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Miami University

Undergraduate School

Mailing Address
501 E High St
Oxford, Ohio 45056
Phone
(513) 529-1809
Email address
admission@muohio.edu
School Information
"Miami is an Ohio public university... Founded in 1809, Miami's name reflects the history of the Native American tribe who once lived in the Miami Valley region of Ohio. Miami maintains strong ties with the Miami Tribe, now located in Oklahoma... Oxford, Ohio, with regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, the Voice of American Learning Center in West Chester and a European campus in Luxembourg... Enrollment (fall 2019): 17,327 undergraduates and 2,607 graduate students study in Oxford, about 4,600 on the regional campuses and nearly 200 students per year in Luxembourg. Miami students come from all 50 states and 79 countries... Calendar: First semester begins late August, ends mid December; winter term is in January; second semester begins late January, ends early May. Summer sessions are also offered. For a complete schedule, see the academic calendar... Degree Programs: On the Oxford campus, Miami offers bachelor's degrees in over 120 areas of study. Graduate students choose from more than 70 master's and doctoral degree programs. Several associate's degrees as well as bachelor's degrees are also offered through study at the regional locations." (Source: https://miamioh.edu/about-miami/quick-facts/index.html)
General Information
Miami University has partnered with local organizations to deliver anti-racist resources to its students. As part of its Martin Luther King Jr. Day programming, the university partnered with the Oxford community to deliver the virtual event titled, "Anti-Racist Activism Then and Now: A Conversation with Nikki Giovanni." The lecture featured the poet and a panel of university students and staff. No mandatory Critical Race Training sessions are yet required of students. However, see developments below:

Actions Taken

Admissions Policies
  • The Council on Diversity and Inclusion at MU "Develop[s] diversity-related competencies to increase recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, staff, and students,"
  • MU's Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion "Implementation Progress Report, Spring 2022 Update" states that "Following national best practices and in alignment with our commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, Miami has chosen to make test scores optional for students applying to the university through Spring 2023 to ensure equitable opportunity for admission, scholarships, and honors programs." Additionally, the update states that "The university has developed policies to support fundraising focused on attracting and retaining minoritized and underrepresented students."
Anti-Racism, Bias, and Diversity Training
  • MU published its 2021-2022 Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Report which states, "In September 2021, Miami launched a new diversity statement requirement for faculty candidates and revised search committee evidence-based training sessions to focus on implicit bias, strategies for mitigating bias, and the evaluation of diversity statements."
  • MU published its 2021-2022 Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Report which states, "In line with best practices nationally and reflective of our DEI commitments, senior leadership groups at Miami, including the President’s Executive Cabinet and Deans, have participated in anti-racism sessions this Fall and Spring." Additionally, in the Spring of 2022, "OIDI launched a new Anti-Racism Workshop for faculty, staff, and students."
  • MU's Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion "Implementation Progress Report, Spring 2022 Update" states that "The new Anti-Racism Workshop developed in OIDI similarly provides faculty and staff with the professional development needed to be better allies and to be intentionally antiracist."
Curriculum Changes and Requirements
  • The College of Arts and Science offers a "Critical Race and Ethnic Studies" major/minor, which helps students "develop a deep understanding of the particular historical, social, cultural, and political experiences of individual racialized groups within and beyond the United States, as well as the relations among them." (From the 2022-2023 General Bulletin)
  • The Associated Student Government posted an extensive list of classes that "focus on Black and African history/culture and the Black experience in both America and around the world." These include "Black Feminist Theory" and "Critical Race and Post-Colonial Studies," among several others.
  • MU's Farmer School of Business lists all of its diversity courses that satisfy the school's "Diversity Requirement."
  • Since 2015, Liberal Education at MU has included an "Intercultural Perspectives Requirement." Through these courses, "students will recognize new perspectives about their own cultural rules and biases by demonstrating an understanding of the ways marginalized and dominant groups define and express themselves, and the contexts in which these definitions are constructed." Students can choose from a list of over 50 courses that fulfill the requirement. (From the 2022-2023 General Bulletin)
  • MU's Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion "Implementation Progress Report, Spring 2022 Update" states the following: "The course’s [DEI online course] ten modules were developed by Miami faculty and staff across units (including CAS, FSB, EHS). Module topics, critical to DEI efforts on campus, included Bias, Microaggressions and Stereotypes; Racism and Anti-Racism; LGBTQ+ Identities and Culture; Ableism and Inclusion; Ageism and Age Bias..."
Disciplinary Measures
  • The Office of the Dean of Students outlines its "Bias Incident Response" procedure and and states, "At Miami University, we are committed to advancing the institutional values of diversity, inclusion, and respect."
Political Actions and Support for Anti-Racism
  • The university actively encouraged individuals associated with it to vote and also participate in Black Lives Matter protests.
Re-Imagining Policing
  • MU published its 2021-2022 Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Report which states that "the entire Miami University Police Department participated in the Safezone training and were able to work with Center for Student Diversity to better address the needs of LGBTQ+ students."
Resources
  • As part of its Martin Luther King Jr. Day programming, the university partnered with the Oxford community to deliver the virtual event titled, "Anti-Racist Activism Then and Now: A Conversation with Nikki Giovanni." The lecture featured the poet and a panel of university students and staff.
  • The university has provided anti-racism resources by level of learning, meaning from "beginner" to "advanced." They have also added an "implicit bias test."
  • On March 1, 2022, MU's College of Arts and Science published an article titled "Rodney Coates emphasizes the importance of representation in critical race theory educational policy," which discusses Professor Coates' work on CRT and and the 1619 Project, which, according to the article, is "a depiction of American history written from the perspective of Black people instead of what he [Coates] described as the Eurocentric white male account (the '1776 Project')."
  • On April 22, 2022, the Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion hosted an event titled "Shauna Morgan Workshop: Beyond Diversity and Inclusion: A View Towards Decolonizing the Curriculum" which explored "theoretical and practical approaches to enhancing curricula with an eye towards decolonization."
  • The Center for Teaching Excellence at MU provides guidance for teachers on diversity, equity and inclusion "Syllabus" Statements as well as guidance that is "organized around eight considerations about pedagogy and syllabus development to support instructors in their DEI efforts."
  • The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI) at MU has "initiated a new group to prepare and include students (undergraduate and graduate) to serve on faculty search committees." The goal of these "Student Equity Ambassadors" is to "prepare and train students to work with our OIDI and the DEI Academic Leadership Council during all faculty search processes."
Symbolic Actions
  • The university hosted a speaker event titled "We (Re)Member: Black Women Teachers and the Spirit of our Work."
Last updated November 23rd, 2023
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