| Overall Rating | Bronze |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 37.09 |
| Liaison | Adam Strzemienski |
| Submission Date | Sept. 18, 2023 |
University of North Georgia
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Non-discrimination statement
Yes
The non-discrimination statement, including the website URL where the policy is publicly accessible:
Leadership Commitment to Diversity
The University of North Georgia prepares students to lead in a diverse and global society. Essential to this mission is an environment that is welcoming, respectful, and inclusive of individuals and groups from a range of social, economic, and cultural backgrounds - an environment that embraces varied perspectives, values, and unique experiences.
University Non-discrimination Policy
https://policy.ung.edu/policy/non-discrimination
Non-discrimination Policy in Student Handbook
https://ung.edu/student-involvement/_uploads/files/student-handbook/UNG-Student-Handbook.pdf
The University of North Georgia prepares students to lead in a diverse and global society. Essential to this mission is an environment that is welcoming, respectful, and inclusive of individuals and groups from a range of social, economic, and cultural backgrounds - an environment that embraces varied perspectives, values, and unique experiences.
University Non-discrimination Policy
https://policy.ung.edu/policy/non-discrimination
Non-discrimination Policy in Student Handbook
https://ung.edu/student-involvement/_uploads/files/student-handbook/UNG-Student-Handbook.pdf
Bias response team
Yes
A brief description of the institution’s discrimination response protocol or team:
Yes, Human Resources has an investigation team which includes Employee Relations personnel. We also have a separate Title IX Department with a Coordinator and Deputies that investigate complaints.
https://ung.edu/title-ix/reporting.php
We do not have procedures specific to every type of discrimination but are in the midst of developing one. If the reported discrimination is sex-based (e.g., sex, gender identity, or gender expression), we will use the sexual misconduct procedures (https://northgeorgia.policystat.com/policy/14401421/latest/).
According to our Title IX Coordinator, given there are no set procedures, Human Resources and Title IX would use the Sexual Misconduct procedures as a guideline for responding to discrimination reports.
https://ung.edu/title-ix/reporting.php
We do not have procedures specific to every type of discrimination but are in the midst of developing one. If the reported discrimination is sex-based (e.g., sex, gender identity, or gender expression), we will use the sexual misconduct procedures (https://northgeorgia.policystat.com/policy/14401421/latest/).
According to our Title IX Coordinator, given there are no set procedures, Human Resources and Title IX would use the Sexual Misconduct procedures as a guideline for responding to discrimination reports.
Recruitment programs
Yes
Does the institution have programs specifically designed to recruit academic staff from underrepresented groups?:
Yes
Does the institution have programs designed specifically to recruit non-academic staff from underrepresented groups?:
Yes
If yes to any of the above, provide:
Admissions Diversity Recruitment Plan
Introduction:
In the spring of 2019, the University of North Georgia (UNG) hired an Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity as part of the UNG’s Diversity Recruitment Plan for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. UNG has identified that although much has been to insure the university is an inclusive community that respects and values diversity, there is still more UNG can do to better its efforts. This action plan is to create more actionable next steps to keep the university and the Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity accountable to target goal for 2020. UNG has identified our target goal as increasing the overall total Non-White new student population to 30% of our entire student body by fall of 2020. To achieve this target goal UNG identified 6 goals to make this possible.
The 6 goals are as followed:
• Goal 1: Increase our percentage of visits focused on underrepresented prospective students
• Goal 2: Infuse inclusivity in all recruitment efforts
• Goal 3: Prioritize diversity in hiring*
• Goal 4: Building relationships with community based organizations
• Goal 5: Develop and utilize minority specific scholarships to aid in recruitment
• Goal 6: Get the UNG community involved in our recruitment efforts
• *Goal 3 has been partially achieved by hiring the Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity
This action plan will go into further detail regarding the action plan created by the Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity (Leri Argueta) and the Associate Director of Admissions (Ethan Penland).
The University’s Action Plan & Steps:
Goal 1: Increase our percentage of visits focused on underrepresented prospective students
• Focus on staff training by increasing the multicultural competency of all recruiters by requiring them to attend a training session focused on diversity. Encourage staff attendance at national conferences focused on minority recruitment.
• Ensure all admissions staff can speak to the university’s commitment to diversity, and equip staff with key messages that resonate with prospective students of all backgrounds.
