COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - Winter 2016

OCED Welcomes New Team Members

The Office of Community Engagement and Diversity has been very busy in the last several months and several new faces have joined the team.

Dave McIntosh, Ph.D., joined the office in November as the associate dean for urban health innovation and chief diversity officer. Dave was most recently at Texas A&M University, where he worked in a variety of capacities. For nearly 10 years he worked for the vice president and associate provost for diversity, and served as the assistant dean for diversity in the College of Medicine. In these capacities, Dave developed and executed diversity strategic plans as well as initiatives that sought to foster inclusive environments. Dave has also had the opportunity to collaborate with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) serving as a presenter on webinars, and serving as the southern regional representative for the Council on Student Diversity Affairs (COSDA). In his academic work, Dave’s research examines race and oppression utilizing phenomenology and critical race theory. Prior to working in academic medicine, Dave worked primarily in student affairs at Michigan State University and the University of Missouri.

Starting this past summer, Dwayne Compton joined the office as the executive director for diversity initiatives. He is responsible for establishing, implementing and assessing diversity and inclusion programs throughout the school. Compton also serves as an advocate and resource for all populations at the School of Medicine, with particular focus on issues that impact women, members of minoritized ethnic/racial groups, members of the LGBT community and members of underserved populations specific to medicine and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As he continues his transition into this new role, Dwayne will be dedicated to providing leadership, critical discourse and the support needed to advance the School of Medicine’s community engagement efforts and diversity initiatives. In addition, Compton will work collaboratively with the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion pipeline programs and other diversity programming implemented by the HSC ODI team.

Dwayne has been with UofL for ten years in various capacities related to diversity recruitment and retention, community engagement and advising. He is in the final phase of completing a doctorate degree in Leadership Education at Spalding University.

Ron Welch returned to the Kentucky AHEC Office in late September 2015 after spending just over a year working for the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Ron previously spent five years working with Kentucky AHEC and we are happy to have him back as our program manager.

With the team complete, the Office of Community Engagement and Diversity is working on several important initiatives to create an environment and a culture in the School of Medicine that enables success for all people, regardless of identity characteristics. In order to create this environment, we are putting together an ambitious diversity plan which will serve as a blueprint for the school. There are three tenets for the plan:  presence, climate and policy/practice.

Presence refers to the headcount data for the people in the school, recognizing that in order to fulfill our mission and our public trust, we must work to ensure that we are creating opportunities for all people, particularly those who have been traditionally excluded.

Climate refers to how people are made to feel in the School of Medicine. This is a critical component to the plan since we endeavor to be an institution where all people can succeed. By studying the climate, we will be in a position to improve aspects of the climate that are in need of remediation. We will be measuring the climate in an iterative fashion and will be transparent with the findings so we may collectively chart a path for improvement.

Policy/practice refers to examining the ways that we make decisions in the School of Medicine to ensure equity. Too often in universities, decisions and practices remain unexamined which fosters an environment where things are done a particular way out of tradition rather than thoughtfully examining the impact of decisions, policies and practices on different populations. By carefully studying the impact of policies and practices, we will ensure that the environment in the school is treating all people equitably.

With regard to urban health, we are in the midst of developing partnerships within the community with schools, foundations and other organizations so that we can understand the opportunity that exists for the School of Medicine to effectively partner with ongoing efforts, as well as develop new initiatives that are symbiotic with existing programs.

 

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