[Important Information for Employees] Equity Advocates-Nominations

[Richard Miller]

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Affirmative Action/Human
Resource Services are once again inviting community members to serve as Equity
Advocate
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uT0ow9qKUivYCfqrf3zyid53_Ahql0gV/view?usp=sharing>s.
Equity advocates (EAs) are employees that serve as consultants, resources,
and advisors to the search committee and who support the search process to
engage with a set of diverse candidates. Equity Advocates work closely with
the hiring authority and the search committee chair to advocate for
principles and practices related to diversity, inclusion and equity
throughout the search.

Equity Advocates can be nominated by the College community, including
self-nomination. Nomination forms can be found here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SKA5q14QYAppKiN-hPFGdigN0GcI_pFI/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100200403065634704032&rtpof=true&sd=true>;
the deadline for nominations is April 18, 2022.

To participate in the third cohort of the Equity Advocates, nominees will
complete a comprehensive education program over 4 non-consecutive days in
April & May and be able to receive their Equity Advocate Certificate upon
completion.

Please consider nominating any individuals whom you believe would be an
asset to the program, including yourself!

Please send nomination forms to: Richard C. Miller, Interim Vice President
for DEI

rmill019 at plattsburgh.edu.
            * Equity Advocate Roles and Responsibilities**


 Recruitment and hiring Inclusive Excellence statement SUNY Plattsburgh is
committed to, values, is welcoming of, and engages with the range of human
experiences that make up our current and prospective employees. The college
affirms that when our recruitment and hiring procedures intentionally
provide access to employment for candidates from minoritized and
marginalized identities, we are making inclusion excellent. The College
believes that search committees play a pivotal role in sourcing,
recruiting, assessing and recommending the most qualified and diverse
candidates for employment. Search committees are one of SUNY Plattsburgh’s
most viable assets as they are the body that represents the College to
prospective employees. The search committee as a body is stronger with an
entity that serves as the proverbial eyes, ears, and heart that infuses an
equity minded lens to the process. That entity is the Equity Advocate1 .
Overview Equity advocates are employees that serve as consultants,
resources, and advisors to the search committee and who support the search
process to engage with a set of diverse candidates. Equity Advocates work
closely with the hiring authority and the search committee chair to
advocate for principles and practices related to diversity, inclusion and
equity throughout the search. Roles • The Equity Advocate (EA) can be
nominated by the College community, including self-nomination and will be
selected and appointed by Department Chairs/Directors, respective Deans,
and/or Vice Presidents. Those making the selection should consider the
following: i. State employees (faculty or staff, classified or
unclassified) ii. Has served as a demonstrated resource to College on
issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion iii. Is informed on
equity related policies, procedures, and resources on campus iv. Possesses
good listening, communication, and conflict resolution skills v. Is
available to be a resource to search committee and hiring authority • The
EA is appointed and notified of their role as soon as the Hiring Authority
announces the vacancy, but before the search committee is formed and before
the vacancy is posted. • The EA’s membership facilitates an odd number of
members on the search committee and is a voting member of the search
committee. • An EA is always a member of a search committee for recruitment
of full-time UUP or M/C positions. • The EA serves on a search committee
associated with a vacancy from a school, department, or division that they
are not a member of, pending availability. • EAs serve a maximum three-year
term and can re-enter the role if no EAs are available, but must have the
required professional development completed. 1 An Equity Advocate applies
an equity lens to critically think about ways that institutional and
structural racism affect minoritized populations and how they can help
disrupt biases and misuses of power that can manifest during the hiring
process. *This serves as a PILOT of the updates to our recruitment to
hiring cycle with inclusive excellence infused into the process.
Responsibilities • EAs must attend an initial orientation with ODEI and AAO
when selected for the role. • Prior to sitting on search committees, EAs
must complete required professional development courses that include the 4
following areas: 1. Avoiding Unconscious Bias in the Hiring Process 2.
Whiteness and Labor market discrimination 3. Microaggressions 4.
Interviewing diverse candidates • EAs must attend a training session every
year of their three-year term. • EAs assess the equity climate of the
search committee and address issues of inequity (perceived bias,
microaggressions, in-group favoritism) with the search committee chair
and/or hiring authority within 24 hours of them arising. • EAs ensure
diversity-related questions are infused throughout the interview process.
Advocates that all the candidates are provided with a visual version of the
interview questions in real time to help engage with the diverse ways that
candidates process information. This could include providing a written
version of the questions for them to reference during an on-campus
interview or sharing a screen that includes the questions during zoom
interviews. • The Equity Advocates involved in searches during a particular
semester will convene as a focus group at the end of the semester to
assess, evaluate, and make suggestions to improve the process. Importance
of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education Diversity: Diversity
includes the range of human experiences and refers to the visible and
invisible forms of identity as well as status related to job function,
generational membership and perspective. Equity: Equity refers to the
inability to predict outcomes by race/ethnicity. It is the process of
reaching equality. Inclusion: Inclusion refers to the intentional
engagement with diversity though programs, procedures and policies to
ensure that people feel they belong and are welcomed.
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