University of Cincinnati
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

http://www.uc.edu/about/policies/non-discrimination.html
The University of Cincinnati does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, veteran status or gender identity and expression in its programs and activities.

The university does not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or retaliation on these bases and takes steps to ensure that students, employees, and third parties are not subject to a hostile environment in University programs or activities.

The university responds promptly and effectively to allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. It promptly conducts investigations and takes appropriate action, including disciplinary action, against individuals found to have violated its policies, as well as provides appropriate remedies to complainants and the campus community. The university takes immediate action to end a hostile environment if one has been created, prevent its recurrence, and remedy the effects of any hostile environment on affected members of the campus community.

At UC, we are committed every day to providing full and equal access to students, employees, and visitors with disabilities. The University is actively engaged in improving the accessibility of our community, in the classroom, in the workplace, on campus, and online.

UC’s Offices of Equal Opportunity & Access and the Office of Gender Equity & Inclusion both engage in prevention education as well as complaint resolution services for any matters involving bias, discrimination, harassment or retaliation. In addition, we offer several support services either through personnel or programming.

A Crime Victim's Services Coordinator as part of our UC Police Division's Special Investigations Unit - this individual walks a person through every step of the complaint resolution process. https://www.uc.edu/about/publicsafety/police/victim-services.html

The process/protocol is as follows:
1) If the reporting individual has provided their contact information, they will receive an email confirmation within 3 business days that the report was received.
2) The report is automatically sent to the Colleges Equity Council.
3) The Equity Council will review the report to determine if it needs to be routed to a higher level within the university (i.e. Title IX, Ohio Equal Opportunity Act, Student Code of Conduct). If the findings determine that it should be routed to other entities in the university, the Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Community Partner will contact the necessary parties.
4) If the reported has provided their contact information as member of the Equity Council will follow up with the reporter with in 3 business days.
5) The Equity Council will consult with the impacted individuals if there is sufficient contact information to further discuss the incident and formulate a plan to respond to the incident.
6) If the incident is anonymously submitted, the Equity Council will do due diligence to respond to the incident based on information in the report.
7) All reported incidents will be maintained in a log and will be used to create a year-end report.
https://www.artsci.uc.edu/equity/bias-reporting.html

For Students:
There are several efforts underway to recruit underrepresented and first-generation students to the university.
For example, our Office of Admissions in collaboration with the Office of Equity & Inclusion as well as identity-based centers in Student Affairs have launched Experience Cincinnati. This was designed to provide a weekend experience for high school students from Cleveland, Columbus, and Louisville, the majority of whom were minority and/or would be first-generation college students. The high-schoolers visited with college students, talked with program advisors, met the staff and students in our identity-based offices, had a social, and were able to ask any questions they wanted about UC, college life, and the city in general.
A few more resources aimed at recruiting and supporting students in underrepresented groups:
- Turner Scholars program: https://www.uc.edu/campus-life/eps/turner.html
- Summer Bridge Program: https://ceas.uc.edu/about/inclusive-excellence-community-engagement/programs/summer-bridge.html
- For students: https://www.uc.edu/campus-life/gen-1.html

For Academic and Non- Academic Staff and Faculty
The Office of the Provost’s Strategic Hiring Opportunity Program is designed to diversify the University of Cincinnati faculty in ways that increase representation from diverse intellectual traditions, cultural experiences, and diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to gender, race, ethnicity, geographic location, and culture. See https://www.uc.edu/about/provost/initiatives/strategic-hire.html

In addition, through the oversight of the Office of Equal Opportunity & Access an Equal Opportunity Coordinator (EOC) role was created to advance the university's diversity hiring efforts. An EOC is embedded in each of our colleges and units to monitor, support, and ensure equitable search and hiring practices as well as those involving promotions, terminations, and compensation.

More resources:
- UC recently announced a new program: https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2022/10/university-of-cincinnati-commits-12m-to-advance-its-next-inclusive-culture.html

- For all new faculty and staff positions, UC also requests a diversity, inclusion and leadership statement from applicants. This is part of UC's efforts to build an inclusive, welcoming culture. http://www.uc.edu/news/nr.aspx?id=23526

For Ten (10) consecutive years, INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine has honored UC as a recipient of the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award and recognized the university as a Diversity Champion, a designation shared with only 15 other institutions. This award is the only national designation of its kind, and it acknowledges U.S. colleges and universities committed to and seeking to advance diversity and inclusion
https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2022/10/uc-college-of-allied-health-sciences-is-recipient-pf-prestigious-diverity-award.html

UC has a number of programs that seek to mentor and support students from under-represented groups. Some examples include the following:

The Gen-1 program, a living-learning community to focus on first-generation college students https://www.uc.edu/campus-life/gen-1.html

The African American Cultural & Resource Center (AACRC) provides a series of programs to support the engagement, retention, and graduation of students through a series of programs and events.

BASE (Brothers And Sisters Excelling), and Tyehimba. Transitions is designed to help students "transition" from high school to college by getting connected and networked with faculty, staff, and upperclass students. BASE is a peer mentoring program designed to provide academic support, enhance leadership development, raise cultural awareness, and keep students eyes focused on the prize of graduation.

The Emerging Ethnic Engineers (E3) Program is a comprehensive, nationally respected program which seeks to increase the number of African American, Latino/a, and Native American students in the College of Engineering while helping such students achieve excellence in college and beyond.

