Dear Team Members:
With support from leadership at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth and the RISE Team, HSC has been designated a National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) Campus Affiliate. HSC joins only 32 other campuses, including Louisiana State University, Florida State University and Georgia Tech. Most notably, HSC is one of three medical schools/health science centers with a designation nationally. NCBI is a renowned international leadership organization that builds leadership for diversity resource teams and customized training in diversity, equity and inclusion skills on college campuses, community organizations, K-12 schools, corporations, government agencies and law enforcement worldwide.
The United States Department of Education’s Gender Equity Expert Panel cited NCBI’s work on college campuses as a national “best practice,” awarding it the rating of “excellent” regarding educational significance, quality, usefulness and replicability. NCBI is also the recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for outstanding international work on fighting racism. NCBI’s approach of combining emotional healing work with practical skill training enables participants to learn quickly in a safe environment that values individual initiative. Its approach to education on racism and bias is taught through humanity that aligns closely with HSC’s values-based culture.
As a NCBI Campus Affiliate, HSC has the opportunity to lead an unlimited number of workshops for students, faculty and staff on campus; have access to NCBI resource materials and shared resources from “campus best practices” among NCBI campus team leaders; receive ongoing leadership assistance; and obtain strategies for integrating NCBI methodology into the educational mission of the institution. NCBI will also consult with HSC to encourage incorporation of these principles into coursework, as part of the recommendations following the Campus Cultural Assessment administered in spring 2021.
To become a Campus Affiliate, President Michael Williams, Cabinet members and the Deans engaged in a Leadership Exposure Workshop. NCBI affiliate directors conducted a three-day Train-the-Trainer Seminar, where trainers learned about NCBI principles: Building Hopeful Environments to Welcome Diversity; Healing Ourselves to Change the World; Becoming Effective Allies; Empowering Leaders to Lead!; Changing Hearts Through Stories; Skills Training Leads to Institutional Change; Sustaining the Work Requires On-Going Support; and Leaders Deserve to be Treated Well.
Learning the principles, trainers are equipped to lead on-campus workshops on “Welcoming Diversity” and the NCBI “Controversial Issues Process.” For more specifics on this, please refer to your campus-wide email sent from the HSC RISE Team on December 8.
Currently, HSC has 15 trained team members, including the entire Employee Relations Team. Furthermore, HSC has plans to host an additional Train-the-Trainer Seminar in the spring. An announcement for recruitment and participation will occur in early 2022. For those who want to make comments or have questions, please contact Desiree Ramirez.
Have To learn more about on-campus workshops, please contact:
Desiree Ramirez desiree.ramirez@unthsc.edu
Paula Bearden paula.bearden@untsystem.edu
Emanuel George emanuel.george@unthsc.edu
Michael Mathis michael.mathis@unthsc.edu
Damien Torres damien.torres@unthsc.edu
A special thank you to Dean Michael Mathis for introducing NCBI to HSC.