Mission Statement
As the Senior Diversity Officer, it is essential to comprehend that diversity plays an integral role in the contemporary environment driven by globalization tendencies that bring different cultures, attitudes, and perceptions together. In an attempt to address diversity deficiency that was detected at the local college, the following mission statement can be specified: to serve as the preeminent leader to conceptualize, evaluate, and cultivate diversity, focusing on collaborative efforts of staff, empowerment, engagement, and promotion, achieving inclusion, respect, and equity.
The identified mission statement is rather significant for the college as it would lead to the establishment of appropriate conditions for staff and students that, in their turn, would unequivocally allow joining the global community. In his study, Bowman (2013) claims that “interracial interactions are positively and significantly related to gains in leadership skills, psychological well-being, intellectual engagement, and intercultural effectiveness” (p. 887). This shows that diversity implementation improves students’ relationships as well as their educational and communicative outcomes due to the elimination of challenges that are associated with rejection, intolerance, prejudices, and other factors that impede diversity.
Measurable Goals and Methods to Evaluate Their Accomplishment
In order to operate in terms of the mentioned mission statement, it is critical to assume a set of measurable goals. The first goal is to develop and continuously enhance the curricular environment so that students would be aware of the importance of diversity and prepared to enter the global community. Nowadays the composition of the nation changes rapidly, and plenty of people have no clear ethnic or racial self-determination. In this regard, the increase of awareness is the paramount stimuli to initiate diversity measures. The accomplishment of the above goals may be evaluated through survey method to reveal whether the situation was improved or not.
The second goal is to elaborate and implement race-, gender-, and ethnicity-neutral policies within the campus area. According to the recent research, such a solution contributes to innovativeness and competitiveness as communication based on equity and inclusivity fosters critical thinking (Ferrini-Mundy, 2013). The outcome of this goal may be measured by the review of the educational results of students that are to be enhanced in case the goal was achieved.
Furthermore, the third goal is related to teaching and training regarding respect for difference to create the welcoming atmosphere for all. Among the expected outcomes of the above goal, one may note the acquisition of cross-cultural communication skills by both staff and students, learning of how to address occurring challenges between cultures, and cultivation of cultural responsiveness. As the measurement tools, the Senior Diversity Officer may utilize Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE survey) to assess students’ satisfaction per se (Jones, 2016). Accordingly, in case the results of CCSSE survey would be better than before the implementation of this goal, it is possible to declare the effectiveness of teaching and training.
The subsequent goal focuses on the representation and access of all the students to diversity implementation. In particular, it is necessary to increase the amount of staff and students that were previously underrepresented by engaging them into the diversity implementation process through various multicultural activities. In effect, it is expected that the college’s ethnic demographics would represent diversity concerning staff members and students. The measurement of retention statistics would reflect the productivity of this goal.
Ultimately, the last goal is to ensure advocacy for diversity recognition and performance assessment. For instance, the College Diversity Recognition Award may be created to motivate students and staff and help them in acquiring diversity skills. The in-going performance appraisals should identify the level of cultural responsiveness, multicultural communication, and other issues related to diversity (Stephens, Fryberg, Markus, Johnson, & Covarrubias, 2012). The results of the mentioned strategies may be measured by the employment of the College Climate Survey, the improved indicators of which would serve as the confirmation of the goal achievement. It should be noted that only the functional approach to diversity promotion that implies the implementation of all the mentioned goals can lead to the successful resolution of diversity challenges.
Model from AACU Website Campus Models and Case Studies
The goals set forth in the article by Cruz (2016) are based on the power of intentionality that can be referred to as being purposive and accelerating the sense of urgency to ensure quality education for all. Fostering education through the coherent action, California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) strives to develop and sustain “curricular and cocurricular environment” and “narrow the achievement gap for underrepresented students” (Cruz, 2016, para. 7).
In this connection, it is possible to pinpoint that the goals of the mentioned university and those that were enumerated earlier in this paper can be aligned in terms of achieving the similar purpose. The experience and, in particular, progress made by CSUF can serve as the valuable example for the perspective measures regarding diversity in the other colleges and universities. Therefore, it seems essential for the Senior Diversity Officer to put more emphasis on intentionality, thus adopting the beneficial approach that already proved to be effective in establishing equity, inclusivity, and respect for all students regardless of their ethnicity, gender, and race.
References
Bowman, N. A. (2013). How much diversity is enough? The curvilinear relationship between college diversity interactions and first-year student outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 54(8), 874-894.
Cruz, J. L. (2016). The power of intentionality: Cal State Fullerton’s strategic approach to ensuring equity. Web.
Ferrini-Mundy, J. (2013). Driven by diversity. Science, 340(6130), 278.
Jones, W. A. (2016). Factors correlated with the interactional diversity of community college students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 9(1), 81-94.
Stephens, N. M., Fryberg, S. A., Markus, H. R., Johnson, C. S., & Covarrubias, R. (2012). Unseen disadvantage: How the taken-for-granted university culture of independence undermines first-generation college students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(6), 1178-1197.