AA Action Plan

Academic Affairs-Action Oriented Programs, Activities, and Plan
2003-2004, 2004-2005

Dissemination and Training of EEO/AA Policy:
Academic Affairs engaged in a continuous effort in 2003-04 to promote awareness of UCSD’s EEO/AA policy. Under the leadership of the Senior Vice Chancellor, key administrators from Academic Affairs units met to advise and consult with staff on a number of EEO/AA issues.

Established in 2002, the Academic Affairs HR Contact Group provides HR representatives from each department/unit with information and training that allows them to foster an environment that promotes the UCSD Principles of Community as well as general good business practices. Topics from last year included: Professional Development Resources available at UCSD, and reviews of EO/SAA progress and efforts and the 2004 Staff@Work Survey. Monthly training and information sessions will continue in 2004-05.

Since late 2002, an Academic Affairs HR Advisory Group with representatives from each academic division and major unit (Library, Extension, etc.) has been meeting on a quarterly basis (to increase to bi-monthly in 2005). One role of this group is to identify, develop and implement strategies to effectively inform department administrators about issues pertaining to EEO/AA and diversity. The HR Advisory Group reviews relevant University policies and campus procedures, and discusses strategies for implementing the Academic Affairs affirmative action program. Members are asked to keep departments/units informed and up to date about the campus affirmative action program as a whole, and that of Academic Affairs in particular.

A subset of the HR Advisory Group has been formed to review and update the diversity resources currently available in Academic Affairs, focusing on “Best Practices for Achieving a Diversified Workforce.” As part of this effort, advertising venues (both electronic and print) will be identified and departments/units will be encouraged to utilize these resources to reach out to the greatest number of qualified candidates, including women and people of color. Academic Affairs HR Director Bobb Barile has also met with Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity Director Jon Welch to review EEO/AA practices as they relate to academic personnel to ascertain if some of these efforts can be adopted for staff employment. The goal of this project is to support the development of recruitment plans by divisions and depart¬ments, outlining appropriate and consistent outreach methods for achieving diverse applicant pools, particularly in areas where underutilization is identified. This project is targeted for completion by the end of summer 2005.

In addition to the dissemination of EEO/AA policy through the Academic Affairs HR website, staff from the Divisional Deans’ and other senior administrators’ offices discuss the organization’s commitment to equal opportunity and affirmative action at depart¬mental and division meetings. Staff in the Office of the SVCAA will continue to work with representatives from all its units and Academic Business Officers to explore campus and system wide resources to leverage informational and instructional materials in the EEO/AA arena. Efforts to engage departments in brainstorming and problem solving to identify local strategies and to develop a sense of local empowerment will also continue.

In the past year we have had 33 additional staff members from Academic Affairs units attend the Diversity Education Program offered through Staff Education. Departments are regularly encouraged to send their supervisors to diversity training to enable them to instruct their staff and faculty on EO/AA and diversity issues. Academic Affairs continues to support employee participation in career development classes and programs offered through staff education as well as outside training opportunities. Training is encouraged for all Academic Affairs employees including women, people of color, covered veterans and people with disabilities. Last year 34 staff members from 16 departments and units in Academic Affairs were awarded SEOEP funds to assist them with tuition and book expenses for career development activities, representing a 9% increase in SEOEP recipients from Academic Affairs since the previous year.

Outreach Programs and Efforts to Increase Diversity and Remedy Underutilization:
The Senior Vice Chancellor demonstrates his support for diversity by recognizing the academic unit or individual in Academic Affairs that has been most proactive in their efforts to promote campus EEO/AA policies. This year’s recipient was Associate Dean Jeanne Ferrante of the Jacobs School of Engineering, who provided leadership to a variety of programs demonstrating outstanding commitment to the Principles of Community, as well as the School’s goal of continual assessment and adaptation of its academic culture to promote organizational change to support and institutionalize the Principles’ values. Associate Dean Ferrante has taken a keen interest in the issue of gender equity, especially as it relates to the fields of science and engineering. In 2004 she and staff of the Dean’s Office organized The UCSD Gender Equity Summit, bringing together over 60 senior administrators and faculty from the campus to discuss issues of faculty leadership, recruitment and retention among ladder-rank faculty, as well as the UCSD academic climate and the shrinking of the academic pipeline in relation to gender. She is also leading the Women's Leadership Alliance, a new group of faculty on the UCSD campus brought together to advance leadership development, networking and recognition of women faculty at UCSD. Finally, Associate Dean Ferrante leads the Teams In Engineering Service (TIES) program, a new program that creates partnerships between multidisciplinary teams of students and local non-profit organizations. The program is designed to give students extensive team engineering, leadership, ethics, and project management training, as well as direct experience of using their knowledge to give back to the community.

Of the 40 nominations received in 2004 for the campus wide Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action and Diversity Awards, Academic Affairs accounted for five, an increase of one from last year. In 2005, Academic Affairs HR Director Bobb Barile will spearhead efforts to significantly increase the number of nominations from Academic Affairs, both for individuals and units. Divisions will continue to be encouraged to actively promote this goal, but also to recognize staff members throughout the year who exemplify the qualities of “Diversity Champion.”

