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Unit Contributions to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion 6553

Academic Years: 
2017-2018
Department: 
Linguistics
Division: 
Humanities
Staff
1. University Service: 

Providing good service starts with hiring the right person for the job. When hiring I'm looking for soft skills more so than hard skills (computer literacy, etc). The interviews (there are two interviews per finalist) is where the candidate sells me on their ability to work with a diverse group of people. With a high international population (faculty and students) in our department the candidate should have interacted (either personally or professionally) with people from various economic, social and cultural backgrounds. It's a bonus if they traveled and/or lived overseas. That way they experience firsthand what it’s like to be a foreigner in a foreign land.

Each time a student or faculty calls or comes in-person for assistance from the staff member (there's only one), the person does a needs assessment of the problem. It's not just a matter of answering the question, but does the person understand the answer. The staff person isn't looking at the person's race, gender, disability, etc., only what does the person need. Sometimes answering the question means going the "extra mile" by calling the Registrar's Office to get an answer and writing down the answer or instructions

Getting back to the hiring process, during the interview I'm listening for key words (such as "expect them to know", "people ask stupid questions") that alerts me that this person won't be a good fit for the position. On the other hand when describing a time they had to work with a difficult person (a standard question) and the person tries to provide service during trying times, is someone who should be in the department.

Since my office is next to the staff person's office, I will stop and listen periodically to how staff person responds to various questions. Should a problem occur I would ask the staff person about the interaction and recommend a better way to handle it in the future.

On a daily basis, it’s not so much how we handle diversity its more about how we meet the needs of the customer.

2. Departmental Contributions: 

This department has a high population of international students and faculty. On a regular basis we work with people who have language and cultural differences. Yet, we still meet their needs and maintain a friendly atmosphere in the office.

3. Community Service and Outreach: 

Not sure what to put here. Community service and outreach is done by the faculty, not staff.

4. Professional Development and Training: 
All UO training is available to the staff person.
5. Other: 

None