2008 UW-Madison Faculty of Color Reception
Visions for diversity
Visions for diversity
By Jonathan Gramling
Inside the University Club on October 22, there was a little bit of a buzz going on. Every year, UW-Madison
hosts a reception for new and recently promoted faculty of color. The room was crowded with new and familiar
faces. It was if the event had a little spring to its step as the possibility of change — with the hiring of UW
Chancellor Biddy Martin and Vice Provost for Diversity and Equity Damon Williams — and the possibility of
making headway on diversity efforts fills the air.
In his remarks, Damon Williams stressed the importance of faculty to the university. “I think that each of us is
very clear in our understanding that faculty are the absolute lifeblood of this institution, particularly as it relates
to our mission to teach, engage in research and engage in the public life of service in an institution dedicated
to it,” Williams said. “I think this event today is a testament to the community and I am so glad to see so many
diverse faces here. One thing I said at the beginning of my time here that I frame myself as the vice provost for
diversity, not the vice provost for Black folks, not the vice provost for race and ethnicity, but the vice provost for
diversity with everything that entails.”
Williams recalled his time at the University of Michigan when the university was preparing its legal defense
for the court challenges to its affirmative action programs. And it was this period of challenge that spurred the
university to take its thinking about diversity to a higher level. “One of the things that happened was a very clear
conversation of how are we going to talk about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in a 21st century
moment,” Williams said. “Although we talked about it in historic terms, were we going to talk about it in evolved
terms and were we going to attempt to talk about it in many different ways? One of the things that emerged in
that conversation was a very in-depth conversation about what does higher education and higher education in a
21st century moment mean in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion issues. And one of the things that was
incredibly apparent given changing demographics, given the fact that we live in a global and interconnected
world, given the fact of how many organizations, companies, hospitals and schools are hungering for diversity,
was the need for not just diversity in terms of racial and ethnic composition, not just diversity in terms of gender,
but diversity in terms of ideas, diversity in terms of having a highly developed ability to work with others, to
interact in groups and teams. This is not the world of tomorrow. This is the world of today, one that is being
transformed again because of the merging global dynamics, one that is being transformed because of the way
that work happens in groups and in teams and one that is being transformed by the pervasive and indeed the diversity that we see in terms of our human rights.”
And it is this thinking about diversity within the overall context of the mission of the university — indeed recognizing it as an intricate part of that mission — that
has reshaped how the university has gone about promoting diversity. “What does a 21st century higher education institution need to look like,” Williams asked.
“What should it be grounded upon? What are the key values that we situate our work? And from that conversation, the conversation turned to ‘What type of
educational context do we want to have, not only in terms of our students, not only in terms our faculty, but in terms of our curriculum and our co-curriculum?’
We want to be about the business of preparing students to lead in the 21st century moment.”
As Williams was laying out the overarching vision for diversity efforts on campus, Gary Sandefur, dean of the UW College of Letters and Science, unveiled
some of the strategies developed by a committee that focused on the recruitment and retention of faculty of color that the college will be pursuing. One is the
setting aside of resources to aide in the hiring of faculty of color. “We checked with Legal Services and others and discovered that we could set aside some
resources for hiring faculty of color,” Sandefur said. “We’ll do this as part of our normal search process. We set aside 2-3 faculty lines. Among those that we held
back were partner and other unanticipated needs each year for diversity hires that might emerge during the processes for our normal searches that are taking
place in the College.”
The College will also be offering more training to those involved in the hiring process so that everyone is aware of the best practices that they can utilize in
the hiring process to attract more faculty of color. “Next year, we’re also going to try to state clearly to the departments how important diversity is and some of the
things we hope to work with them to do,” Sandefur said. “So we will have a statement and incentives for diversity hiring that will be made available to the
departments at the beginning of the hiring cycle. We’ve been expecting our departments to send a representative to the WISELEY Workshops on Hiring each
year. All of the departments have complied with that. What we are doing is taking what we’ve learned from that experience and modifying workshops that deal
with some of the pipeline and other issues that are part of recruiting faculty of color. So we’ll a new set of workshops that our search committees can participate
in.”
He also detailed two other initiatives that the College will implement in the hiring process. “In the College, we normally ask departments to tell us the two
finalists,” Sandefur said. “Now we are going to ask to hear about four finalists knowing that the broadened set of people that might be considered for the position.
And we are going to collect College best practices. Some departments have had a long history of hiring faculty of color. For other departments, it’s more of a
new challenge. So we will be collecting best practices.”
