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Our nation and state are breaking under the weight of systemic racism, inequality, fear and all the ways in which humans do not treat each other humanely.
Recent, profoundly disheartening incidents must be a call to action for technical college leaders, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as System leaders and staff. As educators and learners, we embrace our responsibility and capacity to create inclusive, genuine spaces and systems that support equity.
WTCS, the Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association and the leadership of all 16 technical colleges have committed to five specific efforts:
Sustained Conversations on Systemic Racism and Policy Reform
Focus on Equity in Student Access and Success
Use Data to Close Equity Gaps
Review Hiring and Retention Policies
Increase Transparency
WTCS Initiatives that Align with the Five Commitments to Progress
WTCS Initiatives that Align with the Five Commitments to Progress
Focus on Equity in Student Access and Success
WTCS will conduct comprehensive evaluations of policies and practices – through an equity lens – in the areas of instruction, student services and professional development to identify unconscious biases, make modifications to enhance empathetic understanding and build emotional intelligence skills and capacity. The System Office will provide facilitation and other resources in support of colleges’ evaluation efforts. These evaluations will begin with WTCS law enforcement and correctional service programs but will be undertaken across all instructional areas.
Use Data to Close Equity Gaps
WTCS will leverage data and research findings to inform college efforts to close equity gaps in student access and outcomes. This work will build upon the action research agenda of the WTCS Student Success Center and may be supported, in part, by Perkins and GPR grant resources.
Increase Transparency
WTCS will establish clearer, more transparent, and more frequent communication regarding WTCS equity and inclusion initiatives and outcomes. This work will be led by the System Office with college support. This initiative will create a public-facing central messaging hub to share System assessment, research, and outcomes data from the Student Success Center, as well as other diversity, equity and inclusion resources.
Wisconsin’s technical colleges are open doors to a world of opportunity.
A broad mission means there is room for everyone.
Employers looking for talent, or to advance talent.
High school students eager to earn college credit at no cost, or high school grads interested in efficient, affordable, transferable postsecondary education.
Veterans with an interest in re-skilling or earning a credential.
Adults who need to work while they plan and pursue their next career, or who need to improve their academic or English Language skills to progress.
Workers who want to take advantage of an “earn while you learn” apprenticeship.
Incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals ready to start a new life of prosperity and promise.
WTCS System-wide Equity Report
The Wisconsin Technical College System provides open-access educational opportunities for all Wisconsin residents and a reliable talent pipeline for employers.
For these connections to thrive, students need not only access to our colleges, but also equitable opportunities to achieve success. Closing opportunity gaps has emerged as an economic imperative for Wisconsin. WTCS is actively engaged in an aligned, accelerated and System-wide approach to addressing these gaps and improving success for all students.
The 2018 and 2021 WTCS System-wide Equity reports identify existing gaps in access and success for our students, as well as staff, and sets goals to advance equity and inclusion System-wide.
2021 - 2025 Strategic Directions
The Wisconsin Technical College System Board sets the strategic directions for the System. The 2021-25 strategic directions share an updated focus on the mission, vision and values of the System.
Innovation • Collaboration • Inspire • Transform
Sustained Conversations on Systemic Racism and Policy Reform
WTCS will support facilitated, sustained space for conversation and policy work on the impact and dismantling of systemic racism starting internally at each college and the System Office. While this is work each college must initiate and implement, the System Office will look for ways it can support the colleges with facilitation and other resources. For the System Office, this work will build upon ongoing conversations on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
WISCORE Flyer.pdfWISCORE Agenda 2020 pdfWISCORE
WISCORE
WisCORE was birthed out of an idea by generated by Howard Brown, a Gateway student that attended NCORE - Portland 2019. This event was designed to bring students, faculty and staff from the Wisconsin technical colleges to connect, build and gain tools regarding system-wide equity and inclusion practices. The inaugural conference was hosted at Madison Area Technical College on January 30-31st, 2020 featuring a keynote address by Dr. Michael Benitez (one of the keynote speakers at NCORE Fort Worth, TX).
The biennial conference is scheduled to take place at Milwaukee Area Technical College on November 10-11th, 2022. This year's theme is Resilience and Reinvention: Shaping Our New Realities.
WISCORE Pre-Conference Webinar (1).mp4.crdownloadWTCS Working as One
Working as One virtual series each set out to bring employees, students, and community members together to discuss barriers to inclusion for populations like English Language Learners, refugees and immigrants, populations of color, veterans and folks with disabilities.
Intersectionality and Inclusion in Campus Support - Featuring Jas Boothe
Intersectionality and Inclusion in Campus Support - Featuring Jas Boothe
Exploring Intersectionality and Inclusion in Campus Support: Who Do We Serve?
Exploring Intersectionality and Inclusion in Campus Support: Who Do We Serve?
This playlist is a series of videos created to support efforts in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion. The Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) is committed to creating safe spaces to support our students and colleagues, delivering educational pathways to economic opportunity for all and raising our collective voices to oppose injustice in all of its forms. Together, we have the power to create a more inclusive and equitable society for each other and for the future.
Review Hiring and Retention Policies
WTCS will identify and take intentional steps to diversify our workforce, including addressing cultural and community issues of equity and inclusion. This work will be led by the Presidents Association’s special taskforce on Workforce Diversity. It will incorporate data from existing System research, including the WTCS System-wide Equity Report, and may be supported in part by Perkins Reserve Capacity Building grant and GPR Professional Development grant resources.
Employees of Color Mentoring Program
The WTCS Employees of Color Mentoring Program is aimed at better engaging, encouraging and enriching the professional and personal lives of employees of color at Wisconsin's technical colleges.
In its inaugural phase, the program has attracted more than 20 mentors from diverse functional areas throughout the Wisconsin Technical Colleges.
Beyond Bias: Recruiting and Selecting the Best Candidates
Beyond Bias: Recruiting and Selecting the Best Candidates
With 13 lessons, the content of this training was developed by a workgroup that is a part of the Wisconsin Technical College System Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Its purpose is to aid individuals in how to conduct interviews that are free of bias, promote equal opportunity, and implement interview best practices.
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