"This book contains some of the most innovative recruitment and retention strategies you'll finds anywhere." -- Back cover

A problematic, yet uncommon, assumption among many higher education researchers is that recruitment, retention, and engagement of African-American males is relatively similar and stable across all majority White colleges and universities. In fact, the harsh reality is that selective public research universities (SPRUs) have distinctive academic cultures that increase the difficulty of diversifying their faculty and student populations. This book will discuss how traditions and elitist assumptions make it very difficult to recruit, retain, and engage African-American males. The authors will examine these issues from multiple perspectives in three sections that highlight research, policies and practices impacting the experiences of African American males, including Pre-Collegiate Preparation, African American Male Student Athletes, and Undergraduate and Graduate Considerations for African American Male Initiatives.

The recruitment and retention of African-American (black) students in institutions of higher learning, i.e., colleges and universities, is an important 21st-century educational issue. Traditional White Institutions (TWIs) traditionally recruit a proportionately low number of black students, and retain a lower percentage of black students, than they do students of other races. Black students attending TWIs often wonder, "Where are the people who look like me?" When there is not a large population of blacks or students of color, the social networks of these students tend to be compromised, and the challenges facing students of color are thereby compounded. In order to reflect the changing demographics in today's society, it is important for TWIs to diversify their student populations. The Home, Church, Business, and School (HCBS) Philosophy, to be described herein, will provide a holistic approach, a Model, for the recruitment and retention of black students at TWIs. The HCBS Philosophy Model will help any colleges and universities to succeed in their efforts to recruit black students onto their college campuses.

This volume addresses the role of chief diversity officers as coordinating and integrating diversity leaders in higher education and other sectors.Having established in a companion volume the parameters for an effective diversity strategy, the authors address such questions as: What is a chief diversity officer? How might we create dynamic chief diversity officer infrastructures? What models of CDO structure exist in the academy? What misperceptions often confound the work of officers and the institutions they work within? What key competencies are necessary to lead as a CDO? How does the CDO role compare across higher education, non-profit, and corporate sectors? And how might the role serve as an important contributor to a collaborative vision for change and transformation in the academy?This book begins by delineating the evolution of the chief diversity officer role in the academy. Drawing on extensive qualitative and quantitative research on CDOs conducted for the purposes of this volume, it describes how the scope and responsibilities are variously defined at the organizations where the position has been created, and offers insights into the complexities and challenges of the role.On the basis of this data and the literature on organizational design and change management, the authors define the requisite skills, knowledge and background to be effective, review the alternative organizational and governance structures under which CDOs operate, and in so doing present the Chief Diversity Officer Development Framework as a basis for recruiting candidates, for structuring the position to succeed, and for providing prospective and incumbent CDOs with a realistic sense of the scope of the role.This title is also available in a set with its companion volume, Strategic Diversity Leadership.

This dissertation examined the recruitment and retention of African American students in a Predominantly White Institution in the Southeast and the associated financial resources needed to do so. Critical Race Theory (CRT) was used to explore Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) related to African American students in higher education. The five prominent tenets of CRT as noted by Delgado & Stefancic (2012) and DeCuir & Dixson (2004) are: racism is normal, whiteness as property, interest convergence, social construction, and unique voice of color. SEM is a "comprehensive approach0́Œto achieving the optimal recruitment, retention and graduation of students" (Kalsbeek, 2013). Literature and empirical data suggest that institutions of higher education are more racially diverse after implementing a strategic plan that explicitly includes minority enrollment (Drew et al., 2015; Smith et al., 2015; Burt et al., 2016). Policies are only as great as the character and fortitude of the leadership in authority to implement and enforce change with sustainability. This case study found that African American recruitment and retention efforts were largely treated the same as recruiting and retaining White students. The participants did not identify any specific budgetary line items earmarked for African American recruitment and/or retention. The research revealed African American recruitment and retention efforts are negatively affected by the culture and climate of the institution, the politics of higher education, and the economic impact within society. Findings from the study suggest that African American recruitment efforts were largely the same as recruiting White students. African American students were primarily responsible for their own retention. Financial supports for recruitment and retention of African American students exist at the institutional level, yet the case study did not reveal funding specifically identified within the colleges, schools, institutes and/or units. Additionally, the study found a need for more communication between administrators, faculty and staff related to African American recruitment and retention.