Faculty of Color Association (FOCA) Activities and Accomplishments

Fall, 2020 

Support for Faculty of Color  

  • Holding a FOCA Tenure/Promotion Information summer session
  • Surveying faculty of color about their needs and ideas for FOCA initiatives for the 2020-2021 academic year
  • Establishing the FOCA Mentor Pool to support junior FOCA members who are or will be in the pretenure/prepromotion or tenure/promotion review processes.
  • Planning and implementing Pre-tenure/Tenure/Promotion Workshop Series
    • Pre-tenure/Pre-promotion Review workshop (Fall, 2010)
    • External Reviewer Selection & CV Writing workshop (Winter 2020-2021)
    • Organizing Tenure/Promotion Application Documents and Writing a Personal Statement workshop (Spring, 2021)
  • Creating Pretenure and Tenure Review Application Resources shared with faculty of color
    • Examples of pre-tenure and tenure application documents from seven faculty members representing different disciplines
  • Holding FOC Happy Hour get-togethers over the academic year.
  • Holding the faculty and students of color’s end of the year gathering

FOCA DEI work and support for students of color

  • Mailing FOCA custom-made postcards to the Class of 2020 students of color graduates to congratulate their accomplishments, following the cancelation of the in-person commencement ceremony.
  • The release of the FOCA statement to our faculty colleagues in support of the students’ and alumni’s Stonehill Accountability Letter.
  • Handling the microaggression aftermath following the Stonehill accountability letter and sharing DEI resources with the senate and CDEI leaders that were later used for the college’s centralized DEI repository.
  • #ScholarStrike for Racial Justice at Stonehill
    • Co-organizing the teach-ins and other programs with the Office of Intercultural Affairs (OIA), Senate, and CDEI leaders
    • Co-conducting the #ScholarStrike feedback survey with the OIA, senate, and CDEI leaders and contributing to the survey reports that were submitted to the senior administration.
  • Working with OIA to start the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Stonehill chapter
  • Collaborating with OIA and the Archives Office for preparing for the Black Dolls Exhibition
  • Collaborating with OIA and CDC for career events targeting students and alumni of color
  • Supporting students of color in lieu of the Letter of Concern through FOCA members’ meetings with students of color in their disciplines and compiling and sending the list of the spring courses offered by FOCA members to the Office of Academic Services and Advising
  • Support for Students in Action
    • Multiple advising meetings with SIA leaders upon the requests by OIA and student leaders
    • Supporting the SIA’s Sit-In (Emailing numerous faculty members to inform them about the SIA’s Sit-In, Gathering faculty speakers for the Sit-In, & Providing lunch to student organizers after the Sit-In event)
    • The release of the FOCA statement in support of the SIA’s letter (See Attachment #2)
    • Working with the senate president to recruit faculty advisors for the SIA sub-committees
  • Updating the fundraising website for the FOCA Award fund for students of color leaders and continuously working on the logistics to start giving the FOCA Award in the next academic year.
  • Enhancing FOCA representation in DEI decision making processes
    • Working constantly with the Senate and CDEI leaders regarding DEI issues on campus
    • Requesting a FOCA seat on IDAC and participation in IDAC meetings
    • Working with Pauline Dobrowski and the senate and CDEI leaders regarding the FOCA representation on the Leading for Change Consortium Stonehill team
  • Having Holiday Happy Hour with the Black Student Union, M.A.T.U., and 48 Club
  • Holding the faculty and students of color’s end of the year gathering
  • Working with the Provost on selecting faculty representatives for the Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (AP-DEI) search committee.

Fall, 2019 – Spring, 2020

  • Held FOCA writing retreat
  • Created FOCA scholarship fund for students of color
  • Hosted 3 luncheons for students of color
  • Co-sponsored student professionalization event with OIA and CDC
  • Established FOCA-dedicated space for faculty and students of color
  • Co-signed statement against the presence of ICE at the Job and Internship Expo 
  • Contributed member representative to the gov comm subcommittee rewriting the faculty hiring guide, so as to incorporate the library hiring and retention guide, and other DEI issues, into the new policy
  • Co-sponsored the Black Student Union’s Career Center event
  • Began the work of establishing a local faculty of color mentoring network with Wheaton and BSU
  • Advocated for an accessible textbook policy
  • Collaborated with Joe Middleton on a library guide for hiring and retaining underrepresented faculty
  • Advocated for DEI resources during the coronavirus pandemic

In addition to the activities listed above, many FOCA members serve on multiple senate and search committees to represent voices and concerns of faculty of color, including serving as senators, serving on the CDEI, Gen Ed Committee, Curriculum Committee, Rank & Tenure Committee, Government Committee, etc. and serving on diverse search committees including the Provost search committee, the Associate Provost for DEI search committee, and the search committee for the director of the Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Social Justice.

Also FOCA works very closely and regularly with OIA to support and collaborate DEI events on campus and is usually the first faculty group that OIA contacts whenever the college encounters DEI-related tensions and students of color need faculty support.

 

 

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