Strategy:  Foster and sustain a diverse, respectful and cohesive campus community.

Point People:  Rahim Reed and Rex Perschbacher

Narrative Summary of Third Year Implementation Efforts:  

Our commitment to this objective is coordinated through the Office of Campus Community Relations (OCCR) with its foundation built upon our Principles of Community.  The primary mission of the OCCR is to ensure attention to those components of the campus that affect community, campus climate, diversity and inclusiveness.  However, it is the support of the Deans and Vice Chancellors through raising the priority of this objective in their respective units that remains the key to the successful implementation of the strategy.

We have completed the final stage of planning for our Comprehensive Diversity Action Plan.  The Plan is designed to guide and coordinate our campus efforts to increase diversity in our faculty, staff and student constituent groups, and to foster and sustain a diverse, respectful and cohesive campus community.  The plan will be implemented in stages beginning with a new organizational structure for Affirmative Action and Diversity initiatives.  The Senior Advisor Group will replace the Affirmative Action Unit Coordinators as the point of contact for each major campus unit.  The Senior Advisor for each unit will be responsible for the development of the unit’s diversity action plan.  The Unit Diversity Action Plan will include, among other things, the unit’s affirmative action goals, pre-recruitment activities, recruitment and retention processes, diversity initiatives and training, orientation and mentoring activities, campus community relations activities, and unit climate assessments (e.g. number and types of informal and formal complaints, promotions, terminations, outreach and collaborative initiatives).  We have developed a pilot training program for a small group of Senior Advisors to prepare them for the responsibility of completing the Unit Diversity Action Plan.  The pilot training program is scheduled to begin in the fall and winter quarters and our goal is to have a formal training program in place for all Senior Advisors with this responsibility by the end of the spring (’07) quarter. After the formal training is completed, each unit will submit annually a Unit Diversity Action Plan to the Affirmative Action Work Group.

The Affirmative Action Work Group (AAWG) was created last year and charged with coordinating, monitoring and evaluating Diversity and AA/EEO policies and initiatives on campus.  The AAWG is chaired by the Associate Executive Vice Chancellor for Campus Community Relations and is comprised of representatives Human Resources (HR), the Office of Academic Personnel and the UC Davis Health System (UCDHS). The AAWG is also responsible for the compilation of the annual UC Davis Affirmative Action Plan (AA Plan).  The AA Plan is at the core of our Comprehensive Diversity Action Plan. The AAWG reviews the Unit Diversity Action Plan for each unit and provides feedback to the unit’s Senior Advisor.  The AAWG then submits the final unit plans to the Chancellor and Provost to be reviewed with the deans and vice chancellors during their annual evaluations.  This organizational structure will help us coordinate our efforts to promote equal opportunity and diversity, maximize the efficient use of our limited resources and establish a mechanism for accountability throughout a unit from the departmental level to the senior executive.

Last year we also implemented a new initiative to support our efforts promote diversity among our management staff in academic units.  While this initiative might seem more related to our strategy to “recruit, develop and retain a distinguished faculty and staff…” it also contributes to a more diverse, respectful and cohesive campus community.  The MSO (Management Services Officers) for the Future Development Program was created to develop a diverse pool of highly talented and motivated staff with interest in pursuing academic MSO positions.  The initial program began in the 2005 fall quarter with 24 participants.  The group was diverse both in its racial and gender make up. All of the participants completed the program and several have found new career opportunities both inside and outside of the UC Davis campus community.  We are currently developing a similar program for Student Affairs Offices (SAO for the Future) for the 2006-07 academic year.

Unfortunately, we were unable to launch the Faculty Development in Diversity Institute Program this past year.  The program was designed to provide opportunities for faculty to strengthen their skills in teaching, mentoring, and creating learning environments that respect the diversity of the undergraduate and graduate students on our campus.  The failure to launch the program this past year was due to the retirement of one of the co-founders of the institute.  The institute is a sound idea and will support our efforts to implement APM 210 (1) (d) which seeks to integrate the value of diversity and our commitment to serve the underrepresented minority community more with our academic mission and our commitment to academic excellence. Our plan is to reschedule the launch of this initiative for sometime during the 2006-07 academic year.

We have recently renewed our commitment to increasing diversity in our supplier base and we are currently developing initiatives we believe will result in our campus’ supplier base reflecting the minority and women business profiles in this region.  The initiatives will be a collaborative effort with the Strategic Sourcing & Small Business Program and the Material Management – Contracting Services Department, and will consist of identifying small businesses that we have not done business with in the past and educating them about the campus’ vendor contracting business process.  We plan to conduct “How to do business with UC Davis forums” and develop the accompanying informational brochures and educational materials.

