July 7, 2022 • 26 mins
Dr. Havidán Rodríguez has a long and distinguished career in higher education and has been guiding SUNY at Albany (UAlbany) since 2017, accelerating UAlbany's success toward reaching its vision to be the nation's leading diverse public research university. However, Dr. Rodríguez's impact extends beyond UAlbany. In this episode of the MSCHE Pillars of Change Podcast, Dr. Jim Sunser, President of SUNY Genesee Community College and member of the MSCHE Executive committee, speaks with fellow MSCHE Executive Committee member Dr. Rodríguez about his leadership of SUNY's Hispanic Leadership Institute, which was created to support, retain, and foster the success of emerging Hispanic and Latinx leaders across the State University of New York (SUNY), the largest comprehensive university system in the United States.
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Episode Transcript
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Dr. Jim Sunser (00:13):
Welcome to the Pillars of Change podcast
presented by Middle StatesCommission on Higher Education.
I'm Dr.
Jim Sunser the president of SUNYGenesee Community College and a
member of the MSCHE ExecutiveCommittee.
I'd like to thank you forjoining me for the commission's
continuing series of podcastsfocusing on topics of diversity,
(00:37):
equity and inclusion.
The Middle States Commission onHigher Education holds an
important voice and space withinthe higher ed community.
In this podcast seriesspotlights, highly effective
institutional practices thathave made a difference in the
lives of our students throughdiversity, equity, and inclusion
initiatives.
(00:58):
It gives me great pleasure towelcome Dr.
Havidan Rodriguez, the presidentof the University at Albany and
a fellow MSCHE ExecutiveCommittee member.
Dr.
Rodriguez has a long anddistinguished career in higher
education and has been guidingUAlbany since 2017.
As a national leader in the areaof diversity and inclusion in
(01:20):
higher education, He's currentlyaccelerating UAlbany's success
towards reaching its vision tobe the nation's leading diverse
public research university.
But Dr.
Rodriguez' impact extends beyondUAlbany.
In addition to overseeing theimplementation of UAlbany's
institutional commitment to DEI,he also leads SUNY's Hispanic
(01:43):
Leadership Institute, which wascreated to support, retain and
foster the success of emergingHispanics and Latinx leaders
across the SUNY system.
For those who've had theopportunity to join MSCHE at our
virtual 2021 conference, youheard Dr.
Rodriguez and others in the SUNYsystem on the efforts to
(02:07):
transform campus culturesthrough a range of initiatives
aimed at faculty and staffdiversity and student success.
Welcome, Dr.
Rodriguez.
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (02:18):
Thank you very much, Jim.
It's, uh, it's a pleasure to bewith you today, uh, to address
this critical and importantissue of diversity, equity and
inclusion.
So thank you for the invitationand thanks to the Middle States,
uh, Commission, uh, fororganizing these critically
important events.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Dr. Jim Sunser (02:35):
Well, thank you for joining us.
We appreciate having time withyou, you know, before we talk
about your efforts at UAlbanyand SUNY, I wanted to ask you if
you talk a little bit about yourperspective on how our
conversations about diversity,equity, and inclusion have
shifted since the events of thesummer of 2020 from the murder
of George Floyd, to the massivedemonstrations that followed.
(02:56):
Have those events changed howwe're talking about addressing
issues around DEI on ourcampuses?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (03:05):
You know, there, there are many dimensions
, uh, to this question, right?
But I would say that thatoverall, uh, we're seeing an
increased, uh, engagement andparticipation in DEI
conversations and moreimportantly, uh, a call to
action to take action aroundissues of equity, inclusion, and
(03:26):
social, uh, and racial justice.
If you will.
You know, if we look atinstitutions of higher education
across the country, I think thatin most of the overwhelming
majority, uh, of institutionsyou'll find that there is at
least in words, a strongcommitment, uh, to diversity,
equity, and inclusion.
But the question is, how do youtake those words?
How do you take that philosophyand convert them into action,
(03:49):
right, into strategicinitiatives with real and
concrete outcomes and impacts.
And I think that as aconsequence of, uh, since, uh,
2020, we've seen an increase, acall for action to really
transform the way we asinstitutions of higher education
are addressing these criticalissues and really trying to, uh,
(04:11):
better understand the importanceof intersectionality, if you
will.
Right.
Uh, for example, uh, uh, a fewmonths ago I was in a Hispanic
heritage month, uh, eventfocusing on the experiences of
the Afro Latinx, uh, studentsand communities, right?
AF uh, Latinos, Latinx, uh,groups are very, very diverse as
(04:33):
you know of, but when you addthe intersection of race,
gender, sexual preference, thenit becomes a much more engaging,
uh, and much more complexconversation.
So these are the kinds ofconversations we want to
encourage.
These are the types ofconversations we're seeing more
and more of and bringingdifferent perspectives and
(04:53):
diverse perspectives.
For example, here at, um, youAlbany, not too long ago, we
brought, uh, Anthony Ray Hinton,uh, to campus.
As you know, he's the subject ofthe film, uh, Just Mercy.
And he spent three decades ondeath row for a crime he did not
commit.
So Mr.
Hinton addressed the subject ofcriminal justice reform.
(05:14):
And as we know, communities ofcolor are also, uh,
disproportionately impacted byour criminal justice system.
So understanding those issuesand having a better, uh,
perspective about how we work,deal, respond and develop
concrete initiatives, uh, toreally focus on these critical
issues is, is criticallyimportant.
(05:35):
So what I've seen, what we'veseen, I think, and not only ity,
but across the state and acrossthe country are more student led
conversations, uh, focused onactions, whether they would be
student led vigils this pastspring in response to bias,
discrimination, and violenceperpetrated against the Asian
American and Pacific Islandercommunity.
