Inclusion spotlight: Marti Tomlin and Heather Sadowski
SOE doctoral students lead the charge to bring equity from the classroom to the field. From one campus to another.
Marti Tomlin and Heather Sadowski, second-year students in the VCU School of Education’s Ed.D. in Leadership program, have already begun to apply what they’re learning about equity and leadership into their roles as higher education leaders at the University of Richmond (UR).
In the fall of 2020, the doctoral students and their program colleagues conducted an equity "snapshot" as part of the Equity and Leadership (EDLP 709) course taught by Jeffery L. Wilson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership. The snapshot assessed the current state of UR’s Weinstein Center for Recreation, regarding its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Tomlin, who is director of university recreation at UR, manages the daily operations of the center. Sadowski is the center’s director of health promotion. Using document analysis, selected multi-level staff interviews, and an employee survey, their class assessment helped to identify how diversity, equity and inclusion affect behaviors, workplace practices, policies and management efforts at the center. Their work in Wilson’s Equity and Leadership course provided a baseline and collective understanding of recommended changes that could be implemented at the center.
Led by a unit working group co-chaired by Tomlin and Sadowski, the center used these findings to develop a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, including recommendations in the areas of leadership and culture, as well as training and development.
A year after completing their course, Tomlin’s and Sadowski’s strategic plan is fully implemented, proof that what they learned in their educational leadership program led to actionable items, and resulted in positive sustainable change for leaders and employees at UR’s Weinstein Center for Recreation.