In December 2006, the Commission on Equal Opportunity and Diversity recommended the following as a list of possible categories for reporting diversity accomplishments and examples of items that might be included within each. The list is not meant to be exclusive, but rather to help organize the reporting of diversity efforts and to suggest ways in which faculty members are already, or might become, engaged in developing the educational benefits of diversity, to which we are committed as an institution and as a community of learners, no matter our role.

In reporting diversity accomplishments, you are encouraged to think of diversity very broadly. While issues related to race and gender are often preeminent at Virginia Tech, other issues are also important and should be included, such as issues related to ability/disability, international students/scholars, religious minorities, Appalachian regional or cultural issues, sexual orientation, and so on.

Whenever possible, try to convey the ways in which your efforts have helped achieve departmental, college, or university diversity goals. Guidance on university level goals and strategies is available in documents on the university’s main diversity website: www.vt.edu/diversity -- see the University and Diversity strategic plans, various position statements, and the Principles of Community.

For those faculty members whose responsibilities include significant diversity-related program leadership, research, teaching, or advocacy, you should describe such activities and accomplishments in whatever standard categories are appropriate and only make a brief cross reference in this section to previously cited accomplishments.

1. Self-Education, Increasing Your Own Awareness:

Examples: Participation in diversity awareness workshops on campus or off, attending harassment prevention training from EO Office, participation in CEUT reading group on multicultural/diversity topics, attending diversity-related programs to learn more about groups other than your own (Diversity Summit, identity group celebrations, Campus Climate Checkup, MLK events, special speakers, annual AdvanceVT and Scholarship of Diversity conferences, events hosted by Cranwell Center or Disability Services, special programs in your discipline or association, etc.); participating in an Undoing Racism workshop; learning another language (including American sign language) so that you might speak to current or prospective students, parents, or community members.

2. Committee Leadership and/or University or Professional Service:

Identify your role and any specific accomplishments.

Examples: Chairing or serving on a college or departmental diversity committee, membership on the Commission on Equal Opportunity and Diversity, participation on an Advance work group, participating in planning campus diversity events such as the campus climate check up or Diversity Summit, helping to translate university webpages into Spanish or Chinese, serving on the Task Force on Race and the Institution, chairing or participating in a diversity-related task force for your professional association or serving on a national or regional committee related to diversity.

3. Mentoring, Counseling, or Advising Students and Student Organizations:

Examples: Serving as a research mentor to students in the MAOP, MEAMP, McNair, or VT-PREP programs (include information about joint publications/posters, or other outcomes if relevant); serving as a faculty advisor to student organizations like MANRRS, Society of Women or Black Engineers, Women’s Space, Muslim Student Association, etc.; lecturing/mentoring in MOSAIC residential learning community; participating in SAFEZONE, mentoring of student workers or student leaders from underrepresented groups, counseling with students who are victims or perpetrators of bias-related incidents.

4. Incorporating diversity-related scholarship in courses, readings, programs, service learning activities, and your own research/scholarship:

Examples: Revising a course reading list to incorporate concepts, readings, and scholarship on issues of gender, race, and other perspectives relevant to the course material; rethinking or adapting workshops, lectures, or publications to incorporate multicultural or gender perspectives; creating classroom discussions about the Principles of Community; creating an extension program to address needs in the Hispanic community; developing a service learning experience to introduce students to issues of concern to residents of the Appalachian region; using/doing diversity research to help inform university programs and problem solving; inviting and hosting a diversity-related speaker for the department; facilitating educational programs in the residential halls; assisting students in planning cultural events related to courses; securing research grants or industry funds to support diversity initiatives or research; facilitating a staff training activity on diversity, bias reduction, or celebration of diversity.

5. Special student, faculty, or staff recruitment initiatives:

Share outcomes, if any.

Examples: Identifying and personally recruiting candidates from underrepresented ethnic/racial groups (or women) to positions in the department; making contacts with faculty counterparts at regional HBCUs to identify potential graduate student applicants; inviting and hosting a woman postdoc for a pre-recruitment visit to your department; visiting another campus and asking to meet with doctoral students from underrepresented groups to talk about faculty career opportunities; making calls to prospective freshmen from underrepresented groups to encourage them to apply and accept the offer to VT; consciously inviting women and minorities to join student organizations, programs, or to participate in leadership opportunities from which they might benefit.

6. Outreach and pipeline initiatives:

Examples: Teaching a segment in the VT-STARS/C-Tech2 summer program; met with high school students from a minority high school to talk to them about majoring in my field; giving a talk to a high school class for women’s month or Black History month; participating in the Women in Math Career Day for sixth-grade girls; meeting with students in Upward Bound; participating in a VT-STEM initiative targeted toward underrepresented students.

7. Special efforts for individuals from underrepresented groups:

Examples: Providing special support to international, women or minority doctoral students; serving as a host family for international students; assisting students, employees, or families with special needs; acting as an informal advisor to students of color or women who are not your formal advisees; special mentoring of colleagues from underrepresented groups.

8. Other diversity initiatives or accomplishments.