MUW Diversity Plan

1. MUW Diversity Plan April 2012 DRAFT 5-Year Strategic Plan

2. MUW Diversity Mission Statement Through a liberal arts education, Mississippi University for Women seeks to promote understanding and respect for individual and group differences while emphasizing our common bonds, with the goal of developing a productive, engaged and socially responsible citizenry. MUW is a multicultural institution committed to diverse representation throughout the university organizational structure, sensitive to maintaining an open, supportive and responsive environment, authentic in including diverse cultures in its operations and policies. MUW is dedicated to the goals of equal access and opportunity and to elimination of obstacles to cultural diversity. Adapted in part from: Sue, D.W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender & sexual orientation. Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ.

3. Year 1 Recommendations General: MUW will establish a Diversity website linked directly to the university’s homepage intended to serve as a portal to all university diversity initiatives.

4. Year 1 Recommendations • Enrollment & Graduation of Targeted Underrepresented Groups: MUW recognizes the need to monitor the enrollment, support and retention of all students and has identified the following as our initial five-year enrollment and retention priority: Male students generally and African-American male students in particular; First-Generation Students, Non-Traditional Students, Transfer Students generally, and underprepared college-able students from each area in particular; International students generally.

5. Year 1 Recommendations • Enrollment & Graduation of Targeted Underrepresented Groups: MUW will establish systematic retention-based assessment for undergraduate programs: To determine why certain undergraduate degree programs seem skewed toward any demographic ; To inform marketing and persistence efforts ; Online-only programs deserve particular attention: MUW’s online programs have maintained the greatest balance in racial diversity What is learned concerning diversity within online-only programs may be transferrable to classroom-only & hybrid-based programs.

6. Year 1 Recommendations • Enrollment & Graduation of Targeted Underrepresented Groups: MUW will establish systematic retention-based assessment to determine appropriate strategies for recruiting and retaining identified targeted underrepresented groups to its graduate programs.

7. Year 1 Recommendations • Enrollment & Graduation of Targeted Underrepresented Groups: MUW will develop online educational opportunities and develop online diversity-based outreach and support as diversity enrollment and retention initiatives with identified targeted underrepresented groups being our initial priority.

8. Year 1 Recommendations • Enrollment & Graduation of Targeted Underrepresented Groups: MUW will expand required academic support services for all students with identified targeted underrepresented groups being our initial at-risk priority.

9. Year 1 Recommendations • Enrollment & Graduation of Targeted Underrepresented Groups: MUW will establish a system to monitor scholarship pools to ensure that we continue to maintain integrity of emphasis on providing scholarships for identified targeted groups as a retention-based initiative.

10. Year 1 Recommendations • Employment of Targeted Underrepresented Groups in Administrative, Faculty, & Staff Positions: MUW recognizes the need for a more diverse administration, faculty and staff that better mirrors the diversity of our student body and has identified the employment and retention of a more diverse faculty as a priority.

11. Year 1 Recommendations • Employment of Targeted Underrepresented Groups in Administrative, Faculty, & Staff Positions: The Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) will ensure the integrity of all hiring practices, ensuring diversity is emphasized as a priority when advertising and interviewing for all open administrative, faculty, and staff positions (based upon best practices): CDO and the Office of Human Resources (HR) review and proposes change to hiring policies and procedures as needed; CDO and HR assist with preparation of advertisements, completion of job requisitions, and approval of advertisements prior to posting; CDO and HR conduct search committee training; CDO and HR work with search committee chairs verifying integrity of finalist/alternate candidate pools for searches.

12. Year 1 Recommendations • Employment of Targeted Underrepresented Groups in Administrative, Faculty, & Staff Positions: MUW will plan for hiring a Chief Diversity Officer and Coordinator/Director of Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity who will report directly to the office of Human Resources for all AA/EEO matters and directly to the President for all other diversity-based matters.

13. Year 1 Recommendations • Employment of Targeted Underrepresented Groups in Administrative, Faculty, & Staff Positions: MUW will develop a strategy of networking for potential faculty exchange and to raise interest and awareness among students enrolled in the outstanding graduate programs offered within the state’s IHL system in order to recruit a more diverse faculty and cultivate future administrators from within the state system.

14. Year 1 Recommendations • Employment of Targeted Underrepresented Groups in Administrative, Faculty, & Staff Positions: MUW will broaden advertising practices designed to incorporate higher education employment publications and services that target minorities that will include web resource databases such as the one currently being developed by IHL.

15. Year 1 Recommendations • Areas of Emphasis to Address Underrepresented Groups in Curriculum: MUW will establish formal mechanisms for ensuring that diversity is considered a priority in course and program review—e.g., via student learning outcomes assessments, General Education Curriculum Committee review, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee review of new or modified course and program proposals, etc.

16. Year 1 Recommendations • Areas of Emphasis to Address Underrepresented Groups in Curriculum: MUW will plan and propose development of a Diversity Studies program of curricular and extracurricular offerings, including but not limited to the creation of a minor in African American Studies.

17. Year 1 Recommendations • Areas of Emphasis to Address Underrepresented Groups in Curriculum: MUW will plan for establishment of a cultural studies center initially based upon existing programs.

18. Year 1 Recommendations • Strategies for Addressing Underrepresented Contractors and Vendors: MUW will establish a community advisory council to assist the institution’s improvements in all areas of diversity and to broaden campus outreach to underrepresented contractors and vendors, particularly minority-owned businesses and businesses owned by women.

19. Year 1 Recommendations • Strategies for Addressing Underrepresented Contractors and Vendors: RFQs (Request for Quotes) inviting companies to bid will be posted online.

20. Year 1 Recommendations • Strategies for Addressing Underrepresented Contractors and Vendors: MUW will establish working relationships with associations such as The Minority Contractors Association of Mississippi, Inc. in order to broaden the university’s outreach and call for bids by underrepresented contractors and vendors, particularly minority-owned businesses and businesses owned by women.

21. Year 2 Recommendations • Employment of Targeted Underrepresented Groups in Administrative, Faculty, & Staff Positions: MUW will hire a Chief Diversity Officer and Coordinator/Director of Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity who will report directly to the office of Human Resources for all AA/EEO matters and directly to the MUW President and IHL Diversity Committee for all diversity-based matters. Importantly, the CDO and Coordinator/Director of AA/EEO will not hire but will ensure the integrity of all hiring practices, ensuring diversity is emphasized as a priority when advertising and interviewing for all open administrative, faculty, and staff positions.

22. Year 2 Recommendations • Areas of Emphasis to Address Underrepresented Groups in Curriculum: MUW will begin offering an African American Studies Minor as a part of a newly-established Diversity Studies program.

23. Year 2 Recommendations • Areas of Emphasis to Address Underrepresented Groups in Curriculum: MUW will commit funding for development and/or expansion of a cultural studies center.

24. Year 3 Recommendations • Enrollment & Graduation of Targeted Underrepresented Groups: MUW will trend data from retention-based assessment of identified targeted underrepresented student groups, establish benchmarks, and set growth targets.

25. Year 5 Recommendation General: End of fifth-year closes initial strategic planning cycle. Summative data collected and overall trends reviewed in relation to university’s strategic planning; findings incorporated into university’s and IHL system’s assessment and planning processes.