muw diversity plan

MUW Diversity PlanApril 2012 DRAFT 5-Year Strategic Plan

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.

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

Year 1 Recommendations

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.

• 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 thegreatest balance in racial diversity

What is learned concerning diversity within

online-only programs may be transferrable

to classroom-only & hybrid-based programs.



MUW will establish systematic retention-based assessment to determine appropriate strategies for recruiting and retaining identified targeted underrepresented groups to its graduate programs.



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.



MUW will expand required academic support services for all students with identified targeted underrepresented groups being our initial at-risk priority.



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.



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.

• 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.



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.



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.



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.



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.

• Areas of Emphasis to Address Underrepresented Groups in Curriculum:


MUW will plan and propose development of a Diversity Studies program similar in format and perhaps drawing on the courses of the Women Studies program.



MUW will plan for establishment of a cultural studies center initially based upon existing programs.



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.

• Strategies for Addressing Underrepresented Contractors and Vendors:


RFQs (Request for Quotes) inviting companies to bid will be posted online.



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.



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.



MUW will begin offering a Diversity Studies program similar in format and perhaps drawing on the courses of the Women Studies program.



MUW will comment funding for development and/or expansion of a cultural studies center.



MUW will trend data from retention-based assessment of identified targeted underrepresented student groups, establish benchmarks, and set growth targets.


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.

muw diversity plan

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