President’s Diversity Council Progress Report

November 2011 – May 2012

Chairs: Warren Burggren, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Gilda Garcia, Vice President of Institutional Equity and Diversity

The President’s Diversity Council first convened on Nov. 1, 2011 to apply a university-wide scope in support of a progressively diverse campus that promotes equity and inclusion as core values. In beginning its tasks as a newly developed council, the Diversity Council wanted to incorporate the great work campus groups and teams are pursuing toward these goals into council planning discussions. The council asked for assistance in gathering information about the groups, teams and projects related to diversity throughout the campus. The project resulted in a comprehensive listing of all UNT programs, staff positions, and faculty/staff/student groups. This inventory of existing diversity resources and programs provides valuable information and has the potential to operate as a searchable database online.

The next steps for the council are as follows:

Inventory chart:

  • Convene focus groups to explore strengths and weaknesses in UNT's diversity efforts and determine gap analysis
  • Further discuss the implementation of a database that is user-friendly and easily accessible

Retention:

  • Use the inventory chart to dig deeper into UNT's currently active groups and evaluate their impact on retention efforts
  • Create structures to facilitate the use of inventory to benefit retention of students/faculty/staff

New Approach to Recruitment

  • Develop a proposal to improve recruitment for faculty and staff. The proposal could include a “Texas Graduate Scholars Day Conference” and/or “Preparing Future Faculty Conference” to promote doctoral students statewide into UNT faculty positions.

 

 

Other Councils and Council reports