The Campus Community Book Project is in its fifth successful year.  This year’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan has captured the attention of members of our science and research community, particularly those in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.  This has resulted in an increase in participation and dialogue among faculty, staff, students and members of the general community around the issues raised by the book. Members of the selection committee made a conscious effort to find a book that would engage as many minds as possible on a campus with a strong tradition in agriculture and bio-environmental research and initial reports seem to suggest it is highly successful.  The challenge now will be to find a way to infuse what we have learned from this experience into our selection process to continue to increase the participation from our campus community.  We plan to have a thorough evaluation of the book project at the end of this year.
Finally, our annual Principles of Community Celebration is about to enter its third year and continues to grow and incorporate a variety of faculty, staff and student activities and events under its umbrella. This year we are seeking more buy-in from our student community. We plan to engage them early in the planning process and help them take ownership for developing a theme and connecting it to our Culture Days and Picnic celebrations.  We also plan to works with the various student affairs offices and student organizations to develop a more inclusive  “Welcome to the UC Davis Campus Community” orientation program for new and returning students from all groups.
 
Advances and Ongoing Programs Consistent with Strategy:

• Campus Community Book Project

(http://occr.ucdavis.edu/bookproject.html)

• OCCR Diversity Education Program

(http://www.diversity.ucdavis.edu)

• Office of Campus Community Relations

(http://occr.ucdavis.edu) continues to provide coordination, oversight and assistance to most of our campus activities and programs that relate to promoting diversity, fostering a sense of inclusiveness and building community under the “Principles of Community Programming” banner.

• Diversity Resources

(http://www.ucdavis.edu/diversity/) a hyperlink on the UC Davis home page which serves as a portal to information about diversity at UC Davis for faculty, staff and students.

• MSO for the Future Development Program

(http://sdps.ucdavis.edu/mso.html)

• Faculty Development in Diversity Institute
• Orientation/Training for all Chairs of Academic Search Committees sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and OCCR

(http://academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu/td_chair_main.cfm)

• Faculty Leadership Development Program

(http://academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu/td_chair_leadership.cfm)

• Principles of Community

(http://princples.ucdavis.edu/)

• Supplier Diversity Initiative
• Welcome to the UC Davis Campus Community Orientation Program

Short Statement of Plans for 2006-07

Plans for 2006-07 include:

• Present Comprehensive Diversity Action Plan to COVC and CODVC
• Implement organizational structure for Comprehensive Diversity Action Plan.
• Implement Pilot Training Program for Senior Advisors in support of Comprehensive Diversity Action Plan
• Develop Formal Orientation & Training Program for Senior Advisors
• Continue to develop and expand the impact of the Campus Community Book Project. Conduct an evaluation of the project at the end of the fifth year.
• Complete the update of the Principles of Community Website. Continue to promote it as a self-educational resource tool to support our efforts in increasing the understanding of the educational value of diversity.
• Evaluate the MSOs For the Future Program. Monitor graduates of the program to determine if they find successful career placements.
• Re-schedule and launch the Faculty Development in Diversity Institute. 
• Continue to provide opportunities to develop cultural competency skills for students, faculty and staff. Reinforce the paradigm that our Diversity Education and Training activities should operate from an education-competency skills model rather than from a reaction to crisis and conflict model.
• Develop annual diversity education training for senior administrators on campus.
• Develop a Supplier Diversity Initiative.
• Develop a more inclusive “Welcome to UC Davis Campus Community Program”.

Evaluation of Metrics:

• Increase in the diversity of faculty and staff to better reflect the population of California

We currently assess and report the demographics of our work force annually in our Affirmative Action Plan. However, our challenge is to maintain our commitment to diversity and remain in compliance with Proposition 209.

• Increase in the diversity of undergraduate, graduate and professional students to better reflect the population of California

We currently assess and report on the demographics of our student body. Again our challenge is to maintain our commitment to diversity in this area and not violate Proposition 209. We will be further challenged by a number of issues in this area including changing eligibility criteria, funding for outreach and limited financial aid programs to compete for high credentialed minority students.

• Improve campus climate (evaluation of campus climate through periodic surveys, data collection, assessment of Principles of Community Programs and implementation of compelling recommendations)

We continue to work on identifying factors that reflect the campus climate and attitude, and which also are quantifiable in a meaningful way to guide us making effective change. This metric still remains somewhat difficult to evaluate at the campus level, however it appear somewhat easier to assess at the unit level. We are therefore focusing attention on working with our major units to assess unit climate and attitudes.

• Improvement of physical spaces and programs that support diverse communities and provide a welcoming environment.
• Increase the number of opportunities to develop cultural competency and leadership skills for faculty, staff and students

We are developing a list (baseline) of the various opportunities that exist now on our campus to facilitate the development of cultural competency and leadership skills in our classrooms (curriculum) for students and in our professional development training sessions for faculty and staff.

• Expand the number of opportunities for constituent groups to be successfully supported and connected to the campus community

We are gathering data and assessing our current constituent group structure (i.e. number of groups, charge/missions, overlapping areas, reporting lines, advisory status, impact on policy decisions, etc.) with a focus on increasing the advisory/consultative process as it relates to major policy decisions. This may require some restructuring of our organizational lines of communication. http://strategicplan.ucdavis.edu/2005_framework_3.html