• Focus on the quantity of visits by requiring 45% of our total in-person visits be conducted at high schools, community based organizations, or other centers of influences where the demographic makeup consists of a non-white population of at least 40%. This would increase our current average of 40% by 5%.
Goal 2: Infuse inclusivity in all recruitment efforts
• Review recruitment strategies and communication plans. Recruitment strategies such as hosted events, on the road recruitment, presentations, promotional materials, publications, communications, and our social media strategy will be reviewed to ensure the strategies are comprehensive and welcoming to all students.
• Strategies will be updated regularly to ensure sensitivity to the most current thinking on how to be inclusive of a diverse applicant pool.
• We will continue to learn more about our underrepresented student groups through enhanced data tracking throughout their perspective student lifecycle within our CRM system.
• Next Steps for the spring of 2019:
Goal 3: Prioritize diversity in hiring
• Request an Assistant Director of Diversity Recruitment (Enrollment Diversity). The Assistant Director for Diversity Outreach will be primarily responsible for the development and implementation of the University’s recruitment plan for increasing under-represented student populations across all campuses. Under the supervision of the Associate Director of Admissions, this position will assist in the formulation and implementation of best practices, relationship building, marketing initiatives, and key programming efforts designed to have a positive impact on the enrollment behavior of students from diverse backgrounds.
• Diversify our student workers by prioritizing diversity when hiring student ambassadors. As campus tour guides, student ambassadors, play an impactful role in our visitor experience. Having a diverse set of ambassadors with high visibility in a prestigious student position sends a clear message that inclusion is a top priority. This welcomes and encourages other diverse prospective students to attend and get involved.
Goal 4: Building relationships with community based organizations
• Extend our reach to community based organizations and non- profits organizations by cultivating partnerships with community-based organizations to help create college-going cultures in underserved communities. These partnerships will assist in addressing some of the educational access challenges faced by under-represented students.
• Consider partnering with College Greenlight. College Greenlight is a free resources for any traditionally under-represented student who is serious about getting into and thriving at their perfect college. They also serve the counselors, teachers, and community-based organizations who have given their time and expertise to empower these students. If partnered, they would provide valuable under-represented leads as well as access to a community based organization database.
Goal 5: Develop and utilize minority specific scholarships to aid in recruitment
• Collaborate with Financial Aid and Enrollment Management to investigate and initiate scholarship opportunities. UNG must develop minority specific scholarships to aid in the recruitment of our under-represented student groups. This rising cost of attendance, the shift in federal aid from grants to loans and tax credits has put full-time attendance out of reach for many under-represented groups. We will work closely with the Office of Financial Aid and the Office of Enrollment Management to develop minority specific scholarships. This will help address one of the obstacles minority students face when considering her education. It is our intention to do what we can in order to lessen the financial hardship on under-represented students. Through offering competitive scholarships, we can more effectively recruit and retrain this student group.
Goal 6: Get the UNG community involved in our recruitment efforts
• When the Assistant Director of Diversity Recruitment (Enrollment Diversity) is hired, they will be responsible for creating a diversity-focused committee. They will collaborate with faculty and staff across all campuses who play a part in recruiting and retaining our under-represented student groups. We believe that harnessing the power of collaboration within our community is essential to progress as it pertains to diversity recruitment. Collaborating with UNG’s academic and support services to ensure we are fully knowledgeable of everyone’s efforts will go on a long way in benefiting our diverse student groups. Striving to join forces as much as possible for the betterment of our underserved population, will help sustain growth of our recruitment and retention efforts.
(Undergraduate Admissions, 2019)
The College of Education has developed a detailed recruitment plan in compliance with the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation.
The Department of Athletics is currently developing a plan to comply with the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion National Effort.
The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) is a grant-funded transitional first year program from the US Office of Migrant Education that assists students from migrant and/or seasonal farm work backgrounds. Our mission is to provide financial support, instructional and technological support, and supplemental educational opportunities that will help students reach their goals at the University of North Georgia and beyond. https://ung.edu/college-assistance-migrant-program/index.php
Introduction:
In the spring of 2019, the University of North Georgia (UNG) hired an Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity as part of the UNG’s Diversity Recruitment Plan for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. UNG has identified that although much has been to insure the university is an inclusive community that respects and values diversity, there is still more UNG can do to better its efforts. This action plan is to create more actionable next steps to keep the university and the Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity accountable to target goal for 2020. UNG has identified our target goal as increasing the overall total Non-White new student population to 30% of our entire student body by fall of 2020. To achieve this target goal UNG identified 6 goals to make this possible.
