TerrapinSTRONG Annual Report… | Office of Diversity and Inclusion (2024)

Colleges and schools continue to build upon their TerrapinSTRONG initiatives for new undergraduate students. Long-term planning has become more realistic as initiatives begin to take shape that meet the needs of these communities.

Highlights include:

• Embedded Learning: The College of Behavioral & Social Sciences (BSOS) has integrated TerrapinSTRONG into the learning outcomes for each of their academic departments to ensure the TerrapinSTRONG messages are explicit within each major. The College of Arts & Humanities (ARHU) continues to introduce intentional action planning during orientation and then has embedded conversations about their reflection, “The Art of Becoming TerrapinSTRONG,” in the first advising appointment with every student.
  The College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences has integrated TerrapinSTRONG into introductory courses and is now working toward offering intergroup dialogue courses that would expand the academic DEI offerings within the college.

• Storytelling: Letters & Sciences has developed a pilot program for their UNIV100 courses utilizing the empathy tool Narrative 4. They are hosting a live team training to ensure instructors feel prepared and will roll out the initiative in Fall 2024.

• Strong Connections: Many units have increased the opportunities for students to meet socially and connect both interpersonally and with the institution. Letters & Sciences offered a new “STRONG Connections program" throughout FY24 by collaborating with a different student organization or campus resource each week. The School of Public Policy has charged themselves to offer at least one community building event open to faculty, staff AND students each semester, in addition to other engagements that might target a particular group.

This year, TerrapinSTRONG held a Graduate Student Welcome event with over 800 new graduate student attendees and more than 40 departments tabling at the resource fair and/or offering educational workshops. Grad Welcome was a low-cost pilot to determine the interest and need for in-person orientation opportunities for graduate students.

We conducted a feedback survey of participants and received 63 responses, as well as the campus partners and received 15 responses.

Educational Workshops

Those who attended educational workshops found them worthwhile (4.4 average on a 5-point Likert scale where 5 is extremely worth my time), learned something new (3.9 average out of 5) and would recommend them to other graduate students (4.3 out of 5). All but one respondent indicated having them the week before classes started was the perfect time (only one respondent wished the workshops were during the semester.) The highest-rated workshops were related to library resources for research, career planning, and goal-setting. The only suggestions for improvement to the workshops was that attendees wished they had been staggered so that they could have attended more than one workshop.

Resource Fair

Campus partners were overwhelmingly supportive of the event. Fifteen faculty, staff and graduate student volunteers from across campus assisted in managing the event, in addition to those who facilitated workshops and tabled at the resource fair. Fifty-seven campus departments and student groups were represented. Feedback respondents found it very worthwhile (4.4 out of 5) and all but two found it perfectly timed the week before classes. Qualitative responses indicated that campus partners had many meaningful interactions with graduate students ("We connected with more students than expected.") and were able to answer many questions. Many campus partners also reached out to TerrapinSTRONG later in FY24 to thank TerrapinSTRONG for the opportunity to get rare facetime with graduate students, to offer their involvement in another graduate welcome event for FY25 and/or to ensure they scheduled their own orientations around any welcome events so that their students could take full advantage of this offering.

We noted a few areas for improvement for future events. The space was crowded and it could be difficult to hear and maneuver during the event. We also had difficulty with the distribution of food, resulting in long lines and excess leftovers that would have been eaten with better management and larger plates.

Formal Program

The event concluded with brief speeches by campus leaders: President Pines, Vice President Dodge, AVP McShay, Dean Roth and Graduate Student Government President Autumn Perkey. Speakers were well-received, and feedback was positive. However, many attendees left prior to the formal welcome. Only three respondents indicated they wished there were fewer speakers, but this was also an area for consideration in future events. We received suggestions to offer the formal program prior to the resource fair or in the middle of the fair to reach more students.

