insights from the 2021 campus climate survey, for leadership, faculty, staff and students.
Ongoing: The executive, senior and academic leadership teams and the Board of Trustees will complete cultural competency training based on the needs identified in the survey results.
Using the insight from the survey and focus groups, Renew Partnerships will hold customized cultural competency trainings for faculty, staff and students in 2021-22.
LIGHT: Illuminating Cultural Engagement Illuminating Cultural Engagement: Lipscomb’s academic intercultural competence initiative prepares students to live lives of active engagement with cultures across the globe.
Completed: In fall 2020, LIGHT coordinated a common read project and other events exploring issues raised in Just Mercy, the best-selling book exploring flaws in America’s system of justice.
In fall 2021, LIGHT will coordinate a common read and events discussing They Called Us Enemies, George Takei’s graphic memoir of his childhood in America’s Japanese concentration camps during World War II.
Fred D. Gray Institute for Law, Justice & Society Through its undergraduate degree program and community partnerships, the institute educates students on socio-legal issues and encourages a passion for justice.
Completed: The 2020 Fred D. Gray Dinner, an annual community event, featured the current and former women members of the Tennessee Supreme Court. A new academic director Kimberly McCall was hired.
The institute begins the 2021-22 school year with a new designated space and the appointment of a vision committee to explore the institute’s future engagement with the Fred D. Gray legacy.
Internal Conversations Small group discussions, conversations, trainings and workshops on diversity are frequently held in colleges, departments and student programs.
Completed: Diversity committees were established in the engineering and pharmacy colleges; the College of Business held faculty trainings and discussions for alumni; and the Office of Student Life hosted two diversity-focused break-out chapels and established the Students Voices forum.
Various colleges have plans for diversity webinars, a college-specific climate survey and implementing ideas sparked by student surveys and research. Student Life will continue to hold breakout chapels and campus conversations. 2020-21 report for racial & ethnic diversity
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Contacts & Giving FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BECOME INVOLVED IN PROMOTING DIVERSITY THROUGH LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY, CONTACT US AT DIVERSITY@LIPSCOMB.EDU
FINANCIAL OPPORTUNITIES TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WHO ARE UNDERREPRESENTED IN LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC PROGRAMS OR STUDENT BODY POPULATION: Lipscomb Opportunity Scholarships The Office of Intercultural Development Fred D. Gray Institute for Law, Justice & Society Scholarship Pionero Scholars Program Cultural Diversity Teacher Training Scholarship
community.lipscomb.edu/diversity-report