Latest News from ODEI
The Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is proud to share that the University of Alabama at Birmingham is a member of the Southeastern Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) and offers a range of resources to advance inclusive excellence in higher education recruitment and retention.
The HERC organization is comprised of over 700 colleges, universities and other institutions, and strives to diversify the pipeline of faculty, staff, and executives in higher education. As a non-profit coalition, HERC provides access to over 40,000 open positions, resources, networking opportunities, and outreach programs to guide institutional hiring practices and promote the retention of diverse and qualified workforce.
“We encourage faculty and staff to explore the opportunities and resources provided through the institution's HERC membership,” said Paulette Patterson Dilworth, Ph.D., UAB’s vice president for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “These resources support equitable recruitment and retention practices and further amplify inclusive excellence across our campus and community.”
Faculty and staff can activate their sponsored membership by visiting member.hercjobs.org/myherc/join and completing the registration form using their UAB email address. Returning faculty and staff are encouraged to log in to access new resources and upcoming events.
To learn more about HERC, visit www.uab.edu/dei/ faculty-resources.
Ana Rodriguez Good, Ph.D., has been selected as the director of community engagement and outreach for Campus and Community Engagement in the UAB Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI). This newly created position aims to serve and support underrepresented faculty, staff, and students.
As director of community engagement and outreach, Good is responsible for assisting the AVP for Campus and Community Engagement in creating and sustaining an inclusive environment to support underrepresented faculty, staff, and students. She will also create initiatives to engage and support campus and local communities while serving as the liaison between ODEI’s Campus and Community Engagement and the university, the community and the state of Alabama.
“I am thrilled to join UAB's Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” said, Good. “I am passionate about advocating for underrepresented communities and am excited to add a Latinx and Hispanic-focused vision to the team. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the campus community at an institution that champions diversity and inclusion.”
Good is a native of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and has called Alabama home for the last 12 years. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing at Florida State University before earning a master's in community journalism and a doctorate in communications from the University of Alabama.
Before arriving at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Good served as a postdoctoral instructor in the department of communication and media at Samford University, where she led courses that focused on print and media storytelling and communication research methods. She has also served as a Media and Professional Development Adviser to assist and oversee the production of the student newspaper, The Samford Crimson, and yearbook, Entre Nous.
Dr. Good is passionate about women’s rights, human rights, and advocating for the underrepresented communities, and looks forward to serving the campus and community.
Eight UAB faculty members have been selected to participate in the Summer 2023 Faculty Success Program hosted by the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) and sponsored by the UAB Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The selected members are Yu-Yin Lin, D.D.S., M.S., assistant professor of pediatric dentistry in the School of Dentistry; Allison Jones, Ph.D., RN, CCNS, assistant professor of nursing in the School of Nursing; Michael J. Herr II, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Medical Education in the Heersink School of Medicine; Bhekumusa Lukhele, Ph.D., MPH, BNS, assistant professor of health care organization and policy in the School of Public Health; Molly Richardson, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor of health care organization and policy in the School of Public Health; Ellen Mwenesongole, Ph.D., associate professor of criminal justice in the College of Arts and Sciences; Emily Jaworski Koriath, DMA, assistant professor in the Department of Music in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Keisha Brown, OD, assistant professor of optometry and vision science in the School of Optometry.
The Faculty Success Program is a 12-week program for faculty of all ranks who are looking for empirically tested methods to improve research productivity through intense accountability, coaching, and peer support and to propel their work-life balance and personal growth. The program will take place from May 14 to August 5.
The NCFDD provides career development and mentoring resources for faculty at more than 450 colleges and universities. More than 475 faculty, postdocs, and graduate students at UAB have taken advantage of the university’s institutional membership. Membership includes access to the NCFDD’s Core Curriculum webinars, focused on skills necessary to “thrive in the academy”; interactive, online Guest Expert Webinars; multi-week courses on preparing tenure and promotion materials and manuscript revision; and 14-day writing challenges.
Four individuals were honored with the 2023 Padma Awards during a ceremony on March 23.
The Padma Awards is sponsored by the UAB Commission on the Status of Women. The CSW Padma is a symbol that was designed to represent resilience and the ability to “rise above the surface and bloom daily”.
The award recognizes those who have overcome significant adversity to achieve their goal(s), demonstrated a commitment to working with underrepresented populations, or advanced the issues that primarily affect those populations by making it easier for individuals coming from underrepresented populations to achieve professional success, taking a courageous stance in the face of adversity or against popular opinion, and/or providing significant service to underrepresented or struggling populations within or external to UAB.
The 2023 recipients are: Chinaza Esiaba, an undergraduate student in the UAB School of Public Health; Kesha L. Thurston, DNP, assistant professor of nursing in the UAB School of Nursing; Carin Mayo, Program Manager for the masters of public administration program in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration; and Lauren C. Mays, DNP, assistant professor of nursing in the UAB School of Nursing.
The UAB Commission on the Status of Women is dedicated to promoting gender inclusion and equity by supporting and improving options and opportunities for women at every stage of their education and career. CSW members support work-life balance initiatives, training and development of emerging leaders, and community outreach to improve the academic climate and work environment at UAB.
Chinaza Esiaba
2023 Outstanding UAB Undergraduate Student Award
Kesha L. Thurston, DNP
2023 Outstanding UAB Staff Member Award
Carin Mayo
2023 Susan D. Marchase Outstanding Administrator Award
Lauren C. Mays, DNP
2023 Becky Trigg Outstanding Faculty Member
This Women’s History Month, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) celebrates the incredible contributions women have made to shaping our nation. Women are driving progress and change as breadwinners, leaders in their communities, and trailblazers across industries. The first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Labor was Frances Perkins and she advocated for the minimum wage, 40-hour work week, and Social Security. Women today continue to be on the frontlines of the movement for workers’ rights and equal opportunity.
Today, women still face systemic barriers to equal opportunity despite tremendous progress. The unfortunate gender wage gap means women working full-time typically earn nearly $400,000 less than men over the course of their lifetimes. Women also experience workplace challenges like harassment as well as pregnancy and caregiving discrimination that affect their ability to obtain jobs and advance in their fields. Additionally, women are working to regain ground lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 217,000 fewer women in the labor force today than before the pandemic.
At OFCCP we advance gender equality throughout our work, including through our enforcement efforts. In the last two fiscal years, we recovered $33.9 million in backpay and salary adjustments on behalf of over 10,600 women jobseekers and workers. For example, in August 2022, the agency entered into a conciliation agreement with Esri, a digital mapping and analytics company, for $2.3 million in back pay and interest to resolve allegations of gender-based pay discrimination against 176 female engineers.
We also promote equal opportunity for women by removing barriers to accessing good jobs. As America invests in its infrastructure and the economy through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPS and Science Act, there is a historic opportunity to create good jobs for women and their families. This year, we will launch our Mega Construction Project (Megaproject) Program, which will foster equal opportunity in the construction trades workforce of federal contractors and subcontractors on large, federally funded construction projects. From the earliest stages of a Megaproject, OFCCP engages a wide range of stakeholders in the community to remove hiring barriers and promote consideration of a diverse pool of qualified workers for jobs. Megaproject engagement can provide immediate impact on contractor and subcontractor recruitment and hiring practices, providing women with access to good jobs with fair pay in traditionally male-dominated occupations.
As President Biden stated in his Proclamation on Women’s History Month, “Let us strive to create a Nation where every woman and girl knows that her possibilities know no bounds in America.” Our society is stronger when everyone has a seat at the table and has the tools to succeed. On this Women’s History Month and in every month, OFCCP remains committed to rooting out discrimination and expanding equal employment opportunity for all.