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Texas A&M University
Campus Diversity Plan
Approved August 17, 2006
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Commitment to Diversity
As a major public institution of higher education, Texas A&M University has both an extraordinary opportunity
and a special responsibility to create and maintain a climate that affirms diversity of persons as well as
diversity of views. Diversity is an indispensable component of academic excellence. A commitment to diversity
means a commitment to the inclusion, welcome, and support of individuals from all groups, encompassing the
various characteristics of persons in our community. Among these characteristics are race, ethnicity,
national origin, gender, age, socioeconomic background, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. As we
harness the power of diversity, we will provide students, faculty, and staff a university experience rich in
perspectives and opportunities to learn from each other. In the spirit of shared responsibility, we encourage
each University unit, student organization, and campus community member to help make our campus a welcoming
place for all.
Texas A&M University’s Mission Statement
Texas A&M University is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a
wide range of academic and professional fields. Its mission of providing the highest quality undergraduate and
graduate programs is inseparable from its mission of developing new understandings through research and
creativity. It prepares students to assume roles of leadership, responsibility, and service to society.
Texas A&M assumes as its historic trust the maintenance of freedom of inquiry and an intellectual environment
nurturing the human mind and spirit. It welcomes and seeks to serve persons of all racial, ethnic, and
geographic groups, women and men alike, as it addresses the needs of an increasingly diverse population
and a global economy. In the twenty-first century, Texas A&M University seeks to assume a place of
preeminence among public universities while respecting its history and traditions.
Campus Diversity Plan
We are committed to the complex and dynamic process of creating an environment in which the benefits of
diversity are realized. To this end, we propose an institutionalized strategic diversity plan that: identifies
accountability on institutional and individual levels; provides evidence of measurable progress over the
long term; and ensures sustained engagement at all levels.
VISION: "Texas A&M University must be a leader in promoting diversity in its student body, faculty,
staff, and intellectual viewpoints. Affording opportunity to all racial and ethnic groups is critical to
the future of Texas. Our vision of diversity as a wellspring of academic energy goes beyond race and
ethnicity to all manner of thought and action. An educated person must appreciate and interact with people
of all backgrounds and engage ideas that challenge his or her views."
Texas A&M University’s goals for achieving this vision are:
- achieve and evidence an environment where success and advancement are
based on equitable standards and metrics that demonstrate advancement of the mission of
the University;
- achieve and evidence a University culture where a prominent underlying
assumption is that the inclusion of participants with diverse identities is essential to excellence
in any effort; and
- achieve and evidence progress in the ranks of our faculty, students,
staff, and administrators to demonstrate that we are a national leader in diversity (collecting Federal
and State mandated data on race, ethnicity, and sex – hereafter “underrepresented”).
The Mission of the Office of the Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity is to facilitate,
coordinate, advance, amplify, inform, and monitor the University and its many units as we develop our
strength in - and evidence of - respect for diversity. This office will facilitate data collection,
the joint assessment of progress in all areas, and reporting to constituents of the University on the
status of our progress toward our goals.
| University’s core action areas in our plan will be to1: |
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| Action Area 1 |
Improve the Campus Climate for all Faculty, Administrators, Staff, and Students |
| Action Area 2 |
Expand and Improve Mentoring and Retention Programs for Faculty, Administrators, Staff, and Students |
| Action Area 3 |
Expand Education on Obstacles and Advantages to Achieving and Valuing Diversity |
| Action Area 4 |
Develop School and Community Partnerships |
| Action Area 5 |
Recruit More Students from underrepresented groups |
| Action Area 6 |
Recruit More Faculty, Administrators and Staff from underrepresented groups |
The President, all Vice Presidents and Deans will be responsible and accountable for determining how the
responsibility for implementation will be shared within their units or division for the sake of unit-level
reporting, but no element of their division will be excluded from participation in the plan. Every unit on
campus will be expected to document activities and outcomes that demonstrate their participation and success
in each action area. Evidence of effort and progress will be provided annually to the Dean of each college, Vice
Presidents, and the Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity by July 15th. The Vice President and
Associate Provost for Diversity will present an annual status report to the President by August 15th.
Preliminary timelines and University-wide aspects of each strategy follow.
Plan Implementation –
The plan will be executed in three phases.
Phase 1 (2007-2008) will focus on establishing appropriate and specific evaluation metrics, and communication
processes. To date, numerous units have been actively working to address recruitment and retention
efforts for underrepresented groups. Some areas have activities underway for educating students and
employees on diversity and on improving the unit’s climate for diversity. These activities must be continued
and their results shared more broadly with the University community. In addition, Phase 1 will focus on three
broad based program areas listed below. Finally, this phase will formulate the plan for institutionalizing the
commitment to this plan by developing appropriate incentives for successes in current activities and for
future phases.
