Tracking Progress
Recent Work in Progress:
In August 2023, Hamilton welcomed Brianna Burke as a visiting associate professor of environmental studies and as the College’s first faculty fellow hired to help develop an academic initiative focused on Native and Indigenous studies.
In June 2023, President David Wippman shared a message with the community following the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action.
In June 2023, Hamilton was selected by The Center for First-generation Student Success to join the First Scholars Network, a prestigious cohort of colleges and universities that have demonstrated a commitment to enhancing experiences and advancing outcomes for first-generation college students. The Center is an initiative of NASPA and The Suder Foundation.
In June 2023 during Hamilton’s annual Reunions weekend, Multicultural Alumni Relations Committee (MARC) Committee Chair Emerita Jazmin Gatto de Torres ’02 unveiled Enlace, a new initiative that will connect students and alumni of color.
In November 2022, Hamilton was among the 14 institutions awarded an $8.05 million grant by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) initiative titled “Increasing Capacity to Support Equitable and Inclusive Learning Environments for Introductory-level STEM Students across the LCC2 Learning Community.” IE3 challenges colleges and universities to continue their critical work to support the inclusion of all students in science, especially those who have been historically excluded from the sciences. The College will each receive approximately $377,000 in funds, and $2.7 million will be applied collectively. Hamilton volunteered to take a lead role in developing and using assessment tools and in completing budget-related work.
In August 2022, Hamilton welcomed Sean Bennett, its first vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, a cabinet-level position established to develop and deepen meaningful partnerships with community members across the College and in the community, and to facilitate the revision and implementation of a comprehensive strategic vision for DEI campus wide.
During the 2021-22 academic year, we honored the first decade of the Days-Massolo Center’s role as a hub on campus for programming that explores intersections among gender, race, culture, religion, sexuality, ability, socioeconomic class, and other facets of human difference.
In June 2021, President Wippman announced a national search for a chief diversity officer, a new position that will report directly to the president and serve as a member of the senior staff.
On March 30, 2021, the College responded to each of the Advisory Council’s proposals for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at Hamilton, with specific individuals assigned to take the lead on implementation.
In June 2020, President Wippman launched a new Advisory Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to explore how the College could stand in greater solidarity with Black and other historically marginalized community members.
On June 14, 2020, President David Wippman committed to:
- Hosting listening sessions with community members
- Forming an Advisory Council
- Expediting a new equity and inclusion plan
- Increasing resources, including:
- $200,000 per year for the next five years to boost funding to the College’s equity and inclusion initiatives
- $139,486 raised during a fiscal year-end campaign from alumni to support Hamilton’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programming in the wake of national protests against racial injustice
In 2019, we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the College’s need-blind admission policy, where prospective students are evaluated solely on their accomplishments and potential, not their financial circumstances. However, we must look to the future and expand our commitment to inclusion.
Ongoing:
U.S. students of color and international students have increased from 16.5 percent and 5.3 percent of the student body, respectively, in 2008-09, to 27 percent and 6 percent — a total of nearly 33 percent of the student body — in 2021-22. Students hail from 49 states and 46 countries.
Hamilton faculty members who identify as people of color represented 23.6% of the faculty in 2020-2021, up from 18.8% a decade earlier. Since 2013, every department hiring a faculty member has appointed a trained “diversity advocate” to its search committee.
The percentage of women on Hamilton's faculty has grown over the past 10 years, from 39.4% in 2010 to 50.3% in 2021.
Since 2020, diversity representation among voting members of Hamilton's Board of Trustees has increased from 10% to 19% (includes 1 Latinx, 4 Asian American, 2 Black, and 1 LGBTQIA members). Women comprise one third of the board's voting members.
Additional Work Completed:
- Made financial aid a cornerstone of the Because Hamilton fundraising campaign in order to increase student scholarship endowment and sustain need-blind admission promise
- Removed barriers in the admission application process for all, with a particular focus on low-income students (i.e., remove application fee for first-generation to college students, allow students to self-report standardized testing, reduce application requirements)
- The Admission Office increased active engagement (outreach, travel, bringing to campus, and communication) with Community-Based Organizations (doubled number visited since 2017 and more than 700 active CBOs on communications list)
- Partnered with College Horizons (program dedicated exclusively to support Native American/Indigenous students applying to college) to expand access and representation in our applicant pool
- Implemented new financial literacy tool iGrad for enrolled students
- Increased ease of submission for Student Emergency Aid Society (SEAS) requests with online form added to site in fall 2019
- Adjusted application process to support students applying during pandemic, including waiving required standardized testing
- Hired 16 new tenure-track faculty since 2018; 10 (62.5%) are women and eight (50%) are people of color (Overall, the tenure-line faculty is now 23% diverse and 47.2% women.)
- Increased training for staff, students, and faculty members to guard against implicit bias (in interviewing, programming, teaching, and daily interactions)
- Welcomed Paola Lopéz Fincannon, who joined the Hamilton community as director of the Days-Massolo Center in 2019
- Welcomed Maria Genao-Homs as associate dean of students for diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2018
- Piloted an initiative in the Levitt Center to train student facilitators to develop skills in deep listening and engaging in deliberative conversations so that we may become a Sustained Dialogue institution
- Held a major exhibition at the Wellin Museum featuring the works of internationally recognized Ethiopian artist Elias Sime
- Fully implemented a new requirement offered across the curriculum designed to help students gain “an understanding of structural and institutional hierarchies based on one or more of the social categories of race, class, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, age, and abilities/disabilities”
- Hosted virtual programs in the wake of the pandemic, including a QSU Trans Day of Visibility, Cafecito Fridays, and a “How To” series that offered information on how to access various COVID-19 resources
- Assigned all students a Career Center counselor to ensure that everyone has equal access to the center’s programs and resources, not just those who already have a network of connections
- Established an alumni Equity & Inclusion Committee, with members representing the Multicultural Alumni Relations Committee, Women’s Leadership, and Spectrum (LGBTQ+), to inform strategic planning of the Alumni Council
- Developed the Joan Hinde Stewart Career Development Program to provide four-year career development support to a select group of students with significant financial need
- Diversified alumni panelists/speakers in regional and virtual events and programs
- Streamlined accommodation requests for students and enhanced our technical capabilities to support accommodations
- Developed a LITS task force and website that incorporates the ongoing training and efforts in Library, Information and Technology Services
- Created a cross-divisional team to review and enhance how preferred names are processed in our various data systems and platforms. Gmail and Colleague systems were completed in 2020
Building an inclusive community is a work in progress. We need your help to keep the conversation moving, ideas flowing, and action continuing. Click below to share your thoughts with Sean Bennett, vice president for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