The Office of Ethnic Programs & Services (EPS) embraces the ever-increasing diversity of the University of Cincinnati campus by: providing quality programs and services that enhance cultural, ethnic and racial awareness, supporting the needs of students of color, and building bridges between the university and the Cincinnati community.

The LGBTQ Center supports students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex or who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identify. The office includes a LGBTQ resource library and a common safe space for educational, social and recreational programming related to LGBTQ student issues.

The Rowe Center provides a focal point for women engineering students to access support and resources for success in class, on co-op assignments, and in their future careers.

The Transition and Access Program (TAP) is a four-year college education for students with mild to moderate intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD) that embraces the UC's strategic direction of Next Lives Here making a positive impact on the world, promoting diversity and inclusion

Veterans Services are available to address the unique needs of students re-entering civilian life after deployment.

For employees (academic and non-academic), UC also has a number of programs see:
https://www.uc.edu/about/equity-inclusion/about/employee-groups.html

UC’s Employee ResourceGroups (ERGs) operate both autonomously and collaboratively throughout the year. They provide programming to assist with welcoming new and returning colleagues to campus.

The Advisors of Color (AOC) Employee Resource Group: The purpose of AOC is to unite, support and elevate underrepresented advisors across all 3 UC campus locations (Uptown, Blue Ash and Clermont). We strive to empower advisors of color through enacting and articulating UC's values of inclusiveness and celebrating the uniqueness of each individual. We provide advisors with a sense of community and belonging that provides them the opportunity to enhance the UC, advising culture. Additionally, we function as a work-based family network that contributes to the personal and professional growth of our members.

The African American/Black Male Staff (AABMS) is committed to providing a support network and professional development opportunities for AA/Black male staff at the University of Cincinnati. Through programs, meetings, literature readings, educational workshops and networking the AABMS aspires to become a standing body that implements strategies to create opportunities for the recruitment and retention of AABMS to serve the University and extended community. The founding principles for the AABMS are to enhance the professional men of AABMS and to increase the consciousness and togetherness of AABMS across campus, while also upholding a high standard for integrity and a dedicated focus on recruitment, retention and mentorship.

The Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American Staff and Faculty (APIDA) provides a space where faculty and staff who identify within this ethnically diverse diaspora can find support and community at the University of Cincinnati. This affinity group is intended to enhance the sense of belonging for APIDA staff and faculty members at the university and serves as a body that supports the professional and personal development of its members.

Black Faculty Association (BFA) supports the scholarly, research and professional goals of Black faculty. Through supportive committees, resources, events and news relevant to its members, BFA encourages continued success and aims to increase the presence of Black faculty in leadership positions. BFA also makes it a goal to highlight the achievements of its members in order to foster connectivity between departments and help them to serve as role models.

Black Women on the Move (BWM) hopes to assist in creating a work environment where UC Black Women employees feel welcomed, supported, and affirmed so that they can reach their highest potential. We provide support, guidance and education to Black women staff members on campus. We empower women and develop lasting relationships through professional networking, mentoring and personal development. We value Recruitment, Networking, Collaboration, Inclusion, Mentoring, Advocacy, Professional Development, Promotion, and Retention.

Disabled Faculty and Staff Association (DFSA) is an advocacy group that supports faculty and staff with all disabilities by supporting professional growth, educational pursuits, and striving for access across campus.

Latino Faculty Association (LFA): The mission of the LFA is to promote the well-being and advancement of Latino faculty, students, and the larger Latino community at the University of Cincinnati. We do so by building connections and providing a network of support, facilitating and advocating for opportunities to celebrate Latino identities, and building powerful coalitions to advance the Latino community.

LGBTQ Faculty and Staff Association: The long-term goal of the LGBTQ FSA is to create an inclusive environment that values LGBTQ faculty and staff as an essential component of UC's diverse community by retaining LGBTQ talent on our campuses; providing a safe and secure professional environment for LGBTQ faculty and staff; empowering our members toward visibility and action; and attracting future faculty and staff to meet the needs of new generations of LGBTQ students, who often face multiple obstacles as college students.

In addition, UC’s"MentorMe" program, while offered to all employees, is specifically designed and aimed at supporting diversity and inclusion as one of its three primary goals. This is an informal staff mentoring program. https://www.uc.edu/hr/careers/mentor_me.html

See also the UC Women Lead program: https://www.uc.edu/about/provost/initiatives/uc-women-lead.html.

Finally, UC's Faculty Enrichment Center serves as an intellectual and social commons for faculty. Again, while it is open to all faculty, “promoting a culture of inclusion” and “enhancing social and personal well-being” are two of the four primary goals of the program.

UC's Albert C. Yates Fellowship Program was created to enrich the educational environment for all graduate students by supporting the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents with high potential for academic success to graduate programs at the University of Cincinnati. The Graduate College provides 25 fellowships per year to incoming master's and doctoral students.
https://grad.uc.edu/student-life/awards/yates.html

In addition, UC's Preparing Future Faculty program provides instruction in modern teaching and learning and offers rich mentoring experiences that strengthen these career skills for graduate students. The program covers topics including:
- Inclusion and Diversity in Higher Education
- Motivating Culturally Diverse Students
UC also offers McNair Scholars Graduate scholarships and incentive/retention awards.

Individual colleges within UC also have multiple diversity-support programs. See for example https://cech.uc.edu/about/cech-diversity.html