Diversity Committee Meeting Notes
September 15, 2010
Participants: LuAnna Allapowa, Rebecca Haacker-Santos, Maura Hagan, Yvonne Mondragon, Helen Moshak, Raj Pandya, Jielun Sun, Roger Wakimoto, Terry Woods
Guests: Nancy Wade
1) High School Internships and Research Opportunities (HIRO) program
Nancy Wade and Rebecca Haccker-Santos reported the success of the 2010 HIRO program and handed out a short summary of the HIRO program. The program was able to find enough mentors at UCAR/NCAR. Mentors like the short 5 weeks for their busy summer schedule. Wade and Haacker-Santos propose to increase the program duration from 5 weeks to 6 weeks, or increase the number of hours per week next year. They would like to host 10 students again next year. Each student costs $1,800. They would like to have Diversity Committee support for several students next year. They are actively working on building partners to sponsor the program.
2) Disabilities in the Workplace Committee
Yvonne Mondragon updated the diversity committee. The Disabilities in the Workplace committee met with a representative from the Rocky Mountain Americans with Disabilities Act on 8/10/2010 to explore available information and resources. Support and assistance from this organization will be beneficial for training, materials and access to links, etc. at a very minimal cost (1 hour = $75.00; 2 hours = $115.00 with no limit to group size). The committee is now working on the following action items.
Training: HR is reviewing online modules for supervisor training which include a section around compliance issues re: the ADA. In addition to that training, the committee will begin work on offering educational opportunities to interested staff given by the Rocky Mountain ADA.
Website: HR is working on a website to provide resources and other helpful information to managers and employees. The Rocky Mountain ADA will provide many links and other resources for this site.
DIVERSITY COMMITTEE ACTION ITEMS:
· Educational guide for supervisors: Raj Pandya WILL draft a "What to watch for" supervisor's guide. The intent of this document is to provide answers and resources in an easy-to-read format. It could be used as a handout at supervisor training or offered as a PDF from the Disabilities in the Worksplace website that HR is creating.
· Disabilities in the Worksplace website: Once the Disabilities in the Workplace web page is complete, the Diversity web page could link to it. The web page could also be a "sub-page" under the Diversity Committee.
Diversity Committee Discussion Summary:
Training: The Disabilities Committee should arrange for specific training for managers through the Rocky Mountain ADA, invite directorate staff, UMC, Director's Committee, etc.
Web page: Once the Disabilities in the Workplace web page is complete, the Diversity web page could link to it. The web page could also be a "sub-page" under the Diversity Committee.
Proposal: If there is a need for cost assistance it was recommended that the Disabilities Committee submit a proposal to the Diversity Committee for project funding.
3) Affirmative Action Goal Areas
LuAnna Allapowa reported on comparing the goals for 2011 and 2010. Good steady progress is seen in the reduced number of the goal numbers in female and minority. The goal number of female employees has dropped in the following categories: Scientific managers, associated scientists III/IV, information services, software Eng/Prog III/IV, Engineering, Scientist I/II, and student assistants/visitors. The goal number of minority employees has dropped in the following software/Eng/Prog II, operatives, and service workers.
The progress can be due to the targeted advertisement and emphasis from the management group as results of Diversity Committee’s efforts.
4) Diversity Webpage proposed framework
Helen Moshak handed out a proposed framework for the Diversity Committee web pages. She explained that various subcommittee projects can be linked through “Subcommittees,” such as Asian Circle, Latino Circle, Disabilities in the Workplace Committee. Also, the Committee’s working and finished projects can be archived under “Current Project”. Diversity Resources can be the central host to link various sites related to diversity issues.