As Forum Approaches, NJIT's Chief Diversity Officer Talks Students, Curriculum and Training

David E. Jones is just a few months into his role as chief diversity officer at New Jersey Institute of Technology yet already has a visible presence.

Jones is meeting students, leading workshops, attending administrative meetings and speaking at campus events. Next up is a March 8 forum on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging that will feature the Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, a preeminent diversity consultant and mentor of Jones. Washington will provide a broader, societal context on the importance of DEIB, while Jones will unveil his specific vision and DEIB initiatives for NJIT. The 90-minute event will take place in Ballroom A of the Campus Center.

In advance of the forum, Jones shared his thoughts on students, curriculum, training and why he believes that DEIB is a cornerstone of NJIT’s mission.

What good signs and challenges have you identified early on?

People are really excited about this role and this work. It has been a warm welcome to the university. People have been really receptive to my ideas and have been embracing me in their spaces, which is a great thing. Also, the diversity of our campus. What’s great about this work is that we have the diversity right at our fingertips, through our students, through the community of Newark. Now it’s my goal to take that diversity and incorporate inclusion- and belonging-based initiatives, so that the diverse population feels more at home at NJIT.

So, is there a gap between the prima facie diversity and the actual embracing of that?

Yes, because you can have a diverse community, right? You can have diverse students. But what if those individuals don’t feel included? The campus climate report spoke to this need for a sense of belonging on campus. There’s an opportunity and lots of potential for me to move forward in that work.

How are you connecting with students?

I participated in some of the meetings of the Black History Month committee where I was asked to serve as the keynote speaker. I've also met students at the Murray Center for Technology. I’ve attended student events, most recently the National Society of Black Engineers MLK dinner, and have been pretty active in showing up in different spaces where students are. I’ll be going to the Student Senate for the first time in a couple of weeks. And I meet regularly with one of the Student Senate reps, Lara Rios, who’s a diversity officer for the Student Senate. We meet on a biweekly basis, which has helped support her efforts.

You’d like professors to create curriculum and course content that reflects student experiences. What are some examples of this?

There’s a lot happening in society that impacts women, people of color, immigrants, persons with disabilities, non-Christian individuals. There’s oppression and marginalization happening across our country, unfortunately. We see it in the headlines. It creates timely conversations that, if done correctly, can be tied into the learning that’s happening in the classroom. So, it’s about helping the faculty think critically about how they use their expertise in their particular discipline and apply it to societal issues that I think can help students see themselves more in the learning. That can be done through case studies and field experiences. It’s about stretching the curriculum beyond the basic tenets of what the academic discipline requires. Cultural sensitivity is critical.

In your Teik Talks video with President Lim, you described DEIB as the cornerstone of NJIT’s mission. Can you elaborate on that?

The language I’ve been using is inclusive excellence. It’s the idea that everyone sees themselves in this work, everyone has a role and responsibility and that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are built into the fabric of the institution through its programs, policies, procedures, processes. That when we talk about anything from hiring practices to curriculum development to program development, equity and inclusion and those concepts are at the forefront.

It’s our greatest strength but it also needs to be the greatest contribution in all the spaces that we’re in, where all members of the NJIT community are held accountable and to a high standard of sustaining inclusive excellence. From meetings to events to commencement, we need to feel and see the strength of our diversity and efforts toward creating an inclusive environment. And everyone — not just me — has to see themselves as a partner and a stakeholder.

How will you create a groundswell for this?

I’m leading a three-hour workshop — one for faculty, one for staff — on unconscious bias. So, training has to be a consistent thing here to build the capacity and competency of our employees to engage with our diverse student body. That’s a critical piece because I can’t go into this work assuming that everybody is on the same page. So, being able to create training and programming to educate and strengthen the awareness of our constituent groups is key.