Main Responsibilities Of An Assistant Provost For Institutional Equity At Willamette University
Emilio's role as Assistant Provost, Institutional Equity at Willamette University involves coordinating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, creating a university-wide DEI committee, and fostering strategic partnerships, such as with Oregon's tribal governments. A key aspect of the work is prioritizing key DEI initiatives from a large number of important, yet potentially overwhelming tasks, focusing on measurable outcomes related to recruitment, retention, and support structures for faculty and students of color.
Higher Education, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Strategic Planning, Data Analysis, Community Engagement
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Emilio Solano
Assistant Provost, Institutional Equity
Willamette University
Willamette University, 2009
Loyola Marymount University, Master of Arts, Urban Education: Policy & Administration and Lewis & Clark College, Doctorate of Education, Education Leadership
History, Art History
Education
Education
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. Developing and implementing university-wide DEI initiatives, including the creation of a DEI committee with representatives from various colleges and departments.
2. Collaborating on strategic partnerships with external organizations and community stakeholders, such as tribal governments, to enhance relationships and explore areas of mutual interest.
3. Analyzing data related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including student retention, faculty recruitment and retention, and curriculum development, to inform decision-making and program development.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
I think something we were lacking, and why this role was created, is that we were missing a coordinator. It wasn't that these things weren't happening on campus or in individual colleges, but we were missing that connector.
One of the first things I was tasked with was creating a university-wide DEI committee. This committee includes representatives from each of the five colleges that make up Willamette, as well as university representatives from student affairs, HR, and admissions. The goal was to get these individuals in a room to really start talking about these issues.
That's a finite example of the work I do. It involves a lot of talking and conversations, but then it's about taking action. We think about the campus climate and what we can do to create a better one.
We also focus on strategic partnerships in areas of community engagement and DEI. Currently, we're working with tribal governments in Oregon to strengthen our relationship and explore areas of mutual interest, such as research, grant opportunities, and student retention and recruitment.
I'm in a lot of meetings, and there are many things I'm trying to accomplish. A major focus is understanding what outcomes look like for diversity, equity, and inclusion. We need to identify who to talk to and where to get data from.
This includes examining retention data broken down by demographic and looking at career and internship data. It's about how we are viewing and interpreting this data. I also work within the academic affairs space, focusing on faculty and curriculum.
While I'm new to this role, we talk a lot about programming, particularly for faculty of color. This includes how we recruit and retain them and what support structures are in place. Academic affairs also touches on admissions and student retention, which has been a huge topic since the pandemic.
I attend bi-weekly, if not weekly, meetings to discuss retention strategies. It's a big umbrella, and my focus is on prioritizing under that umbrella. We aim to accomplish three to four key things each year, rather than getting overwhelmed by the hundred things that always need to get done.