Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: November 9, 1995

UT System News Release

Chancellor Approves Recommendations of Committee on Minority Advancement

Arlington -- Most of the recommendations from a committee on the advancement of minorities in faculty and senior administrative jobs have been approved by University of Texas System Chancellor William H. Cunningham.

Cunningham reported Thursday to the U.T. System Board of Regents that he has approved recommendations that each institution in the System make annual progress reports on the hiring of minority faculty and administrators, that uniform statistical reports be made on the status of minorities on each campus, and that hiring practices be monitored for good faith efforts to attract minority applicants.

Other approved recommendations are that progress in minority recruitment and retention be included in the regular performance expectations and evaluations of administrators, that the System's faculty and student advisory groups be used as resources to achieve diversity goals, and that campus strategic plans include detailed goals for diversity, he said.

"As the committee has made clear, the relative lack of diversity among faculty and senior administrators in the U.T. System, as well as in higher education institutions across the nation, reflects complex historical, social, demographic and economic forces," Cunningham said.

"Dealing effectively with the impact of these factors on higher education requires persistent effort on many fronts. The U.T. System has made the sustained commitment that is necessary in order to increase diversity, and the work of this committee provides an excellent opportunity to reaffirm and intensify that commitment."

Cunningham noted that another recommendation -- for a Regental-level committee to monitor issues related to opportunities for minorities and women -- was implemented last spring, even before the Committee on the Advancement of Minorities completed its work. The Regents' Committee on Minorities and Women includes Regents Zan Holmes, Don Evans and Martha Smiley.

In addition to the recommendations that are being implemented at the System level, Cunningham said other recommendations would be included in the System's next legislative funding requests, would be referred to campus presidents for action, or would continue to be evaluated for possible implementation.

Altogether, 21 of the committee's recommendations were approved or endorsed for implementation at either the System or campus level, while nine other recommendations remain under further study.

"Many programs such as those envisioned by the Committee's recommendations for recruitment and retention of minority faculty and administrators have been implemented over an extended time at some component institutions, and much progress has been achieved," Cunningham said. "It is desirable, however, that all of these efforts be reviewed as part of a comprehensive reevaluation in light of the committee's recommendations."

The committee on minorities, as well as a similar committee on opportunities for women, were appointed by Cunningham in 1994 to recommend ways for increasing the number of minorities and women in faculty and senior administrative positions throughout the U.T. System. Each committee included representatives from each of the U.T. System's 15 component institutions, as well as System staff members. The report of the committee on women is expected to be completed in early 1996.