In 2003-04, Academic Affairs departments and units increased their participation in many campus and University sponsored outreach and development activities, both on campus and in the community. Representatives from the Literature department participated in a UCSD community outreach information fair in March, and last summer three units (Extension, Jacobs School of Engineering and Physics) participated in the Summer Hire-a-Youth Program. 584 staff members from Academic Affairs departments have now participated in UCSD Career Connection activities since its inception in 1996. Staff members from Academic Affairs units also continue to be active as participants and facilitators in leadership training and development programs offered at the campus and University level, including the Management Skills Assessment Program (MSAP), Business Officer Institute (BOI) and Business Leadership Forum (BLF).

Workforce Statistics: The most recent report on the UCSD Career Workforce shows the percentage of People of Color working in Academic Affairs at 31%, an increase of 1% from the previous year. In absolute numbers Academic Affairs realized an increase of 23 People of Color within the overall workforce. As of October 2004, People of Color represent 34% of the PSS workforce (also up 1% from last year), with the greatest gain being made in the number of Asian employees. Also notable is a 33% increase in representation by People of Color in the MSP program (an increase of 8 in absolute numbers). Regrettably these gains were not also reflected in the numbers of Black, Hispanic and American Indian employees in the overall workforce; these groups combined for a net decrease of four employees from the previous year. In 2005 Academic Affairs will focus its recruitment efforts in areas with underutilization, with continuing emphasis on MSP managers as well as a new emphasis on upper level administrative staff (MSO II, MSO III, Senior and Principal Administrative Analyst, etc.) and their feeder groups.

SVCAA continues to create and endorse training and development opportunities for staff in order to promote a culture of tolerance, understanding and equal opportunity for the UCSD community. In fall 2004 Academic Affairs, in concert with the Academic Business Administrators (ABA), instituted a pilot mentorship program for new business officers. The ABA Mentorship Program pairs experienced UCSD managers from Academic Affairs with newer business officers seeking to enhance their management skills, better understand the UCSD organizational culture and develop a network of resources on campus to assist them in their daily work. The Program provides mentors and mentees a mechanism in which to establish a relationship and a loose framework for the activities that interactions with professional colleagues might encompass. The pilot program includes 6 participants this year with plans to include all new business officers in Academic Affairs as they are hired. Both the mentor and mentee groups include business officers from underutilized areas. The campus has expressed an interest in using the Program as a model for a campus-wide mentorship (or “buddy system”) program.

In 2005 the Division of Social Sciences will launch an “MSO Academy,” a new component of the divisional staff enrichment program that has been developed for staff members who aspire to become business officers. The program, open to Social Sciences staff at the ___ Assistant III / PSS 3 level and above, will provide training and guidance to its participants with the goal of enhancing their competitiveness for MSO positions. If the program is as successful as is anticipated it will likely be adopted by other divisions in Academic Affairs.

Selection and Monitoring:
Academic Affairs is committed to the assurance of fairness and nondiscrimination by encouraging departments to closely monitor the staff selection process for recruitments and promotions. Supervisors are encouraged to develop annual career plans with their employees with emphasis on helping all employees, including women and people of color, advance to higher level positions. As part of this effort, one of the sessions of the HR Contacts group this past year was devoted to Professional Development Resources at UCSD, including information on Career Connection, the Staff Equal Opportunity Enrichment Program (SEOEP) and the Skillscan on-line tool.

After our annual EO/SAA progress briefing in June, affirmative action issues, efforts and activities in Academic Affairs were reviewed at both an Assistant Deans’ meeting and HR Advisory Group meeting. A report was prepared for each Assistant Dean/major unit head that included issues raised at the briefing as well as focus recruitment areas for the current year and potential enhanced efforts and activities. Also included were statistics on the composition of the workforce and both summary data and detailed information on employment activities (such as hires that “met a goal” or “diversified the workforce”) for all departments within their area. This information was to be disseminated to and discussed with department business officers and incorporated into recruitment efforts.

To enhance the effectiveness of the selection process, the Office of the SVCAA strongly encourages divisions/units to make good faith efforts to diversify their job applicant pools. To assist with this effort, Academic Affairs will work closely with HR to develop a training/informational session in Spring 2005 aimed at providing hiring supervisors with the tools and resources they need to diversify their staff and promote an environment consistent with the UCSD Principles of Community.

For the first time in 2004, Academic Affairs participated in the Staff@Work Survey, an employee satisfaction survey that measures how employees feel about working at UCSD and in their departments. Results of the survey indicate our employees are generally satisfied with their working environment, rating overall satisfaction at 3.8 (out of 5). Three of the survey questions dealt specifically with issues related to diversity at the department level. Ratings for each of these questions: fair treatment of people of all ethnic groups, cultures and backgrounds (4.3), fair treatment of people of all sexual orientations (4.3), and active support of a diverse working environment (4.1), were among the highest-rated questions for Academic Affairs. Our employees also rated their supervisors highly (4.0) on the question regarding opportunities to develop new skills to support career advancement. Academic Affairs will participate in the survey again in 2005, at which point we will be able to gauge changes to employee sentiment.