Consulting Services

Serving the needs of marginalized students, staff, and faculty

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts look different at every institution and should be adapted to the specific history and mission of each school, college, or university. An outside voice can help you gain perspective and determine the best course of action.

“Why might I want or need consulting services?”

We don’t know where to start, but we want to do better for our students, faculty, and staff.
We want to better understand the obstacles all members of our community face and we need help starting that intra-community dialogue.
We’re looking for specific tools that faculty can use to effectively teach a diverse student population.
We want to inspire personal and professional growth by creating a warm space where staff can explore how our various identities shape the classroom and workplace environment.
We want to design meaningful, inclusive programs for students, staff, and faculty that supports their academic and professional success.
We need help understanding the DEI landscape in higher education and identifying institutional gaps within our organization.
We’d like to create a meaningful plan for institutional change rooted in research-based best practices.
We need to determine what kind of metrics will help us assess the success of our DEI initiatives.

Let’s work together.

Consulting can be done on an individual basis (e.g.: one-on-one meetings), with specific administrative teams (e.g. Communications and Marketing, the Office of the Dean, the Board of Trustees), or with various faculty and committee groups (e.g.: History faculty, writing instructors, DEI task forces and work groups).

My consulting rate is $200/hour.

Typically, clients are looking for support with the design, development, and implementation of specific projects, which may include:

Developing and facilitating tailored trainings and workshops
Offering both individual or team-based equity coaching
Drafting a robust, research-based DEI strategic plan
Creating or reviewing documents (e.g.: marketing materials), curricula (e.g.: course syllabi), and other materials (e.g.: new faculty onboarding curricula, student leadership trainings, etc.)
Leading student, faculty, and employee focus groups
Designing and distributing climate surveys

“

Nimisha Barton is a charismatic leader, an inspirational and transformative change agent in the space of diversity, equity, inclusion, and wellbeing.

She brings to bear deep knowledge of historical structures, current issues, and best practices that she engagingly adapts to diverse institutional settings and audiences, from high school students to senior faculty and academic administrators.

”

— Dr. Christy Pichichero, Associate Professor of French and History and Graduate Advisor of French, George Mason University

“

Nimisha consulted with us to design tutor training activities for an inclusivity workshop, and we couldn’t have done it without her.

She was knowledgeable about trends and best practices that were new to us, and her suggestions were informative and fun for the tutors.

Working with Nimisha was great; she’s collaborative, hardworking, detail-oriented, intellectually generous, and an all-around delightful human being.

”

— Dr. Bridget Draxler, Writing and Speaking Specialist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Writing, St. Olaf College

“

Dr. Barton's leadership, passion, and thoughtfulness to the individual needs of our students led to the creation of a unique, individually-tailored leadership program for young women.

This program has not only aided students’ development but has already stimulated institutional change.

Through her teaching and mentorship, our girls learned to become change agents committed to the cause of gender equity.