(05:57):
You know, the invasion ofUkraine.
These are all calls to action.
And, and that is very, veryimportant.
And of course, as you know, the,uh, you know, the, when we focus
on the issues of our social andracial justice, this was also,
uh, complicated by the, youknow, our focus on not only the
reckoning on race, but that this, uh, sort of, uh, coincided
(06:21):
with the global pandemic andwhere we saw that, uh, systemic
racism played a major, majorissue in how, uh, COVID impacted
, uh, communities of color.
Actually, the university, uh, atAlbany was asked by the New York
State, uh, to lead a study onthe disproportionate impacts of
COVID-19 on communities ofcolor.
(06:44):
And, and, and what we saw right,as, as we were expecting is that
communities of color not onlyhad higher positivity rates, uh,
they had higher, uh,hospitalization rates, higher
mortality rates.
And the question is why?
And so as a institution here, wefocused on developing an
Institute for social and healthequity, where we have
(07:06):
interdisciplinary researchersfocusing on these critical
issues.
So I think, yes, uh, we've seensome important change.
Uh, COVID-19.
Uh, the reckoning on race haschanged us quite dramatically.
It's been very emotional, hasbeen very painful and very
challenging, but we've alsoprovided, it has also provided
(07:28):
extraordinary opportunities, uh,to look at what are the issues,
what are the challenges and thechallenge before us is how do we
cease the momentum to make surethat we make a difference?
Dr. Jim Sunser (07:42):
Thank you.
Very interesting.
So we know higher educationplays an important role in
framing the conversation aboutDEI.
Can you tell me what roles doyou think higher education plays
in enhancing and altering theconversation around diversity,
equity and inclusion nationally,and also on our individual
(08:03):
campuses and what are we doingwithin SUNY systems that may be
a model for others to emulate inthat area?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (08:10):
So when we look at the role of higher
education in, in this regard,you know, institutions play a
diversity of very, veryimportant roles to help us think
, uh, about the implications ofdiversity, equity and inclusion
and our roles, uh, within thatparadigm.
But I think our greatestcontributions stem from three
(08:31):
main assets.
Uh, so let me name the three foryou.
First, we are, uh, continuouslyeducating generations of
students to become culturallycompetent, globally engaged
students.
So generation upon generationthat graduate from institutions
of higher education, youmultiply UAlbany by SUNY Genesee
(08:53):
by thousands of institutions ofhigher education across the
country.
We really can havetransformative effects by, uh,
educating engaged globalcitizens.
Second is the wealth, uh, ofexpertise, research,
scholarship, creative works andinnovation that are produced by
our faculty, right?
(09:14):
Uh, in order to betterunderstand the issues that
impact, uh, institutions ofeducation, but our communities
throughout the country, in thespace of diversity, equity, and
inclusion, and the third factor,uh, uh, that colleges and
universities are anchorinstitutions for our
communities.
And so we have the power toconvene, to support and
(09:36):
influence our communities, uh,far beyond the walls of our
campus.
Actually, just this morning, Iwas at an event with the Capital
District Latinos, uh, here inthe Capital region, and the
state of New York invested orprovided a$1 million grant, uh,
for the renovation of the, uh,of the, uh, uh, cultural
empowerment and communityengagement center for Capital
(09:59):
District Latinos.
And as we were there, uh, folksfrom CDL(Capital District
Latinos) were talking to meabout the role that some of our
faculty staff and students atthe university at Albany have
played, uh, with CDL.
So clearly we have a greatresponsibility and an
opportunity to work, uh, withour community.
(10:21):
So students, faculty, staff, andthe work that they develop as
well, uh, as our work with, withthe, with our communities, it
turns out it to be really amoral responsibility or moral
imperative, if you will, tocontinue to engage in these
types of, of conversations.
(10:41):
And, you know, you, youmentioned SUNY, uh, and as you
know, for decades, SUNY has beena great, uh, uh, champion of
diversity equity and inclusion.
Let me just mention a, a fewexamples, uh, for the audience,
uh, for example, our EOP program(Educational Opportunity
Program) was founded more than50 years ago, uh, within the
(11:03):
SUNY system.
And this is for, uh, firstgeneration students, many of
them from underrepresented, lowincome, uh, communities, and
this program has really hadtransformational power.
Uh, EOP students have higherpersistence and graduation rates
, uh, at significantly higherrates than the general student,
uh, population.
Another great example ofsystemwide programs is PRODiG,
(11:27):
which started about three yearsago.
And PRODiG stands for promotingrecruitment opportunity,
diversity inclusion, and growth,a very long name, but at the end
of the day, uh, the goal ofPRODiG is to hire, uh, faculty
of color and women in STEMfields across, uh, the entire,
uh, SUNY, uh, system and theinstitutions that compose, uh
(11:49):
SUNY.
And also, uh, I, I believe abouta couple of years ago, uh, SUNY
set forth a robust DEI actionplan that has 25 specific
recommendations, right?
And I think that many of theSUNY institutions, and certainly
, uh, UAlbany is activelyengaged in these, uh, specific
recommendations to enhancediversity, equity and inclusion
(12:11):
at the University at Albany.
So we have made, uh, DEI one ofour core, uh, priorities of our
strategic plan.
We are one of the most diverseresearch institutions, uh, in
the country.
And so as we continue to workwith, uh, SUNY and the work that
is putting forward, uh, we canhave great accomplishments as an
(12:32):
institution of, uh, highereducation.
Just think about the power of apublic system, uh, such as SUNY
with 64, uh, university campusesdistributed throughout the state
of New York.
