July 13: Update from President Jeff Morin on MIAD Three-Year Equity and Inclusion Action Plan

Dear MIAD community:

Earlier this month, I shared that MIAD has work to do to fully live out the college’s values. We recognize the need for immediate and long-term actions to create systemic change and dismantle racism on MIAD’s campus and in the Milwaukee community. 

Artwork by Diego Loyo ’23 (Illustration)

Today, I am sharing the college’s Three-Year Equity and Inclusion Action Plan.  This Plan is the result of a year-long study into organizational models, high-impact practices for learning and persistence, and analysis of student-reported data, resulting in 27 steps we will take to serve our community, including our BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and disabled students and the Greater Milwaukee community.

The Plan presents the items we intend to complete or begin over a three-year period, and represents a commitment to change in the ways we think, teach and operate the college. To maintain a defined scope, the Plan does not include all efforts underway or in development at the college. 

MIAD’s most immediate steps include, but are not limited to: 

• Supporting community advocacy: MIAD committed to a $10,000 annual match of donations made by students, faculty, staff and alumni to selected City of Milwaukee nonprofit organizations fighting racial injustice. This program will continue with input from students each fall on organizations selected for the following calendar year.
• Diversifying the college’s faculty and staff: For the next two years, the college will fill vacant faculty positions with AICAD Post-Graduate Teaching Fellows, who are MFA graduates from underrepresented populations nominated by their home institution for college-level teaching positions. MIAD is the only college in the country hiring new AICAD Fellows this year. Targeted strategies with assistance from the community will be used to increase staff diversity.
• Educating and training: Anti-racism training and resources will be provided for new first-year students, returning students and all employees this fall, and on an ongoing basis.
• Reviewing policies: The college is reviewing policies to ensure issues of racism are addressed immediately. 

In addition, MIAD will begin to decolonize the curriculum, and an additional staff member will be hired to support students of color.

Click here to view the full Three-Year Equity and Inclusion Action Plan.

I want to thank the MIAD students and employees, as well as our community partners – the Milwaukee Fellows, YWCA Southeast Wisconsin and LIT (Leaders Igniting Transformation) – for their valuable work and input in reviewing this plan. 

I pledge to our students of color: We will do better. As we turn our plan into action, I want you to know that we continue to listen. If you have any comments, questions or ideas, I invite you to share them with me and our Director of Inclusivity, Richard Anderson-Martinez, at action@miad.edu.

Jeff Morin
MIAD President