The staffing process at RIC strongly expresses and follows the principles of EEO and affirmative action (AA), and advocates the goal of hiring a diverse faculty. 

The AA process has been successful in improving representation of women and minority group members in faculty  positions (e.g., see the 2005-2006 Affirmative Action report – over 50% faculty positions are held by women). 

The SOM participates fully in the AA process and has been particularly successful in recruiting and selecting diverse individuals. 

Faculty Development

Two campus-wide committees exist to promote diversity understanding and teaching, and to foster an environment that  embraces a diverse workforce and student body: Dialogue on Diversity and a local “chapter” of the New England Consortium on Inclusive Teaching (NECIT). These committees offer workshops for both faculty (presenting panels at our annual January Faculty Development workshop) and students (the annual Promising Practices workshops, which focus exclusively on diversity issues). 

 The College offers Sexual Harassment prevention workshops. 

Teaching

 General Education: All RIC students are required to take a course focusing on the non-Western world (Core 3) and a critical inquiry course that focuses on multicultural issues (Core 4). 

 Many SOM courses (and the texts used for those courses) include coverage of diversity and international issues, including cross-cultural application of course topics. In addition, International Management Concentration under the Management Major has several courses, mostly in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, in which the students can focus on the culture, economics, management, and geography in different regions and countries. Within the School of Management regular course offerings such as Management of Diverse Workforce, Global Marketing, International Finance, and International Economics aim to expand the horizons of the students beyond the traditional treatment of these subjects. 

Other

 Two standing subcommittees of the Human Relations Committee exist to address diversity issues, the Gender Relations and Racial Understanding. 

 A recent volume of the RIC online journal Issues in Teaching and Learning was devoted to articles that explored the ways in which faculty have applied inclusive teaching ideas gained by participating in NECIT. 

 Student organizations that focus on specific demographic and interest group issues, including Harambee, the Latin American Students Asssociation, NAACP, the Organization of African Students and Professionals. 

 There is a Unity Center on campus that promotes diversity issues .

 Other campus organizations with diversity-related missions include the Women’s Center and a group focusing on raising awareness of and support for gay, lesbian, transgender, and questioning individuals.