President’s Staff Statement on Hiring for Diversity
As articulated in the Plan for Kalamazoo College’s Future, making the College more diverse is integral to creating an inclusive, student-focused environment. A key goal in the pursuit of creating such an environment is building a more diverse faculty and staff that better reflects our ever diversifying student body and the diversity of the world around us. Moreover, the quality and content of our academic programs is enhanced by the presence of a diverse faculty that brings a broad range of perspectives and life experience to their disciplines. Educational benefits accrue for all students in environments that have intentionally focused on the processes and practices of diversity (Milem, Chang and Antonio, Making Diversity Work on Campus: A Research-Based Perspective, AAC&U, 2005).
Every open position provides an opportunity to diversify the faculty and staff, thereby improving the education provided to our students. To build the capacity of each division of the College to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, the offices of the Provost and Human Resources will provide training and will assist with the development of practical resources and tools designed to help those conducting searches to:
- Develop position descriptions that invite a diverse pool of candidates for every position;
- Utilize multiple networks of communication to diverse communities;
- Reduce structural bias in search processes;
- Develop screening criteria that ensure full consideration of people from diverse backgrounds;
- Ensure that campus search processes meet the needs of candidates from a variety of backgrounds; and
- Provide a welcoming and supportive work environment that helps the College retain a diverse workforce over time.
An ever-evolving set of resources, tools and training will be available to search committees and hiring supervisors. Every search will be expected to attend to the opportunity available to diversify the faculty and staff.
August 2012
Partner and Vendor Resources
We seek to develop business partnerships with vendors and contractors that share our commitment to diversity. Firms that can provide tangible and evidence of this commitment, either through the participation of underrepresented people in ownership or the employment of a diverse workforce, will be given preference whenever Kalamazoo College is evaluating business proposals or issuing contracts.
March 2015