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NCURA’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force was established in 2017 to evaluate NCURA’s ability to promote and adopt diversity and inclusion strategies at both the national and regional levels of the organization. In 2018, the Task Force was charged with developing an implementation plan that includes recommended guidelines for national and regional adoption in all aspects of NCURA. In March 2018, the Task Force developed NCURA’s Statement on Diversity and Inclusion. In 2020, the statement was rededicated into NCURA’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) recognizes, values, and celebrates diversity of persons, skills, and experiences in its mission to advance the profession of research administration. Thus, NCURA is committed to building and maintaining a diverse membership and a culture of inclusion. Every member of NCURA has a right, without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, age, religion, social class, sexual orientation, ability, personality, functional experience, or background, to fair and respectful treatment, equal access to resources to support professional growth, and equitable opportunities to contribute to NCURA’s success.
Additional statements released by NCURA include this email from June 4th, 2020 and this statement from March 19th, 2021.
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Collaborate Community strives to educate, engage, and empower our membership to actively participate in creating inclusive workspaces for all. The Collaborate community serves to:
Join us as we share ideas and practices to support a diverse, equitable and inclusive research administration community!
The session will focus on the importance of inclusive practices in the workplace, particularly with regards to making a Land Acknowledgement statement. Participants will learn about the benefits of acknowledging the land and its history, including building respect and understanding among different cultures and communities. The session will also discuss some of the common pitfalls to avoid when implementing this practice in an institution of higher education, such as tokenism or failing to make meaningful changes. The goal is to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the importance of inclusive practices and the steps that can be taken to create a more inclusive and respectful workplace. This webinar was produced as part of NCURA's 2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Webinar Series. Originally Aired: February 22, 2023 Presenters: Ft. Joan Collier, PhD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey & Cori Bazemore-James, PhD, Seneca, University of Minnesota Facilitator: Lamar Oglesby, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Managing and Leading a Culturally Diverse Workforce: An organization is only as good as its culture—and building that culture is not only a role for human resources, but also every manager’s and employee’s responsibility. This webinar will address organizational needs for more supportive and engaging workplaces by understanding the perceptual, institutional, and psychological processes that impact the ways people interact with each other. This requires us to address challenges, such as cognitive biases, lack of cultural awareness and other contributing factors that impede diverse workforces. This webinar will also provide practical tools to improve engagement, counteract biases; while fostering an inclusive culture for all. Originally Aired: November 15, 2022 Presenters: Olive Giovannetti, University of California, San Francisco; Rick Roberts, PhD, CRA, CFRA, Morehouse School of Medicine; Shawna Lewis, MPA, ASM, County of Los Angeles, Child Support Services; and facilitator Rashonda Harris, University of Connecticut
Educational Bias and Opportunities in the Workforce: This webinar seeks to explore the impact of educational requirements and mitigation strategies. A robust panel will discuss the impact of requirements, required vs. preferred, the range of educational backgrounds and post- graduate education that RA’s have and how they impact the work that is done, and how to mitigate for disproportionate impact of educational requirements. This is the fifth of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: September 15, 2022 Presenters: Dr. Jamail D. Carter, Los Angeles Southwest College; Kairi Williams, University of California, Berkeley; and facilitator Rashonda Harris, University of Connecticut
Steps to Building a Multigenerational Diverse Workforce: Dealing with Unconscious Bias and Age: As the makeup of the workforce continues to shift, this webinar focuses on harnessing the power of an intergenerational team, communication, career planning, and inclusion in a multi-generational workplace, as well as shifting cultural norms to recruit, retain and promote the workforce of the future. This is the fourth of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: July 14, 2022 Presenters: Mario R. Medina, PhD CRA, University of Kansas Medical Center; Denise Moody, NCURA Distinguished Educator, Boston VA Research Institute, Inc; Laneika K. Musalini, EdD; Saiqa Anne Qureshi, PhD MBA, University of California, San Francisco
This session will discuss international diversity that US-based research administrators will interact with when working internationally. The cultural intelligence and inclusion training will educate attendees with the foundation knowledge, skills, and mindsets required to work effectively with culturally diverse stakeholders and to foster culturally inclusive work settings. This is the third of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: May 12, 2022 Presenters: Beatrice Biney-Nyamekye, University of Ghana; Bruno Woeran, Paracelsus Medical University; and Facilitator Derick Jones, The Lundquist Institute
This webinar will focus on inclusion of the wide LGBTQ+ community, discussing the breadth of that community, including varied gender identity and use of terminology, and on supporting and affirming transgender people in the workplace. This is the second of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: March 10, 2022 Presenters: Joanna H. Foland, MA, CTA CC, Targeting Equity in Access to Mentoring (TEAM) ADVANCE, Center for Faculty Excellence, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Alaiyia Nicole Williams, MSW, LCSW, Heart 2 Heart Counseling & Consulting, LLC; Rev. Valerie Spencer, MSW, Transcend Empowerment Institute; and Facilitator Derick Jones, The Lundquist Institute
