Office of Inclusion and Diversity
How can you get Involved in the Diversity Innovation Fund Initiatives?
In July 2020, the HACC Board of Trustees committed to funding a $1 million dollar Diversity Innovation Fund. This Fund presents exciting opportunities for members of the College community to get involved in helping to shape a culture of inclusion and belonging at the College! How, you may ask? Check out the webpage for the Diversity Innovation Fund for details about each of the five initiatives within the Fund, for updates, and to apply for Innovation Grants or to the Diversity Faculty Fellowship. Students and employees who have a burning idea related to diversity and inclusion can apply for funding through the Innovation Grants. Full-time faculty are also eligible to apply to the Diversity Faculty Fellowship, which will open for the spring semester in the next few months.
How to Respond to Racial Discrimination and Harassment
Several of you have requested a tool that you can use to respond to racial discrimination and harassment. It is unfortunate that such tools are necessary. However, that is the reality we have been facing in this country for hundreds of years.
Racism, hatred and bigotry are immoral, unethical and inhumane and will not be tolerated at HACC. If you need guidance with responding to racial discrimination and harassment, a tool is available on myHACC.
A screenshot of the specific location is located to the left of this article. Please see the last item in the “Greetings from the President” section.
New HACC Math Accessibility Work Group
Student Access Services (SAS), in partnership with Academic Affairs and OITLE, has formed a Math Accessibility Work Group. The mission and intent of this work group is to identify and tackle institutional challenges around accessibility and to provide viable and actionable solutions to ensure full access and ease of use within the Math curriculum for all students. The group met once in October and will be continuing to meet monthly. We thank our members and look forward to next month’s meeting. More to come!
Student Conduct Help Needed!
Student Conduct is the adjudication of the College’s student disciplinary process as outlined in SGP 505. There are two opportunities to assist in this process.
First, the College needs one or two new hearing board officers trained. When a disciplinary case reaches the hearing board level, the person who has investigated the case cannot chair the hearing. Since most all cases are investigated by the Director of Student Conduct, this person is not able to chair hearings. Are you interested in chairing two-three disciplinary hearing boards a school year?
Second, it would also be beneficial to have one or two additional investigators. In some rare instances, there may be a conflict of interest and the Director of Student Conduct may be considered biased and unable to investigate.
If you want to learn more, please contact Anthony Beard, director, student conduct at ajbeard@hacc.edu.
SAS’s Stellar Advocates for Accessibility
Thank you to the following HACC faculty and staff members who have gone above and beyond to assist SAS students: Jennifer Billman, Lou Ann Boose, Kasey Brenneman, Erin Brown, Eric Camarillo, Elisa Cohen, Rae Dennis, Karen Green, Janelle Heiserman, Elaine Madden, Leisa McAlicher, Kari Meck, Stephanie Morrow, Ruth Negley, Kelsey Ratcliffe, and Debra Roberts.
Student Government Association (SGA) Reorganization
This summer, the 2019-20 Campus SGA Presidents began the process of creating a one-college SGA Constitution. This challenging work continued into the fall semester. The Constitution is currently in a review process by administration and the Bylaws are in the editing phase. The timeline for the SGA Constitution and Bylaw ratification is scheduled for February 2021. Elections for the new SGA structure will occur in early April 2021.
At this time, the SGA Vice President for the Harrisburg Campus is leading efforts to rewrite the advisor reference manual, based on new Bylaw requirements and combining language from individual campus manuals. A club advisor and officer meeting was held on Monday, Nov. 9 at 3:00 p.m. All active and inactive club advisors and officers were welcomed and encouraged to attend. This session provided status updates from the SGA and offer answers to club-related questions during this transition time for all clubs and organizations.
Wendy Brubaker, assistant director, Student Involvement, continues to work with all SGA Officers, Senators and Volunteers on these efforts. If you have questions, please email at wabrubak@hacc.edu.
HACC Alumni Share Stories of Empowerment
In recognition of Disability Employment Month, Student Access Services, Career Services, and Student Involvement collaborated in the “Power of Personal Branding” event held on Monday, Oct. 26, 2020. The following HACC alumnae panelists, Allena McCloud (‘17) and Brittany Venerick (‘18), shared their successes and challenges transitioning from student to working professionals with a disability. These panelists also included two current student leaders, Makaela Moatts, SGA President for the Lancaster Campus, and Jovannie Carrasquillo, Student Programming Board Officer at the Gettysburg Campus. Mikaela and Jovannie presented on how getting involved in extracurricular activities outside of the classroom helped shape their personal brand.
Thank you, panelists, for your powerful stories and experiences. A special thank you to Vicki Van-Hise, director, Student Access Services, Monica Dixon-Howard, assistant director, Student Involvement, and Lorie Sonnen, assistant director, Career Education, for creating this opportunity for alumnae and current students to share their perspectives.