We have great possibilities andopportunities to become a
national leader and a model for,uh, diversity, equity and
(12:52):
inclusion across the nation.
Dr. Jim Sunser (12:56):
Thank you.
That's very, very exciting.
Now, I also know that you're theexecutive director of the
Hispanic Leadership Institute,and I'm curious, uh, how are you
approaching DEI through the lensof fostering the success of
Hispanic and Latinx leaders?
Now, ultimately your developmentof rising stars will have an
(13:16):
impact on leadership at SUNY.
Why is it important that we lookat the role of the college or
university president playing indiversity inclusion, both on the
campus and the surroundingcommunities, including with
employer partners.
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (13:32):
Yeah.
And that's a critically, uh,important question.
And that's another element,right.
Of the, uh, in addition to, uh,EOP prodigy and others that I
mentioned at the SUNY level.
This is another systemwide, uh,initiative with a great focus on
diversity, equity and inclusion,and, uh, the Hispanic leadership
Institute, or HLI, uh, wasbrought forth we're in our fifth
(13:56):
year, we're gonna be celebratingactually our fifth anniversary
with a conference, uh, inSeptember.
And this is a SUNY wideinitiative funded by the state
legislature, uh, with thesupport of New York State,
right?
So it's a strong commitment, notonly of SUNY, but, uh, of the
State as well, to continue tofoster diversity, equity and
(14:17):
inclusion in this, uh, focus onHispanic or Latinx leaders
across, uh, the SUNY system.
For me, I've been leading theprogram for three years.
It's been a great pleasure,great honor, uh, to do so.
Jim, as you know, we, aspresidents of institutions of
higher education have verylittle time to do anything but
our work, uh, a as presidents inleading our institutions, but
(14:38):
leading the Hispanic LeadershipInstitute, uh, Institute, uh,
has been important for mebecause it's a form of first of
all, giving back of reallymaking sure that we are
providing the necessaryprofessional development and
mentoring, uh, to emergingHispanic leaders, uh, within
SUNY that hopefully, you know,they will become the next
(14:59):
department chairs, deans,associate provost, provost,
presidents, uh, within SUNY, uh,institutions.
So it's key that we continue todevelop these types of programs
that allow us to develop thetalent that we have across our
campuses, but in order to do so,uh, intentionality must be a key
(15:20):
fact, right?
We must be intentional in termsof the work that we do.
And as campus presidents, wehave the ability and the
opportunity, uh, to set the toneat our institutions or across
SUNY.
We set the table.
We direct or redirect, uh,resources, operations,
programmatic, uh, priorities.
(15:41):
We ensure that as presidentswith the support of our faculty,
our staff, and our leadershipteam, that diversity equity and
inclusion really becomes afabric of our institution, uh,
of our institutions.
And so I think we play acritical role in serving as the
Executive Director of theHispanic Leadership Institute,
(16:02):
uh, is also a way that I cangive back and serve not only you
all but in my institution andthe state as well.
You know, we, we talked about,uh, or you asked about, you
know, the, the role of largenumber of regional and national
organizations and how we engagewith these organizations.
Well, you know, one clearexample is why you and I are
(16:23):
here today.
Uh, Jim, uh, because of ourinvolvement, uh, and engagement
with the Middle States, uh,Commission.
So this is a great example ofhow external organizations to
our institutions, uh, worktogether, uh, to promote
diversity, equity and inclusion,and the role that college
presidents have in ensuring thatwe are successful, uh, in these,
(16:46):
these endeavors, right.
You know, we continue at UAlbany, uh, to also work, uh, with, uh
, employer partners.
I'm constantly meeting withexecutives from regional, uh,
industry partners here in theCapital region and beyond.
They are keenly focused, as youknow, on diversifying their
workforce.
And, you know, at UAlbany, as Isaid before, uh, 40% of our
(17:08):
students are students of color.
So we, uh, are very diverseinstitution, and we graduate
students of color every singleyear upon the thousands.
Uh, and that is a great interest, uh, to, uh, these industry
partners, because this allows usto contribute to the
diversification of our, uh, uh,industries, organizations, and
(17:29):
community partners, which isgreatly needed.
Dr. Jim Sunser (17:33):
Thank you.
I have, I have such greatrespect for your expertise in
this area.
And, and based on thatunderstanding of your expertise,
I'm curious as to, through yourown lens, what you think are the
greatest opportunities andchallenges that are in front of
us, as far as advancingdiversity equity, inclusion
(17:56):
efforts that are on ourcampuses?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (17:59):
You know, in terms of opportunities and
challenges that, you know, when,when you, you, you have to think
about in, in my view, uh, in, inthe context of diversity, equity
and inclusion as this being, youknow, the work of, of if you
will a team sport, right?
And that is the opportunitybecause it allows you to bring
people, uh, from different areasof the university, not only the
(18:20):
president, not only the chiefdiversity officer, not only the
provost, but the deans,department chairs, and faculty
and staff and students.
And so if you approach it as ateam sport, that's a great
opportunity.
It's also a great challengebecause you got to bring all
these people, uh, together tothink about the ways that we can
work to enhance diversity,equity and inclusion, uh, in our
(18:41):
campuses.
So this has to be a collectiveeffort.
And so let me give you anexample.
Our alumni association here atUAlbany has established a
diversity, equity and inclusionand belonging committee to make
sure that the work of DEI iswoven through, uh, all the, all,
all the initiatives, uh, and ourwork that the alumni association
(19:05):
does.
Right?
