Constituent Board

Scope of the Board:
As part of the UC Berkeley initiative, Developing a More Equitable and Inclusive Environment for Staff, we have formed a Constituent Board to identify and address organizational change efforts needed to better support our staff of color. The hope is that this Board will move beyond giving/receiving advice to a place of Contributor to the Change we wish to see on our campus.  

Goals:
The broad goal of the board is to help remove institutional barriers that have been found to impede the success of staff of color at UC Berkeley. Specifically, this includes:

  • Offering a leadership program (Leadership and Career Enhancement Program for Staff of Color - LCEP) and other development opportunities for campus staff/managers who are in underrepresented minority (URM) categories
  • Informing, reviewing, and modifying policies that expand pathways for personal, professional and career development and advancement for underrepresented staff of color to leverage their experiences and advance their careers
  • Developing a Staff Equity Network that offers best practices in creating conditions of equity, inclusion, diversity, and belonging through offering consultations, toolkits, and guiding documents, that increase employee engagement, job satisfaction, and experiences
  • Identifying structural barriers and institutional practices that are limiting inclusiveness, equity, and belonging and instituting best practices that increase access for staff of color
  • Increasing representation of campus staff/managers from minoritized communities of color in all levels of organizational leadership

Membership:
This board will have a rotating membership that will include representatives from our ethnic staff organizations, initiative steering committee members, ad hoc campus representatives, and participants who have completed the "Leadership and Career Enhancement Program for Staff of Color". The initiative is sponsored by Marc Fisher & Dania Matos, and is a partnership with the Division of Equity and Inclusion and People & Culture.

The criteria for members (other than the Steering Committee and campus subject matter experts) include:

  • Staff of Color

  • On-campus at least 3 years

  • Political acumen

  • Time and ability to seek out feedback from constituents

  • Willingness to be honest and open-minded

  • Action-orientation; time and ability to meet with campus experts who can make progress on action plans

  • Support from your manager

Current Members:
Executive Sponsors:
Dania Matos, Vice Chancellor Equity and Inclusion
Marc Fisher, Vice Chancellor Administration
Members:
Heather Archer
Sereeta Alexander
Carina Galicia
Alex Gomez
Lauryn Holloway
Kristine Lee
Sunny Lee
Norton Mitchell
Layla Naranjo
Patrick Naranjo
Omar Ramirez
Mia Settles-Tidwell

Angela Stopper
Sara Thacker
Rebecca Ulrich
Eugene Whitlock
Javier Gonzalez

Roles and Responsibilities:

Role

Responsibilities

Chancellor/Leadership

Explicitly and publicly endorse and support the specific goals and recommendations of the CB in alignment with the Chancellor’s priorities; provide funding for initiatives as necessary for implementation.

Executive Sponsors

Give input to CB on political implications of various actions under consideration and suggest most viable actions; take CB recommendations to Chancellor, Cabinet, and Council of Deans as appropriate to get support.

Central HR

Lead and facilitate the CB, in collaboration with E&I; set vision and goals; facilitate determination of priorities and action steps; provide relevant organizational data.

E&I

Lead and facilitate the CB, in collaboration with Central Human Resources; provide relevant information to CB on other campus initiatives with similar goals (i.e. African American Initiative, Asian American Pacific Islander Issues Standing Committee, Latinx/Chicanx Task Force).

Board Members

Attend regular CB meetings and give input as appropriate; share concerns and ideas from your constituents and get back to them on the actions and progress of the Board; suggest and volunteer for actions that drive towards project goals; meet with relevant experts and stakeholders; make recommendations to the Executive Sponsors.

CESO/Staff Orgs

Provide appropriate input to CB on concerns, priorities, and action plans.

LCEP Grads

Provide appropriate input to CB on concerns, priorities, and action plans.

Senior Learning Development Specialist

Staff to the Board; co-construct agendas, distribute documents relevant to the committee and support the project management of the Board recommendations.

Director, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Mobilize community awareness of the movement and progress of the Board and lift up proactively solutions to campus challenges faced by URM staff; Ensure socialization of the outcomes of the Board’s work to improve access and opportunities for staff of color.

Subject Matter Experts

Attend regular CB meetings and give input as appropriate; share concerns and ideas from your area of expertise; suggest and volunteer for actions that drive towards project goals; meet with relevant experts and stakeholders; make recommendations to the Executive Sponsors.
3 strategic priorities:
  1. Continuing and Leveraging LCEP 
  2. Developing a Staff Equity Network
  3. Recruiting a diverse candidate pool and promoting fair, equitable and transparent hiring practices for all positions on UCB campus