Category: Community Life

The UHP acknowledges that there have historically been, and still are, blindspots in making our program more inclusive for all of our students. We know there is work to be done and we are committed to ensuring that we cultivate a community in which everyone feels a true sense of belonging. More than ever now, we are actively listening to students about their experiences and what we hear motivates us to move urgently with intention to make the necessary changes to ensure that each and every student is well supported and able to thrive in the UHP and at GW more broadly. 

Below is an update on D&I-related goals and outcomes for the program in Fall 2021. This work is ongoing, and we still have other areas which need to be considered in more detail in addition to continued work on the topics described below. We will provide additional updates at the end of Spring 2022.

• Honors Diversity and Inclusion Committee: The D&I Committee composed of students, faculty, and staff resumed meetings in Fall 2021. The committee identified several areas of focus and implemented three specific task forces: “programming & events,” “faculty & staff hiring” and “peer advisors.” In the Fall, the programming & events task force met with Eydie Costantino (Assistant Director of Finance and Administration) to discuss how UHP events are planned, financed, and developed to gain insight on the task force’s future programming. The task force also began brainstorming event(s) for the spring semester. After discussing how the faculty hiring process at GW works, the faculty & staff hiring task force has considered the ways in which students can contribute to and provide feedback during the hiring process. This task force also surveyed all UHP students, asking them to share the characteristics that they prioritize in a UHP faculty member. This feedback will be shared with the UHP Hiring Committee which is currently considering the applications for a new faculty member in the biological sciences.   
• Learning/Training: Diversity and inclusion were integrated into our first-year orientation this year (August 23 & 24) in several ways including a presentation about microaggressions during our first-year student welcome session, topical breakout discussion sections led by peer advisors, and a required orientation workshop led by Dr. Jordan West, Associate Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement. Incoming first-year students had the opportunity to self-select which breakout discussion sections to attend, with peer advisors opening up the space for students to share concerns and as a way for students to begin to build support networks with peer advisors and one another. Discussion topics included “The High School To College Transition,” “Dealing with Imposter Syndrome,” “Being at a Primarily White Institution,” “Navigating Roommates”, and Dr. Jordan West’s interactive workshop focused on building a welcoming community and provided some space and time for students to have open and honest conversations with one another as they began the process of developing an Honors community. On October 4, Dr. Jordan West also led a community-wide workshop on “How to Disagree Respectfully,” which was attended by students, staff, and faculty. This workshop was offered based on student feedback about this common challenge, which students face both in Honors and non-Honors classrooms as well as in social and living spaces around campus. Additionally, the UHP continues to focus on communicating to students via the NewsFlash, blog, and course syllabi about the various campus offices and resources where students can access on-campus support.  
• First-Year Admissions: The UHP met with staff from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to continue our ongoing discussions about how Admissions and the UHP can work together to shape an incoming cohort of scholars that value diversity and community. We reemphasized our desire to have Admissions forward to the UHP applications from a diverse set of students considering many factors such as socioeconomics, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, academic interests, etc. We re-distributed a short memo to help guide Admissions representatives in their reading of applications and to provide talking points for their high school visits. This memo highlights qualities that we value in Honors applicants such as a commitment to an inclusive community and intellectual curiosity. For the 2022-2023 admissions cycle, we continue to use admissions prompts that allow us to better understand each student’s motivation for applying to the Honors program and which also allow students a broader scope of discussion so that students can write to us about a figure (scholar, artist, activist, etc.) that is important to them.
• Peer Advisor Program: This year we implemented a new first-year student/peer advisor matching process, which included the use of a “peer advisor preference form” on which incoming students could indicate their interests, passions, and anticipated needs, and if they had any preferences on what kind of identities or experiences their peer advisor have so that we could better match them with a peer advisor who could support their transition into college. We have also focused on ensuring that peer advisors are able to support all their advisees as individuals. To help better prepare our peer advisors to support incoming first-year students, all peer advisors attended a “campus partners” panel discussion that was organized and facilitated by Dr. Jordan West on August 10. The campus partners represented were Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement, Student Rights & Responsibilities, Student Affairs/Student Life, the Office for Student Success, Counseling and Psychological Services, the Title IX Office, Campus Living, and the Office of Advocacy and Support. Each campus partner described their function within our campus community, detailed the type of support which they are able to provide to GW students, and provided relevant contact information. The panel also discussed the need for peer advisors to be mindful of their own needs and mental health when working with their advisees. From this panel presentation and considering other challenges that students face on campus, we developed a “resource handbook” that was provided to all peer advisors as a reference that they could turn to in the event that one of their advisees needs assistance connecting with a specific on-campus resource. Peer advisors also took part in a mandatory workshop with Dr. Jordan West on September 17. At this workshop, Dr. West led a discussion on topics including how peer advisors can approach supporting advisees with different backgrounds from their own and how peer advisors can encourage their advisees to be good allies to one another. In addition to working one on one and in small groups with their advisees, the peer advisors led the first-year orientation breakout groups (described above) and they also hosted a first-year community building “fire pit/s’mores” event on the Mount Vernon Campus. Additional changes and improvements that can be made to the peer advisor program are being considered by a D&I task force in collaboration with the Peer Advisor Leadership team.       

