Action Planning Summaries

CBI participants were presented the following question: What actions will you take in your project or at your institution given what you gained from this CBI? Their responses included the following:

• “This even gave me the opportunity to gain connections and start important conversations--I'd like to plan on extending those conversations and continuing to build our community and support systems. I'd also like to learn more about ERCS.”
• “We'd like to continue the discussion around accessibility and present on the subject to our Dean and colleagues. Then we can move forward with creating accessible materials and universally designed webpages.”
• “I want to coordinate with the disabilities office to ensure that my work spaces and labs are ready for all students. Ensure that our admissions process is accessible and inclusive for all.”
• “ Let us convene all colleagues at the University of Arizona to learn all the elements of successful ERCs and consider an ERC proposal. We will also explore the bios and projects of workshop participants in hopes of getting new ideas and finding potential collaborators, and share these ideas and diversity information with those within our program and school.”
• “Our team will work on digital accessibility, reviewing our website and captioning our videos. We also plan on connecting with people who could work with us on virtual tools for promoting inclusion and mentoring, including finishing the toolkit I am in the process of making.”
• “Our team is trying to incorporate universal design into all of our projects, as well as add videos from this conference onto our website. I want a diversity statement that includes requests for accommodations and to include people from diverse backgrounds into all of our work.”
• “My ERC student leadership council will be creating a training program for new students joining the ERC. Much of the information here will be useful as I help design the diversity and inclusion modules for this training- particularly the aspects of inclusion tip sheets presented. I also recognized challenges of mentoring compared to advising that are prevalent in my ERC.”
• “I am going to use the checklists to help prepare our graduate students and faculty for our summer programs, as well as review our websites and policies for accessibility. I also hope to collaborate with others on how to create a more inclusive environment and use universal design.”
• “I want to implement a mentorship program, follow more inclusive practices, collaborate with other INCLUDES projects, and share our inclusive strategic plan.”
• “We will review our diversity and inclusion policies and practices and create focus groups to discuss and create best practices.”
• “We will identify new resources and collaborate with others on inclusion.”
• “I will give explicit attention to accessibility in communications in various forms and consider how to make existing networks more visible or known to more broad audiences who could benefit from them. I also plan to observe ERC list to determine sites that connect to our INCLUDES work, be intentional about engaging families and communities in our work. Finally, I will look for ways to engage faculty in work to broaden participation, which will in turn develop allies and incorporate universal design into work and general education practices.”
• “I am in a course building phase in my new faculty position, so I will create accessible documents using the tips presented at the CBI. Our program/department is also in a rebuilding/branding phase so this information is timely in improving our program. I’m most excited about collaborations! I will follow-up with specific people/projects as it relates to teacher training opportunities and engineering education work.”
• “I plan on making our project more inclusive, creating more accessible websites/documents, and engaging with student families.”
• “I will share DO-IT’s videos and resources with my colleagues.”
• “I am going to work on developing an alumni network of PhDs to help with career exploration activities.”
• “I will work on student-led diversity initiatives and will use AccessERC to evaluate our new Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for Underserved Populations (PATHS-UP) newsletter and website for accessibility compliances. Also, I will add AccessERC videos to PATHS-UP website and plan to review the mentoring resources mentioned here. This conference also gave me the opportunity to work with Sylvia Mendez on their program and work with Pam McLeod on inclusive resources.”
• “I want to work on making our own materials more accessible and share materials with others at my institution. I also plan to circle back with Scott and Sheryl on a couple of items where my experiences could benefit from additional insights and where they contradict materials presented. I will also work on planning cross-program interactions between students and improving inclusion of students from institutions in our program.”
• “I will examine my research labs for accessibility and add questions about special needs in the application to join my research group. Also, I will ask my students to identify, or draw my attention to anything that can make my class more accessible. Finally, I will try to be more affective/sensitive to others.”