NAFSA Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for Member Leaders
The NAFSA Diversity and Inclusion Working Group is excited to present this action plan as an excellent
step towards creating a more engaging, accessible, and collaborative environment for NAFSA member
leaders and the work they generate. The impetus for this plan begun with a revision of the Diversity and
Inclusion Statement and was a directive from the NAFSA President and Chair of the Board of Directors to
the Board’s Professional Development and Engagement committee to consider how member leaders
could impact these issues.
The plan focuses on how to infuse diversity and inclusion into the member leader structure at NAFSA
and fits under the NAFSA Strategic Plan Goal #5:
Create and disseminate knowledge and resources and provide professional development
opportunities responsive to the ever-changing needs of the field. Recognizing the dynamic
growth and increasing complexity of the field of international education, we serve the needs of
the full range of international education professionals at all types of institutions and
organizations. We serve professionals throughout their careers. To advance the field, we offer
cutting edge learning opportunities and the essential resources needed to increase professional
effectiveness.
The framework of the plan consists of a total of 12 goals, and these five specific goals are related to the
member leader work:
1. Increase personal outreach by all member leaders;
2. Develop onboarding and engagement strategies toward diversity-focused groups;
3. Foster an inclusive environment by increasing accessibility and participation from
underrepresented groups, individuals, and institutions;
4. Include diversity and inclusion accountability in volunteer role descriptions; and
5. Expand educational content generated by the knowledge communities and leadership
committees.
The action plan is the culmination of leader input that was refined by the working group. The group
comprises six members representing five regions (I, II, IV, VII, X) and five different types of institutions.
Led by the Membership Engagement Committee’s current diversity adviser, the group reviewed more
than 600 ideas generated from the Diversity and Inclusion World Café held at the Washington
Leadership Meeting on January 27, 2017.
In partnership with NAFSA staff, the work group identified central diversity and inclusion themes within
the framework of the action plan and these themes were turned into action items. In turn, these action
items (listed below each goal) will be taken up by our member leader teams and committees starting
with their work plans in 2018. The plan also includes seven staff-driven goals that support the member
leaders structure. These are labeled as staff-driven work and are at the end of the report, and these
items will be implemented starting in 2018.
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NAFSA Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for Member Leaders
Goal #1. Increase personal outreach by all member leaders (member interest groups, knowledge
communities, and committees) to serve as champions as a means of engaging peers and creating a
welcoming environment. Include diversity and inclusion principles and content in newcomer events
and activities at regional and national conferences.
Action Item #1: Include personalized messaging as testimonials and send personal messages
to prospective and current member leaders.
Action Item #2: Consider implementing best practices for outreach and communication
strategies to diverse and underrepresented professionals.
Goal #2. Develop onboarding and engagement strategies toward diversity-focused groups. To define a
clear path to leadership opportunities, identify current and past leaders who are willing to buddy with
or mentor professionals from underrepresented groups and institutions.
Action Item #1: Develop an assessment method (surveys or focus groups) to better
understand who is participating and the reasons for participation.
Action Item #2: Highlight and share widely the main accomplishments from each member
interest group, knowledge community, leadership committee, and region to use as a
diversity and inclusion recruitment and engagement tool.
Action Item #3: Encourage NAFSA regions to offer grants or other incentives to reduce
financial barriers to attending conferences or engaging in member-leader positions.
Goal #3. Foster an inclusive environment by increasing accessibility for individuals, underrepresented
groups, and institutions that are volunteering within NAFSA (male; under age 40; first generation;
students; disabilities; age; gender; sexual orientation; non-U.S. citizens; socioeconomic; community
college; and racial or ethnic groups such as African, Latino, and Native American).
Action Item #1: Provide mentoring for new member leaders.
Action Item #2: Encourage member leaders to utilize and disseminate the talking points,
testimonials, and videos provided by NAFSA.
Action Item #3: Develop an intentional outreach strategy and targeted recruitment at the state
and regional level for volunteer positions.
