DIVERSITY AT FERRIS UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT & MARKETING

Transcription

1 DIVERSITY AT FERRIS UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT & MARKETING

2 Advancement and Advancement Services Diversity Contributions Report 1. List diversity/inclusion activities a. The advancement department recruits a diverse population of alumni, parents, and friends to serve on the University s leadership boards. Advancement works closely with faculty/staff, alumni and corporate leaders to be a part of networking and enhancing additional campus diverse board components. b. The advancement office collaborates and provides representation to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to secure gifts for their programs and initiatives that support underserved populations. c. Advancement Web pages and publications, whether academic or athletic in nature, are created to represent diverse populations that convey the message that Ferris State University is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion. d. Advancement officer training includes discussions on reaching out to underserved populations recognizing that Ferris prepares our students for a global society, with cultural and global exposure, understanding and opportunity that will enhance the processes, structures and culture of the University. e. Advancement is actively involved in supporting a safe and welcoming environment to diverse populations through representation on the University s Climate and Engagement Task Force. f. Advancement began working with Cristo Rey High School in southwest Detroit to educate and recruit Hispanic Students to Ferris through the assistance of Frank Venegas, a successful Hispanic businessman in Southwest Detroit. Discussions and visits by Jessica Cruz, Executive Director of the Latino Center at Ferris, are planned for the Fall of 2015 to visit Cristo Rey. g. Advancement began working with the Shoah Foundation and the Institute for Visual History & Education on securing access to their education library and college courses concerning the Jewish Holocaust and other historical events. This relationship began with Mickey Shapiro, a wealthy Jewish businessman in metro Detroit and a Ferris nongraduate alumnus and major donor to Ferris. h. Advancement staff (5) have participated in the Diversity & Inclusion Training through the Staff Center. 2. Identify diversity successes a. Advancement officers have actively pursued underserved representation and female leadership to be a part of university advisory boards which has enhanced and enriched programs at Ferris. 1

3 b. During the past year, major gifts, outright and estate-based gifts were earmarked for scholarships and to support educational diversity, consistent with the University s mission and admissions policy. Increased numbers of donors have asked that priority be given to students from historically underrepresented populations who have been accepted to the University. c. An increased number of planned gifts is taking place as the estate-based activities mature and as the messaging created and defined has reached out to alumni and friends over the age of 55 with more than 100,000 touches. d. The Advancement Services department continues to track diversity-related data via the Millennium alumni/donor database that is collected by enrollment services or selfreported by our alumni/donors. We also continue to work with numerous campus RSO s and their national affiliates to expand and enhance the collection of diversity-related data. 3. Identify diversity challenges and offer solutions a. The advancement division is aware and alert to the fact of the need to promote and create greater diversity alignment with donor opportunities within the University. We address this challenge by continuing to include open dialogue and communication with alumni, deans, faculty/staff and friends of the University. b. The challenge to recruit a more diverse population to serve on campus leadership boards continues to be recognized and processed. Reaching out to all campus constituencies is on-going. c. We collaborate with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion as advancement hiring opportunities occur. Mentoring still remains as a mainstay in ensuring that new professionals to the Ferris community are retained. 2

4 Annual Giving Diversity Contributions Report 1. List diversity/inclusion activities a. Annual Giving specifically seeks out diverse groups of the population through gender, age, ethnicity, national origin and other diversity indicators to ensure our fundraising messages are relevant to all. Because these messages are distributed through mail, phone and our Web page, we are able to include photos (mail and Web) and comments from these volunteers. We are able to represent this diversity to the entire Ferris community and others who receive our direct mail pieces and visit our Web pages. b. We have an open door policy for our student fundraisers within the call center and encourage a diverse population. When we need to hire additional callers, one of the things we will do is reach out to our current students to recommend friends who may be interested in becoming a student caller. This helps keep our student fundraiser population quite diverse. 2. Identify diversity successes. a. The total number of African-American, Asian, Hispanic and other international students we have in our student call center is quite high. When combined with the total number of women working in the call center, the diverse population exceeds 80%. b. We are able to work with our international students very closely to assist them with communication issues they may encounter when making fundraising calls. Because of this, we had very little turnover and helped all of our students contribute to the success of the call center. c. We have been fortunate to identify a diverse mixture of students and volunteers for our fundraising messages. We have been able to work with the dean s offices within each college and others around campus to identify a wide range of students who meet the needs for our messages. Through our efforts, we have been able to form relationships with these students to receive their approval to tell their stories through direct mail and web-based fundraising efforts. 3. Identify diversity challenges and offer solutions. a. We would like to attract additional international students to our call center and focus on Asian and Hispanic students. We have not had strong representation from these student populations within our call center. We would like to work directly with campus offices and the international office to help us identify these specific populations and get the word out to these students about opportunities we offer in the student call center. b. We do not have a large group of ethnically diverse alumni, so making sure we are able to use data-driven information to segment our messages by ethnicity, age, gender, and other 3