And so in order for this tohappen at the institutional
level, you need to continue toexpand the discussions, and you
do this by creating spaces, uh,for conversations and discourse
that reflect, uh, the goals andthe mission and the vision of
the institution, focusing notonly on race and ethnicity, but
(19:25):
on gender identities, sexualorientation, first generation
status, uh, and beyond.
And so this goes into the broadissue of social and racial
justice.
And so bringing in the community, uh, to talk about these issues
is critically important.
And going back to the firstquestion that you asked, some of
(19:45):
the things that have changed,you know, as a consequence of
the social reckoning on race andin COVID as well here at UAlbany
over the past two years, overtwo years ago, I should say we
established, for example, aracial justice committee.
And we also establish a biasedincidence, uh, response, uh,
protocol.
The racial justice committeeallows us and the community to
(20:06):
explore anti-racism that hastargeted black and brown, Asian,
a, uh, Asian American, PacificIslander, uh, and the Latinx
community, right?
Focusing on the expertise thatour faculty and our staff bring
together.
So that's one element.
The other element, the biasincidence response team, uh,
allows, uh, anybody on ourcampus community to bring issues
(20:31):
of, uh, allegations of bias ordiscrimination to this committee
so that we can, uh, review anddetermine what the issues were
and try to determine what the,uh, what, what the intervention
and the outcomes are going tobe.
And we also established, uh, webegan about three years or ago
or so to establish climatecommittees that are embedded in
(20:52):
all the schools and colleges andthe different divisions that
allow the schools and collegesand divisions to look more in
depth at the DEI issues thatconfront their particular units.
So when you pull all thistogether and you think about a
team sport, this is aboutcultural change at the
institutional level.
Now we know culture change isnot easy to come by, but if you
(21:14):
have a holistic approach and youcome together with a diversity
of people and diversity ofperspectives, I think we can
move the needle forward.
Dr. Jim Sunser (21:25):
Great, you know, beyond UAlbany, you know, how do
you think SUNY's DEI initiativesare impacting the lives of
current and future students?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (21:35):
You know, we all want to hope, and we all
want to believe that what we do,uh, is to the benefit of our
students and our, in ourcommunities and that it is
having a positive impact.
And so that is critical, but we,we, we gotta go, we have to go,
I should say, beyond hope toreally determine what are the
(21:56):
actual, what are the actualimpacts?
So, you know, we believe througha number of mechanisms and I'll
talk about a few, uh, that we'vebeen developing that, uh,
through some of the initiativesthat I've mentioned, both SUNY
and UAlbany, uh, specific, weare becoming an increasingly, uh
, more welcoming, uh, community,right?
(22:16):
So when I, as president walkacross the campus, or when I go
to the campus center, or when Igo to, uh, any student
initiatives and events, you cansee the diversity of our
students.
You could feel the diversity,you could hear, uh, the
different languages.
And so that certainlycontributes to creating a much
more welcoming uh, community.
(22:38):
Of course, we need to, uh, thesuccesses we've had in
diversifying our students, weneed to extend to diversifying
our faculty and our staff aswell.
And we have much more work, uh,to do that, to do, uh, in that
regard, we have, uh, continuedto increase the level of student
engagement, uh, attendance andparticipation in DEI, uh,
(23:01):
training and programs.
We're doing assessmentsassociated with DEI programs,
and the training indicates thatstudents feel better informed,
more knowledgeable about what'stranspiring at the institution
and what we're doing, uh, tosupport these, uh, initiatives.
Students who make referrals, asI mentioned, to our bias
incidence response protocol, uh,show overall satisfaction with
(23:26):
how the incidents have beenresolved, uh, at the University
at Albany.
So that is, uh, something, uh,uh, very positive.
Uh, so we need to continue towork in these endeavors because
we still have a long road aheadof us, despite all the work that
we've done.
I think there's so much more, uh, to do.
And we've also been trying to,uh, increase the resources, uh,
(23:48):
in many of the areas thatsupport, uh, DEI.
So over the past, uh, two yearswe created a, a new endowment,
uh, for the EOP, uh, program.
We created an endowment, thefirst endowment for our office
of diversity, equity andinclusion, because we wanna make
sure that people understand thatwe're not only committed to this
i n words, but we're putting ourresources in areas that really
(24:12):
matter, u h, to our institution.
U h, and again, u h, I think itwas about a year ago, u h, we
established t he availability ofa gender inclusive housing.
So we established one of ourresidence halls is now called
the Harvey House, which is namedfor, uh, LGBTQ champion and
university at alum, uh, Harveymilk, uh, who graduated at 1951.
(24:37):
So now we have a residence hallwhere people of LGBTQ plus
backgrounds feel welcome andfeels that the university, uh,
cares about this.
Many institutions of highereducation have developed living
and learning, uh, communities.
Uh, we've done the same.
We just established a socialjustice living in learning
community where our first yearstudents are, uh, exposed to
(24:58):
robust introductions in the waysocial justice, uh, and racial
justice impacts us, impacts themand impacts our community.
So at the end of the day, we, wedo all this because, I'll end
where I started, because ourgoal is to educate and to
develop, engaged globalcitizens.
So by putting these issues,these challenges and these
(25:21):
opportunities at the forefront,we can make this a community
effort.
We can make this a team sport,and I think we will continue to
be successful in that regard asan institution, as a system and
as a community.
Dr. Jim Sunser (25:36):
That's really wonderful to hear.
I want to thank you for yourhonesty and your openness in
tackling these important issuesand for adding your voice to our
perspectives on diversity equityinclusion in today's college and
university campuses.
Thank you again, Dr.
Rodriguez.
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (25:52):
It was my pleasure.
Thank you so much.
And again, thank you to thecommission as well.
