UAA Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan now available online

by Michelle Saport  |   

Members of the UAA community:

UAA recently completed a Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, which was finalized on June 23, through the office of the Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Alaska Natives and Diversity Jeane Breinig. The plan was presented to Chancellor Case and me shortly thereafter, and it has been reviewed by Cabinet. The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan is now available on the Chancellor's website.

I wish to thank the many people who worked incredibly hard to bring this plan into its final form. We all should acknowledge the leadership of tri-chairs Maria Williams, Robert Boeckmann and André Thorn and the support offered by Interim Associate Vice Chancellor Jeane Breinig. Other key players include members of the Diversity Action Council, the Faculty Senate Diversity Committee and the individuals who served on subcommittees. We commend all involved for their leadership, integrity and dedication to making UAA a great place to be for everyone.

The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan lays out seven major objectives. These follow from existing UAA data, 11 subcommittee reports, 22 focus groups, a Qualtrics campus climate survey, community campus site visits and the Diversity Summit. The information that this work generated will also serve UAA in the planning work underway through UAA 2020 and the accreditation self-study. Most importantly, this plan must be meaningfully integrated as a foundation in future planning and accreditation cycles.

In order to ensure the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan will be set in motion, we are planning the following actions for the upcoming academic year.

  1. Identify an implementation committee headed by Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Alaska Natives and Diversity Jeane Breinig. The committee will consist of individuals who were involved in the subcommittee work of the plan and is tasked with the following:
    • Developing a timeline for implementation
    • Addressing the various recommendations in the seven objectives
    • Establishing metrics and assessment plans to monitor progress on objectives
    • Developing a cohesive plan for integration of UAA's diversity-serving programs
  2. Human Resources will devise and highlight best practices in recruitment and hiring processes to increase faculty, staff and administration diversity, additionally the Associate Vice Chancellor for Alaska Natives and Diversity will identify and promote diverse faculty hiring procedures.
  3. Senior administration commits to and facilitates the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan through the following steps:
    • The Provost, Chancellor and Cabinet will demonstrate UAA's commitment to the plan and will initiate a public rollout to the campus and broader community in early September 2017. This will be supported by posting plan highlights and details on UAA websites, as well as through a series of strategic communications.
    • Senior administration will work collaboratively with UAA Governance and the implementation committee to facilitate implementation of the plan. This will include a commitment to accountability as demonstrated by routine review and publication of progress-achieving stated objectives.
    • Work to ensure ongoing and future integration of the plan with other central planning efforts such as accreditation and UAA strategic plans.

As we all know, the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan was an initiative promoted by Chancellor Case as an expression of his values and commitment to diversity. In many ways, his support for the development of this plan and the challenges it lays out for the university are reflected in the preface of the published plan, a statement he authored. I assure all of you that I share Chancellor Case's values, and I commit to the objectives of this plan to move UAA forward toward a more inclusive environment that supports everyone's success.

In closing I again wish to thank the tri-chairs who led this work as well as the following members of the Diversity Action Council and Faculty Senate Diversity Committee, and the individuals that participated in the subcommittee reports. These include: Heather Adams, Karen Andrews, Jeane Breinig, Amber Christensen, Nelta Edwards, Christine Ericson, Patricia Fagan, Gabe Garcia, Sandy Gravley, Songho Ha, Erin K.S. Hicks, Ryan Hill, Wei-Ying Hsiao, Ron Kamahele, Kathy Kelsey, Beth Leonard, Emily Lescak, Jordan Lewis, Theresa Lyons, Emily Madsen, Natasa Masanovic-Courtney, Edna Matthew, Virginia Miller, Mandee Mlcek, Kimberly Pace, Matthew Pacillo, Don Rearden, Alliana Salungui, Bruce Schultz, Tara Smith, Diane Taylor, Johnnie Templeton, Jr., Willy Templeton, Jervette Ward and Toby Widdicombe.

I ask you all to review this document and to commit to working together to meet the stated objectives.

Sincerely, Samuel B. Gingerich Interim Chancellor

Creative Commons License "UAA Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan now available online" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
August Archive