5 diversity indicators will help to ensure our messages are written to the audience they are intended for. Not one message is necessarily appealing to all audiences. c. We are finding a divide between older and younger generations and how they are engaging with Ferris. With the advancements in technology, there are different ways to interact with the university, and we need to be cognizant of this when crafting our fundraising messages and the methods we provide for alumni and friends to contribute to the university. 4

6 The Ferris Foundation Diversity Report 1. List diversity/inclusion activities a. The Ferris Foundation Committee on Directors as well as the entire board membership continue to recruit directors who represent a broad and diverse group of alumni and friends of the University. The Gifts and Grants Committee has been expanded to represent a comprehensive group of campus faculty and staff to serve alongside the board directors. b. The Ferris Foundation office continues to collaborate with the student financial aid office and the Tuition Incentive Program office to develop scholarship opportunities for students in underserved populations. Tracking the academic progress of this segment of our scholarship recipients has been shared not only with specific donors but also the entire Ferris Foundation constituency. c. The Ferris Foundation is actively involved in creating and supporting a welcoming environment for donors to support the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and their activities. 2. Identify diversity successes a. The Ferris Foundation Board of Directors continues to expand the diversity within the membership. Of the current 29 board members, six are women plus the executive director and the board ranges from 37 to 80 years of age. As the board is now including representation by alumni and friends at the national level, members represent urban areas such as Detroit; San Francisco; Washington, DC; New York, New York; Dallas, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; as well as Jonesborough, Tennessee and Tampa Bay, Florida. b. Beginning in January 2015, all gifts began to channel through The Ferris Foundation. With the new gift acknowledgement process, the Foundation is able to provide a more comprehensive means of recognizing donors from a much broader audience that represents gifts both small and large. c. The 2013 Ferris Foundation Annual Report featured an article on the Opportunity Scholarship recipients in which 50 percent of the students were from underserved populations. 3. Identify diversity challenges and offer solutions a. The Ferris Foundation is aware and supports the need to promote and create greater opportunities for a more diverse donor population within the University. The Ferris Foundation Board continues to address the challenge by engaging in open conversations with faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the University. 5

7 b. The challenge to recruit diverse leadership to serve on The Ferris Foundation Board of Directors continues to be pursued and is recognized by all board members. We continue to engage a broader audience of individuals and corporations to attain greater diversity. 6

8 External Relations Diversity Contributions Report Many of the External Relations team s activities to promote diversity and inclusion at Ferris have continued to build through the years and represent collaborative efforts with other areas of the University. In addition, team members continue to find new ways to promote the growth of a diverse and inclusive campus environment. Such activities include: 1. List diversity/inclusion activities a. Making diversity a key consideration in the production of our student recruiting campaign materials by studying our audience s diversity and its impact on their interpretation and reception of the language, themes and imagery of the publications, allowing us to make the materials even more broadly accessible and appealing. Specifically, our Marketing team, in collaboration with Enrollment Services, Human Resources and Diversity and Inclusion, is working with a Latino marketing and public relations firm to translate select recruiting materials, to identify recognition and outreach, and to develop a radio campaign to improve the awareness of employment opportunities at Ferris among the Latino population in West Michigan. Our team is also pursuing opportunities to photograph diverse groups of members of the University community, with focused attention on improving the representation of Hispanic students, faculty and staff. b. Identifying opportunities within our annual marketing campaign materials, including digital ads, print ads, and television commercial imagery, to showcase the diversity of our students, faculty and staff. Working with our marketing agency to develop a media plan to target an increasingly diverse audience. c. Prioritizing diversity as a theme and fundamental consideration in the editorial process of Ferris Magazine, by seeking editorial and source input from a variety of campus diversity advocates, such as the Office of Multicultural Student Services, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of International Education, the Tuition Incentive Program coordinator s office, Students with Children, and the Office of Educational Counseling and Disabilities Services, among others. d. The Ferris Alumni Association conducted successful alumni and emeriti programming in the communities of Big Rapids, Detroit, Chicago, Muskegon, Orlando, Mt. Pleasant, Denver, Tucson, Venice and Naples. These events were targeted at urban and suburban communities in Michigan and around the country with high concentrations of FSU alumni. They had a combined family and Ferris focus, and were low cost and high value to the participants. e. Alumni Relations is working in collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Student Services, Black Greek Council, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to welcome 7

