Office of the Provost

Equity Task Force November 2022 - Fall Semester Update

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Undergraduate Representation:

  • Through a new partnership between Purdue and the Posse Foundation, 11 students started their academic careers at Purdue West Lafayette this fall. The Posse Foundation is a national college outreach and youth leadership development organization that helps to select, financially support, and mentor Indiana public high school graduates in northwest and northern Indiana from urban backgrounds.
  • Outreach to prospective Black and minority Boilermakers has been expanded in northwest Indiana and Marion County through the work of two new  early academic outreach counselors, Shanita Starks (BS ’96), and Alex Pettigrew (BS ’15, MS ’18).
  • Recruiters are on the road and holding collaborative events with the Purdue Black Alumni Organization.
  • Campus communicators and recruiters are improving messaging to prospective students using data collected by the market research firm,  Black Raspberry Insights .
  • Enrollment Management is helping prospective students and families better understand how to seek/manage financial aid.

Undergraduate Experience & Success:

  • 95 Emerging Leaders Scholars started this summer, including 32 (33%) Black Boilermakers - EL scholars earned an average summer term GPA of 3.86, compared to 3.70 for all Early Start students.
  • Fall undergraduate programming is focused on belonging, with a particular emphasis on the Black Male Excellence Network (B-MEN) and Mind, Body, and Soul.
  • The installation of a display in Parker Halls to tell the story of the Parker sisters’ time on campus is moving forward. The project will be complete and celebrated during Black History Month.
  • Purdue sponsored the Youth Leadership Summit at the Indiana Black Expo this year (190 pre-college attendees) and worked with Purdue Polytechnic High Schools, who developed and delivered engaging STEM-focused curriculum.
  • The 2022 Summer Academy activities were a success. Of the 756 participants in Summer College for High School Students, 114 (15.2%) were Black.
  • This includes 100 Black students who participated in the 1-week, 1-credit programs.
  • The BCC, AARCC and MEP offered courses; working with HHS and Pharmacy to develop content for their colleges.
  • All parents were invited to the concluding event.

Graduate Students:

  • The summer graduate programs were successful - hosting 75 SROP and Bridge
  • 80 students attended the Graduate Diversity Visitation Program during October.
  • There is a focus on increasing connections between the Black Graduate Student Association and the Black Caucus of Faculty and Staff.
  • David Rollock has joined the Graduate School as associate dean for student success.
  • Planning is underway for Black and Latinx Trailblazers in Engineering events, including a discussion of faculty pathways; developing ways to scale up programming in the coming year and how cohorts might connect with ETF cluster hire faculty throughout the year.
  • The “Alma Mater Talks” program continues. The program provides funding for graduate students who graduated from HBCUs to return to their undergraduate institutions to give technical talks and discuss the opportunities at Purdue.  

Faculty:

  • The next round of 13 Cluster Hires is beginning within the following areas:  
  • Two searches for faculty in African American Studies, College of Liberal Arts.
  • Six searches for faculty in anti-microbial resistance, Colleges of Science, Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture.
  • Two searches for faculty in sustainable, equitable urban environments and food systems, College of Agriculture.
  • Three continuing searches for faculty from last year’s public health/health equity cluster, Colleges of Health and Human Sciences and Liberal Arts.
  • Black Faculty Excellence was celebrated at an inaugural luncheon in early September. The group heard a lecture from Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School.

Staff:

  • The Senior Diversity Recruiter, Willie Cruz, is in place and working with campus units and community partners.
  • Plans are underway to revamp and relaunch the Diversity Ambassador Program.
  • Develop Me 2.0, a professional development and mentoring program, kicked-off its second cohort this semester with 22 participants. 
  • Talent Acquisition has been busy with career fairs and other events, many are diversity/ETF-related.
  • Human Resources is looking for ways to get Purdue job postings in front of students from historically Black colleges and universities who are near graduation

ETF Supporting Activities

April 2022 -Spring Semester Update

Undergraduate Representation

  • Outreach to prospective Black and minority Boilermakers has been expanded in northwest Indiana and Marion County through the work of two new early academic outreach counselors, Shanita Starks (BS ’96), left, and Alex Pettigrew (BS ’15, MS ’18).
  • Worked with Purdue Black Alumni Organization on two recruitment receptions in Indianapolis and Gary, IN.  Admitted students and parents were invited to a dinner which included a presentation and discussions with Purdue staff, alumni and current students.
  • Additional funding provided to colleges and programs to support innovative college-level recruitment initiatives focused on Black Boilermakers.
  • An inaugural group of incoming students from northwest Indiana have been selected for the first Posse Foundation.

Undergraduate Experience & Success

  • Expansion of counseling and psychological services (CAPS) – 2 Black counselors on staff and 5 BIPOC contract counselors hired.
  • Launched a pilot tutoring program at Purdue Polytechnic High School to assist students with math readiness skills.
  • Black Male Excellence Network (BMEN) and Mind, Body and Soul, academic support and leadership groups for Black Boilermakers, continue to meet regularly.
  • A variety of undergraduate courses that cover the themes of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) will be offered this summer.  These courses offer students the opportunity to more deeply understand racial and cultural differences, grasp the importance of current social movements and navigate them effectively and appropriately.
  • An $80,000 GEAR-UP grant has been secured to support Summer Academy participation for minority students from 11 Indiana high schools.

Graduate Students

  • Moved the Graduate Diversity Visitation Program to spring semester. Developed and sent new recruitment materials to all Purdue faculty and to faculty/staff/students at other universities.
  • 450 Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) applications received and processed for 40 positions.
  • Hosted a series of inclusive leadership and dissertation writing workshops for Bridge, AGEP, and SIGP (Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership) .
  • Initiated a new program to increase URM application completion.
  • The “Alma Mater Talks” program continues with four scheduled this spring. The program enables minority graduate students to visit their undergraduate institutions to discuss the opportunities at Purdue. 

Faculty

  • The first wave of the ETF cluster hires is underway with seven successful hires already and the remaining searches in their final stages.
  • Departments are preparing to set up new faculty for success by connecting them with existing faculty and campus resources.
  • Planning and organization has started for the second wave of cluster hires. More information will be shared in the next several months.

Staff

  • Human Resources has now hired a Senior Talent Acquisition Outreach Specialist. In addition to direct recruitment activities, this staff member will develop relationships and conduct outreach efforts within the local community and serve as an internal consultant to the Talent Acquisition team with a dedicated focus on expanding the diversity of our candidate pools. 

ETF Supporting Activities:

The university celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black History Month in January and February.  Events included: 

  • Day-of-service activities for students as well as a campus-wide food drive to benefit the ACE Campus Food Pantry throughout the week.
  • Dr. David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University, delivered the annual commemorative lecture. The event was also livestreamed and featured an acknowledgement of the 2022 Dreamer Award recipients, as well as musical performances by Black Voices of Inspiration and operatic vocalist Alexandria Critchlow Bradshaw, an alumna of Morgan State University.
  • Along with Dr. Wilson, a delegation of senior leaders from Morgan State University met with their Purdue counterparts during the celebration week to discuss future and continued partnership opportunities.
  • A collection of artwork and artifacts from the Purdue Black Cultural Center was installed at the Indianapolis Airport through April 2022. Per airport data, more than a million passengers flew through the Indy airport during the first quarter of 2021.
  • Black History Month was celebrated campus-wide. Read the stories  here.

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