Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Action Plan
![](https://www.owu.edu/files/pages/merrick-hall-in-the-spring-rs116946-2.jpg)
Announced in June 2020, Ohio Wesleyan's Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Action Plan is intended to create meaningful and immediate change on campus.
These actions, focused on four key areas, involve making positive changes to:
- The structure and policies we use to strengthen equitable and inclusive practices.
- The ways we deliver our core mission of teaching and learning.
- The ways we recruit and retain students and employees.
- The measures we use to ensure that our campus climate affirms clearly and boldly the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
To share suggestions for additional Action Plan updates, please use the DEI Improvement Form.
February 2025
Academic Affairs Division
Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI)
- The fall partnership with CDI positioned OWU as a leader in fostering constructive discourse in a polarized world. Key initiatives:
- A LinkedIn badge for students completing CDI training, integrated into senior programming.
- 24 faculty/staff earned Advanced Dialogue Facilitation Certification and 130 participated in workshops on crisis management/dialogue facilitation/conflict resolution.
- President's Cabinet engaged in national training on campus conflict management.
- Students attended practice dialogue skills sessions with diverse perspectives.
Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation (CTLI)
- Held fall sessions on establishing community agreements and meeting needs effectively of students with disabilities.
- Ran a 2-hour workshop on assessing learning outcomes with transparency and inclusive designs.
International and Off-Campus Programs
- Offered English for Academic Purposes courses (EAP 100: Reading/Writing & EAP 110: Spoken Communication) in Fall 2024 with 10 students enrolled, the highest number since the program started in 2016.
- Organized and hosted Lessons from Abroad (LFA) in November. Bringing together students from seven institutions in Central Ohio, LFA gives students the opportunity to share their study abroad experiences and get advice from professionals about integrating their experiences into their professional and personal goals.
OWU Connection
- The fourth OWU Connection Conference set a record with 1,775 check-ins from students, faculty, staff, family, and the Central Ohio community. It offered over 45 sessions, including panels, workshops, demonstrations, fairs, and guest speakers, including Black Wall Street.
Full-time Faculty Tenure-Track (TT) Hiring
- This is the fifth year of using OWU's innovative cohort/cluster hire model to attract faculty with creative approaches to interdisciplinarity, pedagogical flexibility, and inclusive teaching. To date for 2025-2026:
- Hired two TT faculty: Earth Sciences (Environment & Sustainability) and Social Psychology (Psychology).
- Hiring one TT faculty in Data Analytics (Mathematics & Computer Science).
- Hiring one visiting assistant professor in Chemistry.
Transfer Student Success
- Advisors engaged in professional learning to support transfer student populations via a Transfer Student Advising Forum with a new supplemental resource with transfer advising strategies.
- Lauren Hensley, Director of Holistic Advising, and Provost Karlyn Crowley were invited to present on OWU's transfer initiative success at the Ohio Consortium for Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts gathering, with attendance of academic leaders across 36 Ohio institutions.
- Politics & Government and International Studies were added to the 2+2 partnerships with Columbus State Community College. This brings the total pathways to 22.
- A teach-out partnership was created with Wittenberg University for Music and Spanish, as they have eliminated those majors.
Retention Initiatives
- The Sagan Academic Resource Center continues to see growth in several areas of support. In Fall 2024:
- 252 students were registered with the Accessibility Services Office.
- The University Testing Center had the busiest semester on record with 1,264 exams proctored.
- Bishop ACCESS enrolled 59 students. We supported 59 students in Fall 2023, and 52 students in Spring 2024. This shows slight growth over the previous year (55 in Fall 2022, 51 in Spring 2023), and significant growth over the 2021-2022 year (39 students for both semesters). The Fall 2024 Bishop ACCESS cohort had an average term GPA of 2.779.
- Two Academic Skills Coaches (1 peer; 1 professional) in the Academic Skills Center met with the largest number of unique students recorded since the revitalization of the Center in Fall 2021 (43 unique students for 118 attended appointments).
