UTMB ADMINISTRATION SWIMMING AGAINST THE DIVERSITY STREAM

The following excerpt is taken from "The Rise of the Chief Diversity Officer" appearing on the Chronicle of Higher Education website.  Unfortunately, those readers who do not subscribe to the Chronicle will have to content themselves with just the excerpt.  Readers who subscribe to the Chronicle may click on the title below to go to the full article. 

The Rise of the Chief Diversity Officer

By BEN GOSE

Pullman, Wash.

Michael J. Tate runs an operation with the kind of resources that many small colleges would envy. He has an annual budget of $3-million and a full-time staff of 55, including two people focused exclusively on communications and a development officer who's angling to raise $10-million. All this is in a unit — the office of the vice president for equity and diversity — that didn't even exist here at Washington State University in the summer of 2004.

Nearly every university, it seems [EXCEPT UTMB, NOTES THE BLOGMEISTER], is racing to appoint a chief diversity officer.  Although their titles vary, these administrators often are vice presidents or vice provosts and manage larger budgets and more people than their predecessors of a decade or two ago, when the top administrator in this area was often dubbed "minority-affairs director."

Harvard University, Texas A&M University, and the University of California at Berkeley, Texas at Austin, and Virginia, among others, have created chief diversity officer positions in the past two years.

Meanwhile, UTMB has buried its Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity under Human Resources AND scattered the office's people.  Good job sending the right message to minorities, UTMB administration. 

Comments

[anonymous]

Swimming against it? How about jumped out of the water, dried off and sitting on the side of the river sipping martinis. This is not the only slap against diversity here. They are trying to do away with the Core Committee for Women and Core Committee for Underrepredented Minorities. I wonder why the change????

[worried employee]

The right message has been sent to minorities. If you are qualified, you will be hired. Having another Chief-blank-Officer is another level of management is that costly and ineffective. Can anyone tell me what has been accomplished by any Chief-blank-Office at UTMB?