TFRE

Co-Curriculum (Student Life/Support) SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

 Already have existing infrastructure in Big Sibling program  Strong NOSA leadership could be leveraged for assistance  There have been initial efforts to support retention of URMs such as the SUNY Irises group created in 2017 to support minority students with conferences, board prep support, clinic resources, and study groups to name a few - we can build on this initial work. Also, there have already been private funding to help reinforce previous funding from SUNY System.  Create a question on the Big Sibling matching survey that allows URM’s to select if they would like to be paired with a Big based on racial concordance  Opportunity to expand and deepen support for high-need and minority students through SUNY Irises  Partner with NOSA to form more creative ways to incorporate diversity awareness segments at future orientations and advertise NOSA events  Create newsletter for SUNY Optometry community that centers around diversity awareness  Wellness Committee had initially formed last year as a student-led Student Affairs group, and new student chapter of ProjectLETS, can offer new opportunities for SUNY community on “wellness” issues

 Existing program isn’t specific to minority students, or Black students  Few URM SUNY students which would mean a single Big would have multiple Littles, especially as Black student enrollment is increasing  SUNY Irises funding discontinued by SUNY System in 2020 due to COVID and state budget shortfalls  Marion Wise, our current social worker at SUNY, is designated for patients only, not rest of community  Class of 2023 and prior do not have many URM students so Bigs may have to have multiple Littles  Possibility of offending students or exclusive wording  Current fiscal situation in NYS, therefore SUNY, does not allow for flexibility in hiring social workers to expand services

Opportunities:

Threats:

Continued silos in addressing broad support for students and student life

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Overall analysis:

In the areas of recruitment, we can see that a lot of progress has been made by the college as compared to where we were over a decade ago. For example, the class of 2009 had 0% Hispanic, and 1.3% Black. Our incoming Class of 2024 has 9.2% Hispanic and 8.2% Black. This shows that while we are diverse, and that we acknowledge the good work that has been done by the College and Student Affairs, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done to increase representation, particularly in our Hispanic and Black student populations. One area of opportunity is to create a “Summer Enrichment Program” to reach more URMs and help them level the playing field.

FINAL REPORT: Task Force on Race and Equity

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