Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 51.83
Liaison Leslie North
Submission Date Jan. 9, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Western Kentucky University
PA-4: Diversity and Equity Coordination

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a diversity and equity committee, office, and/or officer tasked by the administration or governing body to advise on and implement policies, programs, and trainings related to diversity and equity on campus?:
Yes

Does the committee, office and/or officer focus on one or both of the following?:
Yes or No
Student diversity and equity Yes
Employee diversity and equity Yes

A brief description of the diversity and equity committee, office and/or officer, including purview and activities:

The mission of Western Kentucky University is to prepare students to be productive, engaged, socially responsible citizens and leaders of a global society. The success of these future leaders is enhanced through the encouragement and support of faculty, staff, and community, as well as a willingness to embrace the multiple dimensions of diversity. The encompassing dimensions of diversity involve an appreciation of the differences and unique contributions represented by individual identity, opinion, and culture. Differences may be represented through areas such as race, gender, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, geographic location, abilities or disabilities, and socioeconomic status.

Western Kentucky University places a premium on teaching and student learning and growth; therefore, it is important for the University to seek achievement of diversity among its faculty, staff and student populations. As stated in the University’s Strategic Plan, Challenging the Spirit, three (3) of the five (5) Strategic Goals relate to the importance of diversity in the development of culturally responsible citizens, growing a high quality and diverse student body, and enhancing the climate for diversity and collegiality. The Strategic Plan’s performance indicators include the engagement of the Chief Diversity Officer who has direct access to the President. A Presidential appointed Diversity Enhancement Committee serves in an advisory capacity to the Chief Diversity Officer who is responsible for overseeing diversity initiatives, continuous improvement in meeting diversity goals, and establishing a Diversity Plan for the University.


The full-time equivalent of people employed in the diversity and equity office:
4

The website URL where information about the diversity and equity committee, office and/or officer is available:
Does the institution make cultural competence trainings and activities available to all members of the following groups?:
Yes or No
Students Yes
Staff Yes
Faculty Yes
Administrators Yes

A brief description of the cultural competence trainings and activities:

A Social Justice Colloquium OIDI was hosted in the Spring of 2014, and will be hosted again in the Fall 2015 & Spring 2016. This is a training resource which has six ongoing groups led by a faculty person or a staff person. The groups were made up of six members.

The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion has also launched the diversity tool, “Keep It Real” (diversity game) in Fall 2014. Diverse groups of students played the game together for 2 hours. Students engaged in deep dialogue about issues pertaining to diversity and inclusion. Spring semester 2015 OIDI will host game nights at Residence Life Housing Residences. OIDI also hosts and cosponsors various programs and events which provide opportunities for campus community members to increase their cultural competency.

A number of other programs exist to support cultural competence. These can be found at: http://www.wku.edu/dec/


The website URL where information about the cultural competence trainings is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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