Strategic Pillar Four: Organizational Empowerment and Transformation

Goal 4-A

Foster a culture of staff development and retention across Graduate Studies. Ensure that leaders at all levels of the organization are well-trained in both management skills and cultural competency.
Increase assessment and accountability for pools and yields at the administrative and academic department level. Hold deans, department chairs, and administrative leaders accountable for hiring decisions and for how those decisions are coordinated and communicated to candidates.

Diversify Recruitment Advisory Committees (RACs) to ensure diverse perspectives/voices in the assessment of applicants and bringing diversity and inclusion excellence into recruitment and hiring practices..
Proactively utilize assessment tools such as exit interviews and turnover metrics to understand and act on the reasons behind employee turnover.

Goal 4-B

In collaboration with campus partners, develop and coordinate anti-racist curricula, programs, events, and policies with the aim of eliminating racial bias in graduate education and training.
Provide resources and incentives to support new and existing departmental and program-based multicultural, antiracist organizations.

Diversify Recruitment Advisory Committees (RACs) to ensure diverse perspectives/voices in the assessment of applicants and bring diversity and inclusion excellence into recruitment and hiring practices.
Lead internal staff development efforts that foster an environment where every person feels responsible for advancing diversity and inclusion excellence.

Create and maintain robust faculty and staff development programs for sharing best practices in recruitment, program administration, mentoring, and student support.
Streamline and simplify the current Graduate Studies funding model to make it easier for campus partners to do multi-year financial planning.
Increase understanding about the internal fellowship review process.

Enhance partnership with the programs and the Office of Research to create resources that assist graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with fellowship applications and grantsmanship.

Partner with BIA and other campus units to propose updates to campus policies and procedures surrounding program proposals.
Facilitate and serve on campus committees to support the creation of self-supporting and online degree programs.

Provide new programs with consultation about recruitment, admissions, and financial support best practices.
Advocate for policy changes that promote a more streamlined and efficient program development and review processes.

Provide tools that enable remote engagement and improve access to key support areas: academic services and advising, financial, and employment/labor by eliminating limitations imposed by in-person constraints (e.g. in-person process steps for approving, receiving, signing, verifying etc.), ensuring more equitable support to students in a variety of instructional formats (e.g. hybrid and online).
Generate operational insights to identify and address process bottlenecks to improve and optimize student and business services.

Leverage new technology that reduces the administrative workload/burden on faculty and staff in Graduate Studies and graduate programs, while still preserving academic oversight.