State HR professionals honor NWTC for diversifying staff and promoting culture that values each individual
(Oct. 30, 2011) GREEN BAY - Northeast Wisconsin Technical College has been honored by a state organization of human resource professionals for initiatives to enhance staff diversity.
The Wisconsin Society for Human Resource Management has named NWTC the 2011 recipient of the Wisconsin SHRM Diversity Advocate Award. The award honors an individual or organization for being "a role model in their community as a strong advocate for diversity.
The College was nominated by Choua Yang, NWTC human resource assistant, who was also the employee to accept the award during last week's SHRM state conference.
“As a member of Human Resources and also the Affirmative Action/Equal Employment committee, I nominated NWTC because I thought we had a good chance of winning," she said. "Being familiar with what the College has accomplished in the realm of diversity and inclusion, I knew we had come a long way. But as I gathered the materials and became immersed in all the different initiatives, I realized just how much we have done…. I felt confident that they would be able to see this.”
In the nomination materials, Yang wrote that diversity initiatives "are taking place across the campus in a variety of areas including: Human Resources, Student Life, and Student Success. Because of this unique combination, the College is not only able to create an inclusive workplace, but an entirely inclusive organization whose culture extends to those that we serve."
She described initiatives ranging from allowing additional time during job notice postings so that more diverse media can be included, to regular training for staff in cultural diversity, to all-staff awards for commitment to diversity, to diversifying the subjects of promotions and publications.
In the nomination, Yang wrote: "NWTC is convinced that an institution of higher education that accepts and promotes inclusiveness as its mission and modus operandi will make education accessible for all citizens and will help define what it means to be an educated person in this rapidly changing world…. For NWTC, diversity is not a destination but a journey – a journey that is aimed at not only changing headcounts, but also, the mindset of our community and nation in dealing with our multicultural world. In short, the leadership of NWTC considers diversity as a way of life."
-END-