Affirmative action program university of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, Massachusetts

The Isenberg School continues to make diversity an important goal in our faculty acquisitions. We continue to be active in the PhD project, a national program for minorities who are considering doctoral study. We send a delegation to the national conference in Chicago each year and as a result have been able to recruit a diverse doctoral student body. Over time, these relationships have also improved our ability to attract minority faculty. In addition, because we share the common plight of all business schools in the underrepresentation of women on our faculty, we have worked hard to attract and retain this demographic segment. The results are since 2010 we have hired nineteen tenure-system faculty members. Of this group 3 are Caucasian females, 3 are Asian females and 1 is an African American female. In addition, we have hired 3 African American male, 1 Asian male and 1 Middle Eastern Male. Many of these new hires are replacements, although net increases to the faculty resulted in a lower percentage of non-white faculty members. Our percentages of female faculty have risen dramatically since 2000, from 18% to 37%.

We have also focused on diversity in our staff composition, particularly at the higher administrative levels. In the past two years we have hired 1 Hispanic female and 4 Caucasian females as directors of functions or programs. Altogether, we now have 2 Caucasian male directors, 13 Caucasian female directors and 1 Hispanic director. We also have 1 Hispanic male assistant dean.

We have continued to focus on improving the diversity of our student body. Through our involvement with the EY Partners in Education program, the CAMP program and other initiatives, we increased our ALANA proportions in the undergraduate student body from 16% to 17%. While modest, these percentages reflect the difficulties of minority recruitment into a business school in Western Massachusetts. We also continue to recruit underrepresented students for our MBA program at such conferences as the National Association of Black MBAs, National Association of Hispanic MBAs, the National Association of Women MBAs and Reaching Out. These efforts have resulted in an MBA program that comprises 36% minority students. Through our aggressive efforts to recruit at such venues as the PhD project, our current PhD students are 56% non-white.

For the 2013-2014 academic year, the College of Nursing has six faculty and one DNP coordinator searches open: two tenure-track Assistant professor positions, three clinical-track Assistant professor positions, and three clinical lecturer positions. The faculty and the College of Nursing will continue to work to improve the search process to recruit and retain a more diverse faculty and staff. Faculty members are encouraged to take the school’s recruitment packet to conferences, seminars, and workshops to help publicize current faculty openings.

We continue to have, and to review, activities that assist in promoting the academic needs of diverse students in the College of Nursing. Plans continue to increase the size of the traditional student class, as well as the Second Bachelor’s and RN to BS class admitted, along with re-focusing our efforts to increase and retain disadvantaged individuals and underserved ethnic minorities.

Professor Jean Swinney from the College of Nursing was awarded a total of $892,559.00 to implement a program called Achieving Diversity: A Comprehensive Approach to Nursing Workforce Diversity Enhancement. The overarching goal of this grant is to increase the number and percentage of ethnic minority and disadvantaged nurses employed in the national nursing workforce. In 2014, Professor Swinney has received another three-year, $1 million federal grant to implement “Heroes into Health Care: Veterans Entering the Nursing Workforce,” a program designed to increase the number and percentage of ethnic minority and disadvantaged veterans who successfully complete a university-based nursing education and become employed as nurses. Funding for the new program comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration.

In 2013-2014, five tenure-track faculty were hired in the SPHHS. Of the tenure-track faculty hires, three were women and two were men. One female clinical assistant professor was hired. Seven staff members were hired. Six were females, one was male and one of these females was a minority.

For 2014-2015, we currently have approval to hire three tenure-track faculty. Kinesiology advertises for tenure track positions in Historically Black Colleges and Universities Connect. Public Health advertises for tenure track positions in Academic Careers Online which includes a specific Diversity Package with diversity/affirmative action applicant email alerts, the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, Historically Black Colleges and Universities Connect, Minority Science Network, etc. Letters are sent directly to the Deans of Historically Black Colleges, and members of the search committee reach out to their own professional networks that include senior faculty of color, other senior faculty who have a track record of mentoring younger scholars of diverse backgrounds, and junior faculty of diverse backgrounds who have begun to mentor their own students.
New SPHHS Diversity Committee

The goal of the School-wide Diversity Committee, created this year, is to facilitate the advancement of diversity related to SPHHS faculty, staff, and students. The Diversity Committee consists of six faculty members, one from each of the Departments of Communication Disorders, Kinesiology, and Nutrition and one from each of the Public Health Divisions (Biostatistics & Epidemiology, Environmental Health Science and Community Health Studies), two graduate students, and an Associate Dean. Duties of the committee are to develop recommendations for the Dean and Department Chairs that will increase diversity and retention of diverse school personnel, support the development of events that promote diversity and/or reduce barriers to diversity within SPHHS, and assess the SPHHS climate to identify factors that aid and/or hinder diversity. In the 2013 - 2014 academic year the Diversity Committee identified two priority diversity-related issues for the Diversity Committee and the SPHHS to work on together: (1) strategies to enhance the diversity of faculty in divisions or departments that are lacking a diverse faculty presence; (2) increased activities and grants aimed at recruiting and retaining students representing diverse backgrounds.

