Strategic Planning For Diversity And Organizational Change A Primer For Higher Education Leadership

Executive Summary This briefing is designed for senior academic leaders and others engaged in the work of campus diversity and organizational change, whether at the president, provost, dean, or department head level, or participating in campuswide diversity planning committees and commissions as students, faculty, and staff. Although the briefing focuses on the key role of academic leadership, we developed it so that it would be helpful for the full spectrum of individuals often charged with intersecting with the diversity planning and leadership process. It is based on several concepts that emerged as part of a project by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) on the future of diversity work in higher education, Inclusive Excellence (Williams, Berger, & McClenden, 2005); a project examining dedicated executive-level diversity leadership, The Chief Diversity Officer Project (Williams & Wade-Golden, 2006; in press); the scholarly literature on diversity and organizational change; and our individual experiences building sustainable capacity to support and nurture diversity as administrators, researchers, consultants, and thought leaders nationally and at our respective institutions. We describe the context for understanding the environmental dynamics of diversity in the 21st century and the challenge of the diversity planning process. Next, we identify three key existing diversity models and a new multidimensional model that offers promise for enhancing diversity efforts on college and university campuses. We conclude with multiple principles-- which we call change levers--important for academic leaders interested in applying this model to leading and managing diversity in a way that is systematic, focused on diversity's implications for all students, driven by accountability techniques, and intended to create real and meaningful change at all levels of institutional culture: the Inclusive Excellence Model of organizational change and diversity (Williams et al., 2005).

Although diversity and leadership are not new concepts, the changing of populations, advances in technology, and development of theoretical perspectives have led to the emergence of diversity leadership as an important field of study. As technology continues to bring people together, it aids in the organizational approach of embracing uniqueness and finding innovative ways to reach higher levels of performance. Technology as a Tool for Diversity Leadership: Implementation and Future Implications focuses on the technological connections between diversity leadership and the focus on inclusivity, evolvement, and communication to meet the needs of multicultural environments. This book highlights societal implications in real-world problems and performance improvement in organizations.

Leading a Diversity Culture Shift in Higher Education offers a practical and timely guide for launching, implementing, and institutionalizing diversity organizational learning. The authors draw from extensive interviews with chief diversity officers and college and university leaders to reveal the prevailing models and best practices for strengthening diversity practices within the higher education community today. They complement this original research with an analysis of key contextual factors that shape the organizational learning process including administrative leadership, institutional mission and goals, historical legacy, geographic location, and campus structures and politics. Given the substantive challenge of engendering a cultural shift for diversity in a university setting, this book will serve as a concrete primer for institutions seeking to develop a systematic and progressive approach to diversity organizational learning. Readers will be able to engage with provocative case studies that grapple with the current pressures emanating from diversity training and learn effective strategies for creating more inclusive environments. This book is a perfect resource for institutional leaders, administrators, faculty members, and key campus constituencies who are seeking transformational change, institutional success, and stability in a rapidly diversifying national and global environment.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) goals have traditionally been seen as either an effort to be managed by the administration, or as something a faculty member could choose--or not--to focus on. In the twenty-first century, EDI goals are increasingly front and center across disciplines as educators prepare students for success in a diverse world. It is in this milieu, that this book was written. Each chapter in this book is designed for use by instructors and administrators in higher education who believe that the goals of EDI should be integrated into the classroom experience. The chapters are grouped around five central themes that challenge the structure of a traditional classroom in order to promote goals related to EDI: faculty collaboration, creative approaches to faculty and student resistance to EDI goals, institution-wide initiatives, community engagement, and the use of first-person autobiography and storytelling in the classroom.

This book addresses the continued lack of the diversity in veterinary medicine, the least inclusive of all medical professions. Effective navigation of the complexity of diversity and inclusion in veterinary medicine requires clear enumeration, recognition, and understanding of key issues, challenges, and opportunities. In a nation with rapidly changing demographics, public needs and expectations of the veterinary profession will continue to evolve. A more diverse scientific workforce is required to feed the veterinary profession, not just for the purposed of equity, but as necessity for its sustainability and relevance.The book lays out the history of diversity in the veterinary profession, in the context of historical changes and actions within US society. An overview of selected strategies from dental, pharmacy, and (human) medical schools is then offered. The impact of social constructs on career interest development is explored using the examples of race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Practical strategies for attracting preschool through undergraduate students to careers in the veterinary profession are presented, as well as metrics and tools to assess the impact of diversity and inclusiveness strategies. A systems approach to diversity and inclusiveness in the veterinary profession is called for in a manner that frames barriers as opportunities for improvement and progress. There is much that needs to happen to achieve professional inclusiveness and cultural competency, but the path to achieving this is clear. System-wide commitment, planning, execution, and continuous assessment will position the profession to better suit the population of the nation and the world that will be served. This is book is a call to action for consistent championship and cohesive approaches, and it provides a road map to building a sustainably inclusive future.

