Valuing and Supporting People
As a native Nigerian, Dr. Bukola Oyeniyi, history faculty member, provides a unique
perspective to students in his African Civilization class.
The success of Missouri State University is on the shoulders of its people, so in
many ways, people are our greatest resource. To become an employer of choice, we’ve:
- Made multiple small increases in the compensation packages for employees
- Expanded opportunities for faculty and staff to become more ingrained with the public
affairs mission
- Implemented employee resource groups Bear Connection and the Bear Network
For our students to feel comfortable on campus, it's extremely important to push for
an inclusive environment that fosters learning, growth and opportunity. We're committed
to this, and it shows: In fall 2011, 2,323 students at Missouri State were from historically
underrepresented groups. In fall 2015, that had grown to 2,726.
We believe that by striving for inclusive excellence and diversifying our student
population and workforce, we can see our true potential.
The demands of the digital age
One way we support people is to give them what they need to do their jobs better –
whether their job is as an administrator, staff, faculty or a student. And what does
everyone need to do their job better? Access to updated technology.
These demands in infrastructure change all the time, but it’s our goal to meet current
standards, and to keep information secure.
To meet the demands, several committees formed, including the Instructional Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC), comprised of key campus stakeholders, to make recommendations on instructional technology
policies, procedures, funding and other improvements. An external security assessment
was undertaken to determine potential areas of IT-related risk and an updated Disaster
Recovery Plan was created to help ensure continuity of university operations in the
case of disaster.
We also saw a need for increased access to computer labs, so open-access computer
lab and help desk hours and staffing were increased to meet growing faculty and student
demands.
Networking bandwidth was increased from 410 Mb to 6 Gb and new security appliance
and firewall were added to improve and enhance university information security.
100 percent of university buildings on the Springfield and West Plains campuses have
wireless coverage, including all additional buildings added since the start of the
plan.
The goal was to increase the number of Level III technology-enhanced classrooms from
113 to 213 by 2016. We reached 283 by upgrading over 100 existing classrooms and adding
of over 60 new class spaces.
The Disability Resource Center is a leader in the campus community, implementing universal design, providing access,
toppling barriers and advocating for inclusion as a matter of social justice.
Jackie Newman
Natural resources students
"I use the Disability Resource Center every semester. They help me have an accessible
classroom, tables and desk. They find a way for me to participate."
Diversity and inclusion
Missouri State University has focused on creating a healthy campus climate for many
years because students learn better when they have a diverse student body and faculty,
and their environment is free from negativity and discrimination.
To be more mindful of diversity in all decision-making processes on campus, we established
the division for diversity and inclusion in 2011. We strive to model inclusive excellence by ensuring our initiatives and
services intentionally engage and include the rich diversity of faculty, staff, students
and community partners.
And it’s working! We have seen growth in all areas of underrepresented groups on our
campus. We have seen growth in the attendance of the Statewide Collaborative Diversity Conference, and we even expanded it the past two years to include a full day’s worth of programming
geared just for students.
During this five year period we:
- Utilized diversity hiring programs to employ several new faculty members
- Developed faculty diversity composition scholarship
- Awarded more than $5 million in diversity scholarships/assistantships
- Revised annual performance reviews to measure progress on diversity goals
- Continued to improve recruitment and retention of a diverse student body and workforce
- Created a mentoring program designed to improve recruitment and retention of university
faculty and staff
- Conducted and evaluated the results of a climate survey
- Established the Faculty Diversity Composition Initiative, a loan forgiveness/reimbursement
program to attract underrepresented students with ambition for collegiate instruction
2015:
20% of Missouri State students are international or from historically underrepresented
populations, compared to 18 percent in 2011
2015:
14% of faculty and staff are international or members of historically underrepresented
populations, compared to 12 percent in 2011
Community stakeholders gather to listen to the findings of the climate study.
2014 Insight Award
Our efforts in the area were recognized with the 2014 Higher Education Excellence
in Diversity Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused
publication in higher education.
The climate study
In March 2015, Missouri State University, along with DiversityWorks, Inc., completed
a campus and community climate study, a 19-month undertaking. The study was completed
in three sections (campus research, focus groups and community focus groups) to better
understand the current state of affairs and to develop objectives for improving the
climate. The study included several key recommendations, including:
- Developing and advancing community-university partnerships for diversity and inclusion
- Expanding multicultural research and other scholarly activities
- Developing effective and innovative outreach, recruitment and retention programs
- Being proactive in light of rapid demographic changes at the K-12 education levels.
With these recommendations in mind, Missouri State will continue to improve the campus
climate in the next five years.
