This article draws upon insights from Edna Chun and Alvin Evans' forthcoming book "Bridging the Diversity Divide: Globalization and Reciprocal Empowerment in Higher Education." Despite apparent signs of progress in diversity within higher education, deeper cultural change must occur within academe to erode and eliminate subtle behavioral and…

Traditional leadership development programs for higher education staff are challenged to blend theory with a real-world context that is meaningful to participants' work. Standard student leadership curriculum is strong on theory, but often thin on providing this real-world context. Both HR training departments and academic units charged with…

Recent discussions among HR practitioners in higher education have focused on talent management; specifically, the concept of developing a college or university talent management approach balanced between planning and action. Talent management as a planning tool looks very similar to workforce planning, but where HR will experience a real…

HR metrics has grown up a bit over the past two decades, moving away from simple benchmarking practices and toward a more inclusive approach to measuring institutional performance and progress. In this article, the acknowledged "father" of human capital performance benchmarking provides an overview of several aspects of today's HR metrics…

Advancing diversity and inclusiveness on campus is certainly a top priority for many institutions today. The question often is not "Should we promote diversity in our campus community?" but rather "How do we go about doing it?" At the University of Arkansas, the chancellor had long declared that diversity was his first and most…

A few years ago, the University of Pennsylvania's Division of Human Resources began a data-based approach to the development of strategic plans and the measurement of programmatic effectiveness. One of its more successful endeavors in this area has been the creation of an HR scorecard that compares and contrasts individual school or administrative…

Human resources is in an excellent position in many institutions to initiate collaboration and cooperation with other campus departments. In this article, the leaders of the departments of HR and academic resources at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, share their insights on the importance of partnership-building on campus and describe how a…

Generally speaking, it is safe to say that human resource leaders whole-heartedly believe that the HR function should add value to an organization. However, many wonder where to start. In this article, the authors outline three ways in which the HR function, and the HR leader, can create sustained value for an organization and its stakeholders.

To be a valuable partner at the strategic level, human resources can and should contribute to both institutional effectiveness measurement and workforce metrics. In this article, the author examines how to link HR initiatives with key institutional strategies, clarifies essential HR responsibilities for workforce results, explores return on human…

How can educational leaders, human resource professionals and diversity practitioners create the dynamic strategies, structures and policies that will promote the inclusion of diverse and talented faculty and staff? What is the role of the human resource professional in the diversity change process? This article explores how to build the framework…

Numerous institutions are moving toward the chief diversity officer model of leading and managing diversity in higher education. These officers carry formal administrative titles and ranks that range from vice president for institutional diversity to associate vice chancellor for diversity and climate and dean of diversity and academic engagement.…

As institutions review and strengthen their plans to secure confidential data, what proactive role does the human resource professional play as a strategic partner? Why are employees a critical part of the solution? And how are they educated regarding their responsibilities with data security? Datatel's HR product manager shares some…

When charged with overseeing a project, how can one ensure that the project will be completed on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of everyone involved? In this article, the authors examine project management methodology as a means of ensuring that projects are conducted in a disciplined, well-managed and consistent manner that serves…

As colleges and universities face increased pressure from many directions, HR professionals have an opportunity to strengthen their institutions by recruiting, hiring and training non-academic staff that have the leadership competencies necessary to shepherd the institutions through an era of change. But without a clear model of the optimal…

With the recent splintering of the AFL-CIO and the widespread reluctance of higher education institutions to initiate aggressive anti-union campaigns, colleges and universities could begin to see an increase in union organizing efforts. In this article, two labor and employment law attorneys offer advice on how to prevent an organizing campaign on…