Western Kentucky University
PA-7: Support for Future Faculty Diversity

Diversity and inclusion is a shared responsibility of every member of the Western Kentucky University (WKU) campus community. The mission of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI) is to provide resources to the campus community and the external community that promote inclusive excellence, access and social justice for all. OIDI collaborates with diverse university constituents and external constituents to increase the degree completion rate of under-represented students attending WKU. The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion leverages inclusive excellence, access, and social justice through the implementation of the following Signature Programs. University-wide Cultural Celebrations Advisory Committee Day of Dialogue Diversity Fellows Certificate Program Diversity Research Institute Faculty Fellows Program As well as a variety of programs designed to encourage degree completion for minority students as well as professional development programs for these students. Additionally, in 2013, the OIDI offered a Social Justice Colloquium series. One goal of the Social Justice Colloquium is to provide the WKU campus community with a transparent framework to engage in deep, interrogative discussions about race, power, privilege, diversity, inclusion and intersectionality. A second goal is to use the “emerging themes” during the Social Justice Colloquium to leverage institutional transformational change which supports and sustains increased numbers of degree completion among under-represented students. The Office of Scholar Development (OSD) challenges students to dream big and assists them in making those dreams attainable. Additionally, OSD offers support to faculty and staff members in their endeavors to assist individual students and promote research, creative activities, and achievement university-wide. We collaborate with faculty and staff to apply for grants to create opportunities for students, develop workshops related to our mission, and celebrate the successes of WKU students and their faculty advisors. In support of the institutional mission to increase the diversity of faculty, the OSD assists with application for Ford Foundation Fellowship programs, described below. "Through its Fellowship Programs, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the faculty of the nation’s colleges and universities, thus maximizing the educational benefits of diversity and increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students."