By Anne Mitchell, director, Office of Equal Opportunity
We, at the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), welcome you to IUPUI, IUPUC, and IUFW! We hope that you are getting to know campus and the greater community. OEO serves our campuses in several ways. We’d like to share what we do and how you can find us if you need us.
One way our office serves our campuses is by handling concerns of discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct when the individual accused of those behaviors is not a student. Our campus partner, the Office of Student Conduct (OSC), handles concerns related to discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct when a student is accused. Procedures to investigate these concerns are in our Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct policy(opens in new tab).
It is important for you to know that as a faculty member on our campuses, you are considered a “responsible employee.” This means you are obligated to report any information about workplace discrimination or harassment to OEO. If a student is accused, that report would go to Sara Dickey (use OSC complaint form). If someone other than a student is accused, that report would go to Anne Mitchell (use OEO complaint form).
After you report the information to us, we will reach out to the individual who is the target of the inappropriate behavior to talk about how they’d like us to handle it, the investigation process (if applicable), and most importantly, share resources available to them. It’s important if someone discloses something to you that you tell them that you must report it, so they aren’t alarmed when we reach out. It’s also important that you don’t investigate yourself, as we want to minimize the number of times we ask survivors to tell their story.
There are a few circumstances where you are not obligated to report: (1) if the information is revealed at a public awareness event (e.g., Take Back the Night event); (2) if the information is revealed as part of IRB sponsored research; or (3) if the information is revealed as part of an assignment (paper or presentation).
There are some staff members that are considered confidential employees, meaning they do not have to disclose information to our offices (e.g., counselors in our mental health facilities). Christine Kung’u within CAPS oversees our interpersonal violence response and prevention efforts and can help link any student, faculty, or staff to resources and serve as an advocate for them with any university concern or investigation.
If you want to talk through anything you’ve experienced or have any questions about the expectations of reporting, please reach out to us. OEO is located in Lockefield Village (4th floor, room 4440). You can contact us by phone at (317) 274-2306 or e-mail us at oeoiupui@iupui.edu. Our website has further information about us, and our team – who would love to meet you and be a resource for you.
Faculty Communications in Your Inbox
As a faculty member, you receive a large amount of communication. Below is a quick list of messages that will regularly arrive in your inbox that provide updates and content that will be helpful in your journey at IUPUI, especially as a new faculty member!
New Faculty Notes: The Office of Academic Affairs sends a just-in-time monthly newsletter with topics that will cover campus faculty resources and breakdown what is most helpful to focus on given the time in the academic year.
IU faculty, staff, and students can use Microsoft at IU Secure Storage to store institutional files, and to share and collaborate with others. Each has features that make it best suited to certain uses, and the IU Knowledge Base offers a handy table for easy comparison.
We recommend that faculty consult with their department or school IT staff to learn about existing institutional storage locations and setting up a file management process that aligns with the department or school's security standards and university archive practices.
Need-to-Know for New Faculty
Plan Ahead for Your Needs
Review the IUPUI academic calendar(opens in new tab) to plan for your classes, family needs, and the most important conferences for your professional development. Even “virtual” conferences will take time and attention.
What is the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity?
Academic Affairs also partners with the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and academic units to sponsor faculty for NCFDD’s Faculty Success Program during the regular semesters. Be on the lookout for an email invitation to apply for this spring’s offering.
We’re excited to provide IUPUI’s faculty, staff, administrators, postdocs, and graduate students with the opportunity to participate in NCFDD’s unique virtual form of mentoring and career development.
We encourage you to claim your membership on the NCFDD website(opens in new tab). If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Gina Sanchez Gibau, associate vice chancellor for faculty diversity and inclusion, at gsanchez@iupui.edu.
Japanese for chit-chat, a PechKucha is a fast-paced storytelling/presentation format, like a TED talk, in which a presenter has 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide to tell a story or present on a topic.
The Faculty Forum will be hosting three workshops in September and October to give participants an opportunity to reflect on their personal journey in academia and prepare a compelling PechaKucha to present on a special PechaKucha night in November.
