Introduction
Background
A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State: 2004 - 09
Campus Climate and Intergroup Relations
Representation (Access and Success)
Education and Scholarship
Institutional Viability
and Vitality
Conclusion
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Notes
Framework Main Page

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A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State:
1998 - 03

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2004 - 09 (PDF 2,606 KB)

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Representation (Access and Success)

Challenge 3: Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Student Body
Penn State’s history and experience illustrate the centrality of representation. Penn State was the first institution of higher education in Pennsylvania to admit women students and by the early 1900s, approximately one-fourth of graduates were female. Penn State also has a long history of admitting African American students, with its first African American graduate a member of the class of 1904. In the early 1970s, Penn State began actively recruiting African American students years before other diversity initiatives were begun. For many at Penn State, recruiting and retaining a diverse student body are still the primary diversity goals.

Institutional efforts at recruiting, retaining, and graduating students from underrepresented groups have met with some notable successes. Women have now attained parity with men in medical and law school enrollments at Penn State. Although students of color still comprise a small percentage of the overall student population, steady increases have occurred in the past decade. Graduation rates for undergraduate African American students who begin at University Park have risen to the point where they are among the highest in the nation among peer institutions. The enrollment of international students holds steady despite difficulties in obtaining visas in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The College of Engineering has experienced considerable success in recruiting and retaining women students. Never-theless, long-standing problems remain. Women are still not well represented in some colleges that have been traditionally dominated by men, and a significant disparity in graduation rates persists between undergraduate students of color and white students.15

Fortunately, many initiatives exist at Penn State and peer institutions that can serve as benchmarks for units as they strengthen their own recruitment and retention programs. Such programs include summer recruitment and bridge programs that focus on academic enrichment and adjustment to college; partnerships between specific Penn State colleges or campuses and high schools, colleges and universities serving underrepresented populations; college participation in national consortia that support recruitment and retention goals; and mentoring and scholarship programs.

In the aggregate, these types of programs appear to have had a positive effect on recruiting and retaining a diverse student body. However, the specific impact of individual programs is often difficult to determine. In order to fully assess the impact of these initiatives, program directors must identify measurable outcomes that constitute success and then track these outcomes among students who participate in their programs. Also, while several offices are involved in recruiting and retention efforts at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, efforts are not always fully coordinated. Finally, graduate student recruitment is more decentralized with admissions decisions being made primarily by academic departments. Although the Graduate School remains involved with recruiting efforts, sharing of expertise and insights between the Graduate School and academic departments is more difficult under this structure.

Targeted Areas for Improvement Include:

• Reduce intergroup disparities in undergraduate enrollment, retention, and graduation rates through improvements in recruitment processes and retention initiatives.
• Develop and implement proactive strategies to recruit and retain nontraditional students. Explore opportunities to create partnerships with historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, and tribal colleges, as well as other institutions serving underrepresented populations. Best practices, particularly in graduate recruitment, should be shared among units.
• Implement and/or strengthen bridge programs, partnerships, consortia, and mentoring and scholarship programs.
• Identify measurable outcomes to assess program effectiveness, including longer term tracking of participant success.
• Collaborate more effectively among offices and individuals involved with student recruiting and retention to maximize the potential to attract and retain diverse students. Utilizing the expertise of the college multicultural coordinators and the office of Graduate Educational Equity is especially important in graduate recruiting.

Assessment Questions:

1. Describe specific initiatives your unit may have that are intended to contribute to recruiting or retaining undergraduate and/or graduate students from underrepresented groups.
2. Describe specific initiatives your unit may have that are intended to reduce intergroup disparities in enrollment, retention, and graduation rates.
3. What mechanisms for collaboration has your unit established?
4. Which recruitment and retention initiatives have been most successful? Which have been least successful? Which could be termed “best practices”? (Best Practices are processes, programs, and procedures that most successfully lead to the unit’s ability to reach the University’s diversity goals and can be validated through measurable outcomes.)
5. What measures of success have you identified to gauge your progress in this Challenge? Include data demonstrating outcomes.

