Since the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Council at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing launched in January 2022, the administrators, faculty and staff involved have been working on each of the council’s major action plans, which are:
- To create a physical environment that is accessible, welcoming, equitable and encouraging of community-building
- To cultivate the diversity and cultural humility of the students, faculty and staff
- To ensure that the School of Nursing policies represent a commitment to success for all students, faculty and staff
- To cultivate intentional programming to foster opportunities for connection
- To demonstrate leadership in organizational change to lead innovation and generate approaches to cultural intelligence and actualization of diversity
- To ensure that public and internal messaging reflects inclusive excellence as a priority
- To create mechanisms to ensure that continued reflection on diversity, equity and inclusion is fostered and shared
Addressing several of these action plans, the school’s Inclusive Admissions Process went into effect in fall 2022.
The mission of this admissions process is to attract applicants to the School of Nursing who are diversely experienced in life, leadership, community and health care and come from varied educational backgrounds.
Through this admissions process, School of Nursing administrators, faculty and staff strive to educate an inclusive student body who is culturally sensitive in order to better serve the needs of diverse populations across a variety of environments; develop leaders who influence and shape the future of nursing and health care; and foster student development to increase their potential contributions to the nursing profession.
Examples of attributes that will be considered through this admissions process include status as a first-generation college student, ethnicity, gender identity/sexual orientation, physical ability, multilingual ability, military service, and altruism. The process is currently in place for undergraduate and graduate programs. It looks for applicants who demonstrate good communication skills and professionalism and who discuss experiences or stories that demonstrate the above attributes through their personal statements, interviews and reference letters. Applicants must still meet regular GPA, testing and transcript requirements as well.
Celebrating and Supporting a Diverse Student Body
In other DEI initiatives, Kendra M. Barrier, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing, has been working with Richard Smith, Jr., MBA, Quality Performance Improvement Coordinator for the School of Nursing, on gathering statistical data so they can create a dashboard that will display student, faculty and staff demographics.
They are also working to thread DEI elements throughout the curriculum at the School of Nursing, which is “a huge task,” according to Dr. Barrier.
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Student Association just elected new officers for the year, including President Dacia Coleman, Vice President Trina Williams, Secretary Tylesha Wallace, Treasurer Jordan Sanders, Historian Rachel Applebaum, Guest Speaker Coordinator O’Shawnta Dantzler and Parliamentarian Lendelle Cannon.
Dr. Barrier has asked the DEI Student Association to produce a video focused on what it is like to be a first-generation nursing student.
“What support systems do they have; what is a typical ‘day in the life’; how do working students balance that with their studies, mentoring, community service and other activities; if they’ve received any scholarships and how cumbersome that process was; what resources are available for students – these are questions that many prospective and current students may have,” she says.
Dr. Barrier has also completed the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Diversity Leadership Institute and the AACN Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing program, which are designed to stimulate strategic thinking and help leaders advance outcomes in DEI and other areas at their institutions.
In celebration of its diverse student population, for the first time, the School of Nursing celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month by highlighting the school’s first Hispanic and Latino graduates across all programs of study. A full list of those high achievers can be found here. The school intends to highlight a similar list of Asian and Native American graduate “firsts” soon.