Dr. Jim Sunser (25:57):
And to our listeners.
Thank you for joining us.
If you want the Commission tohighlight the efforts of your
institution in a future podcast,then please visit MSCHE.org/
pillarsofchange to submit yoursuggestion.
On behalf of the Middle StatesCommission on Higher Education
and our guest, Dr.
(26:17):
Havidan Rodriguez, I'm Dr.
Jim Sunser saying thank you.
Welcome to the Pillars of Change podcast
presented by Middle StatesCommission on Higher Education.
I'm Dr.
Jim Sunser the president of SUNYGenesee Community College and a
member of the MSCHE ExecutiveCommittee.
I'd like to thank you forjoining me for the commission's
continuing series of podcastsfocusing on topics of diversity,
(00:37):
equity and inclusion.
The Middle States Commission onHigher Education holds an
important voice and space withinthe higher ed community.
In this podcast seriesspotlights, highly effective
institutional practices thathave made a difference in the
lives of our students throughdiversity, equity, and inclusion
initiatives.
(00:58):
It gives me great pleasure towelcome Dr.
Havidan Rodriguez, the presidentof the University at Albany and
a fellow MSCHE ExecutiveCommittee member.
Dr.
Rodriguez has a long anddistinguished career in higher
education and has been guidingUAlbany since 2017.
As a national leader in the areaof diversity and inclusion in
(01:20):
higher education, He's currentlyaccelerating UAlbany's success
towards reaching its vision tobe the nation's leading diverse
public research university.
But Dr.
Rodriguez' impact extends beyondUAlbany.
In addition to overseeing theimplementation of UAlbany's
institutional commitment to DEI,he also leads SUNY's Hispanic
(01:43):
Leadership Institute, which wascreated to support, retain and
foster the success of emergingHispanics and Latinx leaders
across the SUNY system.
For those who've had theopportunity to join MSCHE at our
virtual 2021 conference, youheard Dr.
Rodriguez and others in the SUNYsystem on the efforts to
(02:07):
transform campus culturesthrough a range of initiatives
aimed at faculty and staffdiversity and student success.
Welcome, Dr.
Rodriguez.
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (02:18):
Thank you very much, Jim.
It's, uh, it's a pleasure to bewith you today, uh, to address
this critical and importantissue of diversity, equity and
inclusion.
So thank you for the invitationand thanks to the Middle States,
uh, Commission, uh, fororganizing these critically
important events.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Dr. Jim Sunser (02:35):
Well, thank you for joining us.
We appreciate having time withyou, you know, before we talk
about your efforts at UAlbanyand SUNY, I wanted to ask you if
you talk a little bit about yourperspective on how our
conversations about diversity,equity, and inclusion have
shifted since the events of thesummer of 2020 from the murder
of George Floyd, to the massivedemonstrations that followed.
(02:56):
Have those events changed howwe're talking about addressing
issues around DEI on ourcampuses?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (03:05):
You know, there, there are many dimensions
, uh, to this question, right?
But I would say that thatoverall, uh, we're seeing an
increased, uh, engagement andparticipation in DEI
conversations and moreimportantly, uh, a call to
action to take action aroundissues of equity, inclusion, and
(03:26):
social, uh, and racial justice.
If you will.
You know, if we look atinstitutions of higher education
across the country, I think thatin most of the overwhelming
majority, uh, of institutionsyou'll find that there is at
least in words, a strongcommitment, uh, to diversity,
equity, and inclusion.
But the question is, how do youtake those words?
How do you take that philosophyand convert them into action,
(03:49):
right, into strategicinitiatives with real and
concrete outcomes and impacts.
And I think that as aconsequence of, uh, since, uh,
2020, we've seen an increase, acall for action to really
transform the way we asinstitutions of higher education
are addressing these criticalissues and really trying to, uh,
(04:11):
better understand the importanceof intersectionality, if you
will.
Right.
Uh, for example, uh, uh, a fewmonths ago I was in a Hispanic
heritage month, uh, eventfocusing on the experiences of
the Afro Latinx, uh, studentsand communities, right?
AF uh, Latinos, Latinx, uh,groups are very, very diverse as
(04:33):
you know of, but when you addthe intersection of race,
gender, sexual preference, thenit becomes a much more engaging,
uh, and much more complexconversation.
So these are the kinds ofconversations we want to
encourage.
These are the types ofconversations we're seeing more
and more of and bringingdifferent perspectives and
(04:53):
diverse perspectives.
For example, here at, um, youAlbany, not too long ago, we
brought, uh, Anthony Ray Hinton,uh, to campus.
As you know, he's the subject ofthe film, uh, Just Mercy.
And he spent three decades ondeath row for a crime he did not
commit.
So Mr.
Hinton addressed the subject ofcriminal justice reform.
(05:14):
And as we know, communities ofcolor are also, uh,
disproportionately impacted byour criminal justice system.
So understanding those issuesand having a better, uh,
perspective about how we work,deal, respond and develop
concrete initiatives, uh, toreally focus on these critical
issues is, is criticallyimportant.
(05:35):
So what I've seen, what we'veseen, I think, and not only ity,
but across the state and acrossthe country are more student led
conversations, uh, focused onactions, whether they would be
student led vigils this pastspring in response to bias,
discrimination, and violenceperpetrated against the Asian
American and Pacific Islandercommunity.
(05:57):
You know, the invasion ofUkraine.
These are all calls to action.
And, and that is very, veryimportant.
And of course, as you know, the,uh, you know, the, when we focus
on the issues of our social andracial justice, this was also,
uh, complicated by the, youknow, our focus on not only the
reckoning on race, but that this, uh, sort of, uh, coincided
(06:21):
with the global pandemic andwhere we saw that, uh, systemic
racism played a major, majorissue in how, uh, COVID impacted
, uh, communities of color.