• Faculty/Staff Hiring: During Summer/Fall 2021, the UHP reviewed applications for the UHP Program Manager position and conducted numerous interviews in search of the best candidate to fill this critical student advisory position. Applications were reviewed with an eye toward identifying candidates experienced with supporting a diverse group of students and a commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion within the GW Honors Program. Jasmine Williams was hired to begin in Spring 2022 and we believe she will be an excellent team member and advocate for all our students. The UHP – in collaboration with the Biology Department – is also currently in the process of hiring a new core faculty member with expertise in the biological sciences. In the position description used to advertise this job, the Hiring Committee encouraged applicants to describe their own experience with and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in their cover letter or teaching statement. As Chair of the Hiring Committee, Prof. Kung attended a CCAS/Office of Diversity and Inclusion information session on diversity and inclusion for search committee members led by Dr. Caroline Laguerre-Brown, Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement. Dr. Laguerre-Brown also helped the UHP identify from NSF data those doctorate-granting institutions that award a large number of degrees to minority U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Prof. Kung reached out to the Biology department at each of these institutions to let them know about our open position and ask them to share the job advertisement with their current and recent graduate students. As was described above, the D&I Committee faculty & staff hiring task force is providing feedback from UHP students to the UHP Hiring Committee about the characteristics that make a great UHP faculty member from the students’ point of view and students will be involved in interviewing candidates in Spring 2022. Additionally, the UHP will be writing a “faculty position request” which will ask the Provost to create a new position in the UHP for an additional core humanities faculty member. This request will focus on the need for this new faculty member both to ensure that most UHP first-year students get to take “Origins” with a full-time faculty member and to bring increased diversity into the program faculty. Students in the faculty & staff hiring task force will be contributing a student-perspective to this position request.   

• Upper-level Course Substitution Policy: During the first semester of the trial upper-level course substitution option, the program received 17 complete requests for Fall 2021 substitutions of which 15 were approved. Some approved classes included “Queer Studies”, “A Study of Women in the Media”, and “African Literature and Politics”. Overall, the requests showed a high level of thoughtfulness when students described their interest in each specific course and demonstrated an excellent understanding of the nature of UHP courses in general. Based on the success of this program in Fall 2021 and the continued desire to provide curriculum flexibility and the opportunity for students to explore topics that we are not currently able to offer within the program, the UHP faculty voted unanimously to adopt the option as standard UHP policy moving forward.        

• Curriculum and Senior Thesis: Faculty continue to update syllabi with new material in individual courses and to discuss across sections the issue of representation in our syllabi and also to increase accessibility and inclusion for all students in our classrooms. The UHP is also continuing its detailed review of our program’s mission and curriculum and the goals and objectives of each of our course types. This academic program review is undertaken as an opportunity to reflect on the current state of our program, to ensure that our academic goals align with our student outcomes, and to identify areas that require modification and improvement. In order to help ensure that students with a wide range of personal and professional interests complete a Thesis, Prof. Kung is currently exploring the idea of broadening the UHP Senior Thesis requirement to also include the option for other types of self-directed projects, such as service or entrepreneurial work. A poll sent to the whole UHP community indicated there would be interest in this option, and Prof. Kung was also able to meet with students to discuss this idea in more detail. Prof. Kung is working with Dr. Wendy Wagner who is Director of Community Engaged Scholarship with GW’s Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service to develop a pilot program to test during the 2022-2023 year. 

• First-year Student Survey: In Fall 2021, first-year students were asked to complete a short survey related to their experiences within the program, with a focus on support and inclusion within the program and faculty, staff and peer respect for personal identity. The results are being carefully considered by UHP staff, peer advisors, and the Diversity & Inclusion committee to evaluate initiatives that have been successful as well as those that could be created or improved upon. The survey responses were generally positive but all responses have been helpful for us to identify specific areas for improvement. One theme that was particularly prevalent in this survey was students self-identifying as having “imposter syndrome.” The UHP is currently seeking out campus partners that can help us to develop programming that will allow our community to explore this concept, and possible responses, more deeply.