College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Office of Culture, Access and Belonging

The goal of the DEI Badge Project is to help collectively recognize, acknowledge and be inspired by the amazing work each department, school and unit contributes to and implements as a way to build lasting diversity, equity and inclusion.

DEI Badge Process

Each year, the CANR Office of Culture, Access and Belonging will request that CANR and MSU Extension departments and units submit diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts from (2024 - 2025) as a part of the DEI Badge Project.

The requests are sent directly to department chairs, school directors and directors who should then solicit feedback from the entire unit to capture the most accurate information related to DEI efforts. The process will consist of three steps

1. Completing the DEI Effort Internal Assessment Form (IAF)

Purpose: The IAF allows the reporting unit to assess DEI Efforts internally before preparing and submitting report to gain a tentative understanding of badge grouping.

2. Completing the CANR DEI Efforts Report       

Purpose: The DEI Effort report will provide necessary supporting information and details to validate the IAF and provide further detail about any additional DEI Efforts.

3. Submit both documents back to OCAB through the Qualtrics form

CANR DEI Effort Reports and associated documents are due by Saturday, February 1, 2025.

The criteria taken into consideration aligns with the 5 core areas established by the DEI Strategic Plan put forth by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. The core areas are as follows:

• Culture and climate
• Leadership
• Recruiting, hiring and retention
• Employee training and professional development
• Teaching, outreach, research and service

Please Note: The final report and IAF can be completed by leadership or a designee but should take into account as much of the collective work of the unit as possible.

DEI effort reports will be reviewed and grouped into three categories: Platinum, Gold and Green with Platinum being the highest level.

Green: A green badge signifies that the department has built a strong foundation for growth, exploration, and expansion related to DEI. This department has demonstrated tangible action steps that align with the five core DEI areas and has a clear outline for how to move forward and build upon the solid base.

Gold: A gold badge signifies that a department has moved beyond foundational work and has established a baseline culture of DEI in their unit or department. Recipients have likely accomplished multiple things in the five Core DEI areas and have begun to show tangible results from those actions. Recipients are also actively taking steps to improve on their DEI efforts and continuously showing improvement.

Platinum: A platinum badge signifies that the department has gone above and beyond and achieved tangible, sustained success in nearly all Core areas. Recipients have not only established a baseline culture of DEI but have imbedded it into the work as a guiding principle and may be seen as a guide or example for other departments.

DEI Badge Recognition

Annually, a selected CANR Review Committee will evaluate each unit, school or department based on their efforts in all of the collective areas. The composite will recognize the efforts of each unit and they will be recognized each spring for DEI activities during the previous academic year.

The unit, department and school along with their respective faculty and staff will be able to celebrate their accomplishments by using the digital badges on their email signatures and on their respective websites, most likely in the About and DEI sections.

Digital badges are only valid for the upcoming year. The evaluation criteria will be updated annually to reflect CANR’s DEI Strategic Plan and DEI Statement.