As the new fall 2023 school year began, Elizabethtown College implemented a Diversity, Equity and Belonging (DEB) School Ambassadors initiative throughout campus, including each of the undergraduate schools. The warm environment of inclusivity encourages a sense of belongingness and validity for students, which allows them to prosper in their college community and academic career.
DEB has two kinds of ambassadors: School Ambassadors and Search Committee Equity Ambassadors. While they maintain the same mission, their specific roles look a little different. School Ambassadors are made up of Etown faculty who apply DEB principals in classroom and campus settings. They are meant to be a resource for students who have questions or need advice related to DEB-based issues (microaggressions, implicit bias, inequities etc.), advocating for students to the Office of DEB as needed. However, Search Committee Equity Ambassadors’ roles center around the employment process, receiving training on these specific topics and comprising Etown staff members from various student resources. In addition to these ambassadors, there are three DEB fellows, who lead distinct DEB projects following different approaches.
One of these fellows is Associate Professor of Psychology Evan Smith, who is working to expand DEB principals in first-year seminars. He explained how “diversity and identity are central themes in a few of [his] courses” and the importance of students being able to understand these concepts in an academic setting because it is common for them (and faculty) to have difficulty feeling prepared for these discussions. “We live in a complex, diverse society, and I want students to embrace this complexity and appreciate the varied insights that people have developed as a result of their unique lived experiences,” Smith said.
Playing a key role in the leadership, organization and structure of the initiative, Senior Advisor for College DEB Kesha Morant Williams, is able to comment on DEB’s past, present and future.
The roots of the initiative came from the role Inclusive Excellence has in Etown’s strategic plan; it makes up 25 percent of the plan. Inclusive Excellence refers to Etown’s intentions and aspirations towards incorporating diversity, inclusion and equity in their organization. Etown’s Campus Inclusion Council developed a parallel plan, which involved the DEB initiative. There have been DEB programs at other schools, but before implementing the plan, additional research needed to be done to determine how to fit it to Etown. School ambassadors were recommended and later appointed by their school’s dean, while search committee equity ambassadors and fellows were recruited by DEB. The recruitment and selection process took place in the spring of 2023.
Morant Williams discussed how the DEB program’s purpose and significance to the College lies in its ability to spread and build on DEB principals quickly. “It is especially important to not only increase awareness of the importance of DEB and how it is relevant throughout our entire College but also help people understand that it is everyone’s responsibility to implement DEB efforts,” she said.
She described this first year “as the pilot year of the ambassador initiative,” understanding that there will inevitably be places to improve and grow. Although the DEB office provided School Ambassadors with general areas they can create impact, the School Ambassadors have the freedom to decide how they can create these impacts in their schools. The DEB Office will additionally get feedback from their current search committee equity ambassadors, and then offer an updated training that reflects the feedback. Morant Williams said, “Working through some of the ambiguity can be challenging but it is necessary to strengthen this initiative.” As for fellows, their roles are likely to remain as is because the “the framework is strong” and “the specifics are adjusted depending on the fellow’s specific project.”
