Methodology - Office of the President

In Summer and Fall 2020, a number of commitments to action and recommendations toward realizing racial justice at CSU Channel Islands were made by the President and the President’s Advisory Council on Inclusive Excellence (PACIE). Many campus organizations and programs supported this work directly and indirectly (e.g., the Black Faculty & Staff Association, the Chicana/o, Latina/o Faculty & Staff Association, Academic Senate, Staff Council, and academic programs), with some writing statements for racial justice of their own.

Development of the Inclusive Excellence Action Plan (IEAP) Framework in January 2021 sought to bring focus of this plethora of racial- and social-justice oriented intentions, recommendations, and commitments into focus.

IEAP Original Source Documents

The IEAP Framework synthesized and organized four specific documents authored through the Office of the President.

Strategic Initiatives (2018-2023)
Racial Justice: A Commitment to Action (PDF, 169KB) (Summer 2020)
7-Point Framework for Realizing Racial Justice (Fall 2020)
President’s Advisory Council on Inclusive Excellence (PACIE) Recommendations (PDF, 110KB) (Fall 2020)

This information was shared to the campus during a town hall where the Inclusive Excellence Action Plan (IEAP) #1 PowerPoint was presented.

IEAP Methodology

Six themes emerged through qualitative analysis of these four documents. These themes became the Inclusive Excellence Action Teams (IEATs) listed and linked here:

With thanks to Kristi O’Neil-Gonzalez, an accessible demonstration of the methodology (PDF, 698KB) that was applied in arriving at these themes is available. It describes in detail the following six steps that led to the creation of the six Inclusive Excellence Action Teams named above. Video describing each of the following steps is from a March 8, 2021 IEAP Brown Bag session hosted by President Yao, the Inaugural President’s Faculty Fellow LaSonya Davis, and Chief of Staff Kaia Tollefson.

Step 1: Begin with the end in mind. Identify opportunities in Strategic Initiatives to approach the work more intentionally with diversity, equity, and inclusion in mind
Step 2: Gather statements of commitment, intended actions, and recommendations for inclusive excellence
Step 3: Code documents, looking for themes
Step 4: Group all items by theme
Step 5: Look for commonalities and redundancies within each theme, and summarize the actions identified.
Step 6: Use the six themes that emerged to create six Inclusive Excellence Action Teams (IEAT), with their charges identified as actions synthesized from OTP Documents.

IEAT Process & Structure

In January 2021, Cabinet members identified the teams most closely aligned with the work of their divisions, resulting in the appointment of a lead champion and co-champion from Cabinet for each IEAT. The Provost and Vice Presidents for Student Affairs, Business & Financial Affairs, and University Advancement then appointed one administrator from their division to each team, messaging Cabinet-level responsibility and accountability for the success of each IEAT. Faculty, staff, and student representatives to each IEAT were then solicited. Of the 49 nominations received, 80% accepted the invitation to serve after reviewing the IEAT Charge for Spring 2021-Spring 2023. A rubric for selection was applied, with presidential appointees for IEAT membership finalized on 4/01/2021.

The Chair of each IEAT is the administrator appointed by that team’s lead Cabinet champion. Co-chairs are elected by the IEAT.

Role of the PACIE

The President’s Advisory Council on Inclusive Excellence (PACIE) is a separate group from the IEATs. Its function relative to the IEAP process will be to: (1) review periodic reports of IEAT progress and advise the President on opportunities to leverage connections across teams, and (2) support IEATs in the use and application of the Equity Lens Framework developed by PACIE in 2020-2021, and revised in 2021-22.