The Dean of the SPHHS offers up to five non-working fellowship appointments per year to nationally competitive students entering the Ph.D. programs. The intent of this fellowship program is to facilitate the recruitment of high quality doctoral students, and to support faculty who train these top-level students. In the 2013-2014 academic year, five fellowships were awarded, three of them to female Ph.D. candidates; two of these females were women of color. The Dean’s Ph.D. Fellowships will be offered again in 2014-2015.

Faculty in the SPHHS may apply to the Dean’s office for funding to enhance an existing or new research program. These funds (up to $10,000 per faculty member) are available to support the faculty member’s research program. In the 2013-2014 academic year, the Dean’s office awarded four Faculty Research Enhancement Grants, with three of the four awarded to female faculty. The Dean’s Faculty Research Enhancement Grants will be offered again in 2014-2015.

Faculty and professional staff in the SPHHS may apply to the Dean’s Professional Development Opportunity Program for funding (maximum of $3000) to attend a professional development seminar, course, or program so that they can acquire important skills and strategies that allow them to increase their productivity in their roles as teachers, educators, leaders, researchers, and administrators, and managers. In the 2013-2014 academic year the Dean’s office awarded three Faculty and Staff Professional Development Grants (one to faculty and two to staff), with two of three awarded to female faculty. The Dean’s Faculty and Staff Professional Development Program will be offered again in 2014-2015.

The SPHHS provided transportation for approximately twenty-five high school students from minority communities in Holyoke and Springfield to attend the annual SPHHS Health Career Fair in the UMass Amherst Student Ballroom in October 2013. The vendors represented community diversity, including the Center for Multicultural Advancement and Student Success; Men of Color Health Awareness; and Gardening in the Community.

During the fall of 2013, the SPHHS Western Massachusetts Public Health Training Center (WMPHTC) developed a sixty-hour Community Health Worker Core Competency Training Program to align with the MA State Board of Certification of Community Health Workers educational requirements. The Community Health Worker (CHW) training was piloted between January and April 2014, and was attended by twenty CHWs working with underserved populations in Springfield, Holyoke, and the hill towns of Western MA. The pilot group of CHWs represented a range of cultures and ethnicities living in the region, including Puerto Rican Latinos, and recent immigrants from Russia and Turkey. The Core Competency training provides evidence-based knowledge and skills for Community Health Workers and includes information on outreach methods and strategies, client and community assessment, communication, cultural mediation and responsiveness, and health education to promote behavior change. Future plans for the CHW Core Training include developing a complimentary training for supervisors and a blended Core Competency Training, which will include face-to-face and online training modalities.

The Coordinator of the SPHHS Office for Public Health Practice and Outreach organizes the Springfield/Holyoke Health Alliance for Research and Engagement, which has led to SPHHS leading a coalition of public health leaders to organize the first-ever Western Massachusetts Health Equity Summit scheduled for October 2, 2014. This event will bring together over 200 community health practitioners to delve into policy and data issues related to health equity. It will also focus on workforce development to advance the work to create a workforce as diverse and representative as the communities it serves.

Along with the Summit, the Coordinator of the SPHHS Office for Public Health Practice and Outreach is working with the state Department of Public Health (Western office), chairing a workgroup on Gap Analysis, Workforce Development and the Educational Pipeline, another way to look at our region and how to enhance the effort to bring the region's under-represented communities into our academic programs. The Coordinator also acts as a liaison between faculty, students and communities addressing health disparities in Western Massachusetts. Faculty and staff across SPHHS departments participate in a wide variety of community activities that promote diversity and multiculturalism in public health and health sciences. SPHHS is firmly committed to disseminating research beyond the academy to community members, practitioners, and researchers.

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  Divisions in A&F continue to focus attention on issues of diversity in recruitment efforts by insuring that position advertisements reach a broad, varied audience to support the campus' commitment to affirmative action and achieving diversity in its workforce.
  
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  The UMPD cadet program continues to be a strong recruiting source for women and people of color aspiring to be police officers. Since the program’s inception in FY 2003, the department has hired and retained two women who were originally student cadets. The ethnicity of the 2013 cadet class is 26% female and 43% minority students.
  
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  For this period, the UMPD's ethnicity/gender ratios for the staff of 62 police officers were 12% female and 10% minority.
  
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  In November 2012, the Police Department began the entry level police officer testing process to establish an eligibility list. The recruitment phase started with 196 applicants (12% female and 19% minority), and ended in July 2013 with a final list of 51 applicants (14% female and 10% minority). These numbers exceeded the final list of the previous process in 2008 which consisted of 4% female and 8% minority candidates.
  
