CWRU enters hall of fame for workforce diversity in Greater Cleveland

logo for the Commission on Economic InclusionFor the third year in a row, Case Western Reserve University took home the Commission on Economic Inclusion’s Best-in-Class Workforce Diversity Award, placing the university in the commission’s hall of fame. The university was recognized for its multifaceted approach to building a diverse, inclusive environment of faculty, staff and students.

“Case Western Reserve University is honored to be recognized for the third straight year by the Commission on Economic Inclusion,” President Barbara R. Snyder said. “Our efforts are making our campus an inclusive, stimulating place to learn, work and live. And we’re not done yet.” She accepted the Best in Class award and Hall of Fame honor at a reception this summer to recognize the 2012 award winners.

In selecting Case Western Reserve for the award, the commission recognized the university’s workforce data: 32 percent of the workforce is diverse, as are 39 percent of newly hired employees. These numbers compare to averages of 27 and 31 percent, respectively, according to the commission.

Successful strategies referenced included:

  • the Diversity Leadership Council, which promotes dialogue, provides resources and oversees the implementation of the Diversity Strategic Action Plan;
  • input from three diversity-related employee resource groups: the President’s Advisory Council on Minorities, the President’s Advisory Council on Women, and the Staff Advisory Council;
  • faculty and staff mentoring initiatives;
  • recruitment and retention intervention focused on underrepresented minorities;
  • mandatory training on alleviating bias in the faculty search process; and
  • new employee resource groups.

“We appreciate the commission’s recognition of our ongoing commitment to having strategic, collaborative and intentional efforts in our diversity and inclusion work at Case Western Reserve University,” said Marilyn Sanders Mobley, vice president for Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity. “That said, this recognition is an inspiration to work that much harder for the sake of our campus community and the Greater Cleveland community. In other words, we have so much more to do!”

The hall of fame recognizes multi-year winners of the best-in-class awards—member companies that consistently demonstrate a commitment to workplace diversity and inclusion. Other 2013 inductees to the hall of fame were University Hospitals (board diversity), U.S. Bank (workforce diversity), Eaton (supplier diversity) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (supplier diversity). Eaton joined the hall of fame for the second time in a separate category; other members are Kaiser Permanente (board diversity), KeyCorp (board and supplier diversity) and Time Warner Cable (workforce diversity).

The commission, a program of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, is a coalition of more than 100 Northeast Ohio employers committed to promoting the region’s diversity and ensuring economic inclusion is found within all aspects of the business community’s economic development.

For more information, visit gcpartnership.com/Economic-Inclusion/Commission/2012-Best-in-Class.aspx.