Executive Director, SCS DEI Initiatives – School of Computer Science | #education | #technology | #techjobs

Carnegie Mellon University’s mission is to build a transformative educational experience for students focused on deep disciplinary knowledge; problem solving; leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills; and personal health and well-being. Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science (SCS) is widely recognized as one of the first and the best computer science programs in the world. Our programs train the next generation of innovators to take real-world problems and improve the way people live and work.

The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University is seeking an Executive Director to assist with the implementation of our strategic vision for improving diversity, equity and inclusion in the School. This position will report to the Associate Dean for DEI. With the Associate Dean for DEI, the Executive Director will work with an internal team to establish and pursue a broad set of priorities and goals across SCS to ensure that we create and maintain a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for research, teaching, and mentorship.

SCS’s vision is to create a vibrant community, comprised of individuals diverse in identities, experience, ideas, discipline, and research and teaching approach, and to create an environment where each individual can reach their full potential. As a part of this strategic vision, we have created several successful outreach/pathway programs designed to broaden participation in the computing community. In our undergraduate CS programs, as a result of a sustained, targeted effort among our staff and faculty, we have benefitted for many years from a much better gender balance in our student population than is typical among CS programs. We have for several years conducted highly regarded anti-bias training among staff and faculty. The SCS community has a need to build on, assess, and continue to innovate on these and other successes.

Our initial list of priorities for this role includes: improving methods for recruiting and retention for faculty, staff and students; initiating and maintaining dialogues within our community and enhancing the sense of belonging felt by all individuals; supporting the efforts of faculty to make traditional education and research more inclusive. Using methods that exemplify equity and inclusiveness, the Executive Director will work with the AD of DEI and an internal team to unite SCS in new ways. The Executive Director will participate in the periodic refinement of our strategic vision for DEI.

An ideal Executive Director candidate will have significant prior experience in leadership in an academic organization. Previous supervisory experience is preferred. The candidate will demonstrate empathy and compassion for diverse constituencies, and will possess a passion both for improving equity in society and for the broad education and research missions of SCS.

Core responsibilities will include:

• Program coordination/implementation – Directly improve or enhance the execution of existing college-level programs such as Bias Busters and Women@SCS, or make recommendations. Design and implement new DEI-related programs. Seek community feedback about such programs and act on feedback when appropriate.
• Communications and reporting – Celebrate successes. Work with existing marketing and communications staff in SCS to publicize efforts both internally and externally. Keep staff, faculty and student populations informed using multiple channels. Seek feedback using techniques such as town halls, focus groups and surveys. Share summary level and appropriate detail level performance against metrics.
• Planning – Work with the Associate Dean for DEI to assess existing efforts within SCS. Identify and track appropriate metrics. Advocate for coordination among departments for the sake of reducing redundancy and identifying best practices. Foster creativity within individual efforts. Help to identify internal and external resources, including financial support for programming. Design comprehensive plans for programming and seek consensus for those plans. Working with business support staff, develop and periodically update realistic short- and long-term staffing and financial plans.
• Supervision – As our DEI function at the SCS level grows, supervise 2-4 staff members who are engaged in active programming, administrative support, and other implementation efforts. Recruit, hire and train. Assign tasks on a daily basis. Conduct annual performance reviews. Counsel staff. Provide development opportunities and career guidance.
• Representation – As a leader in our DEI efforts, represent SCS on various university-level committees and initiatives. Work among SCS departments as a representative of the School/dean’s office to establish a unified strategy or implementation if desirable. Participate in relevant SCS committees/subcommittees. Act as a delegate or proxy for the Associate Dean for DEI when appropriate.
• Advising and mentoring – Act as an advisor to SCS leadership on DEI-related topics. Serve as an alternative counselor for students and staff.
• Relationship building – Cultivate a network of staff and faculty in SCS and across CMU with a shared focus on DEI issues. Extend this network outside CMU when appropriate. Contribute to or lead community conversations and/or efforts. Be a resource for others in the network, and seek support/guidance from the network.
• Benchmarking – Create a set of benchmarks comparing historic, current, and future metrics within SCS.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field required. Master’s Degree in Social Sciences highly desired.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience required.
• You should have excellent interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills, as well as good analytical and problem solving skills. Adaptability, excellence, and passion are vital qualities within the School of Computer Science. Inclusion, collaboration and cultural sensitivity are valued competencies at Carnegie Mellon University.
• Therefore, we are in search of a team member who is able to effectively interact with a varied population of internal and external partners with a high level of integrity. We are looking for someone who shares our values and who will support the mission of the university through their work.

Requirements:

Successful background check

Child protection clearances

Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Job Function
Diversity and Equal Opportunity
Position Type
Staff – Regular
Full Time/Part time
Full time
Pay Basis
Salary
More Information:

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