Faculty & Staff Resources

Suffolk University supports faculty and staff in making our community a welcoming place for all students—and for one another.

Faculty and Staff standing on staircase, smiling

Faculty and staff members have an enormous impact on the student experience at Suffolk. They play a primary role in creating an inclusive and equitable campus community by supporting and advising students according to their unique needs. To be effective guides, mentors, and advisors, it is crucial that faculty and staff members alike are mindful of their students’ identities and lived experiences. Equally important is their ability to collaborate with each other in a workplace that is supportive, open, respectful, and equitable for all employees.

Suffolk University provides faculty and staff members with a range of resources designed specifically to help foster this kind of working environment.

Initiatives

Affinity@Suffolk: Employee Resource Groups

Affinity@Suffolk faculty and staff greet guests at an event.

Employee Resource Groups offer faculty and staff members opportunities to gather based on shared identities and interests. Activities range from networking and professional development to celebrations of culture, speakers, and chances to just connect and communicate. Join one or start a new one.

Ambassadors For Inclusion

Staff members standing in front of Stahl Center

This program uses learning exercises to help faculty and staff expand their knowledge of diversity and inclusion–related issues, and become actively involved in building a culture of diversity at Suffolk.

Leading for Change Diversity Consortium

Leading For Change Consortium.

Led by Bridgewater State University, this organization’s mission is to find solutions for decreasing the achievement and opportunity gaps for marginalized groups in higher education. Suffolk faculty and staff members are active participants in the consortium, helping through research and data gathering to develop institutional best practices for diversity and inclusion.

Truth Racial Healing and Transformation Initiative

Zen garden with stones.

Organized by Suffolk’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Initiative, these are safe spaces for interaction and reflection on topics of conscious and unconscious bias. Attendees focus on intentional listening and honesty, and fostering awareness, consciousness, compassion, and empathy among all who participate.

DEI Training for Employees

Units may include schools, departments, divisions, or other configurations. Supplemental sessions provided to new faculty and staff during orientations, first-year experience programming, etc. Workshop recommendations include diversity, equity, and inclusion unit plans. 

Inclusive Hiring and Recruitment

Engage with search committees to prepare an equitable search process for all open positions. Engage with external search firms and professional organizations to expand recruitment capabilities to increase diversity among the pool of applicants. Increase advertisements by publicizing vacancies in a variety of areas. 

JEDI Monthly Book Discussions

The Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Council is comprised of DEI campus leaders and partners from across campus focusing on institutional priorities related to social justice, equity, and representation, and inclusion. (Director of CSDI; Assistant Dean of Law Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Counseling, Health, and Wellness; Center for Career Equity, Development, and Success, Disability Services, Interfaith Center, and other affiliates) 

All university stakeholders are invited to participate in monthly book discussions focused on expanding our knowledge and building community.

Faculty Professional Learning Community Race on Campus Book Discussion: ‘The 1619 Project’

The FPLC Race on Campus group continues its reading series with The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones, with Zoom discussions on March 25 and April 22 at 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Please register for the discussions. For more information, contact any member of the FPLC Race on Campus group: Audrey Goldstein, Felicia Wiltz, Greg Beaver, Peter Rivard, Ilona Anderson, Marilyn Plotkins, or Micky Lee.