In 2020, the Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health (DSPH) developed a school-wide Antiracism Action Plan. A year later, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Transforming Academia for Equity (TAE) grant gave the school the resources to act on it.

The Office of Culture, Community & Opportunity(CCO) was formally established in 2023 and is now one of six priority areas in the DSPH Strategic Plan 2025–2029.

Milestones

Milestone 1 — RWJF–TAE Grant Awarded (2020)

The Transforming Academia for Equity grant continued health equity and organizational change work, originally implemented via an Antiracism Action Plan. First Associate Dean appointed.

Milestone 2 — Health Equity Focus Groups (2022)

Focus groups conducted and data analyzed to identify facilitators and barriers for health equity research at DSPH.

Milestone 3 — CCO Office Established (2022)

A new Associate Dean was named and a new office was established to strengthen culture, community, and opportunity within DSPH.

Milestone 4 — Shared Leadership Team Established (2023)

A team of students, faculty, and staff across 14 DSPH units and departments was established to guide culture and equity programming.

Milestone 5 — Defining our Work (2024)

The Shared Leadership Team worked toward collective definitions and understanding of shared values over eight months of discussion.

Milestone 6 — Climate Survey (2024–25)

The Office revamped and implemented the annual climate survey to monitor and track the morale, strengths, and challenges within the school.

Milestone 7 — Office Revamp (2025)

Re-established the Office and its functions. Renamed the Office and IDEA Fellowship. Created mission and vision statements for CCO at DSPH.

Milestone 8 — Strategic Planning (2025)

Culture, Community & Opportunity is now one of six priority areas in the DSPH Strategic Plan 2025–2029.

Support from the Transforming Academia for Equity Initiative

The Transforming Academia for Equity (TAE) initiative at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supports universities working to embed equity into their institutional structures as a lasting feature of how they operate. CCO was created with TAE support and works closely with our TAE adaptive change specialist.

The CCO Office showcased their journey in a gamified poster display, The Drexel TAE Journey Map Game [PDF], inspired by the game Chutes and Ladders. They chose this theme to illustrate the progress and resets of TAE efforts in a manner that evokes the joy of childhood.

CCO in Research and Public Discourse

Researchers including the CCO team authored the following peer-reviewed study that documents the development of the Shared Leadership Team, the journey of the Office of CCO, and the successes and challenges of leading during times of change:

Joshua, Lopez, Wilson, Owino, Love, Schinasi, Kaufman, Waetzig, Lovasi & Moore. “Shared leadership team: the creation, journey, lessons learned.” Frontiers in Public Health, March 17, 2026.