August 4, 2021
CUPA-HR, an association for Human Resources professionals in higher education, has selected Oakland University to receive the 2021 CUPA-HR Inclusion Cultivates Excellence Award for its Diversity Advocate Program.
The award recognizes and celebrates institutional initiatives and programs that have made a significant impact with respect to inclusive and equitable workplace practices, particularly those that have brought about cultural change throughout the organization.
“This award signifies that the work performed by a cross team of administrators and faculty in establishing a university-wide Diversity Advocate program is being both valued and recognized at the national level,” said Joi Cunningham, assistant vice president of Academic Human Resources at Oakland University.
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To be eligible for the award, a program must take a creative approach and have a significant impact on the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and/or staff, foster engagement and provide education that builds inclusion.
“While we have had success in this area, in large part due to the dedication of faculty who serve on search committees and help advance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, continual focus, review and assessment is necessary to sustain and further these efforts,” she added. “Receiving this award is a validation that these efforts count and that we are on the right track.”
Diversity Advocates are voting members of a search committee who support it in its activities while also ensuring that the committee is able to mitigate the impact of conscious or unconscious bias.
Since the rollout of the Diversity Advocate Program in 2018-19, more than 120 people have participated in training. As of 2020, all faculty searches have been required to have a designated and trained DA, and beginning in 2021, all members of faculty search committees will receive training on equity bias.
According to program evaluations, faculty who participated in the DA training found it valuable and felt it prepared them well for meaningful participation as search committee members and DAs. However, the most important measure of the program’s success, along with other related efforts, has been an increase in the percentage of Underrepresented Minority (URM) faculty at the university: from 52 in 2017, the year before the DA program began, to 59 in 2020.
“We are currently piloting a Diversity Advocate program for staff and have an audit tool to help prevent bias in the reappointment, promotion and tenure process for faculty,” Cunningham said.
Thanks to support from EyeMed, the 2021 CUPA-HR Inclusion Cultivates Excellence Award also includes a gift in the amount of $5,000, which Oakland University plans to contribute to the Rabbi Richard G. and Bella Hirsch Faculty Endowment for Racial and Social Justice.
“This endowment focuses on racial and social justice, more specifically the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty members, as well as providing the structure for underrepresented minority faculty members to be successful educators and research investigators in line with the diversity efforts of Academic Affairs,” Cunningham said.
To learn more about Oakland University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, visit www.oakland.edu/diversity.