Career & Professional Development Launches Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Plan

*Updated December 2021

The diversity, equity & inclusion strategic plan for Career & Professional Development ensures our services meet the unique needs of all stakeholder groups. In alignment with the unifying philosophy recently outlined by the Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, we will aim to have a holistic approach in these efforts inclusive of learning differences, sex, gender identity, gender expression, language, race, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, disability, religion, spirituality, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status as well as their intersectionalities as we develop this plan.

Through six months of stakeholder listening sessions, surveys, best practices research and data analysis we were able to identify themes for areas of emphasis in the coming three years that centered the voices of our diverse community. These listening sessions and themes have informed the goals outlined below.

Bold Goals to Achieve by 2025

Goal 1: Representation of Staff & Volunteers
Develop tactical strategies to diversify the career staff and career volunteers with the goal to have a staff and volunteer composition that more closely matches the campus demographics by 2025.

Goal 2: Career Staff Training
Create staff onboarding process and ongoing training that builds knowledge and confidence to fully integrate diversity, equity and inclusion principles and topics into all conversations, programs/events, initiatives, as well as career education resources and presentations.

Goal 3: Employer Training Program
Create a comprehensive employer training program regarding diversity, equity & inclusion in recruiting in a campus environment including public recognition for those that meet a set training program and show organizational commitments.

Goal 4: Increase Financial Support for Experiential Learning
In partnership with Advancement and national organizations, develop a strategy for increasing funds available for internships, research, campus employment, and similar high impact experiences.

Goal 5: Campus Integration with Diverse Communities
Ensure a clearly defined liaison model for connecting with diverse campus communities and leverage liaison relationships to co-create tailored programs when appropriate.

Goal 6: Tailored Marketing & Communication
Develop a marketing strategy for communicating to diverse audiences and ensure current marketing and communication efforts are infused with inclusive messages.

The goals outlined above will be addressed in phases over the next three years. On the following page, we have outlined explicit action items for year one, staff owner, and deadline for completion. Staff will integrate the below goals into their annual performance plans as goals for the coming year to ensure accountability and progress toward goals.

ACTION ITEM OWNER DEADLINE
Goal 1: Increase Representation of Staff & Volunteers
Create a hiring plan to diversify student employees. Rita March 2022
Create standard language for inclusion in all job descriptions that ensures DEI language and work is covered throughout. Heidi October 2021
Create a DEI speakers bureau that includes professional development training for student & alumni volunteers. Kyle In Progress
Invite Rufina Hernández, Associate Director, Office of Equal Opportunity to a staff meeting to discuss diversifying candidate pools. Mary Michael Complete
Have a quarterly staff meeting discussion to increase the visibility of our team’s work to the national community.

Heidi/

New AVC

Completed 9/21 & Ongoing
Ensure all staff attend key campus diversity trainings; create 4 Winds digital screens celebrating the names of staff that have attended.

Heidi/

New AVC

June 2022
Investigate relocation expense policy within Advancement & DU to support candidates moving to Colorado. Heidi June 2022
Goal 2: Career Staff Training
Have articles/resources with definitions Mary Michael In Progress 12/2021
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion career development guided conversations on specific career topics. Elise & Mira In Progress 12/2021
Presentation/Resource/Event guidelines (universal design) SB & MM March 2022
Goal 3: Employer Training Program
Information gathering on best practices around this area within our own campus as well as other schools Marissa, Stacy, Mira, Richard, Julia January 2022
Decide on what the structure of these trainings based on research. TBD March 2022
Developing content for trainings. TBD June 2022
Goal 4: Increase Financial Support for Experiential Learning
Determine what programs are priority and define purpose and details of each. TBD November 2021
Work with Development to identify what can be done currently or what needs to be created for this team to support. Richard and co-lead/new lead March 2022
Aggregate funding sources available to students and create funding source list visible to students. All November 2021
Goal 5: Campus Integration with Diverse Communities
Audit/inventory list of diverse student groups and departments on campus Kyle October 2021
Define scope of liaison relationship: clarify this goal’s connection to current liaison models in CPD. Kyle & TBD TBD
Goal 6: Tailored Marketing & Communication
Audit existing standard messages (i.e. PCO, handouts, overhead slides, email templates, flyer templates, videos) to identify areas for (continuous) improvement. TBD December 2021
Centralize resource lists and policies for DEI communications and share with the CPD team. TBD December 2021
Aggregate campus communication channels to reach diverse students. Kyle October 2021

 

By Heidi J. Perman
Heidi J. Perman Assistant Vice Chancellor, Career & Professional Development