North Carolina State University
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Policy Statement: NC State provides equal opportunity and affirmative action efforts, and prohibits Discrimination and Harassment based upon the following, which is considered by NC State to be a “Protected Status”:

a. race
b. color
c. religion (including belief and non-belief)
d. sex, including but not limited to
(i) pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition,
(ii) parenting; and
(iii) sexual harassment;
e. sexual orientation;
f. actual or perceived gender identity;
g. age;
h. national origin;
i. disability;
j. veteran status; or
k. genetic information.
NC State also prohibits Retaliation based upon a person’s engagement in a Protected Activity. The full policy can be viewed here: https://policies.ncsu.edu/policy/pol-04-25-05/

NC State’s OIED Bias Impact Response Team (BIRT), serves the campus community by offering a system and processes that invite students, faculty and staff to document and proactively address the impacts of bias-related incidents, behaviors, and actions. BIRT supports affected individuals and groups, promotes education and dialogue and cultivates a campus climate that is conducive to successful student matriculation and effective faculty and staff development.

Trained BIRT advocates consult to determine effective response mechanisms and facilitate challenging conversations using appreciative inquiry, community conferencing and other restoration-focused practices designed to promote cultural competence idea sharing, greater understanding and a healthy and sustainable campus climate. NC State also has discrimination, harassment and retaliation complaint procedures, which can be found here: https://policies.ncsu.edu/regulation/reg-04-25-02/

STUDENTS: The NC State College Advising Corps serves high school students from rural high schools in North Carolina. The mission of the program is to increase the number of low-income, first-generation college, and underrepresented students from rural North Carolina who apply, enter, and complete college. The program trains recent graduates of NC State University, and places them as full-time college advisers in selected low-income, rural public high schools across North Carolina. Advisers assist students in searching and applying for colleges, preparing for college entrance exams, navigating the financial aid process, and enrolling in college of best fit. https://advisingcorps.dasa.ncsu.edu/
STAFF and FACULTY: NC State recruits faculty and staff from underrepresented communities by sharing job openings with community organization that support minorities, women, veterans and persons with disabilities. Additionally, NC State posts job openings on sites like Military.com and Circaworks.com, which represents over 15,000 community groups that support women, the LGBTQ+ community, minorities, and college students.

STUDENTS: Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) researches, designs and implements unique programs that promote the pursuit of academic success, retention and graduation of students, with an emphasis on African American, Native American and Hispanic/Latino students. MSA Affairs works to bring academic enhancement opportunities, cultural awareness activities and student leadership development to all students on campus.
ACADEMIC STAFF: Funding opportunities are available from various external sponsors aimed at promoting research conducted by women and minorities, as these groups have been traditionally underrepresented in disciplines such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The Research Development Office (RDO) seeks to discover and share opportunities of interest with the NC State community. While the opportunities featured on this page are not exhaustive, it is RDO’s mission to continually add opportunities as we identify them. Additionally, the work of the African American Cultural Center (AACC) is in part to cultivate a space for critical examination and exploration of African American diasporic cultures. The AACC Faculty Fellowship Program (FFP) supports scholarly projects by NC State faculty that share this work. FFP is a semester-long fellowship that provides each fellow with research support and collaborative workspace. Fellows are expected to give one public talk about their research and attend other research talks in the faculty fellowship series.
ALL GROUPS: NC State’s Women’s Center directly serves all students at the university while also serving as a resource, connection, and partner for faculty and staff at the institution. We take an intersectional approach to serving the campus community. Our practices are social constructivist in nature and rooted in social justice education and trauma-informed care.

The NC State Building Future Faculty (BFF) Program is a two-and-half day all-expenses paid workshop for doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars who are interested in pursuing academic careers and who are committed to promoting diversity in higher education. The program targets graduate students who are in the dissertation phase or post-doctoral.

The mission of the program is to prepare graduate students and postdoctoral scholars for faculty careers, with a special emphasis on students who are committed to increasing the inclusiveness and representation of historically underrepresented groups. Note that different groups may be underrepresented in different disciplines.

Preparing the Professoriate is a nationally recognized program designed to give exceptional doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars an immersive mentoring, teaching, and future faculty preparation experience. Established in 1993, PTP is a signature program in the Graduate School’s professional development initiative. It provides fellows with a hands-on teaching opportunity under the direction of a distinguished faculty mentor recognized for their teaching skills. The program is one of only two professional development programs that recognize successful fellows with a formal transcript notation as evidence of their hard work and achievement.

The Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program is a federal TRIO program funded at 187 institutions across the United States and Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Education. It is designed to prepare undergraduate students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities. McNair participants are either first-generation college students with financial need, or members of a group that is traditionally underrepresented in graduate education and have demonstrated strong academic potential. The goal of the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program is to increase graduate degree awards for students from underrepresented segments of society.

https://diversity.ncsu.edu/glbt/nc-state-gender-inclusive-restroom-list/; https://diversity.ncsu.edu/glbt/transgender-resource-roadmap/