Collaborating for Black Student Success

It’s Black History Month, and we’re focusing this newsletter on the exciting and challenging work occurring across the UIA as part of our Black Student Success Initiative.

As you know, in 2020, the Covid pandemic disproportionately affected people of color and police brutality resulted in the senseless murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery, among many others. These traumatic events brought issues of racial justice to the forefront in higher education. In their aftermath, colleges and universities can no longer turn a blind eye to the effects of systemic racism on the experiences and outcomes of students of color across our campuses. These effects are particularly problematic for Black students, who face centuries of ingrained social and structural barriers.

Following the leadership of our campuses, we launched an exploratory effort to assess and transform the experiences and outcomes of Black students across the UIA in fall of 2020. We are developing a scalable, adaptable process by which any institution can examine, unpack, and redesign themselves to optimize for long-term Black student success. We believe this redesign process can be tested and tailored to elevate the needs of distinct student populations on campuses across the country.

Already, UIA campuses are implementing action plans to make measurable progress in areas they identified as barriers to success for Black students. They are testing new approaches to inclusive advising, developing new mechanisms for action-oriented listening to Black students’ experiences, developing coordinated care networks for Black students, and creating new K12 pathways to promote equitable access. They are developing faculty professional development programs focused on the needs of Black students and establishing residential programs and communities to improve retention and campus climate. And they’re just getting started.

Over the next few years, the UIA will be sharing what we learn through this challenging but critical work to support Black students. We know we aren’t the experts here, so we’ll be leaning on the guidance of scholars like Drs. Shaun Harper and Leonard Taylor (who joined UIA campuses during phase 1 of this effort in 2020-2021), our colleagues at HBCUs, and our friends at national organizations who have learned to laser focus on the needs of individual communities.

We know our best chance to make progress is by working together, and I hope you'll consider helping us along the way by sharing your valuable insight, suggestions and expertise.