Actually, the university, uh, atAlbany was asked by the New York
State, uh, to lead a study onthe disproportionate impacts of
COVID-19 on communities ofcolor.
(06:44):
And, and, and what we saw right,as, as we were expecting is that
communities of color not onlyhad higher positivity rates, uh,
they had higher, uh,hospitalization rates, higher
mortality rates.
And the question is why?
And so as a institution here, wefocused on developing an
Institute for social and healthequity, where we have
(07:06):
interdisciplinary researchersfocusing on these critical
issues.
So I think, yes, uh, we've seensome important change.
Uh, COVID-19.
Uh, the reckoning on race haschanged us quite dramatically.
It's been very emotional, hasbeen very painful and very
challenging, but we've alsoprovided, it has also provided
(07:28):
extraordinary opportunities, uh,to look at what are the issues,
what are the challenges and thechallenge before us is how do we
cease the momentum to make surethat we make a difference?
Dr. Jim Sunser (07:42):
Thank you.
Very interesting.
So we know higher educationplays an important role in
framing the conversation aboutDEI.
Can you tell me what roles doyou think higher education plays
in enhancing and altering theconversation around diversity,
equity and inclusion nationally,and also on our individual
(08:03):
campuses and what are we doingwithin SUNY systems that may be
a model for others to emulate inthat area?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (08:10):
So when we look at the role of higher
education in, in this regard,you know, institutions play a
diversity of very, veryimportant roles to help us think
, uh, about the implications ofdiversity, equity and inclusion
and our roles, uh, within thatparadigm.
But I think our greatestcontributions stem from three
(08:31):
main assets.
Uh, so let me name the three foryou.
First, we are, uh, continuouslyeducating generations of
students to become culturallycompetent, globally engaged
students.
So generation upon generationthat graduate from institutions
of higher education, youmultiply UAlbany by SUNY Genesee
(08:53):
by thousands of institutions ofhigher education across the
country.
We really can havetransformative effects by, uh,
educating engaged globalcitizens.
Second is the wealth, uh, ofexpertise, research,
scholarship, creative works andinnovation that are produced by
our faculty, right?
(09:14):
Uh, in order to betterunderstand the issues that
impact, uh, institutions ofeducation, but our communities
throughout the country, in thespace of diversity, equity, and
inclusion, and the third factor,uh, uh, that colleges and
universities are anchorinstitutions for our
communities.
And so we have the power toconvene, to support and
(09:36):
influence our communities, uh,far beyond the walls of our
campus.
Actually, just this morning, Iwas at an event with the Capital
District Latinos, uh, here inthe Capital region, and the
state of New York invested orprovided a$1 million grant, uh,
for the renovation of the, uh,of the, uh, uh, cultural
empowerment and communityengagement center for Capital
(09:59):
District Latinos.
And as we were there, uh, folksfrom CDL(Capital District
Latinos) were talking to meabout the role that some of our
faculty staff and students atthe university at Albany have
played, uh, with CDL.
So clearly we have a greatresponsibility and an
opportunity to work, uh, withour community.
(10:21):
So students, faculty, staff, andthe work that they develop as
well, uh, as our work with, withthe, with our communities, it
turns out it to be really amoral responsibility or moral
imperative, if you will, tocontinue to engage in these
types of, of conversations.
(10:41):
And, you know, you, youmentioned SUNY, uh, and as you
know, for decades, SUNY has beena great, uh, uh, champion of
diversity equity and inclusion.
Let me just mention a, a fewexamples, uh, for the audience,
uh, for example, our EOP program(Educational Opportunity
Program) was founded more than50 years ago, uh, within the
(11:03):
SUNY system.
And this is for, uh, firstgeneration students, many of
them from underrepresented, lowincome, uh, communities, and
this program has really hadtransformational power.
Uh, EOP students have higherpersistence and graduation rates
, uh, at significantly higherrates than the general student,
uh, population.
Another great example ofsystemwide programs is PRODiG,
(11:27):
which started about three yearsago.
And PRODiG stands for promotingrecruitment opportunity,
diversity inclusion, and growth,a very long name, but at the end
of the day, uh, the goal ofPRODiG is to hire, uh, faculty
of color and women in STEMfields across, uh, the entire,
uh, SUNY, uh, system and theinstitutions that compose, uh
(11:49):
SUNY.
And also, uh, I, I believe abouta couple of years ago, uh, SUNY
set forth a robust DEI actionplan that has 25 specific
recommendations, right?
And I think that many of theSUNY institutions, and certainly
, uh, UAlbany is activelyengaged in these, uh, specific
recommendations to enhancediversity, equity and inclusion
(12:11):
at the University at Albany.
So we have made, uh, DEI one ofour core, uh, priorities of our
strategic plan.
We are one of the most diverseresearch institutions, uh, in
the country.
And so as we continue to workwith, uh, SUNY and the work that
is putting forward, uh, we canhave great accomplishments as an
(12:32):
institution of, uh, highereducation.
Just think about the power of apublic system, uh, such as SUNY
with 64, uh, university campusesdistributed throughout the state
of New York.
We have great possibilities andopportunities to become a
national leader and a model for,uh, diversity, equity and
(12:52):
inclusion across the nation.
Dr. Jim Sunser (12:56):
Thank you.
That's very, very exciting.
Now, I also know that you're theexecutive director of the
Hispanic Leadership Institute,and I'm curious, uh, how are you
approaching DEI through the lensof fostering the success of
Hispanic and Latinx leaders?