Looking Ahead

Despite the fact that they did not have the capacity to plan and execute the New Graduate Student Welcome, the Graduate School and Student Affairs were active participants at the event, offering workshops, resource tables and speaking at the formal welcome. At the conclusion of the event, the Graduate School and Student Affairs decided they would resume control of graduate student welcome activities, so TerrapinSTRONG will not have the opportunity to apply this feedback to future iterations of the event. TerrapinSTRONG provided all resources and planning documents to the Graduate School and Student Affairs, as well as offering to assist in future events. At this time the Graduate School and Student Affairs have decided to return to not offering a welcome event of any kind for incoming graduate students prior to the semester. STAMP will continue its Graduate Student Life Kickoff event in September, and the Graduate School is continuing their ELMS-Canvas asynchronous orientation as they have for several years. The Office of Graduate Diversity & Inclusion will also continue their resource fair and open house.

FY24 was the first opportunity for TerrapinSTRONG to meet with the faculty and staff members who oversee graduate programs campuswide. Graduate program directors now have access to a resource with a recommended onboarding process for new graduate students, suggested activities and information to share, and the offer of partnership or consultation with TerrapinSTRONG to enhance their onboarding experience.

All colleges and schools should have TerrapinSTRONG onboarding initiatives for the graduate students for Fall 2024. We have received more requests to participate in graduate student orientations than in past years and will present at least eight times the week before the semester starts. Mentorship programs have cropped up as a next phase for some units, including the School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning (ARCH) graduate student peer-to-peer mentorship program beginning this fall and the College of Arts & Humanities's (ARHU) current work on a mentorship program for their international students.

In 2022-2023, units across campus focused on assessment and development, so in FY24 they implemented many new initiatives to support employees. Units are also incorporating more foundational DEI learning into faculty and staff trainings, recognizing that a lot of what works for students is also important for staff. The following highlights only include new initiatives and is in no way inclusive of the great work happening in every unit.

• All Hands on Deck: The Office of Undergraduate Studies (UGST) has appointed staff from across the college to serve as "navigators" for new employees for six months to a year after joining. They have also created a task force to improve professional development opportunities that would assist new employees with their transition.

• Well-being: The School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation (ARCH) developed a weekly newsletter to promote self-care among employees, as well as a number of workshops and events to support employee well-being. UGST is working on a website called "Growth" to support employee well-being.

• Intentional First Day: Many units, including the Division of Administration, Division of IT, ARHU and UGST, implemented welcome resource packets, welcome letters from leadership, outlines of onboarding, and training for managers to ensure that employees feel supported and prepared from day one.

• Identity Exploration: Many departments have brought variations on the classic identity wheel activity to their professional team. (ARHU, Division of Student Affairs)

• Leadership Connection: Several units have implemented conversation series and drop-in opportunities to engage more closely with deans, directors and VPs. (ARHU, Division of Research)

First three questions asked pre- and post-completion of TerrapinSTRONG. All averages increased from pre- to post-test.

• Less than 3% of undergraduate students had a net negative change in response. 60% saw net positive change.
• Less than 2% of faculty had a net negative change in response. 64% saw net positive change.
• Less than 5% of graduate students had a net negative change in response. 55% saw net positive change.
• Less than 4% of staff had a net negative change in response. 69% saw net positive change.

The vast majority of those who saw no net change from pre- to post-test began with 5s in the pre-test and maintained them at post-test

Participants completing the TerrapinSTRONG Action Plan select actions they intend to take to further their learning and engagement. The top Community action for all four groups was to attend the Farmers' Market on campus. Faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students also selected the Farmers' Market as their top choice in FY23. Faculty, undergraduate students, and graduate students had the same top interests as in FY23. Staff interests shifted, with Mental Health First Aid and the Farmers' Market beating out the Campus Pantry and the African American History Tour for the top spot in FY 24. In the Community and Inclusion categories, top choices were:

In FY25 action plans have seen a number of changes and enhancements in an effort to broaden engagement with other initiatives on campus and keep actions relevant and impactful. To see all current action plans, visit the Take Action page on the TerrapinSTRONG website.