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September 25, 2024Thriving Staff of Color: Imagining Higher Education Institutional Transformation
The National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) at the University of Michigan has published a new report that details the experiences of staff of color and provides recommendations for policies and practices that promote equitable workplace environments and staff of color success.
The report, titled Thriving Staff of Color: Imagining Higher Education Institutional Transformation, presents the results of a study conducted by researchers on the CASCaDE (Change Agents Shaping Campus Diversity and Equity) project from the NCID. The study helps to fill a gap in diversity scholarship centered around the experiences of university staff of color.
The project findings highlight three major themes that contribute to staff of color experiences, retention, and success: perceptions of work culture within departments/units, experiences of (in)equity in the workplace, and social and professional belonging gained from participation in racial affinity groups.
From these findings, the authors generated a list of recommendations to improve the experiences of staff of color at predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Detailed strategies, composed of areas for learning, reflection, and action, give further suggestions for enacting these recommendations.
“Staff are all too often deemed a laborer and not part of the intellectual endeavor,” says Dr. Patricia Coleman-Burns, Assistant Professor Emerita in the School of Nursing and co-investigator of the research project. The research project, she says, “changes what voices we listen to.”
“Staff are the backbone of the university, often overlooked, but it's our work that helps the university thrive and aids in the very research and work that makes our university a beacon of learning for students and faculty worldwide,” says Mariam Negaran, co-facilitator of the Voices of the Staff ADEI Committee, and Administrative Coordinator at the Ford School of Public Policy, “But there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to matters of racial equity and social justice. This report aims to highlight those staff experiences to improve higher education for all."
Thriving Staff of Color is part of the CASCaDE project, which seeks to support higher education change agents—leaders in both formal and informal roles—in transforming institutional cultures, structures, policies, and practices to support the success of students, staff, and faculty.
The report’s recommendations follow the transformational structure laid out by the THESIS Model, published by CASCaDE in 2023, wherein transformation requires learning, reflection, and action across three empowerment domains.
Read the report here.