The 2023/24 academic year marks the fifth anniversary of WSU Vancouver's signature professional development program, Building a Community of Equity, also known as BaCE.
The five-year celebratory theme is "building a community of equity: because you matter." The theme highlights the campus community's progress toward its strategic objective to create an environment that includes, welcomes, increases access and removes barriers so that everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
"WSU Vancouver will take this moment to celebrate the growth, the impact and the recognition the BaCE program continues to achieve," said Elisha Hardekopf, director and facilitator for BaCE.
Responsive and proactive
Discussions about developing such a program began in 2015, in response to mandated cultural competence training. The first BaCE workshop was held in 2017, the first day on the job for newly hired Obie Ford III, now vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion. From then on, Ford led the core team to develop a robust, intentional and cohesive program, which became Building a Community of Equity. The full program was unveiled in 2018.
The pilot workshop, BaCE 101, had 76 participants. Since then, the BaCE program has flourished to include more than 1,500 participants in three different professional development engagement options, each created to meet the needs of specific participants.
The first option is the BaCE Professional Development Program for WSU Vancouver staff, faculty and graduate students. The second is the BaCE Summer Pedagogy Academy and the third is the BaCE Enrichment Series.
BaCE Professional Development Program for WSU Vancouver: The original option now boasts a catalog of more than 110 workshops and has engaged more than 800 participants. The program aims to increase individual and campus capacity to promote more access, inclusion and belonging for students and employees. It is a proactive strategy that offers tools, language and support to WSU Vancouver employees.
Participant Jeanette Hurt attests to its success: "The BaCE program has made me able to talk to other staff and faculty of the change and growth needed to provide for the WSU Vancouver community."
BaCE Summer Pedagogy Academy: The academy works to infuse equity-minded strategies into classrooms and professional units, with a goal of increased student retention and better outcomes. It started in 2020 as a virtual, systemwide strategy to support staff, faculty and graduate teaching students as they created change projects for their classrooms and units. So far, more than 80 employees have participated and have created projects that make classrooms and work environments more accessible, inclusive and welcoming. Change projects range from the types of readings and materials assigned, to amendments to policies and practices in classes, meetings and day-to-day interactions. This four-day academy gives participants the context and tools to make the changes needed to build belonging, and to prevent barriers and disparate outcomes for those from historically marginalized communities.
The BaCE Pedagogy Academy hosts an annual showcase featuring change projects across disciplines. The goal is to share and honor the work done by campus members to make learning and working at WSU Vancouver a better experience for everyone.
BaCE Enrichment Series: The final engagement option is the BaCE Enrichment Series, created for external individuals and groups who want more access, inclusion and belonging in their respective workplaces. Initiated by Ford during the pandemic, the BaCE Enrichment Series has served more than 300 participants from approximately 20 entities. According to Miriam Halliday, CEO of Workforce Southwest Washington, "The series allowed for time and space for sharing across the organization...and at the end, initiated projects to be developed and planned for the organization to carry forward."
Another participant, Lisa Keohokalole Schauer, WSU Regent and CEO of PointNorth, attested to the team-building potential of the series: "BaCE created a meaningful dialogue among our team, we wouldn't have had," she said. "The care and intention that the WSU team brought to PointNorth was extraordinary and brought our team together in a way I couldn't have ever anticipated."
Upward trajectory
A WSU Vancouver strategic imperative, the BaCE program comes under the Office of Equity and Diversity, led by Ford. Within the past three years, Ford has grown the unit's leadership with Hardekopf and Shameem Rakham campus director for faculty equity and belonging; Julian Ankney, campus director of Native American programs; and Luz Rocío Sotomayor, chair of the Council on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
The BaCE Core Team meets biweekly to strategize about offerings and programmatic direction and has expanded to include members from Student Affairs and Enrollment, who can offer information on how to support student retention. The number of BaCE facilitators has also increased, offering expanded enrichment opportunities for staff and faculty.
WSU Vancouver recognized BaCE's five-year milestone with a community celebration week in April. The event highlighted certificate recipients, honored facilitators, celebrated campus partners and shone a spotlight on program achievements. In 2024/25, the BaCE program will center on the theme of "community" and will launch a year-long Community of Care series. "This focus, again," Ford said, "speaks to the intentionality of the program to uplift equity, belonging, joy and love throughout WSU Vancouver's campus."
"The BaCE program continues to inspire the WSU Vancouver community and partners to take meaningful action to build a community of belonging, because each member matters," said Hardekopf.