Administrative Leadership

Dr. Gail Christopher and Michael Wenger of Ntianu Garden: The Center for Healing and Nature, hosted an afternoon session on Racial Healing and Implicit Bias at the annual All-School meeting held for all UMSSW faculty and staff.

Christopher is an award-winning social change agent and former Senior Advisor and Vice President of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Wenger is an author and teaches about race relations and institutional racism at The George Washington University.

Recommended reading suggested by the presenters included My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem and Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We see, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt.

The SSW has consistently endeavored to recruit, retain, and promote a diverse faculty body. The junior faculty in the SSW is currently very diverse: 75% of the junior tenure track faculty are faculty of color. Since 2016, 49% of all faculty hired have been faculty of color. The Office of the President has also been very supportive of efforts to recruit and retain faculty of color by providing extra funds for recruitment. Faculty search committees, all of which intentionally have diverse membership appointed by the dean, and who are involved in the entire process of recruiting applicants, reviewing curriculum vitae, selecting applicants for interviews, preparing applicants for visits to the school and with faculty, interviewing and evaluating candidates, and recommending them to the dean for faculty appointments. The SSW’s leading donor was also asked, by the School, to develop a chaired professorship in an effort to retain a past African American tenured faculty—these funds were matched, in part, by the Office of the President.

In 2019, nine new faculty members began at the UMSSW.  It is the largest and most diverse group of new faculty in the School's history.

[Under Development]

Align all aspects of SSW policy, programs, and practices with the goals of advancing social justice and combating racism and all forms of oppression.

1. Increase the faculty report of confidence in teaching diversity related content 

2. Increase diversity of those interviewed

3. Increase diversity of those hired

4. Increase student satisfaction with school inclusion and climate

5. Increase scores on student evaluations re: faculty teaching of diversity content 

6. Increase retention of staff and faculty for greater than five years

7. Number of students participating in DAO, SGA, volunteer activities UMB and SSW Committees

8. Increase diversity of applicant pools

9. Increase number of people trained in Diversity and Inclusion trainings to high satisfaction

10. Decrease the number of student complaints related to diversity and inclusion

11. Increase proportion of positive exit surveys for all departing faculty and staff to assess engagement and inclusion within the SSW and UMB

Career Development Chats for Staff [topics for discussion include Personal & Career Development Plans and Resume and Cover Letter Review]

UMB Learning Management System Trainings [Some Required Each Year of All Employees]

Student Title IX Training offered by UMB

Held by members of the UMSSW's SWAG group on June 26, 2019. The linked file is a summary report of the June 26, 2019 meeting of the University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) Social Work Administrator’s Group (SWAG). The meeting was convened by Dean Barth to further the work of the UMSSW in addressing the recommendations of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.