Phase 2 (2009) will focus on continuation of Phase 1 successes and implementation of activities in all of the
action areas. Resources to expand or introduce new activities based on evidence of successes or demonstrable needs
for success will need to be identified for this phase.
Phase 3 (2009-2010) of the plan will focus on a deeper reevaluation of the effectiveness of the Diversity Plan and
either a reaffirmation of this plan or commitment to a revised plan.
Phase 1 2007 - 2008
The VPAPD Office will collect information, via the campus VPs that highlights existing activities and evaluations
of the effectiveness of these activities. Then the VPAPD will work with the Vice President for Communications
Office to present the activities underway across campus: Data Collection through 12/1/07, data presentation
completed by 02/1/08. This activity repeats annually.
PHASE 1 SPECIAL CAMPUS FOCUS PROGRAMS
- DIVERSITY CLIMATE ASSESSMENT AND RESPONSE: Develop and administer a campus-wide
assessment for faculty, staff, and students for the campus climate for participation, equity, and advancement.
While a number of such assessments have been done in the past, the most recent one appears to be for
students, initiated in 2002. The instruments used in the past may be appropriate; however, new
assessments of the climate are appropriate at this time. The VPAPD will coordinate with the Dean of
Faculties, Employee Services, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Deans to develop appropriate
instruments for Fall 2006 data collection. Units may voluntarily opt to develop and collect information
for their unit but should inform and coordinate with the VPAPD. Data will be presented by February 15, 2008.
Follow-up data collection will be completed by April 15, 2008. Response plans will be coordinated by the VPAPD
with all VPs and Deans and will be presented by June 15 annually for implementation in the following
academic year.
- PROGRAM FOR EDUCATION ON SCHEMAS THAT AFFECT HIRING, INCLUSION, AND ADVANCEMENT:
Our goal is that within one year all hiring supervisors and all chairs of search committees, awards committees,
and promotion/selection committees will attend educational sessions (that will be repeated annually). Additionally,
incoming students will have an increased level of exposure to diversity issues during new student conferences
and existing students will have voluntary, focused extracurricular learning experiences to improve their
abilities as global citizens—that is, individuals who can understand and contextualize their identity and
experiences in relation to others with different identities and experiences. A student-focused
program
was piloted during 2006/2007. For employees, these activities must be coordinated and integrated with other
required training that Employee Services must conduct. Academic department heads participated in a workshop
on May 15, 2006. The goal will be to sustain initial educational efforts for new individuals in these roles,
and to provide progressive educational opportunities annually for existing people in the roles. The VPAPD will
coordinate with Vice Presidents, Deans, Dean of Faculties, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Dean of Graduate
Studies, and Employee Services to budget and design these educational and monitoring systems. Members of the
TAMU community with special interests and expertise in diversity issues, such as diversity-related networks or
faculty, may also be engaged to facilitate this process. This program will be presented to the President for
approval by Spring of 2008. Implementation will begin based on the plan and the VPAPD will coordinate a report
on progress toward the target annually by March 15.
- PROGRAM TO INTERNALLY BENCHMARK AND TARGET DIVERSITY REPRESENTATION GOALS:
Assess the current presence of diversity (sex, racial and ethnic) by unit for employees, students, and
participants at all levels. The VPAPD will coordinate with all Vice Presidents and Deans to assemble unit data on
current representation and with the Vice Presidents, Deans, Dean of Faculties, Dean of Undergraduate Studies,
Dean of Graduate Studies, and Employee Services to determine comparative data (peers or pools or both) for each
unit. The VPAPD Office will provide a core set of data that units are expected to assemble, to which they may add
other metrics as they deem appropriate. Units will work with university offices to find appropriate comparative
data. Internal benchmark counts will be based on data from 10/1/06. Appropriate unit comparative data will be
found as current as available. Completion of first pass is set for 12/1/07 (recognizing that some data may not
be available). Process will be repeated annually to assess TAMU trend, and at least once per 3 years to assess
comparator status.
The VPAPD will lead efforts to use information and lessons (gathered through formal and informal assessment)
from phase 1 of this plan to develop appropriate tactics for phase 2 (2008-2009). The effort will engage
constituencies of the University for feedback and planning. The phase 2 plan will be presented for approval by
the President during the Fall of 2008.
1 Modeled from the American Council on Education The Continuing Significance of Racism: U.S. Colleges and Universities, by Joe R. Feagin, 2002.
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