University of Richmond
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

The University of Richmond prohibits discrimination and harassment against applicants, students, faculty or staff on the basis of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, status as a veteran or any classification protected by local, state or federal law. https://www.richmond.edu/compliance/non-discrimination.html

The role of the Bias Resource Team is to coordinate the University’s response to bias activity that is likely to affect the University community and to ensure that individuals or groups who are adversely affected by bias activity receive appropriate support and guidance. The Bias Resource Team supplements existing University policies and procedures such as incident investigation and enforcement of codes of conduct. Core BRT members include high-level administrators including members of the president's office staff, dean's offices, provost, the director of human resources, director of multicultural affairs, counseling services, and more. They coordinate the University's response to bias incidents, including coordinating care for the alleged victims or community, and communication with the broader campus or surrounding community if warranted. A recent example includes images of a swatika on social media, which was responded to by the BRT by conveening affected community members, assuring that a complete investigation was conducted and that a communication from the president's office was distributed to the entire community. In addition, the University's incident reporting software now has a place to indicate a likely bias incident so the BRT can immediately follow up.

The Admissions Office works with a dozen partner organizations who support underserved high school students. They also sponsor a fall program (including free airline flights) for prospective students (Multicultural Overnight Visitation Experience) and a parallel program in the spring for admitted students from underrepresented backgrounds (The Answer). The Provosts office utilizes a mix of special programs (found here https://provost.richmond.edu/faculty-recruitment/prospective.html) for diversity hires and trains a faculty diversity advocate for each faculty search. Arts and Sciences has hired it's own Asst. Dean focused on recruiting a more diverse faculty (https://as.richmond.edu/contact/index.html). For staff, the Human Resources office has been training their staff recruiters in best policies for recruiting a diverse staff, attending targeted employment fairs, and working with all hiring managers to assure that the applicant pools are sufficiently diverse before proceeding with the hiring process.

Safe Zone Ally training provides training to provide support for the LGBTQ community. Multicultural Affairs supports all students of underrepresented racial and ethnic identities through support groups, cultural programming, and leadership development. Multicultural Pre-Orientation provides support for racially and ethnically underrepresented students during an intensive 3-day program. PAM mentors are peers who provide direct support to first –year students, most often from underrepresented groups, who are directly invited to participate. Support for First-Generation students, called Spider Firsts, provides community-building and academic support resources for students out of the Office of Common Ground. Support for all Queer and Trans students is under the Associate Director of Common Ground for LGBTQ Campus Life. Affinity groups for staff/faculty of color are offered out of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Social events and a listserv are offered for Queer faculty and staff out of Common Ground. URISE is a pre-first year program which aims to increase the number of students from groups traditionally underrepresented in science and math disciplines.

The Integrated Inclusive Science program is designed to help STEM-interested students, particularly those who are underrepresented in the sciences, get excited about STEM disciplines and careers early in their college careers. Through interdisciplinary coursework, faculty mentored research experiences, and the development of a close-knit community of peers and faculty, students are prepared to tackle upper-level science courses and to pursue graduate study, medical school, or jobs in STEM fields, including faculty positions. Students participating in the Integrated Inclusive Science program will gain an early advantage in preparation for science-based graduate programs. Fields such as epidemiology and systems biology demand students that are well prepared in multiple disciplines and scientific techniques. By focusing on the process of science as much as the content, the program prepares students to ask questions and devise novel solutions to complex problems. In addition to work in the classroom, students engage in summer research that will provide the best possible preparation for the graduate school experience. UR Summer Fellowships, including University-funded research opportunities, ensure students are able to take on the internship or research opportunity that will help them gain an edge in establishing their career path. Faculty-mentored research experiences allow students to pursue original intellectual discovery while also providing them with the laboratory, field, or archival experience that enables them to compete for admission to top graduate programs. UR Summer Fellowships include eight programs that award fellowships of up to $4,000 to students each summer. Continuing, full-time, degree-seeking University of Richmond undergraduate students in good standing in the School of Arts & Sciences, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, or Robins School of Business may apply, although each program may have additional requirements. In the summer of 2018, the University awarded more than $2 million in fellowship funding to approximately 550 students. For recent graduates or ABD students from other universities, the University of Richmond participates in the Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD), a program designed to diversify the faculty at liberal arts colleges. CFD dissertation fellowships and post-docs bring diverse, early career scholars to UR to participate in the intellectual life here on campus through teaching responsibilities and the completion of their own scholarship. Appointments are for one year and can be renewed. In the STEM fields, we have post-bac programs for students of color to give them additional work experience before applying to graduate school.

https://multicultural.richmond.edu/ http://pam.richmond.edu/ https://hr.richmond.edu/benefits/index.html https://commonground.richmond.edu/ https://commonground.richmond.edu/first-gen/index.html https://commonground.richmond.edu/lgbtq-life/index.html https://commonground.richmond.edu/racial-justice/index.html https://commonground.richmond.edu/lgbtq-life/ally-training/index.html https://commonground.richmond.edu/lgbtq-life/trans-at-ur/index.html https://residencelife.richmond.edu/housing/additional/gender-flexible-housing.html https://inclusivescience.richmond.edu/about/index.html https://as.richmond.edu/student-research/summer-research/index.html