R.I.D.E. AY 2024-2025

Preamble:

The department has spent the last few years re-envisioning its commitments to Realizing Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Equity represented in large part by our department wide participation in an Antiracism Pedagogy Workshop (Fall 2022-Spring 2023), and an extensive series of department meetings focused on long-range goal-setting. Around that time, our department also conducted an international search for and ultimately hired a tenure-track colleague whose teaching and research expertise substantially includes race, racism, and Greek & Roman studies along with the capacity and willingness to teach Classics Beyond Whiteness and other divisional offerings and FYS courses. Additionally, we hired a second tenure-track colleague whose research and teaching expertise furthers our commitment to the CBW series as well as elements of WGSS in our discipline.  Below is a brief review of our Departmental R.I.D.E. goals for this year and how we plan to implement them:

Target Area 1: Student Recruitment and Retention

Goal 1: Reconsider curricular offerings/ placement 

Strategies: 1. discuss bulletin changes for majors/minors; weigh effects on current offerings and how new changes may allow for flexibility of student enrollments into language courses as well as current teaching schedules

2. introduce new courses (FYS and others) to attract broader and more diverse population

3. alter placement tests / methods to allow for appropriate placement and better student success

Goal 2: Dissolve Eta Sigma Phi (honor society)  and introduce Classics Club to create an inclusive, robust, diverse student population engaged with the department and program with equitable leadership opportunities

Strategies: 1. Appoint a faculty director (done – Dr. Amy Mars)

2. Recruit student involvement and leadership (ongoing)

Target Area 2: Faculty Recruitment and Retention / Support New Hires

Goal 1: (Re)Institute Peer Review of Teaching

Strategies: 1. Define process (done), 

2. Create a schedule (done), 

3. Implement program (in progress)

Goal 2: Create Intra-Departmental Faculty Mentoring Program 

Strategies: 1. pair one early career faculty member with one promoted faculty (in progress), 

2. Promoted faculty member will send semesterly report citing how many times pair met and briefly identify if there is an area that the department can tend to in order to better support / assist new career faculty, or alternatively identify what department is doing well that should be continued

Target Area 3: Departmental Climate and Professional Development

Goal 1: Established an annotated google doc where faculty members post influential articles and/or sources related to Anti-Racist Pedagogy and other Best Practices for Pedagogy with which they have recently engaged and can provide an overview of, discuss (discussion occurs at the beginning of every department meeting), and encourage others to read and be aware of.

Goal 2: Continue “Works in Progress”, “Proculoquium”, and “Visiting Scholar Lecture Series”; these venues highlight a diversity of interests and profiles in our field, but also, especially for the “works in progress”, said venue allows for all members to understand better the research specialties of colleagues, some of which may be aligned (in varying degrees) to our own experiences or identities.

Goal 3: Institute a Departmental Dinner and Fellowship with significant others

Strategy: Meet for dinner once a semester to promote collegiality, enjoy food and fellowship together, and create space for long and short term vision planning and ideas