Sandefur also laid out the plan for creating a research center for race and ethnicity. “Many of our peer institutions already have had these for a number of
years,” Sandefur explained. “We don’t have the resources to fully create a separate center at this stage. So what we have done is work with Susan Friedman and
the Institute for Research in the Humanities and we created four research for race, ethnicity and indigenous fellowships for people in the social sciences and
humanities to study race and ethnicity. They will be able to be residents at the institute and participate with community scholars there. We have issued a call for
applications. So we’re very excited about that and how that might move forward.”
In concluding his remarks, Sandefur outlined an awards program that will be implemented to recognize those making strides in the area of diversity. “We
have an awards ceremony every year where we give awards to academic staff, faculty and classified staff for meritorious service,” Sandefur said. “So we’re going
to create awards in each of those categories for individuals who make a significant contribution to improving the diversity and climate in the College of Letters
and Science.”
There is a new feeling of hope surrounding diversity efforts at the University of Wisconsin. And it is concrete policies and actions that will allow the
university to move forward on a day-to-day basis to take its diversity efforts to the next level.
And it is this thinking about diversity within the overall context of the mission of the university — indeed recognizing it as an intricate part of that mission — that
has reshaped how the university has gone about promoting diversity. “What does a 21st century higher education institution need to look like,” Williams asked.
“What should it be grounded upon? What are the key values that we situate our work? And from that conversation, the conversation turned to ‘What type of
educational context do we want to have, not only in terms of our students, not only in terms our faculty, but in terms of our curriculum and our co-curriculum?’
We want to be about the business of preparing students to lead in the 21st century moment.”
As Williams was laying out the overarching vision for diversity efforts on campus, Gary Sandefur, dean of the UW College of Letters and Science, unveiled
some of the strategies developed by a committee that focused on the recruitment and retention of faculty of color that the college will be pursuing. One is the
setting aside of resources to aide in the hiring of faculty of color. “We checked with Legal Services and others and discovered that we could set aside some
resources for hiring faculty of color,” Sandefur said. “We’ll do this as part of our normal search process. We set aside 2-3 faculty lines. Among those that we held
back were partner and other unanticipated needs each year for diversity hires that might emerge during the processes for our normal searches that are taking
place in the College.”
The College will also be offering more training to those involved in the hiring process so that everyone is aware of the best practices that they can utilize in
the hiring process to attract more faculty of color. “Next year, we’re also going to try to state clearly to the departments how important diversity is and some of the
things we hope to work with them to do,” Sandefur said. “So we will have a statement and incentives for diversity hiring that will be made available to the
departments at the beginning of the hiring cycle. We’ve been expecting our departments to send a representative to the WISELEY Workshops on Hiring each
year. All of the departments have complied with that. What we are doing is taking what we’ve learned from that experience and modifying workshops that deal
with some of the pipeline and other issues that are part of recruiting faculty of color. So we’ll a new set of workshops that our search committees can participate
in.”
He also detailed two other initiatives that the College will implement in the hiring process. “In the College, we normally ask departments to tell us the two
finalists,” Sandefur said. “Now we are going to ask to hear about four finalists knowing that the broadened set of people that might be considered for the position.
And we are going to collect College best practices. Some departments have had a long history of hiring faculty of color. For other departments, it’s more of a
new challenge. So we will be collecting best practices.”
Sandefur also laid out the plan for creating a research center for race and ethnicity. “Many of our peer institutions already have had these for a number of
years,” Sandefur explained. “We don’t have the resources to fully create a separate center at this stage. So what we have done is work with Susan Friedman and
the Institute for Research in the Humanities and we created four research for race, ethnicity and indigenous fellowships for people in the social sciences and
humanities to study race and ethnicity. They will be able to be residents at the institute and participate with community scholars there. We have issued a call for
applications. So we’re very excited about that and how that might move forward.”
In concluding his remarks, Sandefur outlined an awards program that will be implemented to recognize those making strides in the area of diversity. “We
have an awards ceremony every year where we give awards to academic staff, faculty and classified staff for meritorious service,” Sandefur said. “So we’re going
to create awards in each of those categories for individuals who make a significant contribution to improving the diversity and climate in the College of Letters
and Science.”
There is a new feeling of hope surrounding diversity efforts at the University of Wisconsin. And it is concrete policies and actions that will allow the
university to move forward on a day-to-day basis to take its diversity efforts to the next level.
(From top) Vice Provost Damon Williams and
Dean Gary Sandefur (above) spoke at the
UW-Madison Faculty of Color Reception
October 22 at the University Club on the
Library Mall
Dean Gary Sandefur (above) spoke at the
UW-Madison Faculty of Color Reception
October 22 at the University Club on the
Library Mall