Diversity About Acknowledging Differences, Chief Diversity Officer Says
By Jody Record, Campus Journal Editor
December 19, 2007
Wanda Mitchell borrows her philosophy from Maya Angelou who, to paraphrase,
said if you do what you do for any reason other than for the joy and satisfaction
that it brings, then you’re doing it for the wrong reason.
Mitchell tries to apply that thinking to her life. And she considers herself
fortunate that in her role as the university’s vice provost and chief
diversity officer, she finds both joy and satisfaction in doing a difficult
job.
“This is not easy work. There are times when you ask why people are
so opposed to institutional change. But it seems that on those days, I always
get an email or a phone call thanking me, telling me that my work is making
a difference. And it’s not just people from underrepresented groups
who contact me,” she says. “Those messages are so rewarding as
well as encouraging.”
The Allendale, S.C., native who once thought of entering the medical field
received a doctorate in education from the College of William and Mary. After
serving as associate director of the general education department at Georgia’s
Paine College, she began a long career at Hampton University, a predominately
black university in southeastern Virginia. She came to UNH in 2002 as a visiting
professor in the education department, after serving as a department chair.
In 2004, Mitchell became the special assistant to the provost for diversity
initiatives. Her new role as chief diversity officer is much the same as
it was before UNH adopted that title, which many universities around the
country have been using for some time, but her work now extends across administrative
divisions. She still spends her days addressing issues of recruitment and
retention of a widely diverse community, campus climate, community outreach
and leading initiatives to advance inclusion for everyone—not only
for people from underrepresented groups but everyone inclusive of persons
of differing perspectives, cultures and experiences.
“It’s not just about race and ethnicity,” Mitchell says. “Diversity
is about acknowledging individual differences. Inclusion is about where and
how we come together to transform a learning community.”
A chief officer of diversity was first talked about in 2004 as a way of “walking
the walk” of diversity being a priority at UNH. Mitchell assumed the
title in July of this year. It was, she says, a way to expand the work that
was being done--a way to connect words and ideas and actions. All of which,
she says, would not be possible without the university’s many champions
of diversity.
“When you have stakeholders working together you have greater opportunities
to advance women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or hiring
members from underrepresented groups as faculty and administrators. You get
more leverage to move the issues forward,” she says. “This work
wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t have allies and persons committed
to changing the university culture.”
Since coming to UNH five years ago—when she said of New Hampshire
that she thought she’d moved to another world-- Mitchell has seen the
efforts towards diversity bearing fruit. In 2004, the Diversity Strategic
Planning process was launched. The charge from the Faculty Senate to recruit
faculty, staff and students from underrepresented groups has become a work
in progress. And, in the fall of 2004, the Diversity Strategic Planning Task
Force was formed.
The 23-member group was given the directive of crafting a five-year strategic
plan for enhancing diversity on campus. That plan includes a clear definition
of the Faculty Senate goal of recruitment and retention as well as working
toward a curriculum that incorporates a focus on diversity, the aim of advancing
a community climate of inclusion, and developing partnerships outside the
university that promote diversity and inclusion.
People are seeing, Mitchell says, that diversity and inclusion matter and “cannot
occur in silos.” She refers to Martin Luther King, Jr., stressing that
his work wasn’t only about people of color, it was about all people.
King’s work and mass marches were about education, health care, voters
registration, economic stability, changing public policy, affordable housing,
fair hiring practices, raising the minimum wages for the poor, and denouncing
the funding of the Vietnam War, she says.
“Human resources are the best resource a university can have,” Mitchell
adds. “You need to have different voices. We want to make sure people
who have no voice are having an opportunity to be heard. We want to know
who’s NOT at the table as we discuss major policies.”
“Diversity isn’t about being different,” she says. “It’s
about recognizing those differences and ensuring equity at every level of
our institution. It’s about access and inclusion—to transform
institutional culture and practice.”
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