Thriving in Transitions: A Research-Based Approach to College Student Success represents a paradigm shift in the student success literature. Grounded in positive psychology, the thriving concept reframes the student success conversation by focusing on the characteristics amenable to change and that promote high levels of academic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal performance in the college environment. The authors contend that a focus on remediating student characteristics or merely encouraging specific behaviors is inadequate to promote success in college and beyond. The collection presents six research studies describing the characteristics that predict thriving in different groups of college students, including first-year students, transfer students, high-risk students, students of color, sophomores, and seniors, and offers recommendations for helping students thrive in college and life.

The issue of gender in organizations has attracted much attention and debate over a number of years. The focus of examination is inequality of opportunity between the genders and the impact this has on organizations, individual men and women, and society as a whole. It is undoubtedly the case that progress has been made with women participating in organizational life in greater numbers and at more senior levels than has been historically the case, challenging notions that senior and/or influential organizational and political roles remain a masculine domain. The Oxford Handbook of Gender in Organizations is a comprehensive analysis of thinking and research on gender in organizations with original contributions from key international scholars in the field. The Handbook comprises four sections. The first looks at the theoretical roots and potential for theoretical development in respect of the topic of gender in organizations. The second section focuses on leadership and management and the gender issues arising in this field; contributors review the extensive literature and reflect on progress made as well as commenting on hurdles yet to be overcome. The third section considers the gendered nature of careers. Here the focus is on querying traditional approaches to career, surfacing embedded assumptions within traditional approaches, and assessing potential for alternative patterns to evolve, taking into account the nature of women's lives and the changing nature of organizations. In its final section the Handbook examines masculinity in organizations to assess the diversity of masculinities evident within organizations and the challenges posed to those outside the norm. In bringing together a broad range of research and thinking on gender in organizations across a number of disciplines, sub-disciplines, and conceptual perspectives, the Handbook provides a comprehensive view of both contemporary thinking and future research directions.

To sustain contemporary movements towards educational equity, postsecondary leaders at all levels need resources that connect evidence-based critiques of structural inequities to forward-thinking visions for a more socially-just academy. To address this critical challenge, we bring together scholars to deconstruct oppressive norms of theory and practice and provide a direction towards reconsiderations across various postsecondary contexts. Each chapter identifies a normative practice that reinforces material and cultural oppression of student populations from minoritized identities, challenge underlying assumptions that support current norms, and make recommendations for redeveloping practices that center the well-being and success of underserved student populations. In presenting a range of expertise and disciplinary foci in the study of higher education, this volume contributes to a holistic re-envisioning of colleges and universities as transformational spaces for social change. The book provides insights and recommendations from scholars to a wide-ranging audience, including federal and state policymakers, postsecondary administrators and leaders, philanthropists, researchers, and graduate students. The primary audience are graduate students enrolled in various educational leadership programs including educational policy studies, higher education, student affairs, curriculum and instruction, or learning sciences. This book will be especially valuable for increasing the focus on generative critique in research, practice, and policy in graduate programming curriculum. This volume will also be a valuable resource for policymakers involved in shaping postsecondary initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels. Finally, this book will appeal to current practitioners at colleges, and universities as they seek additional professional development and cross-institutional collegiality around practices related to social justice and equity. ENDORSEMENTS: "This book opens with an account of Ronald Reagan’s draconian policies and practices to silence political dissenters and demonstrators within the University of California. Horrifyingly, we now have politically ambitious governors using Reaganesque tactics to shut down critical race theory, the teaching of authentic Black history, the use of terms like Latinx. Critiques For Transformation: Reimagining Colleges & Communities For Social Justice is the essential antidote to the antidemocratic Orwellian practices that are bent on disempowering advocates for racial justice." — Estela Bensimon. University of Southern California "Critiques for Transformation: Reimaging Colleges and Universities for Social Justice provide impressive examinations and posit modes to envision “reimagining” ways for universities to move toward authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The senior, mid-career, and emerging professionals tackle DEI from a variety of conceptual frameworks that contribute to rich discussions of challenges and opportunities. By examining some classic writings from education and social sciences, the chapters elucidate how contemporary scholarly activities and research can be linked to the integrative roles of public engagement for both internal university communities and external audiences. The volume will be quite helpful to a range of constituents within the United States, i.e., a nation that has some of the most diverse structures and systems of colleges and universities." — Beverly Lindsay, Pennsylvania State University "To offer a scholarly critique is often uneven with little attention dedicated to altering the most troubling patterns, in this case, in higher education. This book brings rigorous critique but also engages in world-building, taking up what we can do today to make higher education break with its exclusionary and profit-seeking ways. Every chapter focuses on a particular facet of higher education and carefully imagines it as a space for possibility rather than arbitrary rules for the sake of hierarchy. As higher education wrings its hands about its place in the pandemic, this book is the guide." — Leigh Patel, University of Pittsburgh