Professor of marketing Jose Rosa has been appointed the inaugural faculty fellow to the vice president for diversity and inclusion. The half-time, three-year appointment begins July 1.
Vice president for diversity and inclusion Reg Stewart said the fellowship's focus will be on training and support for Iowa State faculty. It was important, he said, to identify a tenured faculty member with a demonstrated willingness and dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Jose Rosa
"Jose has been a champion for our efforts since we started our office two and a half years ago. He's always at the ready," Stewart said. For example, Rosa chairs Colegas, the affinity group for Hispanic and Latino faculty and staff. And he frequently serves as moderator for the VPDI's campus conversation series.
Stewart noted that Iowa State is fortunate to have many faculty who devote lots of hours and effort to diversity and inclusion. The fellowship creates a deliberate, more formal opportunity for one faculty member, he said.
It also aligns with Goal 4 of the university's five-year strategic plan: "Continue to enhance and cultivate the ISU Experience where faculty, staff, students and visitors are safe, feel welcomed, supported, included and valued by the university and each other."
Making a difference
The VPDI and provost offices partnered to buy out half of Rosa's time from the Ivy College of Business. Rosa will work with Stewart and with associate provost for faculty Dawn Bratsch-Prince to create and coordinate educational training and development for faculty.
"Jose is a respected faculty member who was really looking to make a difference at Iowa State, and we're excited about an opportunity to partner with the VPDI office," Bratsch-Prince said. "Jose will help us advance in some very specific projects. But we know he'll also help us [provost's office] weave issues of inclusion into everything we do."
The faculty fellow's areas of major responsibility are:
- Institutionalize the Sustaining the Pipeline workshops first offered in the 2016-17 academic year
- Analyze data from the COACHE (every four years) and fall 2017 campus climate surveys, and identify and address faculty climate concerns
- Assist Faculty Senate leadership with its priorities in diversity
- Facilitate innovative faculty trainings in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion
- Incorporate education and training topics into existing faculty development programming -- for example, monthly department chair workshops, new faculty workshops, academic administrator orientation and other general workshops for tenure-track and term faculty
- Collaborate with ISU ADVANCE to expand efforts to recruit, retain and advance women and underrepresented faculty members
Expanding an idea
Early on, the faculty fellowship was proposed as a collaboration between the VPDI and Business college. When the provost leaders inquired about making it a university-wide assignment, Business dean David Spalding agreed.
"Dean Spalding is very supportive of diversity efforts on campus. He's positioning his college to be a leader in this," Bratsch-Prince said.
Rosa joined the Business faculty in 2015 and was named the John and Deborah Ganoe Faculty Fellow in the marketing department in 2016. He organized a fall 2016 summit in Des Moines that brought together professionals from higher education, government and industry to discuss the opportunity to provide a better business education to Iowa's fast-growing Hispanic population.
Rosa is among the Business faculty who are relocating temporarily to the Memorial Union until the Gerdin Building expansion is complete. His office is in 4564 Memorial Union.