- The Academic Success and Achievement Pathways (ASAP) program is expanding in Spring 2025 to provide continued support for students who remain on Academic Warning following the successful completion of ASAP 2. We now offer 3 ASAP programs aimed at keeping students on track to graduation.
Committee on Advising and Academic Success (CASA)
Initially convened in Fall 2023 as part of the Moving the Needle Student Success Campus-wide Initiative:
- Moving the Needle Guides: One-on-one student support for those historically retained at a lower rate.
- Peer Advising pilot: Students can meet with peer advisors for academic and registration support.
- Spring schedule review: For students on warning/notice (GPA < 2.0) to ensure appropriate course selection.
Grants received since Fall 2024
- Siemer Family Foundation, $20,000 to support the Bishop Scholars tutoring program at Columbus Bilingual Academy North.
- Ohio Department of Higher Education Choose Ohio First grant, $1.2 million to fund STEM scholarships with an emphasis on students from underrepresented groups.
Libraries
- Purchased a small collection of books, posters, and ephemera related to Melvin VanPeebles from a film studies professor and collector to support the VanPeebles Symposium and future research.
- Via its membership in OhioLINK, the OWU LIbraries will be able to provide access to a new resource, Sage Skills: Student Success and Business, beginning January 1, 2024. Composed of modular content, Sage Skills provides resources and training on foundational topics like career readiness, information literacy, critical thinking, academic readiness, diversity, bias, impacting change and more to help students foster skills that they will need for success in their academic careers and beyond. This content will be useful to several departments and offices supporting DEI efforts.
- The Director of Libraries participated in a First Gen panel discussion as part of an event for First Gen Week in Fall 2024.
Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- The DEI Campus Book Club is currently reading:
- Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
- The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
- Continued to coordinate Bishops of Color and Mosaic – faculty and staff affinity groups – which meet over the semester.
- Worked with the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS) to run the second year of our Campus Climate Assessment centering DEI that had its first iteration in January 2024.
- Participating in ongoing planning for the upcoming second Melvin Van Peebles Symposium, which will take place in March 2025.
- Constructive Dialogue Institute: Providing all-campus faculty, staff, and student training and certification programs (in-person, off-site, virtual) on civil discourse.
- Leading the OWU/Claflin University Advisory Boards.
- Working through Bishop Elevate with First-Generation College Students to:
- Employ four Bishop Elevate interns in the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer for Academic Year 2024-2025.
- Assisting with programming initiatives, collaborations, and support:
- Annual MLK Celebration with Delaware Community MLK Planning Committee.
- Black Excellence in Research Series during Black History Month
- For The Culture: Soul Train Event
- Women's Excellence in Research Series during Women's History Month
- Support and attendance at Office of Multicultural Student events.
- Support and attendance at First-Gen/Bishop Elevate events.
- Passive Programming in Merrick Hall for Identity Months
- Publications and Presentations:
- Chisebe, D., Timpson, J., Dailey, P., and Kennard, A. (2025) Empowering Historically Excluded Students Through the OWU Summer Bridge Program. Another World is Possible: A Global Racial and Social Justice Summit Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio
Enrollment Division
- September 2024: Organized the First Gen Information Session and Global Majority Block Party in collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Bishop Elevate Office. This event aimed to support and introduce prospective First Gen and multicultural students to Ohio Wesleyan, while also showing continued support for current BIPOC students. The event, held in partnership with the Admission Office, welcomed 71 attendees (35 prospective students and guests).
- September-December 2024: Coordinated 17 small group visits from First Gen, multicultural, and community partner schools. Fourteen of these groups were transported via the OWU Minibus, driven by OWU admission staff members Tenique Dennis and Jamal David. Approximately 212 students and 32 counselors participated in these visits.
- November 2024: A landmark partnership and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with "I Know I Can" (IKIC), Ohio's largest community-based access organization serving Columbus, Reynoldsburg, Whitehall, and Southwestern City Schools.