Challenge 4: Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce
Institutional efforts to meet this Challenge have resulted in some progress. Under the 1998-2003 Framework and at the urging of several University constituencies, the Affirmative Action Office and Diversity Education has taken a more proactive role in supporting faculty searches to ensure that diverse pools are sought and that diverse candidates are appropriately considered and hired where possible. Initiatives to develop postdoctoral programs are a new strategy being developed to help diversify the faculty. Over the past few years, Penn State’s hiring of high quality faculty members from underrepresented groups has improved (see Appendix 2),16 and the impact from initiatives such as those implemented by the Affirmative Action Office and Diversity Education is promising. However, continued efforts toward recruiting and, especially, retaining a diverse workforce are needed.

Assessment of the 1998-2003 Framework indicated that faculty hiring successes are largely concentrated in a limited number of colleges and departments. Also, retention efforts targeted to underrepresented faculty vary greatly across departments and colleges; some have multiple programs in place while others offer little or no support and guidance. The senior faculty mentor position has been restructured, but it remains difficult for one part-time position to support the success of all junior faculty members from underrepresented groups throughout the University. Also important to retention and success is appropriate evaluation of diverse scholarship within the tenure and promotion process. New approaches to evaluating diversity scholarship must acknowledge the scholarship inherent in research, teaching, and service without relying on narrow and unquestioned rubrics.

While faculty and administrator searches draw on national or international pools, staff hiring is largely bound to region. Penn State campuses not located in or adjacent to areas of Pennsylvania with a comparatively diverse population understandably struggle to achieve diversity among staff. However, the assessment of the 1998-2003 Framework indicated that locations with access to more diverse search pools for staff positions often have not achieved any greater success than those in less diverse locations. New initiatives to enhance the diversity components of the Staff Review and Development Plan will support retention by encouraging diversity-oriented staff development opportunities.

Targeted Areas for Improvement Include:

• Develop and implement strategies to improve the success of search processes in identifying and assessing the credentials of women and minority employee candidates for faculty and staff positions.
• Expand faculty and staff retention programs to include all underrepresented groups.
• Accelerate the introduction of “family friendly” policies and programs, expanded reward systems, and expanded personal and professional development opportunities.
• Continue to develop proactive measures for achieving an appropriately representative search pool for faculty and administrative positions, as well as for staff positions, where possible. Utilizing the assistance of the senior faculty mentor and colleagues in other units may help in recruiting faculty from underrepresented groups into nondiverse departments. Highlighting the benefits of Penn State employment as they appeal to targeted audiences may help in developing diverse search pools, especially at the staff level.
• Emphasize retaining and promoting high quality faculty and staff members from underrepresented groups. Efforts may include mentoring, staff development opportunities, and leadership development opportunities. Opportunities for promotion to leadership positions are crucial. Initiatives to increase a sense of community are also imperative for retention.
• Identify and assess initiatives aimed at promoting success and achievement of employees from underrepresented groups. Such efforts vary greatly across units. An inventory of unit-level efforts may lead to enhanced effectiveness of University-wide efforts such as the senior faculty mentor’s services.
• Emphasize diversity-related activities and professional development in employee performance
evaluations.
• Acknowledge and appropriately value the relationship of diversity within the tenure and promotion process. New approaches to evaluating diversity scholarship must be implemented. Research should be evaluated on its scholarly merits without prejudgments regarding the value of topics and approaches.
• Encourage respect for intellectual diversity including different schools of thought, scholarship, paradigms, research methodologies, etc.

Assessment Questions:

1. How has your unit actively and successfully engaged in locating and recruiting faculty and/or staff from underrepresented groups?
2. What strategies have been implemented to improve identification and assessment of credentials for purposes of hiring and promotion?
3. What retention strategies have you implemented in your unit to retain and promote the success of faculty and/or staff from underrepresented groups?
4. Which recruitment and retention strategies have been most successful? Which have been least successful? Which could be termed “best practices”? (Best Practices are processes, programs, and procedures that most successfully lead to the unit’s ability to reach the University’s diversity goals and can be validated through measurable outcomes.)
5. What measures of success have you identified to gauge your progress in this Challenge? Include data demonstrating outcomes.

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