Diversity and Inclusion Working Council
The D&I Working Council is comprised of researchers, staff, and students here at GTRI. The GTRI Diversity and Inclusion Working Council will concentrate on five areas to measure impact and drive effectiveness:
- Metrics & Analytics
- Professional Development
- Recruiting and Retention
- Outreach
- Networking
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
In July 2020, under the leadership of Diversity and Inclusion and in collaboration and partnership across the enterprise, GTRI launched six employee resource groups (ERGs) to foster a more inclusive work environment at GTRI. ERGs at GTRI drive opportunities for employee engagement, professional development, education and training, recruitment, retention, and community outreach. Our ERGs provide resources that encourage connection and advocacy across the Institute. ERGs at GTRI serve as employee-led internal communities, providing personal connections for cohesive groups to assist the Institute in removing barriers. GTRI employees create and define our Employee Resource Groups.
GTRI encourages participation in the six Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) offered on campus by Georgia Tech Institute Diversity. Each ERG focuses on the needs of specific groups at GTRI:
- CARES@GTRI is an inclusive community for employees who identify with having a visible or invisible disability, caregivers for individuals with disabilities, and allies.
- AFFIRMED@GTRI is an inclusive community for employees who identify as members or allies of the LGBTQ+ community.
- HER@GTRI is an inclusive community for employees who identify as women, inclusive of transitioning and transwomen, and allies.
- IDENTIFY@GTRI is an inclusive community for employees who identify as minorities, persons of color, or allies.
- EMERGE@GTRI is an inclusive community for the next generation of GTRI’s workforce: employees who identify as Generation Y/Millennials, Generation Z, and their allies.
- SERV@GTRI aims to connect, unite, and empower GTRI veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, allies, and their family members to promote a culture of integrity, honor, service, and support.
We invite all GTRI employees to join an ERG that they identify with or want to support and their sponsored programs and events are open to everyone.
In addition to GTRI's ERGs, Georgia Tech has its own ERGs, which are open to members of the GTRI community. For more information on the ERGs at the Institute, visit Georgia Tech’s Institute Diversity page.
Search Advocates
The Search Advocate for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Access (SA-IDEA) is designed to build the cultural competence capacity of the GTRI workforce by training employees to serve on searches who are non-judgmental facilitators of inclusive practices and promote inclusive excellence in the search and hiring process. This program will develop employees ready to integrate evidence-based strategies to mitigate bias. The soft launch of this program was earlier this year on April 19th-20th. Our Level 1 training included a two-day workshop that included the following:
- Day 1: Attendees experienced the “Breaking the Bias Habit” virtual workshop facilitated by Dr. William T.L. Cox (he/him/his). Dr. Cox is a scientist-practitioner with research in the areas of neural, cognitive, and cultural processes related to stereotyping and bias. This virtual workshop is the only intervention that has been shown experimentally to produce long-term changes to reduce bias. We had around 25 attendees for Day 2.
- Day 2: This session was an introduction and pilot to the Search Advocate for IDEA. Attendees learned the basics of using a nationally recognized program with evidence-based strategies to support mitigating bias real-time in a non-judgmental way during the search and selection process. This session taught them to recognize and understand how bias shows up in the search process to fill positions at GTRI as it builds upon the information learned on Day 1. Additionally, this session covers the next steps for utilizing this training to advance inclusive excellence at GTRI. We had around 15 attendees for Day 2.