Now, ultimately your developmentof rising stars will have an
(13:16):
impact on leadership at SUNY.
Why is it important that we lookat the role of the college or
university president playing indiversity inclusion, both on the
campus and the surroundingcommunities, including with
employer partners.
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (13:32):
Yeah.
And that's a critically, uh,important question.
And that's another element,right.
Of the, uh, in addition to, uh,EOP prodigy and others that I
mentioned at the SUNY level.
This is another systemwide, uh,initiative with a great focus on
diversity, equity and inclusion,and, uh, the Hispanic leadership
Institute, or HLI, uh, wasbrought forth we're in our fifth
(13:56):
year, we're gonna be celebratingactually our fifth anniversary
with a conference, uh, inSeptember.
And this is a SUNY wideinitiative funded by the state
legislature, uh, with thesupport of New York State,
right?
So it's a strong commitment, notonly of SUNY, but, uh, of the
State as well, to continue tofoster diversity, equity and
(14:17):
inclusion in this, uh, focus onHispanic or Latinx leaders
across, uh, the SUNY system.
For me, I've been leading theprogram for three years.
It's been a great pleasure,great honor, uh, to do so.
Jim, as you know, we, aspresidents of institutions of
higher education have verylittle time to do anything but
our work, uh, a as presidents inleading our institutions, but
(14:38):
leading the Hispanic LeadershipInstitute, uh, Institute, uh,
has been important for mebecause it's a form of first of
all, giving back of reallymaking sure that we are
providing the necessaryprofessional development and
mentoring, uh, to emergingHispanic leaders, uh, within
SUNY that hopefully, you know,they will become the next
(14:59):
department chairs, deans,associate provost, provost,
presidents, uh, within SUNY, uh,institutions.
So it's key that we continue todevelop these types of programs
that allow us to develop thetalent that we have across our
campuses, but in order to do so,uh, intentionality must be a key
(15:20):
fact, right?
We must be intentional in termsof the work that we do.
And as campus presidents, wehave the ability and the
opportunity, uh, to set the toneat our institutions or across
SUNY.
We set the table.
We direct or redirect, uh,resources, operations,
programmatic, uh, priorities.
(15:41):
We ensure that as presidentswith the support of our faculty,
our staff, and our leadershipteam, that diversity equity and
inclusion really becomes afabric of our institution, uh,
of our institutions.
And so I think we play acritical role in serving as the
Executive Director of theHispanic Leadership Institute,
(16:02):
uh, is also a way that I cangive back and serve not only you
all but in my institution andthe state as well.
You know, we, we talked about,uh, or you asked about, you
know, the, the role of largenumber of regional and national
organizations and how we engagewith these organizations.
Well, you know, one clearexample is why you and I are
(16:23):
here today.
Uh, Jim, uh, because of ourinvolvement, uh, and engagement
with the Middle States, uh,Commission.
So this is a great example ofhow external organizations to
our institutions, uh, worktogether, uh, to promote
diversity, equity and inclusion,and the role that college
presidents have in ensuring thatwe are successful, uh, in these,
(16:46):
these endeavors, right.
You know, we continue at UAlbany, uh, to also work, uh, with, uh
, employer partners.
I'm constantly meeting withexecutives from regional, uh,
industry partners here in theCapital region and beyond.
They are keenly focused, as youknow, on diversifying their
workforce.
And, you know, at UAlbany, as Isaid before, uh, 40% of our
(17:08):
students are students of color.
So we, uh, are very diverseinstitution, and we graduate
students of color every singleyear upon the thousands.
Uh, and that is a great interest, uh, to, uh, these industry
partners, because this allows usto contribute to the
diversification of our, uh, uh,industries, organizations, and
(17:29):
community partners, which isgreatly needed.
Dr. Jim Sunser (17:33):
Thank you.
I have, I have such greatrespect for your expertise in
this area.
And, and based on thatunderstanding of your expertise,
I'm curious as to, through yourown lens, what you think are the
greatest opportunities andchallenges that are in front of
us, as far as advancingdiversity equity, inclusion
(17:56):
efforts that are on ourcampuses?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (17:59):
You know, in terms of opportunities and
challenges that, you know, when,when you, you, you have to think
about in, in my view, uh, in, inthe context of diversity, equity
and inclusion as this being, youknow, the work of, of if you
will a team sport, right?
And that is the opportunitybecause it allows you to bring
people, uh, from different areasof the university, not only the
(18:20):
president, not only the chiefdiversity officer, not only the
provost, but the deans,department chairs, and faculty
and staff and students.
And so if you approach it as ateam sport, that's a great
opportunity.
It's also a great challengebecause you got to bring all
these people, uh, together tothink about the ways that we can
work to enhance diversity,equity and inclusion, uh, in our
(18:41):
campuses.
So this has to be a collectiveeffort.
And so let me give you anexample.
Our alumni association here atUAlbany has established a
diversity, equity and inclusionand belonging committee to make
sure that the work of DEI iswoven through, uh, all the, all,
all the initiatives, uh, and ourwork that the alumni association
(19:05):
does.
Right?
And so in order for this tohappen at the institutional
level, you need to continue toexpand the discussions, and you
do this by creating spaces, uh,for conversations and discourse
that reflect, uh, the goals andthe mission and the vision of
the institution, focusing notonly on race and ethnicity, but
(19:25):
on gender identities, sexualorientation, first generation
status, uh, and beyond.
And so this goes into the broadissue of social and racial
justice.
And so bringing in the community, uh, to talk about these issues
is critically important.
