The CU System Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) launched a system-wide Search Advocate Program in Fall 2020. The goal of the program, conducted in partnership with Oregon State University (OSU), is to evaluate CU’s recruitment and hiring processes to ensure equity within the process and to train a pool of search advocates (faculty and staff) across the CU system to serve on hiring committees.
 
As non-voting or external members of hiring committees, the role of Search Advocates is mainly as consultants and process advisors, who provide the committees with guidance and support throughout the hiring process and ensure that both the search and selection processes are fair to all candidates. 
 
Grounded in a theoretical foundation of current research about bias and diversity as well as information about the changing legal landscape in hiring, the 16-hour long Search Advocates training (spread across 4 days) engages participants virtually through presentations, interactive and role-playing activities, and small group discussions.
 
The DEI office has committed to offering OSU’s training twice each academic year from Fall 2020 to Spring 2023. At the end of this 3-year implementation phase, the goal is for CU to develop its own internal training model that can be adapted as needed for each of the four campuses. Meanwhile, faculty and staff are encouraged to sign up for one of the upcoming trainings. If interested in participating, please contact your campus DEI office. 
 
Campus DEI Offices:
Anschutz Medical Campus: odeice@cuanschutz.edu
CU Boulder: odece@colorado.edu
CU Denver: ODI@ucdenver.edu
UCCS: Rame.Hanna@uccs.edu

For general information about the program, please contact the CU System DEI office. 

CU System DEI Office: 
Emily.Osan@cu.edu  
 
If you would like to hear from some of the first Search Advocates, please see:
https://news.ucdenver.edu/search-advocate-program-creates-more-equitable...