The 6 goals are as followed:
• Goal 1: Increase our percentage of visits focused on underrepresented prospective students
• Goal 2: Infuse inclusivity in all recruitment efforts
• Goal 3: Prioritize diversity in hiring*
• Goal 4: Building relationships with community based organizations
• Goal 5: Develop and utilize minority specific scholarships to aid in recruitment
• Goal 6: Get the UNG community involved in our recruitment efforts
• *Goal 3 has been partially achieved by hiring the Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity
This action plan will go into further detail regarding the action plan created by the Assistant Director for Enrollment Diversity (Leri Argueta) and the Associate Director of Admissions (Ethan Penland).
The University’s Action Plan & Steps:
Goal 1: Increase our percentage of visits focused on underrepresented prospective students
• Focus on staff training by increasing the multicultural competency of all recruiters by requiring them to attend a training session focused on diversity. Encourage staff attendance at national conferences focused on minority recruitment.
• Ensure all admissions staff can speak to the university’s commitment to diversity, and equip staff with key messages that resonate with prospective students of all backgrounds.
• Focus on the quantity of visits by requiring 45% of our total in-person visits be conducted at high schools, community based organizations, or other centers of influences where the demographic makeup consists of a non-white population of at least 40%. This would increase our current average of 40% by 5%.
Goal 2: Infuse inclusivity in all recruitment efforts
• Review recruitment strategies and communication plans. Recruitment strategies such as hosted events, on the road recruitment, presentations, promotional materials, publications, communications, and our social media strategy will be reviewed to ensure the strategies are comprehensive and welcoming to all students.
• Strategies will be updated regularly to ensure sensitivity to the most current thinking on how to be inclusive of a diverse applicant pool.
• We will continue to learn more about our underrepresented student groups through enhanced data tracking throughout their perspective student lifecycle within our CRM system.
• Next Steps for the spring of 2019:
Goal 3: Prioritize diversity in hiring
• Request an Assistant Director of Diversity Recruitment (Enrollment Diversity). The Assistant Director for Diversity Outreach will be primarily responsible for the development and implementation of the University’s recruitment plan for increasing under-represented student populations across all campuses. Under the supervision of the Associate Director of Admissions, this position will assist in the formulation and implementation of best practices, relationship building, marketing initiatives, and key programming efforts designed to have a positive impact on the enrollment behavior of students from diverse backgrounds.
• Diversify our student workers by prioritizing diversity when hiring student ambassadors. As campus tour guides, student ambassadors, play an impactful role in our visitor experience. Having a diverse set of ambassadors with high visibility in a prestigious student position sends a clear message that inclusion is a top priority. This welcomes and encourages other diverse prospective students to attend and get involved.
Goal 4: Building relationships with community based organizations
• Extend our reach to community based organizations and non- profits organizations by cultivating partnerships with community-based organizations to help create college-going cultures in underserved communities. These partnerships will assist in addressing some of the educational access challenges faced by under-represented students.
• Consider partnering with College Greenlight. College Greenlight is a free resources for any traditionally under-represented student who is serious about getting into and thriving at their perfect college. They also serve the counselors, teachers, and community-based organizations who have given their time and expertise to empower these students. If partnered, they would provide valuable under-represented leads as well as access to a community based organization database.
Goal 5: Develop and utilize minority specific scholarships to aid in recruitment
• Collaborate with Financial Aid and Enrollment Management to investigate and initiate scholarship opportunities. UNG must develop minority specific scholarships to aid in the recruitment of our under-represented student groups. This rising cost of attendance, the shift in federal aid from grants to loans and tax credits has put full-time attendance out of reach for many under-represented groups. We will work closely with the Office of Financial Aid and the Office of Enrollment Management to develop minority specific scholarships. This will help address one of the obstacles minority students face when considering her education. It is our intention to do what we can in order to lessen the financial hardship on under-represented students. Through offering competitive scholarships, we can more effectively recruit and retrain this student group.
Goal 6: Get the UNG community involved in our recruitment efforts
• When the Assistant Director of Diversity Recruitment (Enrollment Diversity) is hired, they will be responsible for creating a diversity-focused committee. They will collaborate with faculty and staff across all campuses who play a part in recruiting and retaining our under-represented student groups. We believe that harnessing the power of collaboration within our community is essential to progress as it pertains to diversity recruitment. Collaborating with UNG’s academic and support services to ensure we are fully knowledgeable of everyone’s efforts will go on a long way in benefiting our diverse student groups. Striving to join forces as much as possible for the betterment of our underserved population, will help sustain growth of our recruitment and retention efforts.
