NWTC Initiatives

NORTHEAST WISCONSIN TECHNICAL COLLEGE | nwtc.edu

Founded in 1912, NWTC is a nationally recognized, two-year public college, serving nearly 27,000 individuals annually. Focused on student success and the economic vitality of its communities, NWTC transforms, strengthens, and inspires the people of northeast Wisconsin and beyond. Student success is the center of the work at NWTC. The College assists students in every possible way to help them earn a credential. The College has been named an Achieving the Dream Leader College for student success and closing achievement gaps.

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College was selected as a featured institution for its comprehensive and holistic approach to diversity, equity and inclusion that has been embedded throughout their institutional and educational efforts. The showcased on this page came from the NWTC DEI Guide.

NWTC Division of DEI

PURPOSE

Division of DEI has a functional responsibility to ensure institutional alignment by providing leadership, guidance, and resources around fostering a culture of equity and inclusion.

The function of the College’s Diversity Team is to serve as the key voice of the DEI Division to advocate for an equitable culture, and support the overall work towards meeting the College’s Strategic Directions.

Learn how NWTC is nurturing an inclusive environment. See their strategic practices, initiatives, and goals that support diversity and inclusion at the College: https://www.nwtc.edu/about-nwtc/overview/diversity

Sustained Conversations on Systemic Racism and Policy Reform

A Place at the Table Discussion Series

This is a roundtable event for staff, faculty, and students to have candid, safe, and respectful discussions around serious social topics.

Topics include, but not limited to: DACA and undocumented students, history of indigenous people and America, use of excessive force.

Focused on Equity in Student Access and Success

DREAM= Data, Reform, Equity, Acheivement, Movement

In spring 2010, NWTC joined Achieving the Dream, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping community college students succeed.

Achieving the Dream is focused on creating a “culture of evidence” on community college campuses in which data collection and analysis drive efforts to identify problems that prevent students from succeeding and develop programs to help them stay in school and receive a certificate or diploma.

As a member of Achieving the Dream, NWTC is identifying strategies to:

• Improve student success.

• Close achievement gaps.

• Increase retention, persistence, and completion rates.

Part of the goal of Achieving the Dream, the national consortium of community colleges and educational research groups to which NWTC belongs, is the idea of promoting equity in postsecondary education.

As the College looks to reduce the achievement gaps, we have focused success efforts on interventions that enable all populations to increase movement from developmental education to post-secondary enrollment, persistence, and course and program completion.

Use Data to Close Equity Gaps

Community College Survey of Student Engagement

Student engagement is a broadly defined term used to refer to the extent to which students are actively involved in meaningful educational experiences and activities. The CCSSE measures five main factors related to student engagement:

• Active and Collaborative Learning.

• Student Effort.

• Academic Challenge.

• Student-Faculty Interaction.

• Support for Learners.

Let’s take a look at a CCSSE question/result based upon racial identification (data is from the 2018 survey):

How would you evaluate your entire educational experience at this college?

• Excellent (4)

• Good (3)

• Fair (2)

• Poor (1)

Average Rating of Experience at NWTC

Overall percent of students in parentheses.

Review Hiring and Retention Policies

Inclusively Course Series

Research studies have shown that “the academic achievement of ethnically diverse students will improve when they are taught through their own cultural and experiential filters.”* NWTC’s Inclusively Course Series — Living Inclusively, Teaching Inclusively, Serving Inclusively, and Managing Inclusively (LITISIMI) — are sessions designed to provide employees with tools that we can use to create that inclusive environment and increase student learning.

*Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (2), p. 106

Other training opportunities available at NWTC: Inclusively Course Series, Inclusive Hiring Training, Future Faculty Career Fair, Student Today Employee Tomorrow, Employee Involvement Groups, Diversity Recruitment and Retention Workgroup

Increase Transparency

iRespect

iRespect! is a College-wide movement to cultivate a welcoming and safe environment for all. NWTC believes that recognizing, acknowledging, and building competency and engagement around the similarities and differences of members of the NWTC community will make for better relationships and a richer environment.

We stand beside our students regardless of race, religion, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, ability, and age.

We are committed to maintaining a

welcoming and safe space for all members of our community to work and learn.

We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, bullying, and behaviors intended to intimidate or demoralize members of this community.

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