Utah State University
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Office of Equity
[http://www.usu.edu/hr/files/uploads/Policies/303.pdf],outlines USU’s commitment to affirmative action and equal opportunity laws, requirements and concepts. This policy prohibits all forms of discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age disability, or veterans' status. In addition, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for employees in all aspects of employment and for students in academic programs and activities is prohibits.
https://equity.usu.edu/non-discrimination

The institution has established a Bias Incident Response Team that is comprised of representatives from the Office of Equity, campus police, the Disability Resource Center, Student Conduct Officers, Inclusion Center, PR/Marketing, Campus General Counsel, and the VP of Student Affairs. The USU Bias Incident Response Team is a non-investigatory committee charged with providing support resources and services as well as options for reporting a potential discriminatory incident to the university. When the reported incident has an effect on the entire campus community, the committee collaborates with campus partners to help develop and implement opportunities for broader community support, healing, and learning.

o The purpose of the Women and Gender Research Institute is to assist USU in attracting, recruiting, and retaining female faculty. Committee members assist in recruiting women for faculty teaching and research positions by meeting with candidates during on-campus interviews, and introducing them to campus administrators and support programs.
o The AAEO office contacts the chair of a search committee whenever a new job has been posted to request a meeting. During the meeting, they discuss the importance of recruiting a diverse pool of candidates. This is standard procedure. In addition, the committee is strongly encouraged to advertise in a variety of diversity publications, professional organizations, and through special mailing lists. Example text from this email: This position falls into a job group which is underutilized. Before the position is advertised, someone from our office would like to speak with you (either via telephone or in person) to discuss good faith efforts in advertising. Affirmative action laws require us to make good faith efforts to attract qualified women and/or minorities into our applicant pools. Some of these resources are available from our office.
o The Office of Admissions funds one full-time recruitment position with the specific mission of recruiting students from underrepresented groups. In addition, the Educational Opportunity Scholarship is awarded to incoming freshman students who are from historically underrepresented groups. This scholarship is awarded through the Office of Admissions.

Utah State sponsors the Aggie Advantage Peer Program. A program designed to match peers with first-gen multicultural students to provide mentoring, support and guidance.

The Inclusion Center provides support and advocacy for underrepresented student populations including Multicultural, LGBTQA and Nontraditional students. It provides mentoring, peer support, academic support and additional programs to enhance the educational experience while ensuring increased rates to graduation for underrepresented students. The Counseling and Psychological Services center provides counseling and peer support for all students including underrepresented students.

There is a decentralized model embedded within each individual college. In addition, the Undergraduate Research Studies program prepares students to go on to graduate degrees. The Honors Programs also supports undergraduate students through mentoring and exposure to graduate degree programs.

http://www.usu.edu/accesscenter/ - Michelle Bogdan-Holt, Director
https://inclusion.usu.edu/lgbtqa/trans_resources, Michelle Bogdan-Holt, Coordinator
http://aaeo.usu.edu – Alison Perlac-Adams, Director
http://aaeo.usu.edu/htm/usu-diversity-handbook - Diversity Handbook
http://studentaffairs.usu.edu - Dr. James Morales, VP for Student Affairs
https://thinkcareact.usu.edu, Eri Bentley, Chair
https://latinx.usu.edu, Chris Gonzalez, Director
http://www.usu.edu/sexual-assault/prevention/upstanding/ - EmmaLee Fishburn, Coordinator
https://studentconduct.usu.edu/reporting, Krystin Deschamps, Director