January 13, 2021

Update on UW School of Nursing Anti-Racism Workgroups

Last spring, the UW School of Nursing asked for feedback from students, staff, faculty, and community stakeholders about areas and ways to promote anti-racism. Based on this input, a number of anti-racism workgroups were formed; see here. Workgroup efforts began this past late summer or early autumn. Below is an update of a some areas that have been pursued.

• An Anti-Racism Pledge was drafted on November 2, 2020, and presented to the school’s Shared Leadership Council. Feedback was solicited through Faculty Council, Staff Council, and Student Leadership Board. It is still under review. A link to the draft pledge is posted on the school’s new DEI homepage and can be directly accessed here.
• A plan for school-wide training is presently being determined. Budgetary allocations were being determined during autumn 2020. Discussions with external experts and speakers were initiated and will be further pursued during Winter 2021 to arrange a training plan and schedule.
• On October 2, 2020, a training on diversity and equity best practices for hiring faculty and staff was conducted. This was led by Dr. Chadwick Allen, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and was attended by both faculty and staff. UW School of Nursing Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Butch de Castro has been and is presently advising ongoing faculty and staff search committees on implementing these best practices.
• The UCSF anti-racism primer & toolkit has been endorsed by the Teaching and Curriculum Workgroup. It has been introduced and disseminated with faculty through UW Seattle degree program coordinating committees, connected teaching groups, and academic departments.
• Both an anti-racism end of program learning goal and an anti-racism student essential behavior for all academic degree programs have been developed and is currently being circulated through the UW Seattle degree program coordinating committees as well as to UW Bothell and UW Tacoma faculty for consideration. Submission of motions for faculty vote on each of these is anticipated for February 2021.
• A Zoom meet-and-greet for incoming BIPOC students was held on September 29, 2020.  A winter quarter Zoom gathering is being planned and will be announced soon.

Other anti-racism workgroups have been actively meeting, and, updates on progress will be posted soon. Please note that there are a variety of other actions being taken on a number of fronts from a broader diversity, equity and inclusion perspective that also encompass anti-racism.