John Kosky, CHRO, Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Throughout my career in human resources in higher education, I remain committed to supporting diversity, equity and inclusion as a fundamental part of our mission and will continue to take deliberate action to ensure Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles are at the foundation of how we approach our work. Without clear strategies in DEI, most organizations struggle with making substantial progress on DEI outcomes and create lasting and measurable change. 

Human resource organizations are uniquely positioned to serve as a catalyst for meaningful change through our core work across various HR disciplines such as recruiting, career advancement, performance management, compensation, and workplace policies. It is my view that serving as a strong partner across our campuses, as well as being viewed as a change agent is our duty. We are able to fulfill our responsibilities by grounding the HR organization in guiding principles in how we approach our work as we often serve on the frontlines and have/should assert our influence appropriately to ensure we are staying true to our commitment on advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.

Diversity is about representation across many demographics, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation.  Committing to hiring, promoting and including diverse perspectives is connected to fostering inclusivity by ensuring different viewpoints and experiences are shared openly.  HR organizations play a pivotal role in ensuring that practices are consistent with goals of increasing diversity across the institutions, including ensuring that equal opportunities for hiring and advancement remain a top priority.

Equity is about creating a sense of fairness and a level playing field where opportunities and access to resources are available to everyone equally and barriers to access are removed.  In this regard, HR organizations operate on the frontlines through the development of policies, procedures, and guidelines to ensure all employees, as well as prospective candidates to the institution, have full access to available resources.  

Inclusion is the extent to which people feel valued, supported, welcomed, and have a sense of belonging where they feel like their voices are heard, their opinions matter, and can truly bring their whole selves into the workplace. HR organizations can play a pivotal role in fostering a climate of inclusivity.

In order to demonstrate commitment, HR organizations should have a bias towards action and this can be accomplished through a strategic approach towards setting the example and building alliances and partnering with internal groups, colleagues and stakeholders to create a movement where DEI remains at the forefront of how our organizations progress towards meaningful progress.

At UVA, the HR organization partners with our Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships to promote and strengthen the principles of Inclusive Excellence and have taken meaningful steps over the past 24 months, which include developing a very active DEI committee within UVA HR to build awareness and competencies across the HR organization in developing DEI principles, evaluating all HR policies and programs to ensure access and outcomes support our overall institutional DEI goals, conducted a comprehensive review of all benefit plans to ensure UVA’s offerings are equitable and inclusive, and participating in a broad community-based working group to explore pipelines and pathways into UVA.

In summary, HR organizations play a very important role in advancing DEI effort, and the commitment to DEI is best demonstrated through action and outcomes, and the track record of making progress is something we are proud of as an HR organization. 

Access the DEI webpage