9 and host the alumni of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Zeta Beta Chapter as they plan their 50 th anniversary celebration. The reunion will take place in April 2016, but committee meetings and conference calls for planning purposes are currently underway. Reunion activities include a Black and Gold Ball, ZB documentary premier, chapter brunch and campus tour. f. Alumni Relations provided assistance and guidance regarding alumni engagement to the Center for Latino Studies and in May accepted their alumni charter into the overall structure of the FSU Alumni Association Board. g. The Web Content, News Services and Social Media and Photography teams maintain the University Events Calendar, Week in Pictures, Ferris Blog, Ferris Facebook and Ferris Twitter accounts showcasing the diverse activities and events of faculty, staff and students. h. The Web Content team supports the Latino Center website and has successfully maintained its bilingual website in English and Spanish. In addition, the team also continues to provide website support for the offices of Multicultural Student Services, Disabilities Services, International Education, Jim Crow Museum, Institute for the Study of Racism, Alliance of Ferris Employees, Virtual Women s Center and Office of Diversity and Inclusion. i. The Web Content team supports the software and behind-the-scene efforts to make the ferris.edu website accessible to the hearing and visually impaired. This included recently extending a three-year license with Usablenet that supports the Text-Only version of our website that allows for visually impaired users an easy interface for the JAWS (Job Access With Speech) screen reader. Currently, the Web Content team is involved in developing a business policy regarding the requirements for Web Accessibility. j. Participating on committees designed to promote diversity, including Sandy Gholston, MLK Celebration Planning Committee; and Ted Halm, Disability Services Committee and Web and Media Accessibility. 2. Identify diversity successes a. The News Services and Social Media team launched the Ferris First, or #FERR1S, pride building campaign during the academic year. #FERR1S is a social media campaign that showcases Ferris as the first choice among a large and diverse segment of our students, alumni, faculty and staff. The highlighted testimonials are captured with a variety text, photo and video elements, and are featured on the University Twitter, Facebook and Instagram social media sites and on ferris.edu/ferr1s. b. Web Content Manager Ted Halm participated in the Beyond.Diversity initiative this year that was organized through the Office of International Education. Halm 8

10 volunteered and wrote an essay on Ageism and the importance of inclusion for older staff members at Ferris and beyond. He also hosted a Table Topic on the subject during a Sunday open house for the event at the IRC. c. Mentoring student employees in areas such as alumni relations, public relations, graphic design, media relations, photography and Web content. Our student staff hail from many different backgrounds geographically and socio-economically and included two international students (Nigeria and Saudi Arabia) and an Asian- American. d. The Student Alumni Gold Club recruited and chose two new students to become the university official Brutus Mascot. One of the students, an Asian-American is the first recorded student to hold the position. e. The Ferris Alumni Association Board of Directors has continued to expand the diversity of membership. Of our current 31 members on the board, one is African- American, one is Asian-American, seven are women, and our members range from 22 to 68 years of age. In addition, we have board members from the urban centers of Lansing, Grand Rapids, Flint and Detroit, Mich., as well as Chicago, Ill.; Philadelphia, Penn.; and Charlotte, N.C. f. In , the Ferris Alumni Association awarded $24,000 in Legacy Scholarships to 21 students, 13 of whom were women. Major Diversity Initiatives to be Led by University Advancement and Marketing 1. Collaborate with the Offices of Diversity and Inclusion, Student Affairs, Human Resources and others as necessary in order to continue pursuing marketing and communications initiatives to better engage the Hispanic community in West Michigan with the intention that this could serve as a model to consider other specific targeted next step initiatives for other demographics/communities/methodologies. 2. Partner with the Offices of Disability Services, Diversity and Inclusion, Academic Affairs, Information Technology and others to develop University policy that will guide successful University-wide adherence to practices requiring that content and media on Ferris websites and electronic and in-class instructional materials fulfill WCAG 2.0 AA compliance criteria to ensure accessibility to persons with disabilities. 3. Expand the breadth and depth of the #FERR1S social media campaign to promote pride and engagement with the University. We will seek expanded opportunities to identify diverse members of our student, faculty, staff and alumni populations who are willing to share their stories about what they value most about Ferris. The uses for these stories are likely to extend well beyond social media. 4. Continue to recruit more diverse members to the Ferris Foundation and Alumni Board of Directors, as well as Hispanic and international students, in particular, to the Annual Giving program Student Call Center and the Student Alumni Gold Club. 9