Action Item #4: Knowledge communities, regions, and leadership committees target recruitment
of members from community colleges; tribal colleges and universities; Hispanic-serving
institutions; and historically black colleges and universities, to participate in Advocacy Day.
Goal #4. Include accountability for diversity and inclusion as an element of all volunteer role
descriptions.
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NAFSA Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for Member Leaders
Action Item #1: Revise the application process of elected and appointed leaders for national and
regional positions to solicit information on contributions to diversity and inclusion.
Action Item #2: Incorporate questions in the member-leader interview process and reference
checks that allow candidates for volunteer positions to share their experience in diversity and
inclusion.
Action Item #3: Determine metrics for measuring the effectiveness of outreach efforts to secure
a diverse candidate pool for regional teams, knowledge communities, and leadership
committees (e.g. diversity of applicant pool for outreach, candidates interviewed, and
candidates selected).
Goal #5. Expand educational content generated by the knowledge communities and leadership
committees to emphasize diversity and inclusion at the NAFSA Regional Conferences, Annual
Conference, and in training.
Action Item #1: Encourage regions to establish conference themes that are reflective of a
commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Action Item #2: Encourage regions to provide funding for underrepresented groups to be more
involved in leadership positions at the regional and national level.
Action Item #3: Create targeted outreach to member interest groups, regions, and those
working at community colleges; historically black colleges and universities; Hispanic-serving
institutions; and tribal colleges and universities for conference session proposals.
Action Item #4: Include diversity and inclusion topics in the call for proposals at the national and
regional level, and create a mechanism to assess the outcomes.
Goal #6: Expand the role of diversity and inclusion from one member leader on one committee, to all
member leaders.
Action Item #1: Create and implement a diversity and inclusion work plan that allows member
leaders to have an expanded role to meet this goal. The Diversity Adviser’s role will end in
December 2017 and implementation of this plan will begin in January 2018.
Goal #7: Share the NAFSA vision; diversity and inclusion statement; diversity and inclusion plan and
outcomes with new leaders.
Action Item #1: Include the NAFSA vision; diversity and inclusion statement; and diversity and
inclusion plan in the New Leader Orientation.
Action Item #2: Include the NAFSA vision; diversity and inclusion statement; and diversity and
inclusion plan into the onboarding of member leaders by NAFSA staff partners.
Action Item #3: Add these elements to NAFSA 101 webinar for the onboarding of new leaders.
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NAFSA Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan for Member Leaders
Goal #8: Ensure that all leaders know of current diversity and inclusion resources, programs, or
initiatives.
Action Item #1: Create a summary of diversity and inclusion resources, programs, or initiatives
and include in the NAFSA Leader Handbook.
Action Item #2: Share diversity and inclusion updates in Leader Connection.
Action Item #3: Create a diversity and inclusion toolkit for NAFSA leaders.
Goal #9: Ensure diversity and inclusion is integrated by trainers and instructional designers for all
organizational training and accessible to all.
Action Item #1: Develop a diversity and inclusion checklist to inventory and assess all current
training content for diversity and inclusion, starting with the most highly utilized training.
Action Item #2: Use the diversity and inclusion checklist when developing new content.
Goal #10: Add quantitative scoring to the NAFSA member-leader work plan tool.
Action Item #1: Develop a scoring rubric with criteria to the NAFSA member-leader work plan
tool.
Goal #11: Vice Presidents will assess diversity and inclusion outcomes, products, and programs on
work plans using quantitative scoring.
Action Item #1: Review a consolidated report of all work plan progress at mid-year.
Action Item #2: Review a consolidated report of all work plan progress at the end of the year.
Action Item #3: Provide a summary report to the NAFSA Board of Directors on work plan
progress (success, challenges, and opportunities).
Goal #12: Track diversity demographics of all leadership committees.
Action Item #1: Encourage member leaders to complete a diversity and inclusion
survey capturing specified demographics.
Action Item #2: Use existing sources of member-leader demographic data for benchmarking
purposes.
Action Item #3: Update Board of Director Vice Presidents’ position descriptions to include
diversity and inclusion responsibilities.
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