Commitment to Diversity

Mission Statement

ESS is committed to diversity. We promote understanding, appreciation, and respect for diverse people and the value and benefit everyone contributes to the University community. We strive to attract, sustain, develop, empower and retain a diverse body of students and employees to be distinguished and compassionate community leaders.

What is diversity?

Diversity refers to people with different backgrounds, with an emphasis on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, ability/disability, socioeconomic class, and national origin.

Why do we value diversity?

Diversity is valued because it generates a multiplicity of ideas and viewpoints, leads to more creative and effective problem solving, and fosters an understanding and acceptance of individuals from a variety of backgrounds.

Division Goals

Provide basic information regarding diversity to all ESS full-time and student employees. Departments may take different approaches by offering programs (e.g., A Campus of Difference), distributing printed materials, or providing education about the values and benefits of diversity.
Create opportunities for UNI faculty, staff and students to become active participants and leaders in diversity issues.
Promote to ESS staff, on an ongoing basis, the importance of respecting diversity and increasing our own learning. Employees should understand that we value diversity and why. Diversity education is “my issue” for every employee in the Division.
Promote practices, policies and visual images in each department that reflect sensitivity to diversity. Provide evidence in our offices that we welcome all people.
Conduct all searches, hiring, and employee retention activities in accordance with processes that aggressively strive to meet or exceed the University’s affirmative action employment goals as stated in UNI Strategic Plan Goal 4.1.
Aggressively recruit a diverse pool of student employee applicants to achieve a student employment demographic reflective of the student body as a whole.
Discuss diversity during annual performance appraisals in order to promote and maintain employee awareness and involvement in ESS diversity initiatives. Use the following self-appraisal questions:

What kinds of actions have you taken this past year to improve your ability to work effectively with a diverse student, faculty, or staff population? (Examples could include training programs, cultural classes or events, or personal activities.)
What are you learning about diversity that you apply to your work at UNI?

Develop a bias-related incident response team.
Monitor progress on goals annually by the ESS leadership team.

ESS Divisional Operational Guidelines for
Recruitment of New Staff

Aggressively recruit a qualified diverse pool of applicants through professional networks, one-on-one contacts, targeted job advertising (through consultation with the Office of Compliance and Equity Management), and adequate time allowance.
The Division encourages applications from minority persons, women, persons with disabilities, and veterans. The following statement must be placed at the end of the position announcement and display ads— “The University is an equal opportunity employer and educator with a comprehensive plan for affirmative action.”
Select search committees that include diverse backgrounds and views, providing professional development opportunity for individuals from under-represented groups. Inform search committee chairs of the ESS Diversity Initiative, goals, and guidelines for searches.
Report to ESS Director and Vice President of ESS the strategies implemented in each search process to recruit a diverse pool of applicants.
Provide appropriate orientation and mentoring over the course of the first year to new employees to enhance their adjustment, satisfaction, and retention.