Strategies for creating a safe space for an honest and open dialogue, open forum for breaking down cultural norms within the academic setting: It is critical to create safe spaces for open dialogue within the academic setting, and a vital component in this is breaking down cultural norms. The current cultural conditioning does not intentionally create an environment that supports research administrators to be active allies, speak truth to power and create open dialogue. This session will focus on strategies to create open dialogue. This is the first of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: January 26, 2022 Presenters: Geraldine Pierre, Brandeis University; Theresa Caban, Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor - UCLA Medical Center; Laneika Musalini, Tri-County Technical College
Allyship is a lifelong process of building relationships based on trust, consistency, action, and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people. Allyship is a benefit of new awareness and behavioral norms, which in turn can drive inclusion. Attendees will receive invaluable take-aways in understanding and defining Allyship. Attendees will also gain an understanding of what an ally is and the potential impact in which one can have personally, professionally and within NCURA. This is the sixth of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: November 18, 2021 Presenters: Rashonda Harris, University of Connecticut; Marchon Jackson, University of Maryland College Park; David Schultz, University of Houston; Bonniejean Zitske
Disability & -Isms: Racism, Sexism, and Ageism - If an organization is overrun by “-isms,” everyone loses. This lively panel discussion will shed insight of the impact of racism, sexism, ageism, and ableism. When -isms are present in an organization, people do not work to their full advantage, teams are not as strong, communication is weaker, and consultation about important tasks that require collaboration and multiple perspectives may not happen. Attendees will gain an awareness of these -isms and understand how to combat these very common forms of bias. This is the fifth of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: September 9, 2021 Presenters: Jamie Caldwell, University of Missouri - Columbia School of Medicine; Tre'Shawn Hall-Baker, PhD, Santa Monica College; Jared Karol, JaredKarol.com; and Samantha Westcott, California Institute of Technology
Research Administration and Data: What the data says about us and how we can leverage this information to be the change we seek. In today’s climate, you’d be hard pressed to find an organization that does not talk about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) as a priority, a goal, a value, a differentiator, a part of organizational culture, and, at the same time, a focused area for improvement. This panel will examine the outputs of the latest NCURA climate survey as well as the trajectories and impact of a series of surveys of the research administration community. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the general make-up of both NCURA and the research administration community as a whole, comparisons to the US workforce overall, and the impact of an aging and heavily white and female community on the industry. This is the fourth of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: July 8, 2021 Presenters: Dr. Laneika K. Musalini, Tri-County Technical College; Saiqa Anne Qureshi, PhD, University of California, San Francisco; Mario R. Medina, PhD, University of Kansas Medical Center; and Jennifer Shambrook, PhD, University of Central Florida
Workplace Cultural Norms: Professionalism - This panel will unpack the effect of workplace cultural norms and the unintended impact of those norms. Managers that hire employees who come from all economic and sociopolitical backgrounds will bring unique viewpoints and perspectives to the organization. Embracing cultural diversity allows employees from disadvantaged backgrounds to have a better opportunity to enjoy a rewarding, fulfilling career. This session will focus on case studies related to gender, accommodation, and tropes, as well as provide insight into the unintended impact. Attendees will unlock discoveries of how workplace exams, dress codes and definitions of “professionalism” are rooted in bias. This is the third of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: May 4, 2021 Presenters: Saiqa Anne Qureshi, PhD, University of California, San Francisco; Rashonda Harris, Johns Hopkins University's Master of Science in Research Administration Program; Anya Soto, Culture Crafters; Steven Lei, The Phillips Academy
Recruitment, Retention, and Promotion are of great importance to university administrators, particularly now as Universities seek to be a microcosm of society that embrace diversity and full minority participation in all aspects of our culture. This discussion, with an expert panel on the impact of and the mitigation of bias in recruitment, retention, promotion, and redeployment, will give attendees an in-depth perspective on each topic with practical takeaways to deploy as needed in the workplace to reduce the impact of bias in their teams and larger organization. This is the second of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: March 4, 2021 Presenters: Dr. Katrina Caldwell, Johns Hopkins University; Annette Hay, Coventry University; Jerry Knighton, Clemson University; Dr. Valyncia Raphael-Woodward, Western University of Health Sciences; and Dr. Marianne Wood, Johns Hopkins University
Unconscious Biases are social stereotypes of certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Attendees will learn the foundation and gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of unconscious bias; and the impact of an inherently racist social system, as well as mitigation strategies for the workplace. The DEI webinar series will include the following topics recruitment, retention and promotion; the impact on workplace cultural norms; data around who research administrators are; the effect on those with identified differences (disability, gender/sex and age); and allyship and its critical place in NCURA and research administration. This is the first of six webinars focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally Aired: January 7, 2021 Presenter: Wayne Moody, Certified Dream Builder Coach, and Rashonda Harris, Johns Hopkins University