Virginia Commonwealth University
PA-7: Support for Underrepresented Groups

Institution has one or more of the following policies, programs or initiatives to support underrepresented groups and foster a more diverse and inclusive campus community:

1. A publicly posted non-discrimination statement.

2. A discrimination response protocol or committee (sometimes called a bias response team) to respond to and support those who have experienced or witnessed a bias incident, act of discrimination, or hate crime.

3. Programs specifically designed to recruit students, academic staff (i.e., faculty members), and/or non-academic staff from underrepresented groups.

4. Mentoring, counseling, peer support, academic support, or other programs designed specifically to support students, academic staff, and/or non-academic staff from underrepresented groups.

5. Programs that specifically aim to support and prepare students from underrepresented groups for academic careers as faculty members (sometimes known as pipeline programs). Such programs could take any of the following forms:

• Teaching fellowships or other programs to support terminal degree students from underrepresented groups in gaining teaching experience. (The terminal degree students may be enrolled at another institution.)
• Financial and/or other support programs to prepare and encourage undergraduate or other non-terminal degree students from underrepresented groups to pursue further education and careers as academics.
• Financial and/or other support programs for doctoral and postdoctoral students from underrepresented groups.

This credit applies to all institutions.

An institution earns the maximum of 3 points available for this credit for having all of the policies, programs and/or initiatives outlined above. Partial points are available as follows:

Timeframe

Report on current program offerings and status at the time of submission.

Sampling and Data Standards

Not applicable.