Eric Love, director of staff diversity and inclusion in the Office of Human Resources, joined the University with a goal of fostering a broad understanding of what diversity means. “No matter where you are from, your ethnic background, sexual orientation, religious ideology or affiliation, I want you to feel welcome at Notre Dame,” he says.
To that end, Love leads new hire onboarding programs, and has to date trained around 60 percent of staff — nearly 3,000 people — through “We Are All ND” seminars required for all non-supervisory staff and “Multicultural Competencies: Hiring Game Changers” aimed at managers and supervisors. He also presents a two-hour program during staff onboarding. These programs help those at the University define and understand diversity and inclusion, implicit and explicit bias, multicultural competencies and microaggressions, he says, while reinforcing the Catholic ethic of treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Next steps will focus on developing and encouraging staff to join employee resource groups, including the Notre Dame Black Faculty and Staff Association, THRIVE! Inspiring Women and Spectrum (LGBTQA). Groups are being formed for Hispanic staff and veterans as well.
After two years at the University, Love says, “I’m most proud of our training programs. I don’t know another college or university in the nation that offers such intensive training to faculty and staff. This will help with recruitment, hiring and retention of top quality diverse staff.”
For more information, contact Love at 631-2859, elove1@nd.edu or visit diversity.nd.edu or hr.nd.edu..
Originally published by at news.nd.edu on February 08, 2017.