presented Sept. 22, 2022 Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support University of South Carolina

1. COMMITTEE REPORT
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND
INCLUSION (DEI) ADVISORY COUNCIL
DIVISION OF STUDENT AFFAIRS AND ACADEMIC SUPPORT

2. AGENDA
• Introduction
• Council Development and Structure
• Listening Tours - Planning and Implementation
• Findings and Insights
• Internal Review of DEI Practices
• Recommendations
• Diversity Statement
• Student Employment Training
• Training
• Search Committee Training
• EPMS Mapped to Families
• Implementation
• Questions

3. COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT AND STRUCTURE
• Derived from DEIA Task Force recommendations
• Reps from each AVP unit
• Three initial focus areas
• Hiring and onboarding practices
• Student employment and leadership opportunities
• Employee and student participation in DEI training
• Aligned with Strategic Priority #4 & Student Affairs Goal #3
• Cultivate a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive
campus culture where every individual, regardless of
background, has the full opportunity to flourish and
thrive
• Build a safe, civil, and nondiscriminatory campus
environment that ensures equity and fosters inclusion
for members of our community

4. LISTENING TOURS
• Structured listening tours of each AVP
unit conducted by council members,
concentrated on the 3 focus areas
• There were 9 primary questions and follow
up questions were asked as needed
• Interviewees were given the opportunity to
submit feedback and share content and
documents after the interviews
• A total of 51 individuals were interviewed,
21.6% were males, 78.4% were females;
21.6% were people of color; 33.3% identified
as directors/managers/supervisors; 66.6%
as professional and administrative staff

5. FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
• The listening tour was welcomed.
• Employees felt positively connected to mission and vision of
departments, and the workplace is collaborative and welcoming
• Employees expressed feeling burned out and overworked
• DEI is becoming a greater focus in units. Units strive to creating a
work environment where regardless of who they are or the job, feel
equally involved and supported in the workplace
• A few units have dedicated DEI teams. Some use tools and
resources to create a fair recruiting process

6. FINDINGS AND INSIGHTS
• There was a desire to have a centralized toolbox/resource for DEI
related training/education, hiring, onboarding & retaining employees
• Two units have put DEI into the EPMS reviews
• To increase retention, units expressed a desire to have a unified
onboarding process so that employees could build a community.
• Staff are being lured away by greater salaries and more flexibility in
work
• Leadership: Needs to be authentic, consistent and acknowledge
DEI issues rather than ignoring them

7. Based on findings, as a group we
identified specifics topics that needed
more information to determine best
practices and representation
• Professional Development, DEI
workshops facilitated on campus
• DEI statement for Student Affairs
• Professional performance for job
descriptions
REVIEW OF INTERNAL DEI PRACTICES
REVIEW OF DEI
PRACTICES

8. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FALL 2022
• Create a diversity statement for the
division
• Require promotion of student employment
opportunities in handshake
• Enhance DEI professional development
opportunities for employees
• Provide a centralized web location for
resources DEI resources
• Standardize search committee training
• Create a training objective within EPMS
which would include required institutional
training and could include DEI training and
development opportunities

9. DIVERSITY STATEMENT - DRAFT
The Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support is committed to an
equitable, diverse, and inclusive community, one that understands differing
ideas, values, perspectives, and identities.
Doing so creates a stronger community, a greater understanding of
differences, and more inclusive decision making. Further, by learning
about individual differences, relating shared experiences, advocating with
care, and celebrating our community, we live the values expressed in the
Carolinian Creed and create a welcoming and caring environment for all to
learn, work, live, and visit.
We acknowledge that this work is ongoing and never ending, and we
dedicate ourselves to the continuous practice of improvement toward a
better community.

10. STUDENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN
HANDSHAKE
• To transform student employment to a high impact experience for students
• To increase access

11. ENHANCE DEI PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OPPORTUNITIES
• SAAS DEI Training Goals
 Increase knowledge about DEI
 Understand shared DEI language
 Create inclusive work and learning environments
 Apply DEI knowledge to SAAS work
• Conduct Asset Mapping for existing offices offering training
 Examples: HR, DEI Office, Multicultural Affairs
• Work with the SAAS PD Team to deliver DEI professional development for the
Division
 Common DEI language
 Understanding how DEI applies within one's role
• Encouragement and Reporting
 Recognition program
 Blueprints at the Department level

12. CENTRALIZED DEI TOOLKIT
• Provide a centralized place
for a broad set of resources
that are related to Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion
• The resource page will be
divided into sections: Read,
Watch, Listen, Teach and
Learn, OMSA resource
Library, and terminology

13. SEARCH COMMITTEE TRAINING
• Provide committee members
with knowledge on search committee tools
provided by Human Resources
• Create standardized required search
committee training that includes best
practices to support the recruitment,
selection and hiring of diverse staff
members, among other topics
• Provide committee members with a clear
understanding of unconscious or implicit
bias and safeguards impartiality during the
search and hiring process

14. EPMS TRAINING OBJECTIVE - SAMPLES
• Provide a tool kit of diversity statements mapped to the new university job families.
Job Family Job Family Summary Sample Statement
Building and Grounds
Maintenance
Responsible for the continuous care of the University's facilities and
grounds, ensuring safety, cleanliness and continued operability.
Establish and maintain effective working relationships with
a diverse population.
Administrative Support
Serve the administrative needs of an organizational unit an
individual. Ensure effectiveness of daily operations of supported areas
which may include scheduling, customer service, data entry,
documentation, records management, and assisting in the specific
needs of the unit.
Commitment to diversity; ability to work effectively and build
collaborations with all constituencies in a
diverse institution.
Program Management
Contribute to the success of a program that has been established with
specific objectives to achieve. The program may focus on a single
initiative or a series of related projects. Objectives are aligned to a
strategic plan or statement of work that guides the operations of the
program area.
Partner and collaborate with key campus offices to ensure
programs, services, and activities support a diverse,
equitable and inclusive learning and work environment.
Helps students understand diversity from a global as well
as a local, community perspective.

15. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
• Completed items
• DEI Advisory Council name change
• Include diverse platforms/outlets to advertise employment
opportunities for full-time employees
• Act on results of the workplace survey
• Fall 2022
• Recommendations articulated in this presentation
submitted for your approval
• Spring/Fall 2023
• Provide scholarship funding for DEI-related professional
development for areas that do not have funding
• Consider 4 Cs approach to DEI work – Compliance,
Culture, Communication, and Connections
• Conduct a fit-gap analysis of practices
• Create consistent DEI training for professional staff
across the division
• Create a consistent DEI core curriculum training for all
student employees and peer leaders in the division
• Promote and enhance recognition and awards for DEI
efforts

16. THANKS!
PLEASE PROVIDE
FEEDBACK ON THE
PRESENTATION AND
DIVERSITY STATEMENT
The Division of Student Affairs and Academic Support
is committed to an equitable, diverse, and inclusive
community, one that understands differing ideas,
values, perspectives, and identities.
Doing so creates a stronger community, a greater
understanding of differences, and more inclusive
decision making. Further, by learning about individual
differences, relating shared experiences, advocating
with care, and celebrating our community, we live the
values expressed in the Carolinian Creed and create a
welcoming and caring environment for all to learn,
work, live, and visit.
We acknowledge that this work is ongoing and never
ending, and we dedicate ourselves to the continuous
practice of improvement toward a better community.