CURRENTS

March 17, 2008

Currents--University of Rochester newspaper

Office helps University staff embrace diversity

Judie Myers-Gell and Stanley Byrd

By Jeanette Colby

jeanette.colby@rochester.edu

When senior clinical nurse specialist Caroline Nestro looked out over the diverse crowd of employees from her department, she knew right away that this Psychiatry Grand Rounds was unlike any other. Held in honor of Martin Luther King, the January 16 gathering had attracted more than double the normal attendance and, more importantly, had drawn together a genuinely representative mix of the University community.

Counselors and psychiatric technicians, doctors and environmental services staff came together to watch and discuss July ’64, a documentary on race relations in Rochester during the early 1960s. Stanley Byrd, who led the discussion and helped Nestro and other members of the Department of Psychiatry’s Diversity and Cultural Competence Leadership Team organize the event, was pleased by the turn out and broad participation among groups of employees who normally have limited opportunities to interact. Says Byrd, human resources manager of multicultural affairs and inclusion: “I was really impressed by the creation of this inclusive event.”

Helping departments across the University create such inclusive events and promote a work culture in which employees from varied backgrounds and cultures feel valued is the goal for Byrd and other members of the Human Resources’ Office of Multicultural Affairs and Inclusion. The unit provides diversity support for staff initiatives, including sensitivity training, development and retention, recruitment, apprenticeship programs, staff relations, community outreach, and marketing strategies.

Diversity Resources

Staff Diversity Initiative

Stanley Byrd
Human Resources Manager—Multicultural
Affairs and Inclusion

275-0425 or stanley.byrd@rochester.edu

Judie Myers-Gell
Senior Human Resources Representative

257-2200 or judie.myers-gell@rochester.edu.

Affinity Groups

African-American Network, 276-3259, ext. 1 or
africanamericannetwork@urmc.rochester.edu

Latino Professional Alliance, 276-3259, ext. 2 or urlpa@rochester.edu

Pride Alliance, 276-2359 or pridealliance@rochester.edu

Faculty Diversity Initiative

Lynne Davidson
Deputy to the President and Vice Provost for
Faculty Development and Diversity

273-2760 or lynne.davidson@rochester.edu.

Maggie Cassie
Assistant Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity and Special Projects Researcher

275-0792 or maggie.cassie@rochester.edu.

For more information about diversity at the University, visit www.rochester.edu/diversity.

In the case of the grand rounds, Byrd worked with the psychiatry department’s team to design an event that would both enhance the department’s relationships with the diverse communities in the region as well as interweave diversity and inclusion activities into the workplace. Having led similar sessions, Byrd helped the team focus on a program that would be meaningful to their department. The documentary was chosen as a way to help the department better understand the complex social history faced by the community it serves.

The expertise and guidance that Byrd and his staff provide helped tremendously, says Nestro, who also serves as associate director of the Office of Mental Health Promotion. “He worked with us before this event, and his presence continues afterward. There are other departments doing this on their own, and they don’t have to,” she adds.

Alison “Sunny” Venuti, director of the Medical School’s Standardized Patient Program, agrees. Venuti oversees the medical training program for individuals who simulate medical conditions and then provide feedback for students. “We needed more diversity in our program, and I contacted Stan. He gave me insight on how to recruit and where to recruit,” Venuti says.

Byrd provided Venuti contacts and resources for recruiting from minority communities and suggested changes in the language for the recruitment brochures. “As a result, the response was enormous. Information sessions were added to accommodate the increased interest and we were able to add a nice-sized group of standardized patients,” says Venuti.

Recruiting efforts are a vital part of what this office does, says Byrd. Judie Myers-Gell, senior human resources representative, reaches out on both the local and national level, heavily promoting the University and its extensive range of career opportunities to a variety of organizations, such as the Higher Education Recruiting Consortium, the Community Leadership Development Program, and local chapters of the National Black MBA Association, and the National Society of Hispanic Engineers. “We make ourselves visible and we express that we are looking for the best,” says Myers-Gell.

Since March 2006, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Inclusion has referred more than 230 qualified underrepresented candidates to about 500 professional, administrative, and supervisory level positions. And the human resources group continues to spread the word to many who are unaware of these diversity programs and initiatives. “We fill the need to add talented diverse applicants to the candidate pool. It’s a great resource for the University,” says Myers-Gell.