California State University, Bakersfield is committed to diversity, inclusive excellence and equity. As such, the university was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the California State University Chancellor’s Office.
The funds will help further the endeavors of increasing the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, will assist in the Leadership Academy and affinity groups on campus.
“This grant will allow us to augment programs that support faculty professional development and leadership. As research shows, these opportunities are important tools in retaining, as well as recruiting, faculty that reflect the rich diversity among our students,” said Claudia Catota, chief diversity officer and special assistant to the president.
The former vice provost, chief diversity officer and special assistant to the president, and four faculty members have created a Faculty Diversity Initiative to review current university recruitment and retention practices, with the goal to increase diverse faculty within tenure-track positions.
After attending the Excelencia in Education/University of Southern California (USC) faculty recruitment workshop in September 2019, the committee has become even more determined and committed to working on rewriting faculty job announcements, reviewing faculty data and discussing ideas to support diverse faculty.
The Leadership Academy was established in 2019 to promote a diverse pool of faculty members within the academic ranks and support their campus leadership aspirations. It is a year-long program structured to provide early career faculty members the encouragement, support and mentorship needed to pursue leadership opportunities on campus.
Throughout the course, faculty members will meet as a cohort and are given assigned readings and provided mentors. CSUB aims to continue this opportunity for junior faculty as a retention tool, based on the feedback from the current cohort and observation of the participants’ leadership roles on campus.
The affinity groups were created in the 2015-16 academic year as an opportunity to gather around shared interest and common goals. The university’s affinity groups include the Black Faculty and Staff Association, LGBTQ+ Pride, Asian Faculty and Staff Network, Organization of Women Leaders and the Latina/o Faculty and Staff Association.
Since the establishment of these affinity groups, the university has increased its cultural programming by adding such celebrations as Chinese New Year, International Women’s Day, Diwali and Lavender graduation recognition ceremony for CSUB’s LGBTQ+ students.
The goal is to continue growing and improving CSUB’s current endeavors, knowing how important it is to retain underrepresented faculty who serve and become role models for the diverse student population.
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