The College and University Partnerships team curates and offers a host of programmatic supports designed to increase the capacity of institutional partners to operationalize their equity plans. The majority of these supports are delivered virtually as webinars throughout the year in addition to in-person convenings of the entire ILEA community of administrators, faculty, and PCC legislative partners.

Equity Webinar Series

These one-hour sessions feature subject matter experts from across the country engaging proven strategies that facilitate positive student outcomes. Past presenters have included practitioners and faculty at a variety of institutions where their approach to teaching, fostering social belonging, or promoting student success is informed by a social justice and equity lens.

See Webinar recordings in our Resource Page

ILEA Summit

This annual convening of all ILEA core teams and various stakeholders from the policy and foundation space affords all partners an opportunity to learn and share promising diversity, equity, and inclusion practices while also providing updates on the collective accomplishments of the ILEA cohort. Beginning in November 2020, this convening was delivered virtually over three days.

ILEA Summit – Event Agendas

November 13, 2018
ILEA Summit Fall 2018 Agenda

April 11, 2019
ILEA Summit Spring 2019 Agenda

October 30, 2019
ILEA Summit Fall 2019 Agenda

October 21 – 23, 2020
ILEA Summit Fall 2020 Agenda

ILEA Equity Institute

Unlike the Fall Summit, this event convenes participants from particular segments of college and university partner institutions to dive deeper into specific content areas. During the inaugural Institute, student affairs administrators and staff providing frontline wraparound student services were introduced to speakers and practices that have yielded positive results in the realm of basic needs and student success. The 2022 ILEA Equity Institute will be designed for faculty and instructors seeking to enhance their teaching in culturally responsive ways.

February 18, 2021 – February 19, 2021
Winter Equity Institute 2021 Agenda

Coaching

A unique benefit to colleges and universities participating in the ILEA initiative is being matched with an Equity Program Manager (EPM) who is dedicated to providing individualized attention and ongoing access to resources that will increase the likelihood of making transformative change on their campuses. EPMs act as coaches who become familiar with each team’s campus culture, strategic goals, and learning gaps. Through regular meetings with core teams at each institution, virtual and in-person events, and other interactions, EPMs share knowledge, research, data, and thought partnership with the aim to resolve key institutional problems regarding student success and racial and socioeconomic equity.

Equity Academy for Presidents and Cabinets (EAPC)

As colleges and universities in Illinois and across the country have organized around a set of equity principles to increase success rates for their students and eliminate institutional inequities between student groups, the critical importance of a high performing and aligned leadership team stands out as a necessary condition for success. The Partnership for College Completion (PCC) together with the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program launched an Equity Academy in 2020 for college and university presidents and their cabinets to support the implementation of their Equity Plans and overall institutional reform efforts as part of the Illinois Equity in Attainment Initiative (ILEA). This Equity Academy is designed to complement and enhance the ILEA college or university’s efforts to eliminate racial and socioeconomic inequities on their campuses by increasing degree attainment among Black and Latinx students and students from low-income households.

The Aspen/PCC EAPC covered topics including the following:

  • How leaders build urgency for equity and create a shared understanding of equity goals
  • Institutional capacity for addressing equity at scale, for example strategic finance and human capital policies, among others
  • Alignment of organizational policies and practices to support equity goals
  • Scale, adequacy, and sustainability of strategies that address specific equity challenge
  • Tools to help prioritize new or scaled equity interventions

Student Advisory Council

The PCC Student Advisory Council (SAC) informs PCC’s work while empowering and equipping Illinois college students to advocate for systemic equity and inclusion at their institutions. These students are nominated by faculty and administrators and they represent partners in the Illinois Equity in Attainment Initiative.

See our members of the SAC in Students For Equity.