Campus Climate Committee

OVERVIEW

At the end of summer 2020, Vice Provost and Vice President of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Gary Bennett charged a new committee—the Campus Climate Committee (CCC)—with a critical task: to continue the progress from the summer’s Hate and Bias Working Group and to push forward a significant effort to enhance the campus climate for undergraduate students. This committee will identify ways to ensure that the undergraduate experience is welcoming, inclusive, and intellectually expansive. 

We have a timely opportunity to create a campus climate that more actively fosters meaningful inclusion of all students’ lived experiences and identities. We also hope to seize this moment to establish a culture that invites more open and authentic discourse in a supportive context that prizes student belonging. 

The CCC first convened in fall 2020. Our work will continue through the 2021 calendar year with a final report due in Spring 2022. A list of committee members and a draft of our work plan are included below. 

CCC COMMITTEE MEMBERS 


Joyce Gordon (co-chair), Director, Jewish Life at Duke
Annie Kao (co-chair), Assistant Vice Provost and Director of Finance and Operations, Office of Undergraduate Education

Catherine Admay, Senior Lecturer, Sanford School of Public Policy; Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society; Faculty Affiliate and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Duke Global Health Institute; Faculty in Residence, Bassett Hall
Michele Armstrong, Assistant Dean of Students
Theo Cai, Nowicki Fellow for Student Engagement, Class of 2021
Jordan Hale, Associate Dean of Students and Director of New Student Programs
Lisa Huettel, Professor of the Practice and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Electrical & Computer Engineering
William Pan, Elizabeth Brooks Reid and Whitelaw Reid Associate Professor, Global Environmental Health 
Tori Pinedo, Class of 2022
Quinton Smith, Interim Director, Mary Lou Williams Center
Stacia Solomon, Assistant Director, Career Services
Ana Rubi Trejo, Class of 2022

CCC WORKPLAN 

November 2020 -- Committee convenes for the first time

December 2020 -- Campus Climate Committee Vision Session – Stakeholders representing  all schools convened virtually to share knowledge, insight, and experience with the CCC

January 2021 -- Two subcommittees are formed

  • Reports subcommittee: Will review existing reports and documents compiled by other university committees and task forces, as well as other groups (e.g. Bass Connections projects, Duke Chronicle articles, etc.) to understand and take action on the following two questions: (1) what prior recommendations have been made but not implemented? (2) would it enhance the campus climate for undergraduate students to recommend any of those at this time? This subcommittee will further compile the overall CCC final report. 
     
  • Interview subcommittee: Will conduct 1-on-1 interviews and focus groups to gather ideas and information around (1) what the University community would like campus climate to look like—this can be expressed as new concepts and as changes to the current climate and (2) actionable changes we can make now.  

April – September 2021 --The CCC continues research and outreach. The co-chairs meet with VP McMahon and VP Bennett regularly to put forward recommendations.  

September 2021 – December 2021 -- Final Report Preparation 

Spring 2022 -- Final Report to be submitted