B. Recruitment/Rentention of Staff, Faculty, and Students of Underrepresented Groups

The University of Maryland is deservedly celebrated for its success in increasing the numbers of minority undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. We can be proud, for example, that this University is among the top five (non-historically Black colleges and universities) to graduate African American PhDs. And yet, the recent decline in African American student enrollments, especially at the graduate level, but also at the level of incoming first-year students, and the fact that the number of minority faculty has barely improved in four years, signal the need to reenergize our recruitment and retention efforts. The Diversity Panel proposes that the following measures, some of which have also been identified in the University's Strategic Plan, be implemented.

B1. Diversity in the Highest Levels of UM's Administration. Nowhere on campus is the lack of diversity more evident than at the highest level of the university's administration. We urge that diversity be considered a critical factor in every hiring opportunity at the vice-presidential level that is currently all white men.

B2. Targeted and Designated Hiring. In order to increase faculty diversity, we urge increased flexibility in our hiring procedures. "Target of opportunity" hiring should be encouraged in all Colleges, and the means and import to effect this should be made clear and detailed for department Chairs and more consistently managed by College Deans. "Designated" hiring should be approved, especially when the opportunity exists to recruit senior faculty members. General advertisements (e.g., The Chronicle of Higher Education or the newsletters of professional associations) have not provided adequate notice.

B3. Targeted Fellowships & Visiting Lectureships. Pre- and post-doctoral fellowships or Visiting Lectureships should be established for very advanced graduate students and recent PhDs of exceptional promise whom we may wish to hire, but who are still too junior in their careers to have a research record adequate to achieve tenure within our 6-year limit. Diversity (as defined above [see Section I.B: ". . .Language of This Report], not only race) should be a criterion for these fellowships; in addition, pre- and post-docs or Visiting Lectureships should be in departments, and in the particular research area, where a hiring opportunity exists. At the end of a fixed period, departments may request permission for a "designated" hire, or may conduct an open search for which the fellow/lecturer may apply.

B4. Expanded, Targeted Faculty Orientation Program. We propose an expanded orientation program for new faculty, run out of the Provost's office, which continues at least throughout the first year, and provides new faculty with information that will point them in the right direction to succeed on our campus and assists them in establishing supportive networks. (Orientations should also include diversity training and a sexual harassment workshop.)

B5. Mentoring Program for Junior Faculty. We also propose that mentoring systems for junior faculty be institutionalized and that Department Chairs assign every assistant professor, immediately upon his or her arriving on campus, a senior faculty mentor, and advocate, who will offer both encouragement and useful advice for building a record of scholarship, teaching, and service that will result in the granting of tenure.

B6. Realigning Graduate Student Support. For graduate students, we propose the realignment of financial support to allow the creation of a fund to support the recruitment of a more diverse group of graduate students whose records of achievement demonstrate great potential, although certain criteria, especially GRE scores, may not reflect this. Prior to the decision in the Banneker case, grants were awarded on this basis and were very effective in increasing the numbers of minority graduate students who proved to be successful students in our graduate programs. Although those grants have been discontinued, they should be re-instituted in another form that takes into account all forms of diversity (as defined above, Sec. I.B.), which further the institutionŐs educational mission, not only that based on race.

B7. Diversity Scholarships for Undergraduate Students. Similarly, diversity scholarships should be created for undergraduate students. These should be based on merit measured by indicia other than standardized tests. Other universities within the state of Maryland have implemented scholarship programs for students who, in a variety of ways (not only on the basis of race), enhance the campus's diversity.