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Diversity Plan:
2003 - 2005
GOAL I: Climate
USM continuously strives to make the climate a welcoming
climate and inclusive in its understanding and integration
across multiple dimensions of diversity, including but not
limited to, diversity based on race and ethnicity, gender,
disability, sexual orientation, age, gender expression and
identity, religion, and class.
We have consistently attempted to hire faculty from underrepresented
populations. We have had several women on our short lists
of faculty. These women have been in very high demand at other
institutions and we have been unable to get them to come to
campus for an interview. We attempted to hire a faculty member
of color in our last search, 2000-2001. We had Prof. Bryant
York come to campus for an interview. USM ended up one of
his two top choices. Unfortunately he chose to go to the other
school. He was very much interested in USM, but thought the
other school had more of what he wanted.
We have put up a picture board featuring both our undergraduate
and graduate students. Human beings are attracted to pictures
of other human beings. Thus, many people walking through a
main corridor in the Science Building view this board. The
board shows that we have some women students and students
of diverse ethnicity in the department. There are 55 student
pictures on the board. Twelve are women and 7 from ethically
diverse backgrounds. It is true that we would like to have
more, but the picture board is a publicly available measure
of our progress.
GOAL II: Academic Experience
The USM academic experience, which includes both
curricular and co-curricular activities, increasingly reflects
the multiplicity and diversity of communities and cultures
locally, nationally, and globally.
We have asked the women in our department to meet and discuss
their problems, opportunities, and wishes for the department
and their role in the department. This meeting has yet to
take place. Specifically they were asked how we could get
more woment students into the department. One student reported
back that she thought the lack of women in computer science
is a problem that originates long before students get to the
university. Her own experience was that she was discouraged
from pursuing her interest in science and math as early as
elementary school. Her opinion is that the society in general
must address these issues. Obviously, having the Computer
Science Department at USM actively address the issue is a
step in the right direction. Much more will have to be done
before the gender balance in computer science departments
reflects the gender balance in universities.
Another issue that came up was a woman student has informally
charged that the 5-year Master's degree in Computer Science
discriminated against women. Her specific point was that all
the women she knows have children. This precludes them from
going to school full time. The 5-year M.S. required full time
attendance. The main objection voiced was that the 5-year
program required fewer Computer Science courses than are required
if a student takes the B.S. program and then the M.S. program.
Thus, women must take more Computer Science courses than men.
She does not have time to pursue this formally, but the Computer
Science Department decided to discuss this issue in detail.
One reason for our discussion of this issue is that it is
a concrete example. We can be specific in our discussion,
students can give specific input, and we can make specific
recommendations. At this point we have only discussed this
in one meeting of the faculty, but is was the only topic of
that meeting.
The student said that all the women in the program are discriminated
against. We assumed that this was true and that some men were
not discriminated against in this way. Therefore, women are
disproportionately discriminated against. This is one criterion
for discrimination. We then discussed what we could do to
eliminate the problem. The main choice seemed to be the elimination
of the program. We had to figure out what other ramifications
there were to eliminating the program.
We thought that although women were being disproportionately
discriminated against men who work are also at a disadvantage.
Since a large percentage of our students work, a large percentage
of the students do not have option of pursuing the 5-year
plan. Given the nature of USM the policy can be construed
not only as discriminating against women, but also elitist.
Elitism is discrimination based on class.
Our decision has not been completed and it will depend how
the administration views our decisions, but it seems that
the elimination of the 5-year program in Computer Science
is a likely result of our new awareness of how practices that
have been well-established in academia can be reconsidered
from another point of view and found to be wanting.
We are also keenly aware of the advantage we would have in
recruiting and retaining students of underrepresented populations
if our faculty had more such members. This is an ongoing goal
of ours.
The Computer Science Department has now both encouraged and
acted upon a problem that might not have been addressed as
keenly several years ago. This is due to our accepting and
internalizing the goals of diversity at USM.
GOAL III: Student Recruitment and Retention
USM strives to increase the diversity of its student
body through active outreach and recruitment. USM increasingly
works to develop structures and mechanisms that support the
retention of all students, particularly students of color
and other underrepresented populations.
We have tried to make our computing facilities as accessible
as possible. The facilities are on the first floor, fairly
near to an accessible door. There is a ramp from one part
of the lab to another, but is seems to meet physical accessibility
criteria. The building is accessible with several elevators.
Students with physical disabilities can meet with faculty
members in their offices on the second floor.
The Computer Science Department has a good relationship with
the Office of Academic Support for Students with Disabilities.
While we are, by law, not privy to the exact disabilities
of the students that go through that office, the office does
seem to serve students with cognitive and emotional disabilities
as well as physical disabilities. We encourage students having
problems in our classes to go to this office. We always accept
the recommendations of this office with respect to extra time
for testing and the need for a student note taker. Other services
(e.g., simultaneous sign language translation) have not yet
been required but we would be amenable to their use.
The Computer Science Department recognizes the difficulty
of the subject. Students with poor academic backgrounds can
take advantage of the tutors hired and paid for by the Department.
Any student having trouble is encouraged to see either the
faculty member teaching the course or a student tutor for
help. This service has helped many poorly prepared students
to succeed in our courses.
All the syllabi produced by the department include a statement
of how to get help from the Office of Academic Support for
Student with Disabilities. All syllabi for first and second
year courses include the tutor schedule.
The department does very little student recruitment. This
is usually perceived as a school of university responsibility.
We always give students informative, informal tours of the
facilities and candidly answer any questions they have.
GOAL IV: Faculty and Staff
USM strives to increase the diversity of faculty
and staff, particularly faculty and staff of color, but inclusive
of other underrepresented populations as defined in Goal I.
The hiring of underrepresented populations is always a main
interest in our faculty recruiting. We try to work as closely
as possible with the Office of Campus Diversity and Equity.
We work hard to find faculty from underrepresented populations.
The staff is certainly aware of our efforts. Our students
may not be as aware as they should be.
We are very open to discussion of and taking action on the hiring
of underrepresented populations.
We follow all the USM hiring guidelines in our advertising.
We advertise in a set of publications targeted at underrepresented
populations.
We have not met our goals for hiring faculty or staff from underrepresented
populations. It will be quite easy to see our progress toward
the goal since we now have only 7 faculty and 1 staff person.
We have had serious candidates from underrepresented populations
on our short lists of faculty to hire and have even been close
to hiring one. This is a national problem in computer science.
This does not mean it should not be addressed by the Computer
Science Department at USM, but it does mean that progress is
very difficult even given the best of intentions and the strongest
efforts of all involved.
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