CDSJ Action Plan for NRE
The Committee’s recommended action plan is divided into three areas reflecting the objectives listed above: integrating CDSJ into the college’s life, hiring and training, and building community. We first discuss each of these in turn followed by a list of prioritized actions and a timeline.
Integrating CDSJ into the College’s Life
Work on CDSJ issues should become an integral part of the life of the college over time. This requires that the college design, initiate, and follow systemic and structural changes that not only facilitate the implementation of current plans but also make the process of considering and acting on CDSJ issues an essential, intrinsic component of the whole system and the way it functions. To do so we recommend that the college:
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Move from the approach of occasional tactics and seasonal remedies to that of full and genuine strategies, developed from the ground up through continuous dialogue. The issues of community, diversity, and social justice should not be addressed only in “crisis management” situations but rather adopted as intrinsic to the system. Our college can be more productive through its commitment to community, diversity, and social justice.
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Adopt a dynamic approach of continuous updating of methods and procedures regarding CDSJ based on a system of evaluation and reevaluation. What is working today may not work tomorrow, and what may be enough now may not be enough in the future.
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Apply CDSJ goals to all college activities (teaching, research, and service) and include all elements from curriculum assessment and classroom management, to research program development and funding opportunities, to the evaluation of administrative policies.
Hiring and Training
The committee discussed the need for an on-going commitment by the college to hiring and retaining a diverse work force. For current NRE employees, survey responses showed that they were generally satisfied with their jobs. However, there were concerns about the quality of supervision, inaccurately prepared job descriptions, and unfair treatment of employees based on job classification. Based on these work environment concerns, the NRE CDSJ Committee strongly recommends the services of the Office of Workplace Learning & Development be used to educate and train Department Heads and Supervisors on how to provide for the people that they supervise. The opportunity to provide training demonstrates a commitment by the college to improve work environment conditions. Mandatory attendance in a Managing and Supervision workshop, or participation in an e-online offering, would be expected of NRE Department Heads and Supervisors who are responsible for managing professional or classified staff.
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Workplace Learning & Development (WL&D) currently provides professional development workshops for employees of the University throughout the calendar year. WL&D conducts Managing and Supervision workshops that provide employees with the tools needed to be successful in managing, supervising, evaluating staff performance, and becoming a positive team player.
At the discretion of the Department Head, Supervisors in workplaces that typically hire student employees would be encouraged to attend WL&D workshops that specifically cover student employees.
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Workplace Learning & Development provides informational sessions specifically for Supervisors who hire student employees. These workshops will cover hiring practices, tools to orient students to the workplace, good supervision practices, and feedback and coaching skills.
The NRE CDSJ committee held numerous discussions on determining what CDSJ means and what are the University’s goals and definitions of Community, Diversity, and Social Justice. This education process was important for the committee. We believe that progress on CDSJ issues requires that the entire NRE workforce be introduced to these issues and how they can be addressed in the workplace. Without this background, employees may be unaware of why it is important to address them in the workplace. With this in mind we focused on providing NRE employees with an opportunity to educate themselves on this subject.
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Conduct workshops on a college-wide basis covering CDSJ goals and values. Several workshops would be scheduled to accommodate mixed groups of College employees (faculty, professional staff, classified staff, and graduate students). To build community it is important that the workshops not be offered on a segregated basis for different types of employees.
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Provide CDSJ education to new employees to campus. This educational workshop should be provided centrally as a segment to the New Employee Information Program. This training will help employees learn and develop the skills needed to meet the challenges and opportunities of a diverse work environment.
Building Community
The committee identified three areas of action that will build the feeling of community in NRE.
Communication and Joint Planning
Although the committee kept returning to the question of what is meant by Community, Diversity, and Social Justice, we also agreed that communication is key to understanding and implementing all three values. It is clear that many problems arise from a lack of communication and joint planning. Therefore addressing communication issues is important in our findings. Communication needs to be improved at all levels within the college, that is, college-wide, at the department level, and at the interpersonal level.
At the college level:
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All personnel should be included in college-wide functions and improved communication is needed to announce these functions (e.g., College Day and college meetings).
Representatives from professional, classified, and graduate student staff should be invited to attend college faculty meetings and retreats, allowing input and ideas from all employee groups to be shared college-wide.
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Committees similar to those for faculty personnel could be convened for professional, classified, and graduate student staff. These committees would manage the concerns specific to each staff category.
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Succinct, simple, and regular college-wide communications, perhaps in an e-mail format, should be instituted to keep people informed of events and issues.
At the department level:
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All players on the team should be included in team meetings. Department heads and supervisors should organize regular meetings with all employees they supervise. Such meetings should encourage participation and discussion by all staff and could include recommendations that would improve the working and learning environment of the college.
An atmosphere of improved college-wide communication would also serve to improve communication at the individual level, where we could move from the “formal” to the “heart to heart.” Improved communication could have the effect of all employees feeling included and involved, and could lead to more respectful treatment of all individuals.
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Dialog on community, diversity, and social justice issues should be encouraged and become a “permanent discussion.” Major incidents that occur on campus can be used as opportunities to help define and better understand what community, diversity, and social justice mean, and how these values affect our daily life.
Recognition
Human nature dictates that positive behavior can always be encouraged and reinforced by recognition. To promote high achievement, hard work, and good service, individuals who display them must be appreciated and rewarded. Our college can adopt an effective system of recognition and reward through:
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Revamping the current system of teaching and research awards, which is vague, random, and passive. There are a great number of excellent and dedicated teachers and researchers who are not recognized just because nobody cares about nominating them. One of the possible changes that could be made is to convert the system from passive to proactive by accepting applications from individuals themselves who wish to showcase their own accomplishments . Waiting for somebody to nominate somebody else is like waiting for the rain, which may not come. We cannot build on success with this randomness.
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Similar approaches may be applied to reward the achievements of students, staff, and administrators. Success is everywhere. We are very pleased to see that NRE has this year added an “Outstanding Achievement Award for NRE Support Staff” to the existing awards for teaching, research, outreach, and academic advising. This is a definite step in the right direction. We can create a “Hall of Fame” that would include the best of us in terms of hard work and dedication, from the associate dean through the custodian. The little money that is required for such rewards, whether it is for the certificates, personal checks, or the ceremonial cost will be well spent as an investment with a high return.
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Equally important is the moral support that may come in the form of a simple letter from a supervisor, department head, or dean. More notable achievements may warrant a letter from the provost or chancellor initiated by the dean.
Other Initiatives
The college can also foster a friendly and healthy environment for its members, and offer the opportunity for them to know and recognize one another through promoting and sponsoring extra-curricular activities in sports, arts, and other creative or simple activities such as outdoor gatherings. The NRE College Day in the fall is a great example of events that build a sense of community.
