Summary of Activities and Agenda, Fall 2004

UCCS Faculty Minority Affairs Committee 

The F-MAC has set our agenda for this year as concentrating on advancing two main concerns, which are continuing to work with the VCAA and Chancellor to redesign and hire a fulltime executive administrator to oversee and drive academic diversity initiatives and, secondly, to further devlop and find ways to increase funding for the Opportunity Hire policy.  In addition, we are helping to sponsor presentations and programs which enhance diversity awareness on campus.

As an update, the search to hire an Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Diversity, which FMAC contributed ideas and personnel to, failed to produce a hire although three candidates were interviewed.   FMAC and the search committee for that position (which includes the chair and three members of FMAC) have met with the Chancellor and VCAA and together we have been revising the design of that position, especially as beginning December 1, Rosemary Augustine will be working fulltime at UCCS as legal counsel and can handle much of the Affirmative Action portion of the previously designed AVCAD position.  The search committee is now beginning to advertise for a second round, this time defining the position as an Exceutive Director for Academic Diversity and Social Equity (EDADSE), which is in keeping with an approach several peer-level institutions are applying and which allows the Chancellor to create an Office of Social Equity that will combine this position, legal counsel, and staff.  This will also define the new EDADSE position as focussed 80% on diveristy planning, monitoring and implementation and 20% on assisting with affirmative action and sexual harassment complaint matters.  We are seeking to hire an individual who already has achieved a solid track record for diversifying and retaining minority faculty, and we feel this new model should further campus diversity goals better than the earlier model.

FMAC has met with Carmen Williams (Asst. to the President for Diversity), who will present a workshop for Search Committee Chairs December 1 at UCCS.  This will follow up on the workshop FMAC presented last Spring for search chairs.  Some improvement did result from this and other efforts last year to emphasize diversity in recruiting efforts, as several new minority hires were achieved.  FMAC is hosting a reception for new minority faculty that were hired this year.

FMAC is also working with the VCAA to further develop and to find base funding for the Opportunity Hire policy.  We are making solid progress in this direction currently.