- November 2024: Partnered with IKIC's Success Pathways department to host an academic success session for current OWU students who are IKIC graduates. The session covered ongoing academic, financial, and programmatic support available through IKIC. IKIC provided food, backpacks with school supplies, laptops (4), and gift cards (4).
- November 2024: Collaborated with IKIC to process funding and support for current OWU students in need of financial assistance for living on campus during the Thanksgiving and winter breaks. Additionally, funding was secured for a student to pay a $1,000 balance after an academic/financial aid appeal, enabling their return in Spring 2025.
Finance and Administration Division/Human Resources Office
- Members of the Finance and Administration (F&A) team have begun meeting with team members in other divisions to help employees maximize support services provided by the F&A Division.
- Members of the F&A team continue to serve on the DEI Committee, the OWU Staff Council, and the employee insurance committees to help enhance the employee experience.
- Human Resources (HR) automated the student employment process to ensure consistent, open job information and opportunity access for all students.
- HR continues to promote the StrengthsFinder assessment as a tool for success for new hires and supervisors. HR partnered with the OWU Connection Team for easier access to the tool on OWU's website.
- HR partnered with the Accessibility Services Office as an escalation resource to resolve student and staff issues.
- Dr. Ashley Kennard, OWU Journalism and Communication Assistant Professor, facilitated an all-employee professional development session titled: "Thriving Through Change and Conflict: Strategies for Success" (Part II). This HR-sponsored session was well-received by employees and follows Part I offered in August 2024.
Student Engagement and Success Division
The Office of Multicultural Student Affairs
Bishop Elevate
- Hosted the 2nd First-Gen OWU Reception on move-in day with 80+ students and families in attendance.
- Partnered with Career Connection to host a "Navigating the Career and Grad School Fair" Lunch & Learn to help prepare first-generation students for the Sept. 19 fair.
- Led a First-Gen StrengthsFinder workshop to introduce first-gen students to the Strengths Assessment in advance of OWU's Strengths Coaching Days.
- Co-hosted a "We Belong" First-Gen OWU Panel to kick off First-Gen OWU Celebration week, featuring 9 OWU first-gen faculty and staff members.
- Hosted 5 events during FIrst-Gen OWU Celebration Week (Nov. 4-8.)
Chaplain's Office
- Participated in all Constructive Dialogue Institute Trainings.
- Funded the Campus Winter Food Pantry in collaboration with Residential Life.
- Taught the "Leaders in Letters" workshop on LGBTQ+ Inclusion in collaboration with Fraternity and Sorority Life.
- Hosted a Queer Christian Discussion group in collaboration with Counseling Services.
- Supported Diwali and Navratri celebrations for Hindu students.
- Facilitated the DEI Book Club in the fall semester and organized it for spring.
- Member of the OWU/Claflin Action Team.
- Co-hosted the annual MLK Jr. Celebration.
Community Service Learning
- Redesigned and reinstituted the Bishop Scholars program:
- Focuses on underserved K-12 student populations.
- Serves Conger Elementary School, Columbus Bilingual Academy North, and Devonshire Alternative Elementary School.
- Receives funding from the Siemer Foundation, individual donors, and the OWU Connection.
- Currently in the early stages of implementing a new program designed to improve the capacity of OWU students (through formal TESOL instruction) to tutor and mentor Early English Language Learners in the Delaware City Schools. The program will be held at the nearby Woodward Elementary School and led by OWU students who learned English as an additional language.
- Serve as a member of President vandenBerg's DEI Advisory Committee
- Continued partnership with the Second Ward's Unity Community Center, serving the Center as well as supporting the Center's community outreach
- Participated in Constructive Dialogue/Campus Crisis Training
- Attended GLCA Engaging Multilingual, Culturally Diverse Students workshop
Counseling Services
- Signed a memorandum of understanding with HelpLine SARN to offer a direct referral line to trauma-informed support, resources, and education.