(Undergraduate Admissions, 2019)
The College of Education has developed a detailed recruitment plan in compliance with the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation.
The Department of Athletics is currently developing a plan to comply with the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion National Effort.
The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) is a grant-funded transitional first year program from the US Office of Migrant Education that assists students from migrant and/or seasonal farm work backgrounds. Our mission is to provide financial support, instructional and technological support, and supplemental educational opportunities that will help students reach their goals at the University of North Georgia and beyond. https://ung.edu/college-assistance-migrant-program/index.php
Mentoring, counseling and support programs
Yes
Does the institution have mentoring, counseling, peer support or other programs designed specifically to support academic staff from underrepresented groups on campus?:
Yes
Does the institution have mentoring, counseling, peer support or other programs to support non-academic staff from underrepresented groups on campus?:
Yes
A brief description of the institution’s programs designed specifically to support students, academic staff, and/or non-academic staff from underrepresented groups:
Students
https://ung.edu/multicultural-student-affairs/
https://ung.edu/student-counseling/
Peer support is provided by the Division of Student Affairs through the Multicultural Student Affairs Office.
The University College provides academic support to marginalized student populations and all students who need further academic skills development. This support is heavy on our Gainesville campus which has the most socioeconomically challenged and underrepresented groups.
The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) is a grant-funded transitional first year program from the US Office of Migrant Education that assists students from migrant and/or seasonal farm work backgrounds. Our mission is to provide financial support, instructional and technological support, and supplemental educational opportunities that will help students reach their goals at the University of North Georgia and beyond. https://ung.edu/college-assistance-migrant-program/index.php
College of Education Diversity Recruitment
https://ung.edu/college-of-education/diversity-initiatives.php
Employees:
https://www.usg.edu/well-being/
Currently, a Latino faculty and staff group, Women’s faculty and staff group, and an LGBTQ faculty staff groups are forming.
https://ung.edu/multicultural-student-affairs/
https://ung.edu/student-counseling/
Peer support is provided by the Division of Student Affairs through the Multicultural Student Affairs Office.
The University College provides academic support to marginalized student populations and all students who need further academic skills development. This support is heavy on our Gainesville campus which has the most socioeconomically challenged and underrepresented groups.
The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) is a grant-funded transitional first year program from the US Office of Migrant Education that assists students from migrant and/or seasonal farm work backgrounds. Our mission is to provide financial support, instructional and technological support, and supplemental educational opportunities that will help students reach their goals at the University of North Georgia and beyond. https://ung.edu/college-assistance-migrant-program/index.php
College of Education Diversity Recruitment
https://ung.edu/college-of-education/diversity-initiatives.php
Employees:
https://www.usg.edu/well-being/
Currently, a Latino faculty and staff group, Women’s faculty and staff group, and an LGBTQ faculty staff groups are forming.
Support for future academic staff
Yes
A brief description of the institution’s programs to support and prepare students from underrepresented groups for careers as faculty members:
The Ronald E. McNair program helps underrepresented groups prepare for graduate school.
https://ung.edu/mcnair/
The College of Education has a program with the Hall County and Gainesville City schools to develop a 10-12 to the Masters in Education pipeline. The College of Education is considering the development of a program for marginalized populations.
The Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis is working with ARC-GIS industrial partners to develop a 10-12 to the Bachelors in IESA pipeline (this is nascent).
https://ung.edu/mcnair/
The College of Education has a program with the Hall County and Gainesville City schools to develop a 10-12 to the Masters in Education pipeline. The College of Education is considering the development of a program for marginalized populations.
The Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis is working with ARC-GIS industrial partners to develop a 10-12 to the Bachelors in IESA pipeline (this is nascent).
Optional Fields
Yes
Does the institution offer housing options to accommodate the special needs of transgender and transitioning students?:
Yes
Website URL where information about the institution’s support for underrepresented groups is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
In regards to housing options for transgender students, our Residents Life staff works with transgender students to find a solution that works best for their preferences. No actual written policy exists for this accommodation as it falls within their gender scope of assisting students with their unique needs. There are plenty of options available when needed.
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.