And going back to the firstquestion that you asked, some of
(19:45):
the things that have changed,you know, as a consequence of
the social reckoning on race andin COVID as well here at UAlbany
over the past two years, overtwo years ago, I should say we
established, for example, aracial justice committee.
And we also establish a biasedincidence, uh, response, uh,
protocol.
The racial justice committeeallows us and the community to
(20:06):
explore anti-racism that hastargeted black and brown, Asian,
a, uh, Asian American, PacificIslander, uh, and the Latinx
community, right?
Focusing on the expertise thatour faculty and our staff bring
together.
So that's one element.
The other element, the biasincidence response team, uh,
allows, uh, anybody on ourcampus community to bring issues
(20:31):
of, uh, allegations of bias ordiscrimination to this committee
so that we can, uh, review anddetermine what the issues were
and try to determine what the,uh, what, what the intervention
and the outcomes are going tobe.
And we also established, uh, webegan about three years or ago
or so to establish climatecommittees that are embedded in
(20:52):
all the schools and colleges andthe different divisions that
allow the schools and collegesand divisions to look more in
depth at the DEI issues thatconfront their particular units.
So when you pull all thistogether and you think about a
team sport, this is aboutcultural change at the
institutional level.
Now we know culture change isnot easy to come by, but if you
(21:14):
have a holistic approach and youcome together with a diversity
of people and diversity ofperspectives, I think we can
move the needle forward.
Dr. Jim Sunser (21:25):
Great, you know, beyond UAlbany, you know, how do
you think SUNY's DEI initiativesare impacting the lives of
current and future students?
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (21:35):
You know, we all want to hope, and we all
want to believe that what we do,uh, is to the benefit of our
students and our, in ourcommunities and that it is
having a positive impact.
And so that is critical, but we,we, we gotta go, we have to go,
I should say, beyond hope toreally determine what are the
(21:56):
actual, what are the actualimpacts?
So, you know, we believe througha number of mechanisms and I'll
talk about a few, uh, that we'vebeen developing that, uh,
through some of the initiativesthat I've mentioned, both SUNY
and UAlbany, uh, specific, weare becoming an increasingly, uh
, more welcoming, uh, community,right?
(22:16):
So when I, as president walkacross the campus, or when I go
to the campus center, or when Igo to, uh, any student
initiatives and events, you cansee the diversity of our
students.
You could feel the diversity,you could hear, uh, the
different languages.
And so that certainlycontributes to creating a much
more welcoming uh, community.
(22:38):
Of course, we need to, uh, thesuccesses we've had in
diversifying our students, weneed to extend to diversifying
our faculty and our staff aswell.
And we have much more work, uh,to do that, to do, uh, in that
regard, we have, uh, continuedto increase the level of student
engagement, uh, attendance andparticipation in DEI, uh,
(23:01):
training and programs.
We're doing assessmentsassociated with DEI programs,
and the training indicates thatstudents feel better informed,
more knowledgeable about what'stranspiring at the institution
and what we're doing, uh, tosupport these, uh, initiatives.
Students who make referrals, asI mentioned, to our bias
incidence response protocol, uh,show overall satisfaction with
(23:26):
how the incidents have beenresolved, uh, at the University
at Albany.
So that is, uh, something, uh,uh, very positive.
Uh, so we need to continue towork in these endeavors because
we still have a long road aheadof us, despite all the work that
we've done.
I think there's so much more, uh, to do.
And we've also been trying to,uh, increase the resources, uh,
(23:48):
in many of the areas thatsupport, uh, DEI.
So over the past, uh, two yearswe created a, a new endowment,
uh, for the EOP, uh, program.
We created an endowment, thefirst endowment for our office
of diversity, equity andinclusion, because we wanna make
sure that people understand thatwe're not only committed to this
i n words, but we're putting ourresources in areas that really
(24:12):
matter, u h, to our institution.
U h, and again, u h, I think itwas about a year ago, u h, we
established t he availability ofa gender inclusive housing.
So we established one of ourresidence halls is now called
the Harvey House, which is namedfor, uh, LGBTQ champion and
university at alum, uh, Harveymilk, uh, who graduated at 1951.
(24:37):
So now we have a residence hallwhere people of LGBTQ plus
backgrounds feel welcome andfeels that the university, uh,
cares about this.
Many institutions of highereducation have developed living
and learning, uh, communities.
Uh, we've done the same.
We just established a socialjustice living in learning
community where our first yearstudents are, uh, exposed to
(24:58):
robust introductions in the waysocial justice, uh, and racial
justice impacts us, impacts themand impacts our community.
So at the end of the day, we, wedo all this because, I'll end
where I started, because ourgoal is to educate and to
develop, engaged globalcitizens.
So by putting these issues,these challenges and these
(25:21):
opportunities at the forefront,we can make this a community
effort.
We can make this a team sport,and I think we will continue to
be successful in that regard asan institution, as a system and
as a community.
Dr. Jim Sunser (25:36):
That's really wonderful to hear.
I want to thank you for yourhonesty and your openness in
tackling these important issuesand for adding your voice to our
perspectives on diversity equityinclusion in today's college and
university campuses.
Thank you again, Dr.
Rodriguez.
Dr. Havidan Rodriguez (25:52):
It was my pleasure.
Thank you so much.
And again, thank you to thecommission as well.
Dr. Jim Sunser (25:57):
And to our listeners.
Thank you for joining us.
If you want the Commission tohighlight the efforts of your
institution in a future podcast,then please visit MSCHE.org/
pillarsofchange to submit yoursuggestion.
On behalf of the Middle StatesCommission on Higher Education
and our guest, Dr.
(26:17):
Havidan Rodriguez, I'm Dr.
Jim Sunser saying thank you.
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