• Four informational facilitated dialogues with employees to discuss the impact of privilege within the College community and to identify relevant themes to community-building work;
• A leadership seminar for faculty and administrators of the Dine Tribal College (the oldest tribal college in the U.S.) on TC’s implementation of its Diversity and Community Mission.
• A Constitution Day Program, “Marriage Equity in New York State,” which presents an update on the status of same-sex marriage in New York State and engages in the national debate addressing the disparity of rights when juxtaposed to those enjoyed by heterosexual married couples. Speakers include Daniel O’Donnell of the New York State Assembly, Christine Quinn, Speaker of the New York City Council, Jeffrey Lax of Columbia University and Susan Sommer of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
• Academic programs that address a range of salient issues, including “Education and the Hip-Hop Generation,” featuring three TC faculty members; “Women in Higher Education,” co-sponsored with TC’s Higher and Post-Secondary Education Program; and Booktalks that introduce new works by four tenured TC faculty and one faculty member from John Jay College (also a TC alumnus);
• Development of a new Professional Staff Evaluation Review Process (effective June 2011), with the goals to implement a consistent college-wide appraisal process regarding individual and unit performance and apply it with full compliance by all full-time professional staff supervisors and employees;
• Awarding $14,300 in grants to fund 14 student-, faculty- and staff-sponsored initiatives as part of the Vice President’s Diversity and Community Initiatives (DCI) Grant Fund; and $7,500 in grants toward the Vice President’s Grant for Student Research in Diversity to enhance students’ research efforts. The DCI Awards include the “Peace Education Conference,” “The Women’s Movement and NGOs in Latin America,” “Faculty Reflections on the APIA Experience in U.S. Higher Education,” “Training Workshop for Working with LGBT Students,” “People of Color Caucus—No Longer Minorities: Experience of Students of Color at Teachers College,” and “Racial Literacy Roundtables: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Teaching in Urban Schools;”
• The second annual Community Cook-Off and Tasting Celebration in the TC Dining Hall, which engages a wide cross-section of the College in celebrating the year’s extensive community-building efforts.

Published Wednesday, May. 11, 2011