- Facilitated clinical group for students experiencing executive functioning challenges.
- Assisted first-year students in developing a stress management plan in CNX 100.
- Provided an overview of counseling services and how to access them to ASAP course participants.
- Offered post-election empowerment plans and guided space for relaxation strategies.
Public Safety
- Launched a new "Community Event Trailer" program and completed multiple pop-up events with a positive response from students, faculty, and staff.
- Improved the parking permit process for individuals with temporary accessibility needs who apply through the Athletic Trainers Department or the Accessibility Services Office.
- All Public Safety personnel have completed the CDI fundamentals training. New employees are required to complete the course within their first year of employment. The Director and Assistant Directors have completed the advanced training courses.
- Assistant Director Christopher Mickens serves on the DEI Council and the President's DEI Advisory Committee.
Student Involvement Office
- Hosted the Student Involvement Fair on Aug. 29 with more than 70 student organizations including National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) organizations.
- Hosted NPHC 101 on Sept. 18 in collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and some NPHC organizations.
- Had a Fraternity and Sorority Life DEI Workshop with LaShanda C. Coleman from Ohio State to discuss her experience in a NPHC organization and how FSL is portrayed in the media.
- Had a Fraternity and Sorority Life DEI Workshop with Chaplain Chad Johns to discuss LGBTQ+ inclusivity, including practical ways the FSL community can promote positive relationships and behaviors.
- Events planned by cultural and identity-based organizations
- Black Student Union | S'mores Night
- Black Student Union | Fall Bash
- Cru |Cane's with Cru
- Cru | Cru Pickleball & S'mores
- Cru | Cru Fall Retreat
- Hindu Students Council Diwali : The Festival of Lights
- Horizons | Culture Fest '24
- Horizons | Taste of Home Outing
- OWU Cercle Français | Pétanque and Pâtisseries
- OWU Cercle Français | Movie Night - Bienvenue Chez les Ch'Tis
- OWU Cercle Français | Fall Fashion in France
- Rafiki Wa Afrika | Caribbean Party
- Rafiki Wa Afrika | Jollof Wars
- Rafiki Wa Afrika | Calabash
- Sisters United | Handmade Holiday: Holiday Cards Creations
- VIVA | Boricua Fest
- Women in Entrepreneurship | Speaker Series: "Global Insights, Local Impact" with Nathan Minns
- Women In Science | WiNS Presents- Spooky Microbes with Dr. Lewin
- Women In Science | A Planting Party with Purpose
Student Integrity and Community Standards
- Completed, with Counseling Services, an MOU with HelpLine SARN to offer a direct referral line to trauma-informed support, resources, and education.
- Completed Constructive Dialogue Institute Advanced Dialogue Facilitation Certification and Responding to Campus Crises workshop.
- Participated in Trauma-Informed Resolution Process training.
The Bishop Way
- Aug. 28: Hosted a National Overdose Awareness Day on campus with Delaware Public Health to educate students on campus and community resources and harm reduction. The program concluded with a showing of "Beautiful Boy" at the Strand.
- Sept. 30: Celebrated International Recovery Day.
- Oct. 1: Hosted a Sexual Respect Program, Wanna Make Out? A Conversation About Consent, with Dr. Lori Bednarchik. The focus throughout the program is promoting safe, fun, positive, and consensual sexual activity, and providing participants with specific and practical skills to effectively communicate to, and with, their partner about sex and consent.
- Oct. 1-31: Had education and awareness programming, including hosting a variety of community resources on campus, educational tabling sessions, and Take Back the Night as programs for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Programming spanned support resources and education for a variety of identities.
University Advancement Division
- Hosted WOW (Women of Ohio Wesleyan) Weekend in November. Through programming and networking, women learn and share with each other, gain fresh perspectives, and build new or stronger friendships. Vidya Nagarajan, director of product management at Google, was our keynote speaker this year.