Stanford
Office of Faculty Development, Diversity and Engagement

IDEAL Faculty Leaders Pilot Program 2022-23

The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and the School of Engineering are partnering with the Office of Faculty Development, Diversity and Engagement in a new IDEAL Faculty Leaders (IFL) pilot program as part of the IDEAL Initiative. In this pilot program, IFLs will engage faculty in peer-to-peer dialogue during department meetings to consider the current departmental climate and how communication methods and practices could enable even more inclusion. IFL teams will be hosting a series of meetings with several assigned departments over the course of the one-year pilot program.

The goal of this pilot program is to test and evaluate the IDEAL Faculty Leader model of peer-to-peer faculty engagement and to refine the program structure, the methods, and materials that the IFLs utilize for their peer-to-peer department meetings.

Group photo - IFL Dialogue Skills Training Sept 14 2022

Well-respected faculty members at the Full Professor rank, who were interested in and committed to creating a community where everyone feels respected and valued were recruited and appointed as IFLs. Extensive prior experience working in diversity, equity and inclusion-related roles was not a requirement. As an orientation for the pilot program, the IFLs, along with Lupe Carrillo, director of diversity, equity and inclusion in SDSS and Lourdes Andrade and Susan Drange of OFDDE, participated in a 3-day Dialogue Skills training with outside consultants, Anna Yeakley, Ph.D. and Alan Goff, M.Ed.

Four faculty members have been appointed as IDEAL Faculty Leaders:

  • Karen Casciotti, Professor of Oceans, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
  • Lynn Hildemann, Senior Associate Dean of Education and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Alison Marsden, Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases, and Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and of Bioengineering
  • Eric Shaqfeh, Lester Levi Carter Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering

While not every department will be able to participate in the pilot program this year, if the program expands, everyone will have a chance to engage in these important conversations aimed at enhancing a supportive and inclusive community for all.