Carnegie Mellon University
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

https://www.cmu.edu/policies/administrative-and-governance/statement-of-assurance.html

Policy Statement
Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicap or disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, ancestry, belief, veteran status, or genetic information. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate and is required not to discriminate in violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders.

The university has a multi-faceted protocol in order to respond to the range of university community members.

When an incident of bias is reported reported through University Police, Office of Title IX Initiatives, Student Affairs, or Human Resources, a team is convened to appropriately address the nature of the report and support of reporting parties. The University Ethics Hotline is described in more detail at: https://www.cmu.edu/hr/resources/ethics-hotline.html

In addition, there is a Bias Reporting and Response webpage that offers different reporting options and describes follow-up activity. See https://www.cmu.edu/diversity/resources/bias-reporting.html

Building Our Network of Diversity (BOND) is a group of faculty and administrators supporting the Undergraduate Admission office in recruitment of underrepresented students.

The Fusion Forum is a CMU graduate student recruitment program to introduce faculty and underrepresented prospective graduate students to the departments, programs and graduate school opportunities.

The Diversity Recruitment Advocates program works to advance Carnegie Mellon University’s efforts to attract staff from underrepresented populations and embrace our mission to cultivate a transformative university community committed to attracting and retaining diverse, world-class talent. Diversity Recruitment Advocates will work directly with recruiters within the Office of Human Resources to develop more diverse applicant pools, reinforce inclusive selection practices, and promote equitable hiring for all staff positions across the university.

In addition, the Committee to Promote Greater Equity in Our Recruitment, Retention, Development, Promotion and Tenure Efforts is tasked with: a. New processes for conducting management and senior leadership searches to improve their equity across multiple dimensions; b. New requirements for the awarding of professorships, including transparency from the deans, on who was considered, who was selected and why; c. Increases in staff development opportunities; and d. Expansion of unconscious bias training for search committees and interview teams, and new tools for recruiting more diverse pools of candidates.

The Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion hosts a 10-person staff and expands CMU's ability to support communities of color, students who are first in their families to attend college, low-income, LGBTQIA students, women, and any others on this richly diverse campus who seek a safe and supportive space to navigate the terrain of under-representation and societal, systemic inequality during their college years. Team members are available to meet with students about their experiences and interests in advancing a vibrant, inclusive, and equitable campus environment. The approach is student focused and built on developing strong one-on-one relationships in a mentoring and advising position. https://www.cmu.edu/student-diversity/about-us/

The INDICATOR and Equitable Service Loads Guidelines allow for increased opportunities for women and underrepresented faculty to engage in high-level opportunities on campus, ensuring our diverse community see people like themselves represented in prestigious settings. The Guidelines for More Equitable Service Loads are intended to complement the INDICATOR Guidelines by ensuring a more even distribution of service work, particularly for women and underrepresented faculty. Information about these guidelines can be found at https://www.cmu.edu/faculty-office/

CMU supports the establishment of employee resource groups (ERGs). ERGs are groups formed by members of an organization with the overarching purpose to unite individuals to a common cause and to provide a structured framework for awareness opportunities for members. To be formally recognized, an ERG's goals must align with the objectives and culture of CMU through self-identifying its purpose through the application process. Individual membership in ERGs is strictly voluntary; open to all interested individuals; and supports diversity, equity and inclusiveness. Additionally, ERGs serve the purpose of acting as a conduit for outreach efforts for the local community and for other campus initiatives. For more information on ERGs visit https://www.cmu.edu/hr/work-life/get-involved/employee-resource-groups

The Presidential Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program is a collaborative partnership with the University of California to offer postdoctoral fellowship opportunities at Carnegie Mellon. Sponsored by the Provost and the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty, CMU offers the potential for postdoctoral research fellowships in all fields represented at the university, coupled with faculty mentoring, professional development and academic networking opportunities. The program is also available to "post MFA's" in our Schools of Art, Drama and Music. https://www.cmu.edu/faculty-office/ppfp

The Future Faculty Program helps graduate students develop and document their teaching skills in preparation for a faculty career. Participants in this program learn the principles of effective course design and pedagogy through our seminars, receive feedback on their teaching through teaching feedback consultations, and apply what they have learned in completing a course & syllabus design project and a statement of teaching philosophy project.

The GEM Fellowship in the College of Engineering is is a network of leading corporations, government laboratories, top universities, and top research institutions that enables qualified students from underrepresented communities to pursue graduate (master’s and doctoral) education in applied science and engineering. GEM offers paid fellowships, internships, graduate degrees, and career planning events.

Financial and mentoring support are also provided for student groups such as the Society for Women Engineers, Women @ School of Computer Science (Women@SCS), Women in Science, Women in Electrical and Computer Engineering (WinECE), Women @ Information Networking Institute (Women@INI), Women in Tepper, Graduate Women's Gatherings (GWG), Black Business Association, Black Graduate Student Organization, Latino/a Graduate Student Association, Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus, Students of Color Dinners- joint with the University of Pittsburgh, PhD Students of Color Network. These are examples of the student organizations which provide supported programming to encourage underrepresented students at Carnegie Mellon University to consider academic careers as part of their programmatic activities.