Program Description
Led by the Vice Provost & Chief Diversity Officer (VCPDO) and the Vice Provost for Faculty & Staff (VPFS), The Diversity Liaison Project (DLP) will provide a hands-on approach to offering more opportunities for campus leaders to actively engage matters of diversity, equity and inclusion, and implement best practices in the classroom and beyond. Part of this effort will include workshops designed and delivered by Diversity Liaisons to help participants acquire and enhance inclusive communication skills and cross-cultural competency, heighten awareness of aspects of diversity that can detract from students’ success and access to an inclusive learning environment, and use relevant pedagogies that foster a more welcoming campus climate. The goal is to help create an educational environment that is conducive to everyone’s best learning, professional development and advancement. With the support of deans, directors and department chairs, the DLP will be launched as part of Phase 2 (initiative 11) of the Diversity Framework implementation process R.E.E.L. Change.
DLP specifically meets the goal set forth in the university’s Diversity Framework, which states that campus leaders “provide models of inclusive behavior, exemplify rhetoric in practice, and demonstrate their sincerity in the belief that inclusive diversity is our path to excellence.” The DLP also takes into account the 2016 faculty senate and academic staff resolutions that commit these groups to participating in ongoing professional development experiences related to fostering a greater sense of cultural awareness and inclusion.
What Departments and Campus Units Can Expect
Workshops and engagement sessions led by the Diversity Liaisons will be administered by the Learning and Talent Development office (formerly the Office of Human Resource Development) and will be made available upon request with a minimum commitment of three sessions. Units requesting support from the Diversity Liaisons will be expected to partially release workshop participants from teaching, administrative or other university obligations, so they can devote adequate time to learning how to embed diversity and inclusion in their work.
What Diversity Liaisons Can Expect
With the support of the Learning Communities for Institutional Change and Excellence (LCICE) staff, the OVPCDO will identify three to five faculty and/or instructional academic staff from different departments and disciplines to serve as Diversity Liaisons, each with experience fostering inclusive instructional and work environments. As a cohort, Diversity Liaisons will engage current research and literature to build their own capacity and critical awareness of key aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion to create content for the resource workshops they will lead.
Diversity Liaisons will meet monthly with the VPCDO and the VPFS to provide updates and feedback on programmatic impact and opportunities for refinement as the program looks to scale up over the next five years.
Each Diversity Liaisons will receive $10,000 to be used at their discretion as either 1) summer salary support, 2) departmental funds to cover the cost of a short term staff hire to provide a teaching release for one course per academic year, or 3) departmental funds to cover a partial time release of administrative and/or research duties for an academic year. The goal is to provide Diversity Liaisons dedicated time to plan and organize workshops to share best practices with other faculty and instructional academic staff.
Interested in Becoming a Diversity Liaison?
Ideally, Diversity Liaisons would serve for three years to continue refining their critical awareness of diversity and inclusion and assist in-coming cohorts of DLs through peer mentoring to refine their processes of engagement.
Faculty members interested in becoming a DL must be at the rank of Associate or Full Professor. Instructional staff members interested in becoming a DL should have at least five years of work experience in their respective role.
Diversity Liaisons will be identified in early Spring 2019 to begin preparation and piloting of curriculum with workshops beginning in Spring 2018. To apply, please submit a C.V. and a letter of interest to patricksims2@cdo.wisc.edu describing your experience in addressing diversity and inclusion issues in an academic setting, as well as any relevant professional development or training experience.
Application Deadline: March 15, 2019