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  The Physical Plant’s general recruitment efforts have resulted in four female employees in the supervisory ranks of the Grounds Management Department. These women hold the position title of Supervisor of Janitors. The Utilities & Engineering Department recruitment efforts resulted in the hiring of a female electrical engineer.
  
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  The Apprenticeship Program in the Physical Plant provides opportunities for advancement in the trades to traditionally under-represented populations as well as current employees seeking to improve their skills and promotional potential. The DigSafe apprentice is in the 2^nd year of the apprenticeship. The Apprentice Program attempted to fill an apprenticeship for a Utility Plant Operator – Electrician for high voltage during the winter of 2012, however the program was not successful in its recruitment efforts and the position currently remains empty.
  
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  Design & Construction Management (Facilities Planning at the time) recruitment efforts resulted in the hire of three females and one minority staff member. The hires were a minority Project Manager, a female Project Manager, a female Construction Engineer and a female Lab Planner.
  
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  The UCard office commitment to employing a diversified workforce is reflected in its 40% female and 20% minority staff.
  
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  EHS successfully recruited two minority employees.
  
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  Five of the six new medical providers recruited to deliver care at UHS in 2013 are female and one is a minority. The medical provider staff is currently 67% female and 13% minority. From September 2012 – August 2013, overall recruitment at UHS for 16 positions resulted in hiring 25% minority and 88% female.
  

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  The UCard Office is committed to a diversified student workforce with 43% of its student employees represented by people of color and 57% represented by women.
  
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  Transit’s affirmative recruiting efforts have resulted in a student driver workforce as follows: 9% of its student employees are people of color; 39% are women.
  
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  Design &Construction Management (Facilities Planning) hired three undergraduate students through the student employment program, including two females (one also minority status).
  
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  Six of the nine student interns for Sustainability in the Physical Plant are female. 
  

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  Workplace Learning and Development (WLD) staff offerings include programs featuring diversity, inclusion and respectful workplace issues. WLD worked with several campus departments and related organizations and with their external clients.  
  
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  WLD offered over 40 contact hours of customized training in the areas of diversity and inclusion during FY14 which were delivered to 110 participants.
  
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  WLD was also engaged by campus department for an additional 8 contact hours of respectful workplace training delivered to 57 participants across those departments.
  
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  WLD FY14 staff offerings include training programs featuring respectful workplace, inclusion and diversity matters.
  
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  WLD hosts the Harassment workshops conducted by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity for all new employees. 112 staff from across campus participating in trainings, such as Respectful Workplace, Diversity in the Workplace, and Multicultural Customer Service.
  
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  During this period, UMPD conducted three adult (all female) classes in Rape Aggression Defense (RAD), and one RAD class for children. All of the classes were open to the community. In addition, staff from the program conducted monthly demonstrations in the residence halls.
  
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  Auxiliary Enterprises provides ESOL training for employees and educates 15 employees per semester in English as a second language.
  
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  All of Physical Plant Staff attended Diversity training conducted by the Equal Opportunity & Diversity Office.
  
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  The University Police Department (UMPD) conducted its annual review of the Sexual Harassment Policy with police and with all new officers during their field training or orientation. In addition, UMPD conducted specialized police diversity training (4 hours) for all police and staff in the department.
  
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  University Health Services has been collaborating with Genny Beemyn, Ph.D., Director of the Stonewall Center, at January staff days to address transgender health improvement at UHS. This effort has generated a Transgender Health Committee at UHS made up of providers from UMass and Hampshire College to increase awareness of transgender health issues and explore opportunities to improve care for UMass students, faculty and staff with regard to transgender health issues. Jordon Bosse, RN, MSN, who was the 2013-2014 Hluchyj Fellow and a doctoral student at the College of Nursing, is also working with UHS with a focus on LBGTQ concerns.
  
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  During FY14, Labor/Management Workplace Education (LMWE) delivered two highly successful pre-apprenticeship programs (one in Springfield and one in Holyoke), geared towards women and minorities. 36 learners were people of color and 8 were women.
  
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  LMWE’s on-campus efforts included six semester-long Workplace English courses for employees with English as their second language and integrated those classes with tutors from the University’s Community and Civic Engagement Program.
  
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  Amherst College contracted LMWE to provide one two-semester-long course on workplace English in FY 14.
  
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  Labor/Management Workplace Education played an integral role in the highly collaborative campus effort to address issues of workplace bullying. Staff from LMWE served on the campus Committee on Workplace Climate and Bullying and chaired the Committee’s subcommittee on Education which made educational recommendations to the full committee, and cumulated in the campus wide Symposium and Kick-off workshop.