University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
PA-5: Assessing Diversity and Equity

The 2011-2012 Diversity Plan Report by Diversity and Multicultural Affairs (DMA) provides an update on the implementation of the campus Diversity Plan and describes Carolina’s state of diversity. It builds on the diversity plan reports submitted by the academic and administrative units in 2012, institutional data pertaining to the gender and racial/ethnic diversity of the campus community, undergraduate students’ completion and persistence data for gender and racial/ethnic groups, and the recruiting and retention outcomes of faculty and EPA staff.

Compared to the previous unit reports, more reporting units engaged in diversity education and training. Schools incorporated or highlighted diversity content in their courses. Administrative units offered, and in some instances required, various diversity training programs and seminars such as Safe Zone to their students and staff. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration required all their employees to complete diversity training.

DMA recommends:
• Building an assessment mechanism, that incorporates setting achievable diversity goals/objectives (short term) and measurable expected outcomes in the planning phase. The assessment mechanism should be part of a retooled process that also incorporates conducting self-evaluation of the actual outcomes. Additionally, the use of a revised reporting template to capture self-evaluation results in the reporting phase can help to measure success and improve efforts in a more effective and systematic way.
• Increasing resources to enhance academic support to minority students and to evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs or initiatives focused on student retention and academic support.
• Developing an institutional plan and strategy to effectively recruit and retain faculty from targeted minority populations.

The 2011-2012 Diversity Plan Report is the fourth report describing Carolina’s state of diversity. According to the report, the majority of the academic and administrative units continued to make concerted efforts to improve diversification of students, faculty and staff. Carolina has made continuous improvement in recruiting and enrolling minority students, particularly Hispanic and Asian students, but students’ academic achievement in terms of completion and persistence between gender and racial/ethnic groups vary remarkably.

In 2010, Carolina conducted its second diversity assessment. There was over 92 percent agreement in responses from students, faculty, and staff that the campus community was well aware of the University’s commitment to diversity. The majority of the respondents agreed that the University demonstrated a commitment to respecting differences of opinion. Approximately 70 percent of the respondents felt that they were valued by the University. However, African American and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander student and faculty respondents, as well as American Indian faculty respondents, were much more likely to experience situations in which they felt marginalized at the University.

Units conducted diversity related research and secured funds to support diversity related research. For instance, the Center for Civil Rights conducted research on the impact of diversity on K-12 education and the Office of Undergraduate Research received funds from the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation to support the HHMI Undergraduate Research for Future Scientists and Clinicians (HHMI-FSC) program. This program empowers high-ability Carolina Covenant Scholars to undertake original research under the supervision of research-active faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral mentors. The Office of Undergraduate Education published papers on how Undergraduate Education’s academic interventions have served students with diverse needs.

On the basis of the assessment, the DMA recommends increasing resources to enhance academic support to minority students and to evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs or initiatives focused on student retention and academic support.

The 2011-2012 Diversity Plan Report is the fourth report describing Carolina’s state of diversity. According to the report, the majority of the academic and administrative units continued to make concerted efforts to improve diversification of students, faculty and staff. In contrast to the student population, faculty and staff populations did not make noticeable improvements in the area of racial/ethnic diversity. Efforts were made to recruit and hire minority faculty and EPA staff; however, the University lost a similar amount of minority faculty and EPA staff within the same period of time, resulting in little net improvement.

In 2010, Carolina conducted its second diversity assessment. There was over 92 percent agreement in responses from students, faculty, and staff that the campus community was well aware of the University’s commitment to diversity. The majority of the respondents agreed that the University demonstrated a commitment to respecting differences of opinion. Approximately 70 percent of the respondents felt that they were valued by the University. However, African American and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander student and faculty respondents, as well as American Indian faculty respondents were much more likely to experience situations in which they felt marginalized at the University. These minority faculty respondents were also more likely to disagree with the statements that the “tenure and promotion processes in the University were free from bias based on personal characteristics”, and “retention efforts in the University reflect a commitment to maintaining a diverse faculty”.

Compared to the previous unit reports, more reporting units engaged in diversity education and training. Schools incorporated or highlighted diversity content in their courses. Administrative units offered, and in some instances required, various diversity training programs and seminars such as Safe Zone to their students and staff. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration required all their employees to complete diversity training.

On the basis of the assessment, the DMA Organization recommends developing an institutional plan and strategy to effectively recruit and retain faculty from targeted minority populations.