A more inclusive Navigation future
Grand Valley's College of Computing will launch the Wayfinding, Accessible Interaction and Virtual Environment (WAIVE) Lab in the fall 2025 semester. \
WHAT IS THE EQUITY AND INCLUSION COMMITTEE ?
We are the latest governing committee created in 2017. Our Committee works to ensure that the voice of the faculty is continually heard by the University Academic Senate on question of Equity and Inclusion.
The Equity and Inclusion Committee is comprised of 11 faculty members representing the different colleges and the library, an undergraduate and a graduate student from the Student Senate, and 6 members of the administration (ex officio).
Mission: The role of the Equity and Inclusion Committee is to promote and facilitate faculty involvement in support of a healthy and equitable campus climate. The committee accomplishes its role by engaging in social justice and diversity issues on campus, including but not limited to:
January 2025
To streamline work and improve accountability, we're evolving existing teams and shifting responsibility to our Black Student Union (BSU) and Division of People, Equity, and Culture (PEC). This collaborative approach empowers BSU and PEC to work with faculty, staff, and students to ensure a more accountable university community with greater transparency and clearer communication.
As we move forward with these efforts, we welcome you to engage with us. You can share questions, ideas, or feedback through this BIPOC Task Force feedback form . We deeply appreciate the contributions of our student colleagues, faculty, staff, SLT, and mentors alike who have supported this work and continue to do so. Together, we can ensure that progress is sustained for future generations of students.
This website provides updates on the work of our BIPOC Task Forces, which have made significant strides in addressing priorities from the Black Student Town Hall in Winter 2024.
They have an Equity and Inclusion committee
COACHE Steering Committee
The COACHE Steering Committee 2.0 has identified an outside facilitator to work with GVSU Senior Leadership Team, faculty, staff, and students to rebuild the structures and the underlying trust that form the basis for best-in-class shared governance. We selected The Change Leader. For the next 2 months, The Change Leader will be working with GVSU to co-design an Engagement and Action Plan. To do so, they will interview members of the COACHE Steering Team, UAS/ECS, Provost’s Cabinet, and Senior Leadership Team.
From these interviews, they will co-design a set of half-day workshops to be conducted in late March. These workshops will focus on building shared trust with an understanding that action and resolution of existing problems is a key part of that process. We expect to have specific dates and times of workshops determined by late February. Please keep an eye out for invitations to participate.
The full report is now available
Next Steps
The next step is to launch a co-design process involving the COACHE Steering Committee, currently elected faculty leaders, the Provost’s Cabinet, and the Senior Leadership Team. This collaborative effort between administrators, tenure track, and affiliate faculty will focus on creating an engagement framework. To ensure a constructive and impartial approach, we will pursue a facilitated process determined collaboratively.
In addition to establishing venues for engagement, the planning process will identify key focus areas for discussion and action. These focus areas will be informed by the previous COACHE faculty listening sessions as well as the discussions held by the COACHE Steering Committee with the Provost’s Cabinet and the Senior Leadership Team. An initial outline of a plan is provided below; a finalized engagement plan will be shared in early January.
This approach reflects a commitment to collective effort and community strengthening, ensuring that the path forward is inclusive, collaborative, and impactful. Here is the expected timeline:
Grand Valley State University is committed to fostering an environment where faculty, staff, and students can thrive. Feedback and insights are invaluable in helping us achieve this goal. We believe that faculty satisfaction plays a crucial role in the overall success of our institution. Their perspectives on various aspects of their academic journeys are vital to shaping a more fulfilling and supportive work environment. For this reason, GVSU has joined The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) for 2023-2026./ This is a long-term project at the Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, led by R. Todd Benson, focusing on faculty.
As part of the collaboration, during Winter semester 2024, faculty were asked to participate in COACHE’s Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey./ COACHE will provide to GVSU diagnostic reports and regular consultations with the COACHE team on how to make meaning and act from the data. In Fall 2024, GVSU faculty will be engaged to review the findings and to start to make changes.
Over the past few years, the university has heard various feedback through faculty fora, the Climate Survey, and faculty governance. Now, we want to dive deeper to better understand how we can improve the faculty experience at GVSU.
February 18, 2025 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM
In the "Make NOISE" session, participants will focus on developing strategic action plans to integrate LGBTQIA+ inclusion into their leadership practices. Through interactive activities and...
February 19, 2025 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Participants will learn what constitutional rights you hold, whether or not you are a citizen of the United States. The presenters will share when and how to exercise those rights and how...
February 19, 2025 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
The contemporary world is a stressful place to live. This is particularly true for those of use with one or more marginalized identities and/or involved in advocacy and activism work. Chronic stress...
Grand Valley's College of Computing will launch the Wayfinding, Accessible Interaction and Virtual Environment (WAIVE) Lab in the fall 2025 semester. \
The MnoChigewin: Native Student Success Program is a network for students who self-identify as Native American.
The GVSU Civic Engagement Collective