Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Committee on Equity, Diversity & Civility
ACTIVITIES (COMPLETED AND PENDING) AND RESULTS REPORT:
September 2011 – August 2012
I.
Communications and Education
A.
Event, October 6, 2011
The event was titled “Perspectives on LGBT Life: Learning, Teaching, Working at
Hopkins—An enlightening discussion of LGBT issues for the entire Hopkins
community.” The event featured a five-person panel, each of whom made brief
presentations; a question and answer period; and a luncheon during which each panelist
hosted a discussion. During the week before the event, a diversity slide show ran on the
Wall of Wonder in the Wolfe Street Building. Besides emailed announcements and
eposters displayed on School event monitors, Ms. Cherita Hobbs discussed the event with
department and office administrators at their monthly meeting. Publicity emphasized that
the event was not just for LGBT people, but was for everyone. The event turnout was
about 250 people. The panelists spoke passionately about their LGBT experiences in their
personal, educational, and professional life. The event was well-received by the audience,
and many attendees expressed that they learned information that will be beneficial to
their personal lives. . The discussion tables in Feinstone Hall during the lunch period
were also well-attended: each panelist had a full table of 12 or more faculty, staff, and
students.. One panelist reported that having dialogue with attendees was constructive.
Students who attended this panelist’s discussion table are part of the LGBT constituency
and want careers in public health internationally. Ms. Lorie Benning commended Dr.
P.C. Huang for suggesting the lunch discussion table format. She said that the event took
a lot of teamwork to pull off. Ms. Benning devoted a good deal of time to meeting
individually with the panelists prior to the event to discuss what they were going to speak
about; she said this paid off. Dean Klag sent an email thank you to the panelists for
sharing their experiences and to the Committee for sponsoring it.
B.
Food labeling
The subcommittee worked with the Office of Support Services to implement food
labeling in the cafés in the Wolfe Street Building. The purpose is to allow people to
choose vegetarian, vegan, and non-vegetarian foods, and to avoid allergens. The initiative
grew out of a concern for students from various religious and ethnic groups and other
countries who do not eat certain foods, but who could not be sure what was in foods
available at the School. The labeling will not extend to catered lunches and events, as this
would be considerably more difficult and could raise catering costs.
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C.
Campus Conversations on Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) workshop
Ten Committee members participated in a session of the University CCDI workshop. The
purpose of the workshop is to provide a safe environment for discussions about equity,
civility and respect at JHU; minimizing conflict; perceptions of power; diverse
perspectives in a globalized world; and action planning for workplace, classroom and the
larger Hopkins community.
III.
Faculty Recruitment and Retention
Final edits were made on the faculty search guide, Guidelines for a Broad and Inclusive
Faculty: An Executive Summary for Faculty Search Committees, and the completed guide
was accepted by the Committee. Co-chairs Dr. Michael Trush and Ms. Cherita Hobbs
presented the Guidelines to the Faculty Senate, where it was well-received.
IV.
Staff Recruitment and Retention
The Committee received reports of Human Resources initiatives to broaden the pipeline
of potential employees to include more underrepresented minority, those with disabilities,
and local/Baltimore candidates; and to encourage objective assessment of applicants by
hiring managers with the goal of increasing the proportion of minority interviewees. The
subcommittee began working on its section of a School diversity plan necessary for
School reaccreditation.
V.
Student Recruitment and Retention
The subcommittee presented data to the Committee from the ASPH 2010 Annual Data
Report, focusing percentages for the top five schools of public health and total for all
schools of public health. The subcommittee began discussions of goals which the School
could adopt.
The Committee received a report on underrepresented minority applicants and students.
PENDING ACTIVITIES
I.
Communications and Education
A.
Event planning
1.
Living with Visible and Hidden Disabilities
Planned for October 8, 2012, the event was to feature a panel of five people, four of
whom would speak of their own experiences with disabilities both visible and hidden:
Raymond Robinson, MD, a MPH/MBA candidate; Carlos Mora, a Medical Interpreter at
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; Sheila Fitzgerald, PhD, Associate Professor,
Department of Environmental Health Sciences; Michael Trush, PhD, Professor,
Department of Environmental Health Sciences. The final panelist, Abigail Hurson, JD,
Johns Hopkins University Disability Services Officer, would provide an overview of the
legal framework for accommodating employees or students with disabilities.
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2.
Multigenerational groups in the workplace
The Committee was asked by School leadership to consider sponsoring a session on this
topic. The Committee is working with the Johns Hopkins University Office of Talent
Management and Organization Development to identify presenters and plan the session
content. The session will emphasize a positive, partnership/collaborative approach rather
than a more negative, removal-of-obstacles approach and will combine strategies/skillbuilding with scholarly content. The planned session will have faculty, staff and students
as the audience. A February 2013 delivery is planned.
3.
LGBT public health speaker series
The Committee was approached by the School’s LGBT Public Health Certificate
Working Group for co-sponsorship and assistance with marketing and logistics for a
series of several speakers planned for January through April 2013.
B.
JHSPH Diversity and Inclusion website
The Committee will conclude work with the School’s Office of Marketing and
Communications around the creation of a Diversity and Inclusion website on the School’s
public website. The website will include definitions of the Committee’s core values of
equity, diversity and civility; links to the School’s Diversity Plan, resources, Office of
Student Life, information on the Committee and the OUTList, which consists of members
of the Johns Hopkins community, including faculty, staff, students, postgraduate
students, house staff and fellows, who identify as LGBT. OUTList members are willing
to serve as mentors and/or part of an informal network for the LGBT community. The
Committee’s section of the Diversity and Inclusion website will include information on
past and planned events and accomplishments.
II.
Faculty Recruitment and Retention
A.
Guidelines for a Broad and Inclusive Faculty: An Executive Summary for Faculty
Search Committees
Co-chairs Dr. Michael Trush and Ms. Cherita Hobbs will present the Guidelines for a
Broad and Inclusive Faculty: An Executive Summary for Faculty Search Committees to
the School’s Committee of the Whole, comprised of deans and department chairs.
Following acceptance by the Committee of the Whole, the Guidelines will be targeted to
faculty search committees. In addition, going forward, members of the Committee will
meet with faculty search committees to discuss broadening the search and eliminating
bias from the search.
B.
Faculty Salary Analysis
The Committee will receive a summary report of this annual analysis conducted for the
Dean by the Department of Biostatistics. The report was initiated some years ago by the
Committee’s predecessor, the Committee on Affirmative Action. In response to the
report, School departments are asked to justify or make adjustments to salaries that are
significantly lower than statistically predicted.
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